"The Road Less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck

"The Road Less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck is a book that I find hard to describe. It belongs to the "psychology" genre and it is a self-help book whose purpose is spiritual development. 

The author M. Scott Peck was a psychiatrist with many years of experience and he wrote this book from a psychiatric perspective. This book is about parenting, about the fact that if we want to grow spiritually, we should actively initiate the growth and not fear of challenges. The author encourages (based on his psychiatric experiences) his readers to be brave in living our lives and not avoiding difficult experiences.

A lot is written about parenting, marriage and relationships in this book and it does press a lot of buttons and is not an easy book to read. I thought it basically revealed the secret of life. Why are we here, how does spiritual grow happen and how to behave in order to grow faster and better spiritually. 

I remember once wondering about how love works. It resulted in me buying the "Psychology of Love" by Freud, but I didn't find the answer there. M. Scott Peck explains what is love and what is the difference between love and falling-in-love. I felt absolutely satisfied with the explanation. 

The author also talks a lot about "Grace", which is the term I never heard before but which basically is similar to "The Spirit" (used by the New Agers). He mentions how "Grace" helped him in writing this book and which basically is "the magical synchronicity" that brings something helpful into our lives at the right moment (which is hard to explain and is "beyond science"). 

I think that with the help of this "grace" I actually received this book. A wife of my husband's friend just handed over to me a backpack full of "esoteric" books. One of those was "The Road Less Travelled" and I decided to read it only after a year of when I received it. The cover isn't bright and memorable, it's kind of dull, but something in me said: "I want to read that dull-looking book!" (no idea what it's about).

I extremely enjoyed reading this book and it's more than a book - it's wisdom, it's guidance and, I feel, - it's the truth! After a very long time I enjoyed reading something so much, I forgot to look at which page I'm on (usually I can't wait to get over with the book). 

I recommend it to everyone and I think everyone would benefit from it (but one kind of has to be "ready"). It also can be a bit painful and healing at the same time to read it.

"Self-Mastery Workshop Manual" by Dr. Newton Kondaveti

"Self-Mastery Workshop Manual" by Dr. Newton Kondaveti is a 67 page booklet with some basic information on self sabotaging patterns, basic fears,  basic character structures, the essence of shamanic wisdom, power animals, soul retrieval, abundance, story meditation and  meditation and spiritual science.

This book was published to use in a local workshop and is not available on amazon. It does have some good information on personalities and basic fears and their relation to past lives, also the chapter on power animals was interesting. 

I felt that the book is not meant for independent reading and it is meant only as notes to be used within some context (like a seminar or workshop). Therefore the information seemed a bit scattered and unrelated. Overall, I did enjoy reading it and revising the information that was heard or unheard of before.

"Stories from Around the World" by Heather Amery & Linda Edwards

"Stories from Around the World" by Heather Amery & Linda Edwards is an amazing book of folk stories with beautiful illustrations.

This is a 127 page high quality book with foam covers that has 22 stories from Australia, Persia, Greece, France, South America, New Zealand, Germany, Mexico, India, Scandinavia, Italy, Holland, Morocco, China, Czech Republic, Spain, Africa, Russia, Britain, North America, Japan and Cambodia.

The stories are well selected and have a deep meaning that delivers a great message for the children. Each page and each story is amazingly illustrated by Linda Edwards and it's hard to stop looking. 

The book itself is an artwork and although it's not too thick, 22 stories is more than enough. It takes you all around the world and makes you "taste" the different culture, although the main thing - people relationships and learnings are always the same.

"Moonlight Magic of Arabian Nights"

 "Moonlight Magic of Arabian Nights" is a 79 page illustrated book for children. It has four stories: "King Schariar", "The Greedy Trader", "The Husband and the Honest Parrot" and "A Bull and a Donkey".  

"King Schahriar" story is probably the most famous Arabian Night's story because it's the story about the smart and beautiful Scheherzade who decided to stop the cruel king from killing young brides by telling him stories.

"A Bull and a Donkey" is also a very famous story with a great moral. 

I found these stories fun to read, loved the illustrations and everything else about this book. 

"Mysterious Tales of Arabian Nights"

"Mysterious Tales of Arabian Nights" is a beautifully illustrated 78 page book for young children. 

It has four stories: "The Merchant and the Genie", "The First Old Man", "The Second Old Man" and "The Fisherman and The Genie". 

As typical with the Arabian Nights, it is one story that branches out into multiple other stories. 

It starts with a merchant who travels throughout the desert and stops for a rest. While snacking on dates he manages to kill genie's son and make genie mad. 

The genie wants to kill him but the man is saved by the three stories that will be told by him and the other two passers by. 

Eventually, genie lets him go. This is just how Arabian Nights were written - someone tells a story about someone else who tells a story to someone about someone else and when you are about to forget the main story, all the other stories tend to roll back into their starting point. 

It is a really beautiful book with just a couple of sentences per page. It is cozy, it is heart-warming and it takes you to that Arabic world and is a simple and uncomplicated retelling of the originally complicated Arabian Nights.

"Sikh Women" by Pritpal Singh Tuli

"Sikh Women" by Pritpal Singh Tuli is an illustrated book for children about the twenty-five famous Sikh women. 

Starting with Mata Tripta and ending with Bibi Balbir Kaur the book narrates their life story and why are they important. 

While some of the women were the close relatives and family members of the Guru Nanak, the other women were known as devotees and those who sacrificed their life for charity and service.

The rest were either the queens or lead Sikh army troops consisting barely of women: they saved villagers and protected those who needed help. Many women mentioned had the warrior spirit and knew martial arts, sword fighting and horse riding. 

It is impressive to see an Eastern religion where there has been an attempt to balance out the male and female "inequality" by encouraging the same names and  duties for both genders.

Although it's a children's book that my husband brought to me from the Golden Temple as a souvenir, I think I learned quite a bit about the great Sikh warrior women that not only fought but organized troops and planned attacks against the Mughals. 

"Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carrol

 "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll is a fantastic story about a seven year old Alice who travels into the fantasy world. It is not clear whether it's a reality or merely a dream.

She travels via a tree trunk into the unknown world where she has a magical drink that turns her really small. There she meets White Rabbit, Dormouse, Queen of Hearts and many other characters that appear to be rude to her and boss her around.

What I liked about "Alice in Wonderland" was how fun and creative it was. The author was playing with words and saying things like "uncommon nonsense" and challenging our perceptions of space and time. It did feel a bit sci-fi and hilarious to me.

I also enjoyed Alice's character that was pretty strong and independent. She was brave, she was fun and she was up for all the adventures that she met on her way.

At the end of the book, she woke up as if from a dream, so that made the story even more surreal. 

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker is an illustrated and simplified version for kids. It is a story about the legendary vampire Count Dracula from Romania and a British lawyer Jonathan Harker who ends up trapped in his castle. After Dracula traps Jonathan in his castle, he leaves for England and then Jonathan escapes to Budapest. 

Suddenly in London, people start mysteriously dying and disappearing including Jonathan Harker's wife's Mina's best friend Lucy. Jonathan, Mina, Dr Van Helsing and others decide to stop Dracula forever. They chase him and eventually, using tools like hypnosis, sacred waffles and crosses they manage to do that.

The story is pretty exciting but grim. It takes us far to the depths of South-east Europe, to its forests and snowy hills and masterfully introduces us to the dark and evil unknown. It kind of is a horror novel full of disturbing elements like beheadings and blood, coffins and tombs, dead bodies and mysterious wooden boxes, spiders and bats, flies and rats, hypnosis and madmen. 

I enjoyed reading it but it was confusing because it was not written in a usual linear fashion. Many people were narrating the story in a diary fashion and also there were some newspaper clippings. At first, I found the characters to be to many and only at about the last half of the book it started to make sense to me. 

Overall a great classical read and this particular edition is great for children who go to junior high. 

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain is a novel for children. It is a story of a mischievous boy Tom Sawyer who lives with his aunt and who gets into all sorts of troubles. 

Tom Sawyer is a "bad kid" and hangs out with other bad kids. He lies, he steals, he runs from home, he manipulates - he can't help it. He even befriends some criminals and outcasts because he loves doing all the bad "stuff".

This is an illustrated and simplified version by the OM Books and it reads easily. I was surprised that I enjoyed this novel because I consider myself a bit judgmental and "strict" when it comes to crimes and mischiefs (I am probably old). 

However it was a lot of fun reading this book because all the things that the children did and witnessed were thrilling and actually suspenseful like a crime novel (they witnessed a murdered and they overheard a plan of attempted murder). 

Also, despite the tender Tom Sawyer's age - he's in love! This novel has all the necessary elements for intrigue and suspense for junior school children (or everyone who will read it). 

"The Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann David Wyss

"The Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann David Wyss (published by OM Books) is an illustrated version of the story. 

The story is about a Swiss family of six (father, mother and four sons) who survive the shipwreck and end up in an island near New Guinea. 

There they start their new life from scratch trying to survive the wilderness, build a house, domesticate animals and explore the local flora and fauna.

The story is a classic and inspired by Robinson Crusoe and it's about a European family colonizing an idyllic uninhabited island. 

It's a fun and easy read that takes the reader on a rich visual journey (makes you imagine you're in a beautiful island) and it's written from "a poor shipwrecked European man" perspective, narrated from the father's perspective. 

Although I enjoyed the book and can understand where the author is coming from, considering the current rise of animal rights and vegetarianism, Swiss family seemed quite murderous and cold in many instances (and therefore selfish and not very likable). 

For example: "Come on, Father, strangle him and kill him!" I could hear Ernest scream from behind.

I however, shook my head and told him, "It isn't good to kill someone in the first place , and even if we have to, we should make sure that death is painless. There is no need to make this poor iguana suffer! And taking my knife out, I killed the beast with one cut."

Having read this book in my childhood, I thought it was OK to do that because they had to eat and they didn't have flour or oats to cook for breakfast, but I was actually surprised to find myself a bit taken aback by these killings of animals (or hunting). 

Maybe that says that I have forgotten that human is an animal and that naturally we used to hunt before and therefore I have lost my sense with reality in a way. Or maybe I became influenced by the animal rights movements and vegetarianism that is so "default" in India (and becoming worldwide). 

Overall it's an interesting classical read that can help one understand the mentality of the average European at that time. The book characters embodied the "ideal family" and "ideal personality traits" of rationality, hard work, persistence, religiousness, dutifulness, stubbornness and positive thinking. 

"Around The World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne

"Around The World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne (published by OM BOOKS, India) is an illustrated version for children.

The book is about Phileas Fogg - a rich and a super punctual person from London who likes visiting The Reform Club most of all places. He then bets 20000 pounds that he can travel the world in just 80 days. 

Just before leaving he finds himself a loyal servant - a Frenchman Passepartout. While they attempt to travel the world through India, China, Japan and America, Phileas Fogg is also being chased by a detective Mr. Fix, who thinks that Fogg is actually a bank robber. 

Phileas Fogg is an unemotional Englishman and Jean Passepartout - a curious and emotional Frenchman who likes poking around places. The servant gets into all kinds of trouble while walking on foot in foreign ports. 

It's a really entertaining and informative story that was and is extremely interesting for us to read then and now. It covers some interesting cultural details and history, also geography as well as takes us around the world.

The book also has questions from all the chapters at the end to quiz you and make sure that you got your facts right!