World Book Night

An ardent book lover's idea to spread the joy of reading.......

"Just like all members of Librarywala, I too love books. There hasnʼt been a more hackneyed phrase in history, Iʼm sure, but sadly, such is the truth! So, I was delighted when I discovered World Book Night.

World Book Night is possibly the worldʼs largest book give-away drive. Conducted only in the UK and Ireland, this book give-away shortlists 25 titles for their drive each year. 

Forty thousand copies of these books are then given away to members of the general public – just like that, for free! Volunteers, known as ‘givers’ –  20,000 of them – select any book from the 25 titles, and give away 48 copies of their chosen book; the other copies are distributed on World Book Night itself (this year on March 5), in places that are difficult for volunteers to reach, such as prisons and hospitals. 

What a fantastic idea to spread the reading bug! Though India doesnʼt have similar programs running, perhaps pioneers such as Librarywala, armed with its huge member base, can start something like this. Any further ideas on how this can be done?"

blogpost by Shefali Sunderan Harsha - a Librarywala fan

Uncle Pai departs for heavenly abode

Anant Pai, better known as Uncle Pai, creator of Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle comics passed away on the 24^th of February, at the age of 81.

The trendsetter that he was in the world of comics showed millions of Indians the route to their roots with his mythological stories in Amar Chitra Katha.

In fact – the very concept of “comic strip”izing stories of the Indian culture was very innovative and  gave an impetus to reading of the Indian mythology.

The idea behind starting such a comicbook series came to Pai from a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?"

In the same year, the educational comics series Amar Chitra Katha was launched. Each of the comics in this series was devoted to a person or event in Indian history, religion and mythology. Anant Pai conceptualized of all of these, and wrote the scenarios for most of them.

Truly, Lt Mr Anant Pai deserves accolades for so intelligently carving from the Indian mythological characters into people’s minds.

Other than the profound history, Uncle Pai also created one of the funniest and longest running comic series in the history of India – Tinkle. Tinkle is believed to be the childhood companion of many for over two and half decades. – the gamut of stories covered in tinkle and the easy-to read language with colorful pictures attracted children to reading.

Ramu and Shamu, Kapish, Little Raji, Rekha, Fact Fantasy, Funland and Funtime are some of the comic strips featured in Tinkle.

Other works by Pai, include a number of books on personality development for children and teenagers, ("How To Develop Self-confidence", "How to Achieve Success", "How To Develop A Super Memory",UBS Publishers) and a series of audio book versions of Amar Chitra Katha stories, "Storytime with Uncle Pai" (Universal Music India, Dec 2001), where he plays the role of narrator-storyteller.

On February 19, a mere 5days prior to his death, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award this month at India's first ever Comic Convention held in New Delhi.

Thursday morning, Pai suffered a massive heart attack and breathed his last around 5 pm, a family member said.

By far, the child in him, kept the father of Indian comics alive in the comic world – and kept us reading.

An irreplaceable loss to the readers leaves them with a heavy heart – Uncle Pai shall forever live in the hearts of children, the minds of future comic authors and the soul of Tinkle digests and Amar Chitra Katha stories.

Librarywala expresses sincere condolence on behalf of all readers. May his soul rest in peace.

(With additional information from IANS. Wikipedia)

“The Bridge Across Forever” by Richard Bach‏

“Insightful read for the introspective romantic”

Genre: Romance/ autobiography

Our say: A compass in the quest to find “the perfect one” 

Review:

The book is an autobiography of Richard Bach's quest for his perfect soul mate, finding her and growing with her.

The book starts with Richard looking for his perfect soul mate. He meets many women, but finds it difficult to know who can be the woman he is looking for. He meets an actress Leslie Parrish, and gradually grows fond of her company. He realizes pretty late that Leslie is his woman. But he does not believe in marrying her since he feels his freedom may get curbed by marriage. It takes almost 4 years of staying together with her, that he is ready to get married to her!

The book gives an insight to how a human mind functions, gets confused, analyzes and finally reaches a conclusion; a conclusion which may seem obvious, but the the mind must go through these phases to be assured what it wants!

How to identify if one has met the soul mate that he has always longed for? If you ask SRK, he would say, "Dil ki ghanti bhajegi!" :) That will happen in Bollywood. In reality its difficult to know. Richard had almost considered Leslie as his sister, before he realized that he loved her differently! :)

Will your soul mate share all your hobbies, will like what you like, would dislike what you dislike? Well, no. In case of Richard and Leslie they both were different. Leslie loved music and was scared of even sitting in an airplane. And airplanes were Richard's first love! He was a dud when it came to music. 

So what is it that really holds two people together in a relationship? It is the growth of the two in a relationship that actually binds the love between the two! While Richard taught Leslie to fly an airplane, Leslie taught Richard to understand and appreciate music. The differences between the two were shared such that both of them grew with each other. Thats what made them happy together.

I liked a number of ideas and thoughts that Richard wrote. The best was the concept of Richard talking to the Richard of the past and of the future! Dont you ever feel like going back in time and correcting some of the decisions of your past? Dont you ever wonder how you would be in future? Richard feels it too. And he puts down this thought so well...
When Richard went to his house with his wife, Leslie, he remembered how, as a child, he stood near the door dreaming about the lady he would love... And he spoke to that Richard! In this context, I loved this line: "I shouted wordlessly to him over 2 decades ago" :)

- Mukta Aphale

 (Mukta Aphale is a librarywala subscriber & the winner of the Librarywala Facebook 'Celebrating Special moments' contest)

Other books by the author:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL: "LOVE STORY" BY ERICH SEGAL

"The incurable romantic’s favorite read"

“Love means never having to say you're sorry”

One of my favorite lines from an amazingly beautiful love story.  When you have found perfect love in life, it all seems so true, doesn’t it? The narration in the book makes you believe in such thoughts and takes you through to an endless journey of love.

It’s one romantic novel that’s sure to move you. Segal has done a brilliant job in portraying two characters with which generations can identify. He has showcased differences between the love of a father and son & that of husband and wife.

Love Story portrays the right example of “opposites attract” - opposites in terms of status, thoughts & characterstics. The book revolves around the lives of two young college students, Oliver Barrett, heir to the Barrett fortune and legacy and Jennifer Cavilleri, daughter of a poor baker. Oliver was expected to follow in his father's huge footsteps, while Jennifer, a music major, was to go on and pursue her dream. The boy belonged to a fortunate home whereas Jennifer had seen a tough life. But, love as they say knows no boundaries.

And when they meet, the sparks fly and they passionately fall in love with each other that grows deep and strong with each passing day. Oliver turns his back on his family and Jenny gives up her dreams of being a musician. They are happy with their life, until Jenny is diagnosed with leukemia. With just a few days to live, the novel describes the emotional pain they both go through & yet don’t leave each other. It portrays that love has no language and stays on forever.

The characters have been depicted really well & keep you completely engrossed. You might even end up with tearful eyes as the story touches your heart & relates to your emotions deeply.

I’d certainly recommend this book to anyone who believes in love and more so to those who don’t. It’s bound to evoke powerful emotions in you! The story is simple and a far cry from dramatized happenings and unreal situations. I am sure the story shall linger in your heart now and always.

Arshia Dar

A Librarywala fan

"LOVE STORY, the 1970 movie is based on the book by Erich Segal "

Starring:

Ali MacGraw Ryan O'Neal John Marley Ray Milland

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne.

"Compelling read for business executives"  

Genre: Business & Management

Our Say: An eye-opener 4/5

Language used: Understandable with some technical jargon

Application in business world: Great reviews from executives 

Review -

W.Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne base this book on the idea of competing healthily in today’s world of cut-throat competition, as against sabotaging each other.

He believes organizations shouldn’t attempt to compete with each other, rather try to nullify them. As he quotes “the only way to beat competition is to stop trying to stop beating them” – clichéd as it might sound, it makes sense when thought over.

When an organization tries to outperform its competition, its focus shifts away from its more important target segment to the frivolous rival companies. It becomes a ‘someone else’ instead of being ‘itself’.

The smarter way out is quit playing within the industry’s conventionally defined boundaries but to define untapped markets. This creates new demand & promotes highly lucrative growth. The author believes that defeating the opponent is essentially a war element- where the battle is to conquer a piece of land which is limited & constant; unlike the dynamic scenario of business.

A couple of chapters through, the book gets a bit technical and lays out an analytical framework for the organization to work in.

It’s almost like a DIY to help formulate and execute the blue ocean strategy which revolves around the 6 principles of the same. Another thing to be noted is that the book is loaded with examples and unlike an “in search of excellence” or a “built to last”, it quotes examples of a tad less successful companies too.

All in all, it’s a pretty helpful read that changes the mindset of the managers at companies to think beyond competition. Work on your core competence & build it to have successful growth.  

Hiten Turakhia

Librarywala.com

Good to Great by Jim Collins

“Attitude Booster for working professionals”

Genre: Business & Management

Our Say – Must go on book-shelf - 4/5

Language used – Simple yet strong & convincing

Practicality in business world – Extremely applicable & helpful

Review:

Collins scores big time with this one.

First things first, commendable and convincing effort in the research put behind writing the book. Collins, along with his team conducted a research on some companies over a period of five years, studied their journey or leap as he calls it from being a mediocre good to being tremendously great.

As he puts it – Good is the enemy of GREAT.

In this read, he very smoothly communicates the various trends that are essentially noted in the “good to great” companies – the observations which now serve as directional guidelines for companies looking to make the leap successfully.

He throws light on the various factors responsible for giving an impetus to the leap and very intelligently explains both its importance and its functioning.

In addition to that, he clears existing myths concerning “revolutionary changes” that give an organization its clichéd “breakthrough”.

All in all, the book is extremely well written with no-frills and a powerful language usage.

It’s sure to leave an impression on the reader and, if put into practice, certainly the organization too.

Author’s say:

“I’m also convinced that the good-to-great findings apply broadly—not just to CEOs but also to you and me in whatever work we’re engaged in, including the work of our own lives. For many people, the first question that occurs is, “But how do I persuade my CEO to get it?” My answer: Don't worry about that. Focus instead on results—on subverting mediocrity by creating a Flywheel Effect within your own span of responsibility. 

So long as we can choose the people we want to put on our own minibus, each of us can create a pocket of greatness. Each of us can take our own area of work and influence and can concentrate on moving it from good to great. It doesn’t really matter whether all the CEOs get it. It only matters that you and I do. Now, it’s time to get to work."

Hiten Turakhia


Librarywala.com