Book Club: My 5 Favorite books
Hey! Who likes to read nowadays? With all this overinformative era, social media, etc. I do like to read! Despite the lots of articles about less reading generation the statistic says that young people read even more than nineteen years ago. (https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/young-people-are-reading-more-than-you) Even though the most popular books are Lord of the Rings( which I enjoyed reading), Harry Potter, Twilight Zone and Chronicles of Narnia.
And you can easily see the sense in these words if you go to Barnes and Nobles or Public Library near Grand Central (New York). Very crowdy, lots of different kind of books and atmosphere where you want to jump right away into the reality of the new book.
Though I have never done the article like ''My 10 top of Something'', I do believe that What Person Read( or in this case favorites books) is the pure reflection of his/her personality. And what I am doing here, in my blog, is sharing with the world my life and my personality. And while writing this article I have decided to start new series of the blog posts «My Top 5 …». It could be interesting to know myself better.
Considering my huge bookshelf back in time in Moscow, in two years of living in New York, I have expanded my reading list. And yet my list of favorite books did not change significantly. And what I mean by «Favorite Books» is that these books I can reread million times and still will adore it.
Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
Yes, I love this book and will always do! It is simple and yet multi-faceted. The very first time I read it, I was sixteen years old, and it opened my eyes. It changed my point of view. From that moment I was rereading it three times and the last one was when I just moved to New York and felt very disconnected with my family, friends, my old circle of lovely people and so I saw this book once on the shelf with new beautiful cover and could not help myself to get it and spend time for rediscovering the essence of it once again.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.
I love thick books. I love books that you cannot stop reading. And these book is about both of previous sentences. Couple years ago all people around were just keep speaking about that book. But the size of it made me sick as I was working a lot and could not even consider myself finding time to read this novel. Also, I was ignoring any device readers (Iphone or Ipad) as feeling the real book on your hands and smell of the typography for me was one of the essential parts of the reading process. My friend sent me the gift, this book, and so I could just not download the Stanza for keeping his present. And that's how this story came to me. And once I went to one-week vacation to Thailand and forgot my current book that I was reading at that moment. After two days suffering on the beach without any mental activity, I membered about Shantaram in my Iphone and start to read it. And guess what, till the time my airplane landed back in Moscow, my home city at that moment, I was reading this novel by Gregory David Roberts non-stop. I cannot say anything but WOW about this story. It is exciting, philosophical, with breathtaking love story line and multi-faced characters. Can't wait to read the second part, and at the same moment afraid as I would just not be able to do anything else until the moment of reading the last page.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Another big piece in my collection. It has approximately the same size as Shantaram, but I was reading it very slowly. Probably I can compare this book with old cognac, that you drink slowly and Shantaram with Beaujolais wine, that gets you high very fast. If you check https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451191145 you will find more than five thousand reviews, and I will not write lots about this novel. But what I will write is in the book «Daily Rituals: How artist work» https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/0307273601 author Mason Currey somehow figured out how most interesting and talented people were working. And believe me, it is worth reading!!! At least now I understand how on earth person can write so many books with so many storylines etc. It is not the superpower, but it is super ingredients.
The next two books will be books that I have read once and after that once in a while I am coming back to read the just a couple of pages as a sort of reminder or if you want meditation when I have a spare moment for it.
Tibetan Book of the Dead( or Bardo Thodol).
It can be easily found for free download on the internet and once in life, I think it is a must of reading. It is not entertainment book. It is not classic or adventure book. It is the book as you can read from the title about Death. And the paradox is that when you finish read it, you start to know more about life. My memories about the period when I was reading this book are black and dark and sorrowful. My mother was dying from cancer, actually from metastases that went through all over her body. And it was quite a period. I was twenty-one or so, and I wanted to know what happens to the soul after death. And if there is a place for such a thing, how can I help my mother elevate quickly and move her soul closer to the light.
Nowadays I love sometimes to reread some pages randomly. I think it is must have book for those whose loved ones are very sick. Reading it is helpful, giving the understanding and wash away panic and suffer.
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
This piece is quite new in my everyday life. I found this book after yoga class in locker room and gave it to the reception. But the face from cover was imprinted in my mind and after a month every day is remebering this book I was just curious why my mind is al the time going back to it. And so I purchased it on Amazon.
That's it. I read one page or so every day, and it is the really beautiful masterpiece. Must- have table book.
So that's it, my beautiful friends. It was hard to choose only five my favorite book, and I am sure with the time this list will change. I am always expanding my read list, and if you will put down below in the comments your favorite books I would be so appreciated!
Worry less, read more!
Your Aeri.
About the Author
1 comments
I've never read any of these books on the list but they all sound really interesting and deep. I really need to start reading again!
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