So, as usual, I have procrastinated. And hence, this blog post will have a little bit about the books I have read since my last post. Get Set, Ready? GO!
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari:
An excellent book! Although I have to say that the writing style was super simple, and the voice of the book felt as if it was trying to coddle me, the message was brilliant. The meaning and purpose behind this book has had a direct impact on my life (well, at least it's trying to). Without giving away the advice in the book (which is for the book to give and not me!) all I'll say is that I am more productive now, more methodical now. I was before too, but I have realized how to improve on that and how to not let stress get the best of me! Now I know that that has got to make you want to read the book, who knows, maybe your stress will run too! ;)
A Still Forest Pool:
Great advice from a great monk. Achaan Chah gives very simple, to the point, precise advice on how to go about our daily activities. You don't have to be a buddhist or have to follow all of what he says. Just reading his stories and points make things seem clearer. Especially his analogies - they are so meaningful. For example, he talks about planting a seed, watering it, and taking care of it - but ultimately giving it the space and time it needs to grow. You can sow a thought or action, and take care of it and be mindful, but you can't do much more than that so you have to cultivate patience and let it grow on its own. You can't control time!
Five People you Meet in Heaven:
This book was everything I had heard it would be. Strong, powerful, great. It was well written, and took turns you never expect from a book like this. The title tells you what to expect, but what you get is far different. The characters are vivid - the writer's expertise should be commended for that one! And the plot seemlessly flows from one part to another. This is a thinker book - I found myself constantly stopping to consider who my five people would be, who I would want to meet, what in my life is meaningful enough. But alas, it is something I will never know, but I did enjoy pondering over the book and my life - taking parallels - getting the message out of it that we are meant to be who we are. That our actions might inadvertently land us into what we will do for the rest of our lives. That sometimes what we think and hope for doesn't happen, and we have no one to blame or thank except ourselves.
Animal Farm:
A hilarious, satirical, political book by George Orwell. I wish I had read this sooner! Not only is the writing great, but the voices, the characters so real it is hard to not believe it. Of course the story seems ludacrious, but when thought about in depth, one that makes a lot of sense. Orwell wrote this with many current events of his time in mind. But it makes me wonder, isn't this story true to our world today too? A group of people overthrow or run out their leader because they are unhappy, they promise to run a "democracy" but eventually elect a leader to handle the democracy, the leader lets the position go to his head and becomes eventually into the leader that was once overthrown. A vicious cycle, where the people elected might be good, but the position and power corrupts them. How difficult is it in our society to have a fair, good for everyone, leader? Pretty darn difficult I would say! And I don't just mean in politics or in presidential positions - I mean all leaders - political, religious, professional - all of them. Orwell's book makes me wonder if we aren't just like those animals who get fooled by someone amongst their own? Perhaps we are smarter, or perhaps, we just think we are.
Well.. that's all folks! :)
