HOW TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS?

Writing is an art and not everybody could become an expert without practice. Maybe, everyone can write generally like blogging and things. But professional writing needs certain steps to be followed and practiced. It is not an inborn quality for anyone, it lies in the person’s interest to learn and master it. To stand unique from others and gain appreciation, the person should have a passion for writing from the heart. Here are few steps one could take and follow while writing.

HAVE THE HABIT OF READING

Read articles, blogs, and other kinds of stuff as much as you can. The more you read the more you get the ideas and intuitions to write properly. You will also get some inputs before writing. You can notice that it is easier to write after gaining inputs. Reading also helps to improve your vocabulary. One can start the practice of reading from the newspaper. When you read the newspaper, you could get to know at least 5 new words every day.

BRUSH UP YOUR BASICS

Before starting to write, revise the rules in English grammar and writing. Although you don’t need to complete a course on grammar, the basics are required. Build a strong basement with the basics of spelling and grammar. Grammar is very important while writing although it is not paid attention to while speaking.

RESEARCH WELL

Ensure you have made the necessary research on the topic. Reach out to the available resources of that topic, make a thorough study and note the key points that are required. This will make you more knowledgeable and you could write easily with a flow. Unless you know more about a topic, you couldn’t expand your ideas and write well.

PRACTICE WRITING

To improve your writing, do as much practice as you can. It is the only helper to mould you in the right shape. Learn to frame paragraphs and sentences. Try to bring a coherent sequence of sentences. When you write never doubt yourself or your skills. Don’t do it as a practice, think of it as your job and give your best every time you write. Take up workshops and internships until you feel confident and have become a passionate writer.

REVIEW AND EDIT

When you are writing, always start with the rough draft. Read what you have written and make the required changes to make it a better one. Check for spellings and grammatical errors. Edit the rough draft, remove unnecessary words, proofread and frame a fair copy. Try to deliver the content with simple words so that anyone who reads could understand it. Finally, check for plagiarism from the available online tools. This is essential to ensure that your work is not copied from other sources and is unique.

HAVE SOMEONE TO READ WHAT YOU’VE WRITTEN

Try to have a person by your side to read, guide, and organize you. The person may be your teacher, colleague, friend, or anyone with enough knowledge in grammar and the language to suggest and give a true opinion on your work.

These are some of the tips to become a better writer. Nothing comes without effort and so as any language. “Practice makes a man perfect” – so practice more and become a perfect writer. Start simple, make gradual increments and then master the art. Happy learning😊.

We were Liars: A book review

Cadence is a girl born to rich family that owns large estates and an island. Her best friends are her cousins and the son of the manager. This group together is called the liars. The liars are the best of friends, and enjoy each other more than their families which are bound quite unlovingly in threads of race and economic dependencies. One day Cadence is found unconscious near the shore and is not allowed to visit the island again for the next couple of years. The worst part is she remembers nothing of what happened to her. Her mother even forces her to improve relationships with her estranged father. She returns however to the island only to find the liars living in a far end of the island and her family broken down and her once strong headed and commanding grandfather suffering from dementia.

She roams around the island and is saddened that the liars do not want to get very close to her. She discovers not only the ugly relationships and secrets of her family but also slowly comes to remember and accept the fate that she has given to her friends and her family.

Awarded the Good Reads Book of the year in young adult literature in 2015, We were liars is a book that deals with love, romance, a decaying aristocracy and the decaying state of mind within it, not to forget issues like mental health and defenses.

Buy We Were Liars Book Online at Low Prices in India | We Were Liars Reviews & Ratings - Amazon.in

Happy Reading!!!

The Secret Garden: A book review

A girl is born to a rich household of a British officer in the times of the Raj. As customary to apparently the then tradition of rich households in British India, the child was raised by the local servants. The father and the mother never really bothered to spend some time with her. However, a deadly plague breaks in and everyone dies. Everyone, but the girl child who is now a bitter, unkind girl who has spent a large part of her growing time simply commanding people and repressing her emotions and has a habit of being fed, and bathed and clothed – all by others. The death of her family means she has to now live with her uncle – a lord in the British Isles.

In that cold, dead and open manor, she discovers the meaning of work, expression, friendship and love – not only nurturing back his cousin to health, but also helping her uncle rediscover happiness and let the garden where her wife passed away – the secret garden with no doors open to anyone.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Land of Tales

The secret garden – a British children’s classic for more than a century now – is some of those books which one might not necessarily complete in one go, but would be pressed innately to return to it. The story is very much of a child but it builds up in ways that often evade even adult and contemporary literature. Imagination, revelations and most importantly the fact that the protagonist is but a child – all of it is simply touching. A movie was made on the book in 2020 starring Collin Firth and Julie Walters.

The Secret Garden (2020 film) - Wikipedia

Remember to give it a read!!!

ENRICHMENT AND REFINEMENT THROUGH LITERATURE

“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

In today’s world of cut-throat competition and skills-based learning, parents, particularly in India, encourage their children to pursue higher education in the sciences, especially in engineering and medicine as the number of job opportunities in these fields are far more than in any other field. Consequently, there is a predominant idea among large sections of the society in India that those who pursue subjects related to Humanities and Social Sciences are less intelligent and that these subjects are only of academic importance, having no real value in the practical world as they offer limited employment opportunities.

However, such people are mostly ignorant or not highly educated as they tend to make injudicious comparisons between fields of studies, most of them do not realize that the Arts and the Sciences are interconnected. As there have been scientific movements in the course of history, whereby earlier pseudo-scientific notions were replaced with modern inventions and discoveries, so there also have been artistic and literary movements that have displaced the age-old concepts in a similar manner, transposing them with newer approaches. Accordingly, even the study of literature has become more practical in approach and has adopted the experiential method of learning. Few people are aware of the fact that the inspiration behind Einstein’s theory of Relativity was the writings of the sixteenth century philosopher and visionary, Giordano Bruno.

The study of literature has actually had a humanizing effect on people. It has opened the eyes of people to the problems of the world and has enabled them to empathize with the victims of an unequal social order. Knowledge of these has induced many industrialists and business people to involve themselves in philanthropic activities. Also, literature has provided us insights into the cultures and practices of different countries across time Through the study of literature, we have come to know about the social orders of ancient Greece, India and Mesopotamia as well as of Medieval Europe and Early Modern America and Europe.

A Literature also provides us with a welcome respite from the hectic day-to-day lives because it is also a source of entertainment in the form of theatrical productions and films. Good films and plays provide families the opportunity to be together, even if for a short while. This is important in maintaining the familial bond because every individual is always busy in chasing his or her dreams.

Lastly, one cannot help but admit that good stories are always welcomed and they are an integral part of human existence, and all good stories are nothing but literature. Thus, we cannot deny the fact that literature helps in enhancing the whole personality of a reason. It has the power to lead the whole society towards the right path.

Bibliophilism: Throughout history till now

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Books are been our great friend for ages from Rome philosophers to modern novelists, comics, and manga or magazines! We as humans encounter so many changes with the evolution of books and their uses but what remains common in all of them is “books always feed us with information! Whether it is fun, important, tragic, or simply someone’s insights!”. Many people consider book their best friends (YES! we are bibliophiles . . . love for books called bibliophilism ) because it doesn’t behave different with others and always gives but never takes anything most importantly always be with you. Many fear what will happen with books as time goes and video and voice media starts replacing it in every zone books were used in profusion, but this fear is just a piece of fake news because now there is evident data on how books are more famous and popular than before! Thanks to e-books and these new video audio that are easily reachable to the masses and makes them curious so much so that they have to come to books at last resort to satisfy their curiosity, and there is no doubt books leave no stone unturned doing so!

So how does all this begins?

Before the famous Gutenberg bible which is mass-produced by some metal type in Europe, each book used to be written by different people, and each book was uniquely written designed, and bound which used to give a lot more information about the ideological and religious beliefs of that period!

But this is the beginning of “what we call books” but to know how all this started we have to go back to clay tablet scrolls, and sheets of papyrus. Clay tablets were used by Mesopotamia back in the 3rd millennium BCE, they used to keep it very safe. To date, we have nearly found 20,000 such clay tablets. These tablets were used till the 19th century in some countries including Germany, Chile, the Philippines, and the Sahara Desert. From Egypt papyrus and clay tablets Romans used to write and erase through stylus !.in Asia people used to write on bones. Papermaking has traditionally been traced to China about 105 CE and traditional printing started in the 15th century. One thing which throughout the time stick with books are get “ban” as they are very influential, so authorities always wanted to control it.

Influence of books

Books have fascinating subject through time one who studies books is called bibliophile. It is known as former us president Roosevelt used to read one book a day !. most expensive book in history is the codex from Leonardo da Vinci which is bought by Bill Gates. According to a study book, readers have very fewer chances of Alzheimer’s than any other person in old age

Books in our modern world today expanded their reach and places from paperback to e-books are excellent for nature too as it is said from one tree we can make 50 books! And innovation in the field of books like digital book designing, 3d books, etc. is such an example. We are seeing nowadays it’s an affirming factor saying books not going anywhere any soon!

hey! how you guys think about your best friend .. BOOKS 🙂 pls comment down below and tell us which book you loved the most or reading RN ! till the next time , sayonara :).

An escape from reality – Books

I can never agree with people who say watching a movie or series is better than reading a book. While watching a movie, we are just looking at a projection of the film. We are not using our imagination.

I have read the divergent series by Veronica Roth. It also has a movie trilogy. Well, the movie is a disappointment to what the book portrays. The book has so much more details which the movie fails to show.

Books allow us to create our own imagination. They talk about the prominent features of their characters like the almond-shaped caramel eyes and the brown hair with a tint of waves and a well-defined jaw of the person. They leave it on us to decide how the person looks. They describe the cottage with a warm and cozy fireplace but do not provide us with how the cottage looks.

Books allow us to create a world of our choice. Every person reading the book would imagine their world differently. I started reading books as an escape from reality. When I was going through a hard time in my life, books became my best friends. No matter how bad my day was, I was always looking forward to start reading. It made me forget about my life because books allow us to live the life of the characters of fiction. Their life would become mine till I completed the book. At the end of every book, I would feel happy and sad at the same time. I felt sad because I never wanted the book to end. Happy because I get to live the life of another character when I start my next book.

Now you see books are an escape from reality, but they are a good escape. Reading books comes with a lot of benefits:

Improving vocabulary: when I started reading, I would make sure to find the meaning of every word that I was unaware of. For me, reading is incomplete without knowing what every word means.

Improves creativity: A person reading a book isn’t just reading literature words. An entire world of imagination is going on in their minds.

The best form of entertainment: it is better than looking at your screens for hours.

Creates a sense of understanding: when we read a book where the character has anxiety. It will make us understand how people around us with anxiety would feel like.

Inspires us: I have read books where the main characters do not give up, no matter how many problems come their way. This has honestly inspired me a lot in my life.

Makes us a better writer: reading makes our brain absorb the vocabulary and grammar required for better writing skills.

You must have also noticed that talking to people who read has always been interesting. People who read have a lot to share with the world. I remember talking to a few people who read a lot and our conversation never dies down. Reading also reduces stress and boosts our mood instantly. I want to end with my favorite quote by Mason Cooley

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are”

Why reading is important

It isn’t just children that benefit from reading. Reading is one of the best forms of self-education for adults too. While it can be easy to watch a YouTube video or listen to a podcast, reading still takes the cake when it comes to comprehension and increasing your education. As you’ll see when you read on, there are plenty of benefits that you can get from reading.

So, what are the benefits of reading books ?

1. Increases intelligence –

Reading plays an important part in shaping the intelligence of an individual.

Exposure to vocabulary through reading newspapers or novels not only leads to higher score on reading tests, but also higher scores on general tests of intelligence. It helps to dive into a different dimension and helps to think from the character’s perspective. Plus, stronger reading skills may mean higher intelligence later in life.

2. Increase vocabulary –

If you don’t know the specific word for something, then you will have fewer nuances of it’s meaning. When reading, you’ll expose yourself to more words which allows for understanding on different level. Reading an hour a day will expose you to four million words per year. These words when you learn while reading, can incorporate in your daily life as well.

3. Improve concentration –

If you are looking for ways to improve your memory and concentration and also relieve stress, reading will help. The brain-stimulating activities from reading have shown to slow down cognitive decline in old age with people who participated in more mentally stimulating activities over their lifetimes. Reading helps to build patience and concentration.

4. Reading helps to cure depression –

According to a study in University of Liverpool, reading helped patients suffering from depression with their social well-being.

Reading helped build self-confidence, lessening cultural isolation, building a sense of community and fostering increased communication skills.

5. It helps us to understand people better –

Reading fiction has often been claimed to broaden the mind. Now scientists have found that enjoying a novel really does help us to understand other people’s points of view. It seems that the age-old tradition of story-telling has an important role in helping us to develop empathy.

6. Improves communication skills –

Reading definitely helps in improving communication skills . It increases the vocabulary and gives you confidence while speaking as you have more knowledge. Reading increases your exposure to world and expands your horizon which in turn makes you a better communicator.

7. Reading increases your general knowledge –

The more your read, the more exposed you are to new facts and ideas. This exposure helps you to understand, reconnect and come up with your own ideas.

8. It sharpens the memory –

As you read, you take several pauses, create the scenes in your head and let your imagination flow as the book progresses. In a way, you are working out on the brain which could have been idle otherwise. You are rightly exercising the huge part of the human cerebrum which in turn keeps different parts active at the same time. As you read, you a picture, run videos of the scenes in your head. In this respect, many cells are exercised and this help to sharpen the memory.

BOOK REVIEW : HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE

How to win friends and influence people is a great book to read . Dale Carnegie provides timeless, rock solid and practical advice that can be applied in our personal life.

Here are few methods to win friends and influence people that I learnt from this book :

1. Don’t criticise, condemn, or complain.

2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.

3. Go out of your way to make people feel important.

4. Become genuinely interested in other people.

5. Remember to use the other person’s name.

6. When wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.

7. Publicly praise the other person’s accomplishments.

8. Show respect for other people’s opinions.

9. Try to see things from other’s perspective.

10. To get the best of an argument , avoid it.

11. Always begin in a friendly way.

12. Ask questions rather than give orders.

13. Smile.

14. Let the other person save face.

15. Let the other people do all the talking.

HAPPY READING ; )

How Reading can be an Obsession for Creative Minds

“ A reader travels a world of visionary thoughts where his real self creates an extraordinary idol of thoughts without being judged and scared which they can’t do in the real world”.

The above quote straightaway refers to a person who is fascinated with books or popularly known as a “Bibliophile” in today’s era. Often, we as non-readers don’t even consider reading as a daily habit because we are so much absorbed with our bustling life that reading is merely a tedious job and a waste of time.

We have dwelled our body and mind into the materialistic things of the world and in that process, we don’t even invest 1% in self-productivity. Self-Productivity is one of the significant elements in which we all as humans lack in and therefore, the ones who accomplish by being self-productive reach their destination of living a successful life. The moto of our rustic life is also to become productive in our jobs and careers rather than being focused on ourselves.

Reading is not only a key to the unexplored ideas of great thoughts, but it is also a doorstep to explore yourself. Still, you might be reluctant with my perspective of reading books, so let’s give you some major reasons as to what happens if you have reading as a daily habit:

You have a Critical Mindset: When you start thinking out of the box, your mindset and persona are broadened. The more you read the better you will understand yourself. Reading is just not only mere streaming of words by your brain and mind, but it also provides a quick start for your inner mind to think critically.

Reading is like watering your mind and soul to grow in a fruitful manner. So, watering your plants daily provides the roots to live a long time, similarly, reading every day is like you are watering your soul, mind, and thoughts with a decent quality of information that will help you think critically in any situation.

Bingo! Having a critical mind will make your perspective for your life in a different way. The way we think is the way we, our thoughts develop and so our life provides experiences accordingly.

Reading equals No Insomnia: Another prominent cause which we humans face in this era is having sleep problems and living an unhealthy life. Lack of sleeping also gives birth to other sicknesses like depression, anxiety, obesity, etc.

We are addictive to so much of tech life that we have started to ignore ourselves and our body which faces certain inconvenience which occurs by our ignorance towards our body. Spending so much time on social media and scrolling till 2 am makes our eyes tired but still we continue to scroll up. Staying awake makes us insomniacs, that we feel lethargic and drowsy the whole day.

But have you ever tried reading a book, instead of using your phones? Reading is the best medicine to cure your insomnia because when you develop a good reading habit then you dedicate your whole brain and concentration to reading which will help you to sleep faster in no time.

Hence, reading is also a secret to living a long and happy life as it inculcates certain elements that you only experience if you are an ardent reader.

Reading welcomes all sorts of readers! : Most of the times, the non-readers don’t believe that reading is their cup of tea and give up easily due to the fact that, they don’t connect themselves. But one must know that there are several types of genres and sections in books which is easily available and one can choose according to their taste for books.

Whether it is Fictional, Non- fictional, Biographical, Historical, etc, and to be surprised that there are many unexplored sections that are yet to discover. Reading is a vast ocean and when you pour yourself into it, you will recognize a radical change in your personality and your way of living life.

Finding a connection with the book also helps a person understand the book better and improve themselves better. While reading when a person goes through the process of catharsis; it also releases their emotional and mental stress.

Helps to Flush your Intrusive Thoughts: A very common tip to everyone: “When you overthink, write; and when you underthink then read and when you feel both then do both.

Reading is a mental therapy that will help you as a reader to get away from those intrusive thoughts which always make you distant from yourself. To avoid those unwanted emotions and thoughts which runs into your head, you must keep yourself with a good book and read it daily so that your mind will be occupied with a beautiful vibe of quality content.

Remember, whenever you have such an intrusive thought, it is better to do something that will provide your mind with something positive connection between you and the mind. In this instance, reading is one of them that will help you get away from those unwelcome thoughts.

It Boosts your Concentration: Reading can be one of those habits which will help to deal with a good concentration level in your everyday life. Your brain cells are often guided right when they are on the pages rather than being on addictive sites. These days, attractive sites are often a cobweb of distracting your mind by spending more time on these unwanted platforms which will reduce the creative level of our brains and the capacity to think precisely.

Technology advancement has taken the perks of pleasure reading, so in short, when we are reading books, we are helping our mind to focus on the book rather than on other elements.

In short, it’s better to meddle with books and travel each letter of the world through your fingertips rather than meddling with your brain to do unwanted misadventures. Therefore, one should prefer a book to read to keep yourself wise , knowledgeable and sane!

WHY READING FICTION IS GOOD FOR YOU?

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
– Charles William Elliot

I’m certain that many of you will acknowledge what Charles William Elliot said. No one can deny the degree of power that books hold within itself and what lasting prints it leaves on us.
People usually pick up non-fiction books relating to- self-help, business, health, the lifestyle which are undoubtedly great to widen one’s horizons of knowledge. But fictions, on the other hand, are in a way an untapped reservoir of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, emotions, and countless other things.

If one wishes to develop an exceptional personality then he/she must inculcate the act of reading fiction. These are the most robust way of exercising your brain muscles and being more creative apart from developing a sense of understanding.

Reading fiction is like living many hundreds of life and experiencing all the heat and rain of it.

Ernest Hemingway said, “All good books have one thing in common — they are truer than if they had really happened, and after you’ve read one of them you will feel that all that happened, happened to you and then it belongs to you forever: the happiness and unhappiness, good and evil, ecstasy and sorrow, the food, wine, beds, people, and the weather.”
And only a fiction reader can relate to what Hemingway has said. While reading fiction the protagonist’s life gets affixed with the readers and whatever happens to him is experienced by the reader within himself and this is how the not-the-real story becomes an experience for the reader and it carries this experience throughout his life.

READING FICTION MAKES YOU MORE CREATIVE-

According to research conducted at the University of Toronto, it was found out that the students who read fiction experienced less need for “cognitive closure” (the human desire to eliminate ambiguity and arrive at definite conclusions ) than non-fiction readers.
Reading fiction novels makes the brain active and enables the reader to broaden his creativity and think of a situation or a thing from many different ways and angles.

FICTION HELPS UNDERSTAND OTHERS PERSPECTIVE-

You must have sensed while reading a fiction book a connection between you and the character. You see the situation through the character’s view and not from yours. That is where you blend yourself with the character and understand his perspectives, the way he opines, his actions, his arguments, and his justifications.

A good fiction runs deep in the dominion of psychology and philosophy. You start to accept and justify the other person’s viewpoint.

READING FICTION GIVES YOU WISDOM AND EXPERIENCE-

Many different books have many different stories. Each time you pick a book you are transported back to a completely different time and space. That is the power of reading fiction books.

You experience tragedies, happy endings, downfall, success, and whatnot. And while these experiences, you widen the realm of your wisdom. You clearly see the distinction between true and untrue, good and evil.
“You can never be wise unless you love reading”, says Samuel Johnson, an 18th CE English writer.

For instance, while reading a history academic textbook you just gulp down the fact and dates. But when you read historical fiction you walk down that path, experience the time and surrounding. And after you have put down your book you feel as if you are back in your time with a bagful of experiences and long-lasting impact.
“A good book is an event in my life.” is what Stendhal, a 19th-century French writer feels about reading.

FICTION HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND THE BIGGER PICTURE-

Fiction in its narration exhibits the bigger picture in a minuscule and detailed manner. It familiarises the readers with the ground situation and gives them a wholesome experience.

In the book “The Thousand Splendid Suns”, Khaled Hosseini portrays the life journey of a young girl to becoming an old woman in Afghanistan from the time of Soviet invasion to the reign of Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding.
Through this deep-moving chronicle, the author teaches its reader about the life of common Afghanistani during the time, the hardships she goes through, and a beautiful, gripping description of her feelings and emotions.

Hosseini, through his book, tries to make his readers experience while sitting on their couch the turns and turmoils in the protagonist’s life and learn from the story the life morals, values, and virtues to hold on to.

All in all reading fiction gives you ‘EXPERIENCE’ of many lives and thus helps you in your overall personality.

How to read more books

As New Year’s Eve approaches, many people are thinking about their goals and resolutions for 2020. Reading more books is one of the most common resolutions. Maybe you didn’t read as many books as you wanted to this year. Maybe your TBR is getting out of control. Or maybe you read a lot this year, but want to do even better next year. Regardless, these tips to read more books will help you meet your reading goals in 2020.

The tips below will help you find ways to fit more reading into your schedule, prevent burnout, and reach your goals. Keep in mind that not everything works for everyone. Find inspiration in this list, but you don’t have to take all of the advice listed here to read more books. Remember that reading should be fun and interesting, not torture. That said, I hope this list helps you fulfill your reading dreams.

1. MAKE READING PART OF YOUR ROUTINE

The best way to consistently read more is to intentionally dedicate more time to reading. Seems easy, right? The best way to make sure you keep your reading resolution through the whole year is to integrate reading time into your regular routine. Wake up a little earlier each day and read while you drink your coffee, dedicate the half hour before bedtime to reading, or spend your lunch breaks with a book. As you make reading a regular part of your schedule, it will become an ingrained habit.

2. LEARN TO DOUBLE TASK

There are only so many hours in the day, right? But if you learn to double task, you double your hours. Read a book while you’re doing something else that doesn’t require your full attention. I like to read or listen to books while working out, cooking, cleaning, and even walking. Just save the really complex books for when you can give them your undivided attention.

3. ALWAYS HAVE A BOOK

When you have a book, you’ll never get bored. You’d be surprised how many moments in your day can be filled with reading if you have a book handy. Waiting for the bus, in line at the grocery, at the doctor’s office, even in a long elevator ride—all are perfect opportunities to squeeze in a few more pages. If you don’t like carrying around a physical book, I highly recommend carrying an ereader or having a reading app downloaded on your phone.

4. SET A GOAL

It’s much easier to read more books when you set a reading goal. With a goal in mind, you can stay motivated and make sure you’re staying on track to reach it. The Goodreads Reading Challenge is an excellent way to track your goal, as it can tell you how you’re doing and help you stay on schedule. But make sure the goal you set is attainable; it will only discourage you if you set a goal you aren’t able to reasonably reach.

5. READ WITH YOUR EARS

LISTENING TO AUDIOBOOKS IS NOT CHEATING. We all learn and retain information in different ways, and audiobooks are one of many ways to enjoy a good book. Audiobooks are amazing when it comes to multitasking. You can listen to an audiobook while driving, exercising, walking, and so much more. Plus it’s a great way to avoid eye fatigue when you’ve been reading a lot of print or ebooks. If you’re new to audiobooks or don’t know if they can work for you, I recommend starting with a memoir by a celebrity author you admire, like We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union. Alternatively, try a collection of essays or short stories that can be listened to in shorter bursts, like We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby.

6. JOIN A BOOK CLUB

Book clubs are a great way to hold yourself accountable to your reading goal. First, scheduled book club meetings encourage you to finish a book by a certain date. Second, the social aspect of book clubs is a great way to feel more engaged in your reading and to discuss your thoughts with others. Third, books selected by a book club relieve some of the “what do I read next?” pressure that can keep you from picking up your next book. If you commit to a monthly book club, that’s 12 books toward your annual reading goal!

I hope these tips help you to reach your bookish goals!

Thank you.

Books on Indian History which You Must Read

Indian History has been the theme for many books. Whether its fiction or non-fiction, there are plenty of books which deserve to be on the list of must-read books written on the topic of history. These books give one a detailed understanding of India’s history.

Be it comprehensive historical books or fictional accounts of a historical incident, there are many options for you to choose from. If you are a person who loves both reading and history then the following 5 books are just the right choice for you.

The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen is an Indian Economist and writer who had won the Nobel Prize in 1998. This book is a collection of essays and it will help one understand the Indian polity. It focusses on the importance of public debate, argument and intellectual diversity in the Indian civilization of the past. Sen writes about his view on how and what will lead to the success of democracy in India.

India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha

Ramachandra Guha is an Indian writer and researcher whose areas of interest include society, politics and history. India After Gandhi is a book describing the journey of modern India, from post-independence from the British in 1947 until the 1990s. The book will provide one with a thorough understanding of India’s social and economic spheres. It covers the country’s political history over the later part of the 20th century.

The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple is a Scottish historian, writer, critic, art historian and curator. He has won several awards and prizes for his writings. The book is a comprehensive description of the time period when the Mughal empire started declining in India. It will be a treat for people who love reading history. It is about the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar II, and it provides an account of 19th century India with the tale of the emergence of the British Raj. Another famous book by him is White Mughals which is his fifth major book, it tells the story of the love affair between James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-un-Nissa Begum at the backdrop of nineteenth century Hyderabad.

The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s first prime minister and he wrote this from 1942 – 1946. This book was written by Nehru when he was imprisoned by the British. It is a tribute to the rich cultural heritage and legacy of the country. It provides an account of all major developments in the subcontinent from the period of Indus Valley Civilization to the last years of the British rule.

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning writer, novelist and poet. The book is about the tale of the epic Mahabharata, written from the perspective of Draupadi (Panchaali). It tells the story of the woman who fights, endures a lot living in a patriarchal world. It is a historical fiction which traces the historical tale and the life of Panchaali.

Reading

“The odd thing about people who had many books was how they always wanted more”. A good book is an ocean the more you drown the more you wanted to drown, and those who had never been to a sea will never understand how it feels when the prepossessing waves touch your feet, when that heavenly wind blows through your hairs, how it feels when clouds come floating into the sky, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to the sunset sky.

It’s rain, a rain whose every drop first touches your face then slides down through your body and you came to know how it feels when to be touched by someone you love. Those raindrops drenched you completely and you feel a keen wind cutting down your spine. Those raindrops are like the dancers who are trying to play with the most heavenly figurine sculpted by nature.

The above-inscribed words may sound good to you if yes then good you are a reader and you should certainly start with something romantic or soothing. If not then perhaps this genre is not your cup of tea but something must be there which may fascinate you and want you to read more.

Perhaps the fantasies or maybe some sort of murder mystery or something technical or maybe something like science fiction or it could be anything else. There are a lot of virtues of reading a book.

A growing body of research shows that reading changes your mind. Using MRI scans, researchers verified Trusted Source that decoding requires a complicated network of brain pathways and signals. When the reading skill matures, these networks should often get greater and more advanced. In a report performed in 2013, the researchers used interactive MRI scans to assess the impact of reading a novel on the brain. Participants of the research read the book “Pompeii” for 9 days. When the suspense built up in the plot, more and more regions of the brain became lit up with action.

And speaking about detecting discomfort, research Trusted Source has found that people who read romantic fiction — stories that examine the inner lives about characters — have a heightened capacity to consider the emotions and values of others. Experts term this capacity a “theory of mind,” a collection of skills that are important for creating, managing, and sustaining social relationships. Although this sensation is not likely to be caused by a single session of reading literary literature, research Trusted Source reveals that long-term literature readers seem to have a better-developed mind hypothesis.

In 2009, a group of researchers in demanding health science programs in the United States measured the effects of yoga, humor, and reading on student stress levels. The study found that 30 minutes of reading decreased blood pressure, heart rate, and psychological distress feelings almost as effectively as did meditation and laughter. The study concludes, “Since time constraints are one of the most frequently cited reasons for high-stress levels reported by health science students, it is easy to incorporate 30 minutes of one of these techniques into their schedule without diverting much time from their studies.”

So if you a reader, it’s great and if not please try something out. Happy reading!

The Kite Runner – Book Review

Author – Khaled Hosseini

Language – English

Publisher – Riverhead Books

Publication Date – May 29, 2003

Country – United States

ISBN – 1-57322-245-3

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a historical fiction which is set in Afghanistan and America at the times of the Soviet Afghan War. It is one of the most loved books by readers across the world. The Times describe the book as “Heart breaking”. It was a number one New York Times bestseller for over two years, with over seven million copies sold in the United States. It has also been made into a motion picture after being a bestselling novel.

The book is a beautiful and endearing tale of two friends, Amir and Hassan who grew up together in ”a peaceful but prejudiced Kabul”. They share a beautiful bond of friendship but the surrounding social prejudice intervenes in it. During their childhood years, they spend their days flying kites along the streets of Wazir Akbar Khan district. Amir occupies a special place in Hassan’s heart and he expresses his love for Amir in a few words, ”for you, a thousand times over”. These words happen to be the book’s most iconic lines. Hassan who was the servant’s son was a Hazara and suffered tremendous social and cultural discrimination for that. During a kite flying event, an incident changes their relationship forever. Eventually Hassan and his father move out of their house.

Their lives change dramatically when the Taliban arrives in Kabul and the Soviet Afghan War changes the entire atmosphere of the country. After 5 years, Amir and his father escape the country and move to America to start a new life. Amir continues to suffer with guilt for the past. It is after he grows up to be a successful writer that he receives a call from a familiar voice of the past and goes back to Kabul. The story takes a different turn at the end when Amir discovers the truth that his relationship with Hassan was deeper than he realised.

Born in Kabul, the author draws inspiration from his own life as well but the plot and characters of the book however are fictional. The characters of the book are beautifully woven and the story is unforgettable. Several conflicts within the plot makes the readers fall in love with the characters. The book created some controversy within Afghan readers as it portrayed Pashtuns as prejudiced towards Hazara people. The racial and religious extremism is deeply saddening and the violence is frightening. The kite has been portrayed as an important symbol which represents Amir’s guilt for his betrayal towards Hassan and thus he does not fly a kite after that incident until the very end.

The book encourages its readers to look at the world in a new way and provides a different perspective for a country which has long been stigmatized. The message conveyed by the book towards the ending offers some hope for its characters and also for war torn Afghanistan as well. The book is highly recommended and it is sure to make a lasting impression on readers.

Tag: Reading