Aphrodite - Book Review

If you are below 18 years of age then please do not bother to read this blog.

Well now that i have caught your attention ;-) let me go into details on 'Aphrodite' by Isabel Allende real quick. Brought to notice by a friend of mine, i have been reading about/listening to Isabel for sometime now. So my first pick among her works was 'Aphrodite' named after the Greek goddess of Love. Well the fact that this was the only copy that was available in the library i am member of helped the selection. Nevertheless, the title is quite interesting and set me thinking on what really can be written on this subject that can result in a book of decent size!!
In this book, Isabel teams up with few friends of hers to present wisdom on aphrodisiacs from various parts of the world. Very honestly i could sustain till the end because of her sense of humour and the weirdness of some of the facts!!. May be there is no real need for an aphrodisiac in my life as of now!! Lets assume that there are lots of them who are dying to be enlightened on this subject. For them she also has come up with a collection of aprodisiacal recipes besides general gyan on the subject. Well in short, this book is about what to do, what to wear, what to eat, what to drink and how to smell if you are on an enticing spree!!
I dont feel like putting it in my recommendation list but then if you tend to be the curious variety like me - Enjoy the book!!!

A thousand Suns - book review

One of my favourite authors, Dominique Lapierre in "A thousand suns" shows why he is such a popular writer. An eye for detail, a heart for the poor and tales he learnt from his adventures - he has enough stories to write about. In this book he travels from one part of the world to the other with so much ease. He takes us along and shows us how fortunate we are and yet how less responsible we are to the suffering around us. It is a different fact that we probably dont hear the cries of the needy. We are ourselves sufferers of our own insecurites - though the need for it is highly debatale!!

What impresses me the most about his works is that there is joy in every struggle he sees because he finds them all heroic. He salutes the spirit of the poor and underprivileged who still manage to put up a smile despite adversities. He introduces us to many interesting and passionate men and women who bravely march ahead for the fulfilment of a herculean yet noble cause. Through his eyes we revel in the joy of having discovered things that are obvious and yet unnoticed.

The context just shifts from Bull fighting in Spain to the lepers in India to the Jewish sturggle in Jerusalem in a very beautiful manner. It seems that challenges are universal - we cannot thrive without them and we will not be able to improve without them. All it takes is a commitment to surpass the hurdles - to overlook the bad roads and proceed glefully towards the destination. To remember along the way the spirits of those brave men and women who have laid their lives for a cause. I was hooked on to this book and as usual felt humbled at the power of humanity!! There is so much we can do - There is so much that is being done already by someone!!