The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz

This is a self-help book, a non-fiction category that I had borrowed from the library.

The premise of the book appears fairly simple: the author advises us to follow four rules in life to live a happy, fulfilling life.

1. Be Impeccable with Your Word
2. Do Not Take Anything Personally
3. Do Not Make Assumptions
4. Always Do Your Best

Generally, in most self-help books the life experiences of writers are boiled down to succinct points with useful examples and explanations. And to many cynics (including me) these pearls of wisdom may seem obvious, even trite, but there is no denying that they are important.

However, this is a difficult book to prod through not because it is complex in nature, but mainly because it is incomprehensible and a tad boring in many parts. When I say incomprehensible, I mean to say some of the ideas do not make sense – I felt the author made it unnecessarily complicated just to make it appear exotic. I was looking forward to a lot of personal stories of the writer that connects the reader to the situations and the application of these rules to overcome any obstacles. I was also looking for a more no-nonsense approach towards the explanations. Neither happened here.

I am disappointed to say I finished the book with great difficulty, often doubting myself of being close-minded, but the more I think of the book now, the less impressed I am with it.

I would rate it just 1.5/5.0

McCarthy’s Bar - Pete McCarthy

I have developed a taste for the travelogues and McCarthy’s Bar by Pete McCarthy certainly ranks high among the travel writing books that I have read so far. Irish, quirky, funny and touching in the way many situations were described, this book was a difficult beginning. The reasons are many – It jumps right into the travel documentation, the cultural references are not easy to understand for a non-British, non-European reader, and I feel I had not prepared myself to put in an effort to understand and absorb it. After a few pages it was a merry ride across the Irish coast along with the author.

The book is about the author (half-British and half-Irish) tracing the Irish coast looking for the stone ruins of the past (his favourite hobby) and stopping at any pub that is named after his own. He finds the country rising up to meet the demands of tourism and the resulting consequences of that haphazard growth is not too much to his liking. In addition to the native Irish who are wonderful if not slightly eccentric, he also meets others – many British, Germans and other Europeans – who have traded their city lives to be at the country side, to live at their own pace. The commentary on the social changes (more accepting of the outsiders), cultural transformations (exchanging Irish architecture of stone and wood for UPVC, pyrex glass windows), and on food is delightful and sharp. There are references to religion and its heavy impact on Irish life, also a hilarious account of a religious trip that the author took on a whim. It is an extremely well-written book.

I would highly recommend it for its humour, pithy observations about people, and a country at large.

2018 - A New Year and New Books

New year began with a Kannada book called 'Anudinada Antaragange' ('ಅನುದಿನದ ಅಂತರಗಂಗೆ') by Pratibhaa Nanda Kumar.

I had not heard about this Kannada poet earlier nor had I read any of her poems or books. A friend gave me this book – a memoir – from this poet saying it was something I had to read. She mentioned she found the poet and her life quite inspiring. Curious, I started and soon I was hooked.

Before I mention anything about the book, a background on the author based on her book and a quick research on the internet: Pratibhaa Nanda Kumar is a Bangalore based poet, journalist and a playwright. She is also a documentary film maker. She is well-known for her feminist views and path breaking poetry. She wrote for the well-known ‘Lankesh Patrike’ that was known for its radical views.

Anudinada Antaragange is not a proper memoir, in the sense, it does not really deal with all aspects of her life, but focuses mainly on her internal struggles with her self-image, and her constant search for emotional security and love. Many people move in and out of her life and the only constant seems to be her love for writing and her children. The writing is crisp and bold interspersed with poems. The poems ring true; they touch you in unexpected ways. They paint a tortuous yet beautiful picture.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It has intrigued me enough to look for her poetry and other writings. My next trip to Bangalore will definitely include a trip to the bookshop.

The Age of Kali - William Dalrymple

Although I had heard quite a lot about William Dalrymple - his travelogues, his love for India etc, I didn't have a chance earlier to read his books.

I had borrowed 'The Age of Kali' from the library little suspecting that I would be hooked on to this book for the next three weeks. Apparently this is his fourth book - a collection of essays on his travels in and around the subcontinent.

He touches a wide array of social issues such as caste system in India, regilion, politics, education and the changing lifestyles in India . He also covers Pakistan (Interviews with Imran Khan and Benazir Bhutto), Srilanka (coverage on LTTE), Afghanistan (on ghandara culture, Pathans and their heritage) and the remote St.Denis Reunion island in the Indian ocean (a French colony). The essays are well researched, to the point and the writing style is just right - neither too verbose nor too dry. Although all these essays are slightly dated (between 1990 - 1999), they are worth every minute that one spends on them.
Extremely entertaining, his talent shines through the articles.

I am not a fan of non-fiction but I just could not put it down. I remember reading in a book that reading good books spoils your appetite for bad ones. Luckily, I have many thousands more to go so I may never have to face a disappointment.

On Writing – A memoir of the craft: Stephen King

It has been long time since I posted anything in this blog – contrary to the promise I made myself. Well, I cannot do much about breaking it, except, post something. And I do have lots this time – I have been reading books but not really writing much about them.
After I decided to get serious about polishing my writing skills, the first thing I did was to go looking for books on writing and I stumbled upon this wonderful book from the master craftsman, Stephen King himself.

While the book is superb in its style and narration, it is more a memoir of his life than that of the craft; the real part on writing gets sidelined a bit. But, as the author confesses in the book, he cannot really tell you how he gets those wonderful ideas. In addition, this is not exactly a how-to-do book, like an instruction manual, but King more than makes up for it with beautifully depicted childhood memories, his writing interests, the optimism so natural in youth, his success, and of course, his life-altering accident.

King says that writing is ‘telepathic’ – you, as the author, are invisible to the reader yet you connect to him effortlessly, transmitting the scenes, the characters, the emotions and the ending. I think that is a wonderful way of saying about the most important thing in a story – establishing and maintaining the connection with the reader. In his own unique manner he talks about the toolbox – the must haves for a writer: vocabulary, grammar, brevity, appropriate usage of adverbs, and more. But someone who would expect certain golden rules/maxims/thumb rules and tips on writing should be forewarned – he doesn’t do any of that like a conventional guide. The book also gives a comparison of King’s work before and after editing for our benefit. The book can be happily read by anybody – those who are not interested in writing as well. The sheer strength/beauty of narration takes you to another world altogether, just like his stories.

I recommend this to anyone who cares to have fun.

Ratings: 4.0/5.0