Travel With Books!

A medicine for coping with the ineffable mysteries of the soul. From a life laden with romance in the teens, then battered with mishaps, Tagore turned towards embracing life in totality with zest. Instead of turning into an escapist, he cradled life with sweetness. Each and every word is a solution not only to daily perplexities, but also a catalyst to daily joys. It all depends on how the reader discerns. The mood, state of mind of the reader will help him perceive new meanings every time. " A lifelong read " I witnessed a lot of similarity between David in Bible (the psalms) and Tagore in Gitanjali. After reading Gitanjali, I can confirm that he was greatly inspired by David and his psalms, along with his personal pragmatic experiences. A definite 5-star for this. Each and every poem is special and cannot pick one, but for today I reverberate with -  "He came and sat by my side but I woke not. What a cursed sleep it was, O miserable me! He came when the night was stil...

  *No-spoiler Alert* Little Women is a classic allegorical novel written by Louisa May Alcott. MY FOREVER DRUG ! A definite 5-star. I prefer sitting all snug and warm with my hot-coffee mug and reading through the adventures of the adorable March family. March family is like a bower of evergreen prolific climbers (with a never give-up attitude), bearing four idiosyncratic perennial flowers (the March Sisters),  each having a distinct fragrance of their own.   Anyone can be easily beguiled by their charm, I am smitten ! (esp. Jo). Each has idiosyncratic talents and characteristics.  Love for the family keeps them bonded. One can find shelter in this bower anytime to relax and rejuvenate. Unambiguously, it is saccharine, endearing, professing principles of Christianity, oozing out tons of gratefulness, solidarity, respect and above all heart-touching sisterhood  (for someone like me without siblings, March sisters helped me to live this experience virtually!)...

  *No-spoiler Alert* An unconventional epistolary novel, depicting the vicissitudes of life from adolescence to adulthood. It is a story about the 15-year old Charlie, a freshman at high-school. A stand-offish Charlie, addresses each letter to his anonymous  friend using the greeting " Dear Friend" and wraps up with " Love Always". The recent deaths of his bosom-friend and beloved Aunt, leaves him traumatized.  Skittish about entering high-school, Charlie finds peace and acceptance from English teacher Bill and befriends Patrick. Charlie is deeply enamored by Patrick's stepsister Sam.  Instead of finding reasons to come out of his shell, he becomes more standoffish due to complications developing among  family and friends. He keeps reading "Catcher in the Rye" ( again personally I am not at all a fan of this novel, and found it too depressing) to find solace. I started losing interest in the second half of the novel, till I was introduced to the turbul...