"Tarantulas" by Scholastic

 "Tarantulas" by Schlastic is an amazing little book on Tarantulas for kids. I really loved it as it explained the tarantulas species and anatomies in a humorous way, making the spiders look cute and I thought it helped me with my arachnophobia.

"50 Greatest Short Stories of All Time" - Various

 A collection of short stories (classical) that we got from Delhi airport after coming from Tokyo. It's a huge book of around 600 pages and the author that stood out to me was Chekov, Jack London and Guy de Maupassant. It's a great idea to by a collection of stories to get to know what your favorite authors are.

"The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin

I'm halfway through the book and I'm struggling. It is readable but it's really scientific to me. I have to keep googling words that I don't understand. I'll come back when I'm done.

"Painting" by NIOS

'Painting' by NIOS is a textbook for painting and art. It summarizes the most important points when it comes to painting: art history, perspective, composition, proportions, color, texture, painting with different mediums and drawing techniques. The book has many illustration and it felt informative and I learned about some Indian painters that I haven't heard of before.

"A Childhood in Malabar" by Kamla Das

 A heart warming memoir by Kamla Das about her childhood in Malabar (Kerala) and a bit about her stay in Calcutta.

It evolves about the life in the family house in Kerala, the servants, family members, people in the village, food, rumors, superstition. It's rich with tradition, history, memories and is a great glimpse into the older times just as it is a glimpse into Kamla Das childhood.

Written by a female writer, the book feels feminine, warm and simple. It is way different from the male writers' books and shows that with simple brief words one can create an amazing narrative.

I loved this book very much.

"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevski

"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevski was a birthday gift from my daughter and I appreciate it so much. It came in golden edges and rusty paper and was about 500 pages thick.

The book was definitely an experience and one of the first Russian classics books that I have ever read. The language and style was a bit intimidating at first but the story was easy to follow. I liked the moodiness of it as it reflected my true state and I loved the philosophy and dilemmas presented. 

The famous 'murder scene' was full of suspense and the events after it seemed to develop rather slowly where they picked up the speed after the main character started developing feelings for S.

The ending was well developed and believable, causing a lot of satisfaction. The novel was tough to read at times but I loved it nevertheless and am happy to have experienced it. 

"Do Epic Shit" by Ankur Warikoo

This is a book by Ankur Warikoo that intends to inspire and share some life lessons focusing mainly on business, money, time and relationships/family. It was a fun read of just a few hours and it was nice to go through it. 

However, although the quotes 90% did seem "right" and wise, I do doubt whether these quotes are original to Ankur Warikoo (I have trust issues). 

However, it was nice to get to know him through these quotes. An experience. But nothing original.

"After the Storm" by National Geographic

"After the Storm" by National Geographic is a 1991 edition that features Iraq-Kuwait war and the explosion of many gas wells and the environmental harm that it did. It was an extremely emotional read where many people as well as animals perished. 

This edition also had an article about nuclear reactors and nuclear waste which was amazing and informative read and I also loved the article about the communist Cuba. Reading a 1991 magazine was an amazing and nostalgic experience.

"Against Empathy" by Paul Bloom

"Against Empathy" by Paul Bloom is a book on empathy. The author is not really against empathy but he's trying to understand (or explain to us) what does the definition of empathy mean and look at the advantages and disadvantages of empathy (giving to someone equals not giving to someone else, fighting someone means empathizing with someone else). 

The author is encouraging us to critically look at the empathy. He nudges us to discover our own biases and view critically ourselves when we try to empathize. 

The book is written in a style of a classic psychological-sociological work (similar to the ones you get to read in college). It is lengthy and philosophical. What did I learn from this book? 

I learned that psychologists can literally take one emotion, name it and write the whole book on it and I admire them for that. Did I "agree" with everything written? No. There were some things said that I didn't agree with (not at all related to empathy by the way), but it was an interesting experience.

"The Martian" by Andy Weir

"The Martian" by Andy Weir is a sci-fi novel that's about how one of the six astronauts were left on Mars. Watney is a mechanical engineer and a botanist and he has to find a way to survive on Mars alone. So the whole book is about how things go wrong and how he fixes them. 

The novel is written in an easy to read way and it's full of humor and action. I loved reading it because I've never read any sci-fi before. Some scientific and technical procedures and terms were unfamiliar to me, however I think I definitely learned something new.

I did love this book also because it had a very well developed story line with clear beginning and ending and it gave me a sense of satisfaction. The only negatives were the fact that the book was quite predictable in a way that all the problems got solved and I knew that everything will end just fine.

"Black Holes" by Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking's "Black Holes" is a tiny book that is very rich with information. Complicated physics is explained in simple words and even illustrated!

I absolutely loved this humorous scientific book that taught me abought the black holes, entropy, event horizon and singularities. I was amazed to learn that things gulped up by a black hole can come back as holograms and that it can be a pathway to some other universe.

This indeed made me more interested in physics and astronomy!

"The Real CSI" by National Geographic

National Geographic's edition on "The Real CSI" is another beautiful work that has chapters such as detective work and forensics, sharks, Cong's gorillas, Greece Gods.

"Hubble Renewed" by National Geographic

This edition was amazing as any edition because it had stories on The Polygamists, One Cubic Foot of Fresh Water, Patagonia, Lost Nomads of India and Hubble telescope.

"Glaciers" by National Geographic

 "Glaciers" by National Geographic is a February 1996 edition and it's as usual amazing. We have stories on Irian Jaya from Indonesia, Tex-Mex, Glaciers, Thailand, Caucasus and Polluted Runoff.

I love reading "National Geographic" because it's factual, informative and beautifully illustrated and makes you feel like you're travelling the world.

"Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka

 This was one of the few books that surprised me. It was unusual, interesting and he really turned into a bug! I loved reading about how everyone was shocked and how superficial they all were and also about what will happen next.

The ending was more boring than the beginning, but the book was overall not too long, so I managed to finish it with positive emotions.

"More Malicious Gossip" by Kushwant Singh

 I actually quite liked this book by Kushwant Singh. The book was funny, refreshing and surprising. I was a bit freaked out by all these people I don't know that Kushwant was writing about but in the end I got used to it.

I especially liked when the writer was being authentic and openly admitted for disliking several people.

"Birthday Girl" by Murakami

"Birthday Girl" by Murakami is a tiny book of tiny 42 pages. I thought it would be interesting to read but actually I've already read it. 

It's a story about a girl who works as a waitress and has to keep on working on her birthday. Then she has a conversation with an elder man at the hotel on that day and they exchange some wisdom.

"The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels

 "The Communism Menifesto" is a very famous classic work by Karl Marx (German socialist), where he and Englels present the theory of communism and why it's better than capitalism.

I could imagine being very inspired by it if I was a poor person of those days and see why it was so popular.

"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens

"The Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens is a famous classic about the French Revolution. It was a terribly long read and I was struggling to follow the characters but I was drawn in by the end.

It was really interesting to witness history, the characters, their clothes, the buildings and the guillotine. The author masterfully described all of it.

The part I liked the most was the end, partly because the book was about to be over and partly because it was a huge suspense. 

"Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before" by Dr Julie Smith

 "Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before" by Dr Julie Smith is a self-help book by a popular YouTube psychologist Dr Julie Smith. My husband brought this book home and wasn't reading, so I ended up reading it.

This is a book about very common problems that people are having today: depression, motivation, pain, grief, self-doubt, fear, stress, life. This book differs from other motivational or self-help books is that the author (I could feel it) is genuinely wanting to help people and she does.

The author provides us with concrete help and the absolute truth based on current day psychology (which is trying to be as scientific as possible). I actually really appreciated this book. The author was not judgmental and it was the first book that says "it's OK not to be perfect". I actually felt relaxed.

"50 World's Greatest Horror Stories" by FP Classics

 "50 World's Greatest Horror Stories" is a collection of 50 classical horror stories. Most of them are written between 1850's and 1950's. 

While some stories are really good, they weren't really scary. I would rather call them eerie. All the stories are by the famous writers but I found them very hard to read. Maybe it's because that English is not my native tongue, or because I am not used to reading classics. I was using Google Translate a lot!

Overall, although it was a real pain to finish this book, I indeed finished and I am happy about it. However, the stories were really not scary.

"My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla

"My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla is the autobiograpy of the famous physicist Nikola Tesla. In a very simple language the scientist tells the story of his life - about his childhood, adulthood and mature stages of life. 

I expected the book to be full of scientific formulas and calculations, blueprints of his inventions and extremely hard and scientific to read but I realized that Tesla had a very creative, artistic and humanitarian side. He was fluent in many languages, enjoyed reading and listening to classics, wondered about the supernatural and paranormal quite a bit.

Tesla never married and it seems like he wanted to invent a way of being immortal or at least live until 150 years old. He experimented with his mind and memory and had an amazing ability to hear things.

Basically, this book gives a glimpse of the life and mind of the great physicist Tesla who gave us the alternating-current power system that provided electricity, radio communication and many other things.

"Psychology" for grade 12 by NIOS

 Psychology is a wonderful subject, and these books are the introduction to Psychology. These two books were issued by the NIOS open school and covered the foundation of psychology. The books start with the chapter on what is psychology, its research methods and techniques, statistics and personality theories and ends with the holistic psychology and stress management. My favorite chapters were on learning and memory as that is what I was doing and I learned a lot from these two books overall.

"History" for 12th grade by NIOS

These are the two history books issued by the NIOS and they cover the basics of Indian history since the Indus Valley and Harappan civilization until the modern times. My favorite historical time is always the ancient history and I love reading about the Cold War. My least favorite period is the Mughal Empire and the Delhi Sultanate in which I have to remember lots of Persian-Arabic-Urdu words and the administration system seems to be quite complex.

Overall, I loved reading the history (hate remembering) but it did give me an idea of what is India all about and where some cultural practices and traditions came from. Why are Indians the way they are and why are the states the way they are.

The only downside to this book (the authors have mentioned this themselves) is that it mainly focuses on the history of the Northern India and Delhi and just mentions in few chapters the rulers and dynasties of the South of India. This might be the reflection of the current discrimination of the South and the centralized focused on the North.

Other than that, the books were  written in a clear and passionate way and did inspire some love for history.

"Geography" for 12th grade by NIOS

This is my most favorite course ever. I struggle to remember what kind of mountains are there and soil etc but I just love the sense of "travelling the world and being in nature". These books were issued by the NIOS open school and I have enjoyed reading them. Although, I might not be able to study Geography college level, I still love the physical geography, cartography, geology and other Earth sciences. It gives me the sense of being close to nature and being a world traveler which I love. 

These are two books and the first book covers the physical geography whilst the second book covers the human geography, including economics, which I'm not a huge fan of.

Overall, these are great books that cover the basics of geography.

"English" by NIOS

"English" by NIOS for 12th grade is an English book full of stories as well as how to write a letter or attend a job interview. Good stuff. I have quite enjoyed the stories, although most of them are for the younger age level than mine. Some of them were uncomplicated, therefore boring to me being a forty year old, however I did find them to be heart warming.

"Certificate of Data Entry" by NIOS

I decided to complete my 12th in humanities and one of the courses is Data Entry Operations which I was kind of forced to choose but I'm happy with it as it's polishing my basic computer skills (very basic) but I find it still challenging as I have never had to use Excel or Power Point Presentations or Mail Merge.

After completing the practical parts of the book I did learn that I don't know so much of the basics when in comes to the most popular computer applications such as Excel, Power Point, Microsoft Word and Outlook. The most challenging was, I guess, the Excel because of the slightly mathematical formulas and the whole concept but I managed to get it in the end. 

My most favorite part of the book was the hardware of the computer, the servers and how the Internet works. I'd like to read more on that because the book provided only the basics.

"Idioms Dictionary" by Cambridge

 This is the dictionary of the English idioms, and I must say it has all the useful ones.

"Short Stories" by Ratna Sagar

 Short story book for kids (7 grade). I picked it up at the library in society and I have read one story that was about overcoming fear. Although at 40 I sometimes feel bored reading stories for kids, this story actually carried a strong message.

"Early India" by Romila Thapar

"Early India" by Romila Thapar is a history of prehistoric India and of India before the forming of the states. It's amazing but it's thick. I will return to this post after I read it.

"Master Your Emotions" by Thibaut Meurisse

Great book on Emotions that my daughter's teacher Tapan sir has gifted her after she admitted having an exam anxiety. She doesn't seem to be reading it at the moment, although she has started it, so I have started reading it. It seems useful and amazing and I will come back to this post after I finished it.

"Trail Blazer" by Ray Dalio

 They say it's a good book on business, so I will come back here after I read it.

So, I wasn't able to finish reading because I absolutely hated this book.

"Algebra for Dummies 1" by Mary Jane Sterling

Wonderful book on Algebra for dummies. Yes, I consider myself a a dummy when it comes to Math, but I don't necessarily want to stay a dummy. I wanted to study Statistics because I like Psychology and Geography and they both have Statistics, but in order to study Statistics for dummies I was adviced to first complete Algebra 1 for dummies. I have covered the free section of the book about the prime numbers etc and it's started to warm up towards equations a bit, so will come back to this review after I complete this book. 

"Cybersecurity for Dummies" by Joseph Steinberg

 I have purchased and read 30 pages of this book as I want to learn more about technology. It has been extremely interesting and I'll get back to this post after I read this book.

"Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom" by Rachel Pollack

A lovey book on tarot by Rachel Pollack that has become a classic and the favourite tarot book of many people. I am reading it on and off and I've loved it so far. I will continue this review later on.

"Communion" by Whitley Strieber (trial)

Whitley Strieber is sharing in this book his experience of alien abduction. The book is quite famous and a classic in the genre.  I haven't read the full book, just the free trial section and either way, I must say, the story is interesting as a writing as well. The write was previously a successful sci-fi writer, and I could feel the mastery and expertise in the writing. 

I will continue reading this book after I purchase it on Google Books and will complete this review later. 

"What Darwin Didn't Know" by National Geographic

"National Geographic" is a magazine, but I decided to include it into this blog, because it always feels like reading a good book. 

This particular issue brought me to tears and especially the article about the Mustang horses. I feel so good after reading this as it truly enlightens me. 

"The Path Made Clear" by Oprah Winfrey

A wonderful collection of success stories by Oprah Winfrey was a truly inspirational little book. A good number of known people shared how they found their path. Many people have weird paths and missions: a designer, a comedian, a talk show owner, a professional organizer, a spiritual teacher. 

This book is encouraging for anyone who hasn't yet found their path but want to. It's great for students choosing their majors and people in the midst of a career confusion. Everyone has their place in this world.

"Tge Village by the Sea" by Anita Desai

A great book (most likely for children) about a poor family of seven (including the dog Pinto) that lives in the village by the sea.

The mother is ill and the father is an alcoholic and their two eldest children Hari and Lina are the care takers of all. 

It's a painful but playful story about the struggles of the poor and the modernization of a village. The moral of the story could be not to loose hope and do all you can to overcome difficulties. Also adaptability, change and learning. 

"Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel

A great book about how to accumulate wealth, save and invest. An easy to understand and encouraging book about how money works and what made today's American consumer. I think it inspired me to save and believe that after decates my wealth will compound. Great book! 

"First Flight" - Textbook in English for Class X

"First Flight" - Textbook for English for Class X is a wonderful literature textbook for class X students. It has prose and poetry and most of the stories are extremely touching. One of them is the story of Nelson Mandela becoming the President of South Africa. 

"Ancient Delhi" by Upinder Singh

"Ancient Delhi" by Upinder Singh is a book about archeological findings and history of Delhi. It focuses on the various excavation sites around Delhi such as Purana Qila etc and the pots and structures found in them.

The book writes a great amount about the Ashokan pillars, the dynasties that ruled Delhi and the various protected and badly protected monuments.

The authors introduces the Anglo-Indian archeologists and discoverers and their work (and the commentary and criticism of their work). The historical findings are also compared with the folk memory and the story of Mahabharat (which says there is little proof to confirm the story, although the names of local rulers and groups match with the names from the Mahabharat). 

"Modern Short Stories" by Jim Hunter

"Modern Short Stories" by Jim Hunter is a selection of 15 short stories. It said modern but most of the stories were from the early 1900's. I did enjoy some of them but there were some which were hard to understand. The stories were by the authors from the English speaking countries like the US, the UK,  Australia etc

"Madame Burova" by Ruth Hogan

"Madame Burova" by Ruth Hogan was a surprise buy. I saw the recommendation while browsing amazon and it was super cheap (111 rs) and so I bought it. The book was quite thick (300 + pages) and it was printed in a biggish font, so  it seemed like it's going to be an easy fun read.

As I started reading, Ruth Hogan's writing style reminded me of my favorite Lithuanian writer's Jurga's Ivanauskaite's style and I was pleased. The more I read though,  the more confusing it got as there were many characters in the book and some events took place in 1973 and some - now.

I thought: "What the heck?!" and continued reading. So, I was in a puzzled state up to about 150th page but it started to become interesting as that's when I realized that the events of 1973 and now were one story (how stupid of me).

Then 150th page onwards it was very interesting and seemed like a "good book" and a "good story" and I feel like I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from it. I'd recommend everyone who's interested in a bit of a contemporary read full of people and relationships. Although it was fun though, it discussed some serious issues like racism, homophobia, gender equality issues and animal abuse/rescue.

"The Diary of A Young Girl Anne Frank" by Anne Frank

"The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank" is what it says - a diary of a 13-15 year old girl Anne Frank. It was written during the 2WW in Holland where Anne Frank went into hiding with 7 others in her dad's office.

Anne Frank was a very energetic personality who had many friends and was quite popular, during the hiding she spent a lot of time reading and studying which makes her a good writer. She wrote several other works as well (not sure if they were published). 

It's definitely a heart wrenching read, knowing what happened to the family and what so many people had to endure during the war (and especially in Nazi occupied territories). 

From a cheerful and bubbly character, Anne Frank grows more and more serious when in hiding, her thoughts become more expansive and she herself - less  hopeful, more  accepting, more cynical but at the same time wise, mature and saintly (as if she's a Buddha detaching from all the world's pleasures and personal wishes). 

It was a profound, interesting, fun read with a dark shadow of sadness overcoming it all and amazing talent for writing.

"Inner Engineering" by Sadhguru

"Inner Engineering" by Sadhguru is a 271 page book consisting of two parts. In the first part author writes about his childhood and youth days about how he became Sadhguru. He writes a lot about yoga, health and spirituality, using various stories as an examples. Some stories and examples are actually funny.

In the second part, Sadhguru focuses on body, mind, energy, and joy, answering some important questions. 

It was interesting to read the part where Sadhguru wrote about his childhood, travels and first experiences. When it comes to explanations on herbivores and carnivores and why one should be (basically) a vegetarian, I am not sure I am convinced by it as people like Eskimos and the residents of Yakutia and Iceland were not considered (there is winter most of the year and no plants grow, so meat would be the only option).

Also, many sentences start with: "The biggest problem with the world today..." and it seems as if author complaints about the world and the way humans are (humanly) which makes it seem negative, depressing and not true. Spiritual gurus were saying the same thing 2000 and probably 100000 years ago. 

Author, as well seems to just drop facts and various unrelated information all  over the book, without trying to develop one particular idea very well, which seems chaotic and not boring  but looses the point. 

So, I am happy that I've read the book (I've learned a lot and it made me giggle), however it also made me think with my own head and judge the statements given.

"Satyopanisad -Volume 3" by Anil Kumar Kamaraju

 "Satyopanisad -Volume 3" by Anil Kumar Kamaraju is a Q and A book between Sathya Sai Baba and his devotees. 

The book is by Anil Kumar Kamaraju. It has three parts:

a) "The Inner Door"

b) "Human Values"

c) "Scriptures and Baba"

"Satyopanisad" is a spiritual book where Sri Sathya Sai Baba - a famous Indian guru from Puttaparti answers his devotees' questions about meditation, truth, human values and Hindu scriptures such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. 

I used to read a lot of Sai Baba's books in my childhood translated into Lithuanian language and used to find them quite powerful. I also liked Sathya Sai Baba's simple, humble and yet very powerful explanations on spiritual matters, the life that a person should/could lead and about Universe. 

I have found this book in a local library and it even has his signature (I hope it's real). I truly enjoyed the spiritual Q and A that, I think, can be useful and thought provoking to the majority, however I found the scriptures part a big boring and confusing as I am not familiar with Ramayana or Mahabharata. The many names of Gods and what happened between them feels like listening to a gossip about people I have never met. However, someday I would like to dive deeper into the Hindu scriptures.

Despite of that, I found the book heart warming, optimistic, encouraging and inspiring. I'm not anymore the 17 year old who used to read his books but a 39 year old who has lived more live and done more mistakes. By reading to these seemingly simple Q and A's and looking back at my life I can see that Sai Baba is right on many points, especially human values. No matter what, we should strive to be a better human and rethink our values on a daily or weekly basis. If we cannot help, it's at least better not not hurt anyone. But, as Sai Baba says, practice is worth more than book knowledge.

"Monsoon - A Poem of Love and Longing" by Abhay K.

"Monsoon - A Poem of Love and Longing" by Abhay K. is a poem about Monsoon and the path that it travels. It starts its journey in Madagascar and ends in Kashmir. 

As the Monsoon travels various places, the poet describes these places in detail, that is full of color, smells and beauty.

Loads of mythological, place and cuisine names are used and it's possible to get lost in so much culture and description. However, a list of explanations is given in every page and there is a vocabulary provided at the end of the book.

The writing is very Indian in a way that the poem is just as colorful and diverse as the Indian Sub-Continent. It's a beautiful colorful chaos full of nostalgia.

I usually don't read poetry and received this book by mistake and I must say it was an interesting experience to read it.

"Herstory" by Neha Bansal

"Herstory" by Neha Bansal is a collection of 39 verses that focus on gender inequality in India. Some of the verses are about mythical personages like Yashoda and others are about the common daily life that the author experienced through being a woman and working as a civil servant thus witnessing societal injustice towards the poor and the female gender. Many of such behavior stems even from the Hindu mythology and seems to be rooted deep in the Indian society.

The stories are beautifully written and are easy to read and understand. There is a certain amount of pain in each and every verse as they talk about the suffering mostly. Some verses (such as "Crochet Lace Hankies" and "Hiraeth: Green Chutney Made by My Mother") are filled with nostalgia.

It was a heart warming and important book making me look into the suffering of others.