Let us start with the First Category: "Book Of The Year"
As mentioned earlier, the nominees are the 10 books that I read in 2015. So the nominees are (in order of reading) :
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki
2. The Old Man And His God - Sudha Murty
3. The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk - Sudha Murty
4. Making India Awesome - Chetan Bhagat
5. Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight - Rijuta Diwekar
6. Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg
7. Mrs. Funnybones - Twinkle Khanna
8. Eat That Frog - Brian Tracy
9. Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
10. Hero - Rhonda Byrne
While Rich Dad Poor Dad is the only finance related book amongst the nominees, it is a book which requires a lot of attention and either some financial background, academic or otherwise, so that you can understand the terms better, or due diligence which can make you turn towards Google every time you encounter something new. Underlying thought - this is not a book just for the Joy Of Reading, it is a book the majority who have read it swear by, given the very valuable financial lesson of life it is trying to teach, but if you are a novice, you may want to read it more than once to get what it is really trying to tell you.
The Old Man And His God and The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk are collections of stories derived from the real life experiences of Sudha Murty. While the author needs no introduction, and that the stories are as heart warming as gut wrenching at times, the books are sort of predictable in terms of the expectations you could set from them. The writing is simple and beautiful, and you could at times wonder, how the most intense of emotions could be so easily expressed in the most non-ornamental of ways. More than anything else, these books make you think how vivid and diverse life could be, and how time maketh emotions and emotions maketh man. But this is exactly how I felt about 8 years ago, when I first read Wise and Otherwise - The first collection of 51 short stories by the same author.
Making India Awesome is typical Chetan Bhagat work, a book of essays where he dissects some basic issues that are coming in the way of making India awesome. The good part is that he doesn't stop there. Given his academic background and the way that possible shaped his line of thought, he is the one to always come up with some solution rather than only discussing the problem. And it is this trait that makes me want to read him, almost always. He has been a contributor to the Sunday Times, and that is from where you know where you are headed towards, when you pick this book.
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO is a unique, bright and erudite take on the topic of Women at the Workplace and how they can make their lives easier while being more ambitious as well as productive. Her knowledge and Big, shiny resume reflects beautifully through her writing and her ideas are novel. The work is backed up with way lot of research, which, though essential for the book, sort of came in the way of Joy Of Reading. Why I say so, is because so much numerical and statistical data makes me tend to skip it and jump over it when I have simply settled with hot chocolate, book in my lap, legs stretched on the ottoman and a there is a beautiful late night drizzle outside. But all said and done, I still found the book close enough to my heart to finish reading it in one night. And that is no mean feat.
Mrs. Funnybones Twinkle Khanna was really the 'Find of The Decade' as the book cover boasts. More so, because I had never before read any of her Sunday Times articles. Funny to the core, so observant and insightful, this is a book that can lift your mood any time of any day. I remember finishing this book in 3 straight hours, inclusive of a fit of laughter that lasted for about 20 minutes, tears and all. I have a thing for funny, and her work is pure genius. I already recommended and loaned this book to so many people and now I am waiting to read it once again with my Mom-in-law. (Yeah, she is an avid reader, and a big Sudha Murty fan. She was the one who loaned me the 2 Sudha Murty books in this list. )
Just one message for Mrs. Funnybones: Twinkle, please never stop writing!
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy was an accidental find, a good one. This is a book that tells 21 handy tips for effective time management and how not to procrastinate. A living favorite, so much that I have already reviewed it on the blog before. To know more about it, click here.
As mentioned earlier, the nominees are the 10 books that I read in 2015. So the nominees are (in order of reading) :
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert T. Kiyosaki
2. The Old Man And His God - Sudha Murty
3. The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk - Sudha Murty
4. Making India Awesome - Chetan Bhagat
5. Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight - Rijuta Diwekar
6. Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg
7. Mrs. Funnybones - Twinkle Khanna
8. Eat That Frog - Brian Tracy
9. Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
10. Hero - Rhonda Byrne
(*Three books are missing because they have been loaned.)
While Rich Dad Poor Dad is the only finance related book amongst the nominees, it is a book which requires a lot of attention and either some financial background, academic or otherwise, so that you can understand the terms better, or due diligence which can make you turn towards Google every time you encounter something new. Underlying thought - this is not a book just for the Joy Of Reading, it is a book the majority who have read it swear by, given the very valuable financial lesson of life it is trying to teach, but if you are a novice, you may want to read it more than once to get what it is really trying to tell you.
The Old Man And His God and The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk are collections of stories derived from the real life experiences of Sudha Murty. While the author needs no introduction, and that the stories are as heart warming as gut wrenching at times, the books are sort of predictable in terms of the expectations you could set from them. The writing is simple and beautiful, and you could at times wonder, how the most intense of emotions could be so easily expressed in the most non-ornamental of ways. More than anything else, these books make you think how vivid and diverse life could be, and how time maketh emotions and emotions maketh man. But this is exactly how I felt about 8 years ago, when I first read Wise and Otherwise - The first collection of 51 short stories by the same author.
Making India Awesome is typical Chetan Bhagat work, a book of essays where he dissects some basic issues that are coming in the way of making India awesome. The good part is that he doesn't stop there. Given his academic background and the way that possible shaped his line of thought, he is the one to always come up with some solution rather than only discussing the problem. And it is this trait that makes me want to read him, almost always. He has been a contributor to the Sunday Times, and that is from where you know where you are headed towards, when you pick this book.
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's COO is a unique, bright and erudite take on the topic of Women at the Workplace and how they can make their lives easier while being more ambitious as well as productive. Her knowledge and Big, shiny resume reflects beautifully through her writing and her ideas are novel. The work is backed up with way lot of research, which, though essential for the book, sort of came in the way of Joy Of Reading. Why I say so, is because so much numerical and statistical data makes me tend to skip it and jump over it when I have simply settled with hot chocolate, book in my lap, legs stretched on the ottoman and a there is a beautiful late night drizzle outside. But all said and done, I still found the book close enough to my heart to finish reading it in one night. And that is no mean feat.
Mrs. Funnybones Twinkle Khanna was really the 'Find of The Decade' as the book cover boasts. More so, because I had never before read any of her Sunday Times articles. Funny to the core, so observant and insightful, this is a book that can lift your mood any time of any day. I remember finishing this book in 3 straight hours, inclusive of a fit of laughter that lasted for about 20 minutes, tears and all. I have a thing for funny, and her work is pure genius. I already recommended and loaned this book to so many people and now I am waiting to read it once again with my Mom-in-law. (Yeah, she is an avid reader, and a big Sudha Murty fan. She was the one who loaned me the 2 Sudha Murty books in this list. )
Just one message for Mrs. Funnybones: Twinkle, please never stop writing!
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy was an accidental find, a good one. This is a book that tells 21 handy tips for effective time management and how not to procrastinate. A living favorite, so much that I have already reviewed it on the blog before. To know more about it, click here.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and Hero by Rhonda Byrne talk about pretty much the same things but in organically diversified ways. This is one story that has been told and retold multiple times throughout history, geographies and religions. These books try to lead us to that enlightenment which can explain our very existence and purpose in life. "Follow Your Bliss" is the underlying sentiment of these 2 and almost all other books that belong to this league (like 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coehlo, 'The Secret' and 'The Power' by Rhonda Byrne, 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari' and 'The Saint, The Surfer and the CEO' both by Robin Sharma etc.) Each storyteller lends his own unique method of storytelling to the same story. The important thing here is to understand and then fully absorb the moral of the story.
And so The First MeghnaSays... Award for the Best Book Of The Year goes to: Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together for -
"Don't Lose Your Mind, Lose your Weight"
by Celebrity Diet Consultant and Fitness Expert Rijuta Diwekar.
This was the first time I read a book from her, and it is an Eye Opener. She breaks a lot of myths, introduces a lot of new food habits and reveals a revolutionary plan for getting fit and healthy instead of just losing weight, all while ingraining in the reader how to love your body first. She does not put you on crash diets but instead encourages to eat to lose weight! I read out portions of the book to Mr. Husband and we realized how many of our traditional food habits were proving to be so detrimental for our bodies. We have tweaked our diets as per the book, try to follow her 8-small-meals-instead-of-3-big-ones-a-day plan, incorporate exercise or any form of physical stretching (read 'Dancing' for me) and the result: We almost gave up eating out, I have not had biscuits or other processed food since 2 months, and we feel healthier and radiant. Shradha was the one to loan me this book and she and Mahesh are also following Rijuta's advice. Even Chetan Bhagat wished for a healthier India in Making India Awesome, and Rijuta explicitly tells how we can achieve it. And that is why this winner.
[Disclaimer: All Reader share a totally unique relationship with their books. The ideas presented here are personal and do not intend to assist in or formulate any opinions. As always, I encourage all of you to read these books yourself and only then let me know if you agree with me or agree with me more. :) ]
The Runner Up, of course, goes to "Mrs. Funnybones"- who brought tears of laughter in my eyes.
Oh! I love you so...!!!
Nice post. Crisp summaries of the books, not just about what content that one can expect in each but also how you felt about each! Another post where you have poured your heart out when writing! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Comrade... :D
ReplyDeleteYour appreciation makes all the effort worth it...!!!