The world around us

I set myself a goal of reading at least 2 books a month. In July I managed to read 4 books, even though I had a ton of work going on. The difference was that I took my book along when I was traveling and did a lot of reading in the car (and no I wasn’t driving!). My last book was Celia Brayfield’s Deep France which is about her experience of moving to the Bearn region of France for one year. I’d never heard of this book or the author, but I really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely be looking up some of her other books. I go to Borders all the time, but never find interesting reading material there. I bought this at BooksPlus a small chain of bookstores, where I find something new and interesting without fail each time I visit. There is a certain charm in going to a small bookstore and as much as I enjoy Borders and Barnes & Noble, I love going to smaller bookstores to buy even more.

I’ve been spending a lot of time reading, despite having a ton of work lately. Currently, I’m reading a book called Deep France by Celia Brayfield, about her experiences to moving to France for a year. The book is divided into chapters by months and there are recipes in between the chapters as well, mostly local items or things adapted to local produce. I find it very interesting to read about people’s experience about traveling and living in different countries. It’s such a good way to learn about the country or city, without having to go through guide books, which are good but nowhere as interesting as these fo course. Plus one usually reads guidebooks only when one is already going somewhere, but these are great to read anytime at all.

I finished reading The Fall of the House of Bush by Craig Unger earlier this month and I’m currently reading Imperial Presidency, which is also about the Bush/Cheney presidency and is the third book that I am reading about the Bush family or presidency. While some portions of the book are very dry and technical, I have overall enjoyed the two books that I have already read and am doing pretty ok with this third one as well. Going to take a break from the Bush family after this and read something totally different. In fact, I had started reading Phillipa Gregory’s The Boleyn Legacy, when I decided to finish all the Bush books, since the information was still quite fresh from my other readings. So after this one, that’s my next book.

My last read was Kitty Kelley’s The Family, which is about the Bush dynasty. I’m not really that keen on books about politicians and bureaucrats, but I do love biographies and since this was about the entire family, I decided to give it a go. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit and definitely learned a lot. There has been a lot of controversy about the book as is the case with all of Kitty Kelley’s books, but apparently all the facts have been checked and double checked by the lawyers and nothing can be said to be false in the book. Read it and decide for your self.

I’ve really started enjoying reading all over again. Ever since my trip back home in March, I am making a concerted effort at putting some time aside to sit and read every single day. And these days, with the amount of traveling that we’re doing, I’m taking my book along with me and reading in the car as well! Thanks to that I am making decent headway, especially in the book that I’m currently reading, The Family by Kitty Kelly.

Here’s a photo of one of the earlier books that I read. I quite enjoyed this one, and knew several facets of the book from other books and stories as well. Javier Moro’s Passion India is the story of Anita Delgado, the Spanish flamenco dancer that the Maharajah of Kapurthala fell in love with and married in 1908. It’s supposed to be turned into a movie starring Penelope Cruz, but not so sure about that.

Going through my favorite sites and books to find interesting quotes by Sir Winston Churchill recently and found these interesting ones. I love the way he thought, so clearly and so decisively. Quite unlike many of today’s leaders, I feel. I bought a book about him called Churchill’s Triumph by Michael Dobbs, but am yet to read it. All books about him are quite strong, so expect that of this book too. I also read the biography of his mother, the bok was called The Dark Lady by Charles Higham. A very interesting book, and somewhat familiar since I had read about Jennette Jerome Churchill in an earlier book.

The only guide to man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honor.

-Sir Winston Churchill

“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”

-Sir Winston Churchill

“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”

-Sir Winston Churchill

Borders will be launching a new Latino book club at many of its stores. The initiative will be a joint effort between Las Comadres Para Las Americas, which is a national organization for Latinas, the Association of American Publisher as well as Borders. Initially, Latina book clubs will be opened in states such as Arizona, Florida, California, Illinois, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Utah and Texas and will be in 15 cities, eventually expanding to 60 cities. June’s book is Cristina Garcia’s “A Handbook to Luck” and July will feature Yxta Murray’s “The King’s Gold”.

I love maintaining lists of books I have read and going through them at a later time, sometimes even years later to see what I was reading. I find it to be a nice way to document one’s journey in reading, since I usually end up reading books that are related to the place I am in or what I am going through, or what I am wanting to be, in a vicarious way to live them I guess.

Here’s one of my reviews on some of my past readings. I definitely could read some of these again, I think.

I read four books in the last month: CK Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid; Lavanya Sankaran’s The Red Carpet; Arun Maira’s Remaking India; and Ruskin Bond’s Strange Men, Strange Places.

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid is about the vast number of people who live below the poverty line. It was one of these increadible books that really opens ones eyes to the reality of the situation of the millions of people who survive on a dollar or less a day, and the potential of marketing products to them. I wonder how long it will take marketing professionals and companies to realize the goldmine that awaits them at the bottom of the pyramid. While these millions of people might be living in extreme poverty, they still have basic needs and requirements of food, shelter, clothing, communication and companies need to wake up to that fact. Did you know, for example, that these consumers are extremely brand conscious? Testamount to this are the wildly popular sachets of shampoo, detergents etc that consumers at the bottom of the pyramid purchase.

My other reading was not as thought provoking. The Red Carpet was a lighthearted and sweet collection of short stories. Remaking India was incedents and views of a corporate executive who has worked with several top international companies and his thoughts on how we all need to contribute to ‘remaking India’. Strange Men, Strange Places was an offbeat sort of book, a collection of stories from the Raj days, of the East India Company, of times gone by, and quite entertaining to read.

After ages, I had time to read a bit, that is read a real book and not stuff on the internet. Ever since I started working form home, my reading time has completely disappeared. At one time I used to read a book a week and now I have come down to read one or two a year, so the fall has been very severe. I really do miss curling up with a good book and a big bowl of chips though and need to organize my work hours to create some time for it. Currently, I am reading a book of short stories titled, Neither Night nor Day, which is collection of short stories from women writers in Pakistan. I am finding them a bit strident but other than that, it’s pretty interesting reading.

One of the most fun aspects of having a blog is that you find lots of interesting information and connect with other bloggers as well. I quite enjoy figuring out which posts bring in readers and from where and how they come to my site. One such recent visitor was Pavan who has a blog called Miracles do occur…. I’m still not sure how he found my site, but apparently he liked it enough to add my blog to his blogroll. So I went and spent some time on his blog as well and found it to be quite an interesting mix of things going on in his life and of his interests. A computer engineer by profession, Pavan seems to have a curious nature and delves into his topics with great gusto. Read up more about him on his blog.