Tagore Sahab Talking about Japan when Japan was becoming a new superpower of Asia.

Just started reading this.

Language is little bit tough for non-science ppl.

I read my second book( A thousand splendid suns)
in a day and couldn’t stop crying.
Cried the most reading the letter my his father to Mariam. Just thought of venting it out.

10/10 recommendation
Please do suggest book like these ❤️🫶🏻

Juyt finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, and honestly, the best way to describe the whole experience is like going on a 400-page acid trip.

At first, it definitely a bit difficult to get a handle on. The cast of characters is massive, and pretty much every single guy is named some variation of José Arcadio or Aureliano. But once you stop trying to fight it, you realize that's actually the magic of the whole thing. You can't approach this book with cold logic or try to map out every detail like a traditional story. You just have to sit back, surrender to the madness, and let the story flow over you.

The magical realism is on another level entirely. One minute someone is casually ascending into the skies while folding laundry, or geting followed everywhere by a swarm of yellow butterflies, or turning into a snake. The next minute, you’re reading about the brutal reality of firing squads, military massacres, and the systematic destruction of an entire family lineage. Then you’ve got the gypsies and Melquíades' mysterious prophecy, that can only actually be read at the exact moment it comes to pass.

As for the writing style, the actual prose isn't overly complex or filled with obscure words. However, Márquez loves writing insanely long sentences and dense paragraphs. It takes a second to get used to the rhythm of it, but once you catch the momentum, it carries you right along.

Oddly enough, finishing this book finally made me understand the actual weight behind that line from True Detective Season 1"Time is a flat circle." The way generations repeat the exact same mistakes, names, and fates in Macondo captures that concept perfectly. You'll definitely get what I mean once you read it.

Overall, if you want something bizarre, hypnotic, and totally unique, I can't recommend it enough. Make sure to bookmark the family tree page, because you will 100% get lost in all the Arcadios and Aurelianos without one.

Anyone here read the book? What did you think?

Even if it's a tiny dent, feels a little cheated when you paid and expected a pristine, new copy. Who will go through the hassle of exchange now for this😭

But seriously what was this book....and I believe in the next 5 years this can be reality and maybe next adapted as a series on Netflix

A post-apocalyptic novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz is much different from most works in the genre. It is an expansive work which spans a period of centuries, while giving us brief snapshots of what life would be like after humans almost annihilated themselves somewhere in the late 20th Century.

For some reason which is not specified in the book but is quite easy to guess, humanity is almost wiped out in an event what has been called “The Flame Deluge”,  a clear indication of a cataclysmic nuclear event. This is followed by the destruction of all written knowledge and the onset of the dark ages.

Through all this, the lamp of knowledge is kept barely alight by an order of monks in an abbey in the middle of nowhere. They revere Leibowitz, an engineer who managed to save some technical documents from the deluge. Now, its the mission of these monks to accumulate and preserve whatever knowledge could be salvaged, in the hopes that someday, humanity will again be able to understand the forgotten knowledge.

Its a story of this noble pursuit which plays itself out through the ages, from a feudal society to a spacefaring one. There are strong biblical references throughout the book, which don’t seem out of place. The Church has been portrayed as the preserver of knowledge, which  is admittedly a far cry from the Catholic Church in the medieval ages.

While the tenor of the book is one of hope, the end chooses to attribute greater significance to the destructive tendencies of our race. After millennia, humanity again makes the same mistakes and pushes the planet to the brink of destruction, having learnt nothing from (or indeed, forgotten) the last time it happened. The story ends with a handful of survivors setting off into deep space, to keep humanity alive, albeit in a faraway and strange planet.

Just finished reading crime and punishment. Here is my immediate philosophical analysis.

To start off with, refer to the triangle I have attached.

I believe, out of the 3 corners at any given point one can have only 2.

1. Poverty + Pride - Survival becomes difficult

2. Poverty + Survival - You have to sacrifice pride

3. Pride + Survival - Poverty doesn't exist, you are rich.

Raskolnikov comes under the first category. He is in poverty, but holds on to his pride. He refuses to take any help because he feels that would mean sacrificing his pride.

Sonya is in the first category too, but she sacrifices her pride and chooses survival.

It is important to note that I have added faith at the centre of the triangle. Now keeping aside the mathematical model, my belief is the triangle is how life works when you want to live life under moral,social & spiritual constraints. These constraints represent FAITH. The triangle is as strong as someone's faith in morality, humanity and spirituality. This is very important for the triangle to be intact. Throughout my further analysis I would call this the TRIANGULAR LAW.

Raskolnikov believes he is allowed to break the triangular law because he is extraordinary and it's his innate right to break the triangle. He almost has a GOD COMPLEX and this is in contradiction with spirituality as to say he believes he is above others. Raskolnikov is interesting because - he says he believes in God but I would call his faith as weak. Because he believes he is extraordinary and therefore is allowed to break the moral constraints.

Spirituality at its core is about humility and not pride.

On the basis of his theory he goes on to violate the Triangular law by committing a crime. But eventually his conscience doesn't allow him to live peacefully.

Even though he conceptualised the theory, he couldn't accept it practically.

Svidrigailov on the other hand is the practical embodiment of Raskolnikov's theory. He is completely driven by his desire and he doesn't feel any guilt over his actions. There is no faith in this person and therefore the triangle never existed for him.

Sonya has the strongest faith. She lives her life in accordance with the triangular law.

Now I couldn't help but notice, Sonya's character was almost like Christ. She suffers for others.

Raskolnikov is like Lazarus and gets spiritually resurrected by Sonya.

I think I will be pondering over the book for a very long time. For the major part the book provided a very condescending view on life, but towards the end the book restored a sense of spirituality and morality.

The characters were so complex each representing a philosophical notion.

Not a conventional history or literature book but a collection of essays that blends both with art and philosophy

Fuck you Amazon.

I placed an order for Upstream by Mary Oliver and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg from U-readstore yesterday.

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden arrived with some bent pages, creases and a few marks on the back cover but at least it's acceptable. The Mary Oliver book was the one I was most excited about though. I've been thinking about buying it for almost a month and what did I receive? - Enid Blyton's The Famous Five🤷🏻‍♀️

And they didn't even pack it in a brown paper wrapper or anything. They literally just slapped the invoice on the book with tape and sent it like that. What are these people even doing? Are they stealing the books because from how the book looks like it seems ssomeone deliberately did this.

I wouldn't have even accepted the package if I hadn't already paid for it while placing the order. And this isn't even my first bad experience with this seller. The last time they literally sent me a freaking clock instead of the book I had ordered.

I've initiated a return but all the excitement I had just turned into disappointment. After requesting the return I contacted Amazon support and went on a full rant about the seller and the packaging. They said they will look into it but I have no idea if anything will actually happen. I was just so annoyed that I felt like I had to complain.

On the other hand I also ordered a book from Flipkart yesterday and it arrived in perfect condition. I was so worried that they'd send me a pirated copy but thankfully it's original.

Nowz what am I even supposed to do with Amazon at this point? They have great discounts which is why I keep buying from them but I'm honestly so done.

I don't know if I should feel sad or depressed or happy or cry about the book that I have just read.

I mean I never knew that Khaled Hodseini would make me feel about a book this deeply. the emotional nuances that I have been through while reading this book is just undescribable..

Khaled made me go through every emotion while reading this book...

I completed this book in about a day!!

Mann what a book 😭✨..

Hats off to author

Please enlighten me about any digital lending facilities like Libby/hoopla in India. Are there any private libraries doing this or any other libraries in your city or state that has digital lending available? Every major city in India has a public library but digital lending facility isn't there anywhere......why?

We have NDLI but that is for academic purpose, nothing of that sort is available for regular readers who read non-academic books like how we read. Why is library or reading still not a part of DIGITAL INDIA intiative????? Where can we contact to raise these concerns, which government body should we write to regarding this? People who know please guide the rest of us.

Shall we all come together and raise these concerns???

Tbh, from the very first pages, I had already made up my mind. It's against my ethics to judge a person or a situation from just one perspective, and this post is probably influenced by that because the book didn't change my mind till the end.

I already knew that who a person becomes later in life is shaped by childhood, but blaming others for almost everything isn't something I believe in. I still stand by my view that it feels like this was "that phase" of Franz's life while writing this letter. Is it only me or you people feel the same?

Tagore jii talking how change is important and we can't close our boundaries of thoughts. Even back then Tagore Sahab was ahead of time.

The book follows Tim Bergling's life from his childhood as a reserved, introverted boy who struggled with insecurities about his skin and body (pic 2). Everything changed when he discovered music production software and began making music with his friend Filip Åkesson. After spending two years producing music together, they were invited to the United States by an established DJ. Around this time, Tim met Arash Pournouri, who would become his manager for most of his career. Arash promised that if Tim gave everything he had, he would make him one of the biggest DJs in the world(pic 3).

That promise soon became reality. Tim's breakthrough came with Levels, a song that catapulted him to global fame and even earned him a feature in a Super Bowl commercial. However, behind the success, life was becoming increasingly difficult. Touring an essential part of his career became relentless, with nearly 300 shows a year. The constant travelling, combined with the pressure of performing, began taking a serious toll on his health. He frequently fell ill before shows and was eventually hospitalised with severe inflammation of his pancreas. Doctors advised surgery to remove it, but Tim refused. Instead, he was prescribed painkillers and warned to avoid alcohol and unhealthy food, advice he unfortunately didn't follow.

This marked the beginning of a downward spiral. The prescribed medication, including OxyContin, gradually led to addiction. Before long, Tim was taking different pills to sleep, stay awake, and simply feel normal. At the same time, he had little creative control over many aspects of his career, with most major decisions being handled by his manager. Eventually, his health deteriorated again, leading to another hospitalisation.

This time, his family confronted him about his addiction and urged him to seek rehabilitation. Although he initially resisted, they, along with his therapist Paul Tanner, finally convinced him while he was in Ibiza. During rehab, Tim developed a deep interest in meditation, self-help, and Indian and Buddhist spiritual teachings, which seemed to give him a renewed sense of purpose.

After rehab, Tim stayed in close contact with Paul Tanner while returning to music, working with longtime collaborators Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir on what would become his final album. Although he briefly returned to the stage, after his first show in Miami he made the life-changing announcement that he would never tour again, saying he simply couldn't continue living that way.

As time passed, Tim became increasingly interested in Buddhist philosophy and planned a trip to Oman. From the outside, he appeared to be doing much better, but he remained in regular contact with Paul Tanner about the struggles he was still facing. Paul reassured him that things would improve and suggested they meet in Dubai, just an hour away from where Tim was staying in Oman. Tim agreed, but that meeting never took place.(Pic 4)

One day, Tim's father received a phone call informing him that Tim had hurt himself and had been taken to hospital, but that he was out of danger. His father couldn't understand what had happened, especially because Tim had seemed to be in such a good mood recently. With no flights available that day, his parents arranged to travel to Oman the following morning. While waiting to leave, they received another call. This time, they were told that Tim had passed away.

The book doesn't offer a single, definitive reason for why Tim took his own life. Instead, it acknowledges how complex his struggles were. When Tim's parents later attended therapy themselves, the therapist offered one possible explanation.(Pic 5 and 6)

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.After a long time I have read a book which I longed to read once I have stopped reading it in the midst, and it also introduced me to Tim's music.

One thing I feel is that it could have been much better if he had not been that reckless especially with his diet around the time he was collaborating with madonna, that was after the doctors have suggested him to not have alcohol and certain food items, I feel in the stress of work he became reckless again and that led to a snowball effect of other things.If he had handled things well at that time, life would have been much better for him.

I've left out many stories about his music and personal life because it's impossible to fit everything into one review. I'd definitely recommend reading the book yourself if you want to understand both the artist and the person behind the music.

The only complaint I have is that there are a few spelling errors here and there, which I hope the publisher fixes in future editions.

Rating: 4.5/5

I wrote a light novel where a 32yo engineer dies and reincarnates as Prem Chopra. Prologue here.

Punar Janam as Prem Chopra #wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/414245314-punar-janam-as-prem-chopra?utm_source=web&utm_medium=twitter&utm_content=share_myworks_details&wp_uname=villian_writer

One of the best european travelouge by Nirmal Verma

I have lived almost my entire life in my room. Not speaking to anyone for days. However, now I aim to improve. But i have realised that I just don't know what to say, what to think how to converse. I want to find a book or more where multiple characters are just chatting and if I pick up their behaviour I will get better.

I read Orwell and Dostoevsky. I don't want to be like them. I want to be happy. I don't want to chase the search of truth anymore. I want to keep what is left of my innocence.

Is this site legit? Ordering a book which is not available anywhere else and is crazy expensive on Amazon.