5 Books That Can Change The Way You Look At Life.
If you ask me, any book you read can make you re-think your life’s ideologies. It can change the way you think. It can change the way you feel about a lot of things, maybe as insignificant as a place or as significant as your relationships. I often discuss books with my friends and I am always amazed to find how the same book affects different people in different ways. And so, I decided to talk about some of the books that have made me rethink about life.
Life of Pi (by Yann Martel)
I read this book with utter disbelief and mostly with my heart in my mouth. It had a lot to do with the fact that I fear water. And the story of this book was straight out of my nightmare – a boy stuck in a lifeboat all alone in the middle of a vast ocean. And to make it worse, add a tiger to the mix, please! The way Pi survives the ordeal – at first, disbelieving and thinking that it will be over soon, and then accepting the fact and taking control of life around him as best as he could and sometimes, just being frustrated and losing the will to live. We may think Pi to be heroic, but at the end, he is human. In hindsight, I figured, all our lives are like that too. We are on our lifeboats alone in this world. We ride some waves, some rock our boats while we just survive the rest until one big wave topples the boat over. Needless to say, this book made me think and rethink about the human psyche and an insurmountable will, that can take on anything.
The diary of a young girl (by Anne Frank)
I have read quite a few books on WWII and that’s how I chanced upon this book. On a broader account, everyone has read about the Nazi atrocities on the Jews. But reading it as a firsthand account of a girl as young as 12 is in a different league. And what I figured is that all the talk about Hitler’s reign or his policies or his isolation of the Jews is not what gets you. It’s how a child’s dreams of going out, experiencing that first kiss, growing old – such simple dreams that get lost in that big bad World War madness, this is what kills you. This book made me want to keep this part of history alive. That having a childhood with normal problems, to be able to experience that first kiss, and getting to grow old are blessings that we often forget, but must not.
This is another book that is set in the backdrop of WWII. And as many books as I have read on the subject, this one really stands out because of its story. While most books deal with the history and the atrocities that started with the isolation and eventually, the concentration camps, this book talks about the girl who undertook a deadly mission of overthrowing the Nazi regime by keeping the undercover mission alive. And in total contrast is her sister who would do anything but stay quiet until the wolf was right at her door. The contrasting personalities of these two sisters form a backdrop and how they do what needs to be done, in their own way, both showing a different way of courage. This book will compel you a lot to think about yourself as a person and what you would do if you were stuck in that catch 22 situation.
Must Read:
Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan
This book is as simple as it is profound. The author lists out 12 things in life that we must either say, accept or make peace with to lead a fulfilling life. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, and yet it is. At many places in the book, you may feel like she is discussing your life. Real life scenarios that we have all faced sometimes as a child, adolescent, as a friend, a parent or a spouse. The smallest of things that we say matter, the tiniest of gestures matter and she tells you that in her trademark serious, funny, sarcastic kind of way. There is no way you will not do a double take on your ways in life.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
This book should be a must read on everyone’s list for satire DONE RIGHT. Inspired and shaped by the Spanish Civil war, George Orwell wrote this book about the brutality of dictatorship, often hidden under the cloak of socialism and democracy. He weaves an incredible story with pigs, horses, dogs, puppies, sheep, and a lot of others, each of whom maintains their distinct character throughout the book. My favorite is Benjamin the donkey, who constantly keeps saying, “Life will go on as it has always gone on – that is badly”, summing up the condition of the public under a totalitarian rule.