Manish Tully: Book Review

The Leader Who Had No title: Robin Sharma Another masterpiece by Robin Sharma. At the outset, I would like everyone from the corporate sector to read this book. A fresher, a junior, a senior,  boss and the management must read this book. I am sure this will change managements’ outlook towards its employees and vice versa. The lessons are quite simple but too dynamic and powerful.  Few pointer from this master piece: For the management: “ What will happen to the symphony if even one of its player was out of tune and less than superb at his art” For the employees: “ A restaurant is the only place I know of where you eat good stuff first and then pay the price. In work and in life in general, you need to pay the price of the success before you get all the rewards due to you.” For everyone: “Critics generally criticise you only because at some level they care about you. When they stop saying anything, its because you no longer matter to them. It’s

The Deliberate Sinner: Bhaavna Arora The name is enough to describe that this book must have something to do with physical and emotional needs of a woman. The storyline is quite simple and straightforward.. Rihana falling in love with Veer initially and married him at the time when she was in a confused state of mind about her love for Veer.  The book captures strained relationship between Rihana and Veer. A typical ‘Ekta Kapoors’ type of story. I am sure, if she reads it, she can easily make 100 episode daily soap from this one.  An average book. Simple day-to-day  story of every fifth household in India. Manish Tully

Soft Eclipse: By Jayabrato Chatterjee This is a story superficial and disturbing lifestyles of Kolkata high class. There is a story of a girl, Mohini, her birth, her childhood, adolescent, three day love affair, marriage, betrayal, mechanical sex life, NGO’s, ladies chit chat, children and finally a widow. What else you expect in a life of so called rich and influential Kolkata’s elite and high class society. This story line is pretty fast. But somehow… I felt that there are too many characters in the story… It appears that the author is trying to capture every second person he comes across. Too many people….. too many narrative about their life.  A light read.  Few lines by The Beatles stated in the book are quite interesting:    “W hen I get older loosing my hair Many years from now Will you still be sending me a Valentine Birthday greetings, a bottle of wine? If  I’d been out till quarter to three Would you lock the door? Will you still need

Burial and Sea: By Khushwant Singh ohhhhh… another short soft porn & erotic book by Mr. Singh…. There is  a story of Victor Jai Bhagwan, his daughter Bharati and sexual encounters of Victor with a Tantric god god woman…. Durgeshwari Devi.    A short book .. only 146 pages and you all need an hour to complete this one.  The story is quite simple… love, friendship, work, hate and revenge… and of course….. typical of Mr. Singh… some sessions on sex education, which to certain extent also include some copulation postures… which Durgeshwari Devi taught Victor…..while the Tiger stands guard. Interesting read about all of them and a tiger belonging to the tantric god woman… I read at internet that this book is somewhat inspired from the life of Nehru. I am not sure about the statement… but still you can enjoy this book.  Good one. Manish Tully

Lolita: by Vladimir Nabokov First edition of this book was out somewhere around 1955. This book is till considered as taboo in certain countries…. but i do not understand why…. more-so when internet is flooded with porn, and adult movies.  I understand that this book is still considered as one of the best read in the Reading Fraternity.  The book revolved around Lolita and a literature professor Humbert Humbert: a sexual obsession of the professor for Dolores Haze. The professor remained obsessed with nymphets. This book … can be categorised as ‘erotic reading’…. definitely in 1950—-1960…., do not compare it with cheap erotic books and stories published by few new writers in the town… it was and will always remain a classic.  A good read. My rating is 7/10. Manish Tully

Mritunjaya- story of Karna and Mahabharata: By Shivaji Sawant This book was first published in the year 1974. Majority of Indians, in their childhood, must have either read or heard stories of Mahabharata. Often, our elders tell story about Mahabharata, as it is explained from the perspective of either Lord Krishna or as envisaged by, so called follower of truth and righteous, the Pandavas. Shivaji Sawant, wrote this upanyas about Mahabharata as seen and experienced by Karna… the Danveer Karna…. the son of the Surya Dev (Sun God). I was initially planning to buy an English version of this book…….. but somehow ended up with a Hindi version….. I was bit anxious about my decision; but I must say, I indeed made a right decision. I must say, if you know how to read Hindi (no professional knowledge of Hindi is necessary), please buy a Hindi version only. Few words are quite typical to understand, but given the background you can easily understand the context and meani

BARED TO YOU: SYLVIA DAY I read this book while getting my physiotherapy sessions. Quite seductive. This book can easily be described through a flow chart: Girl—boy—hate—love—forced ‘attempted’ sex—sex—sex—hate—sex—sex—Ex—hate—sex—sex—sex. Thats it.  Quite interesting time pass. Good but comprehensible storyline. Wait for a Hollywood movie based on this novel.  If you want a kick in your sex life, go ahead  and read this book. Anyways, I enjoyed it. 

THE PROPHET: KAHLIL GIBRAN A masterpiece. A treasury of lessons. I bought this book from a second hand book store at Rs. 50 - less than a dollar, but the teachings are priceless. Be patient while you read this book. You may not be able to understand the teaching in the beginning; but as you progress, you just cannot put it down. A small book, won’t take more that an hour to complete. A teaching about ‘your work’: “ work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work for joy.”  Read this masterpiece. 

THE SHACK: WHERE TRAGEDY CONFRONTS ETERNITY BY WM PAUL YOUNG A must read. This work of fiction encapsulate Q&A session between a hapless father who lost her young daughter and DADDY (the God). The story line is quite interesting; Mack’s youngest daughter has been abducted and believed to be murdered by some psychopath in the SHACK. Four years later, Mack receives a mysterious letter directing him to vista the SHACK once again and the said invite was signed a fem “Daddy”…. i.e. The God. What happens at the Shack is quite interesting.  I am not a story teller; but I must say, you guys will not regret reading this book till the end. Irrespective of your religious believes, just read this book and you will get some great lessons of life and for the life.  A quick lesson of life: “ If you and I are friends, there is an expectancy that exists within our relationship. When we see each other or are apart, there is expectancy of being together, of laughing an

DELHI DURBAR- 1911- THE COMPLETE STORY BY SUNIL RAMAN AND ROHIT AGARWAL Delhi Durbar, a book of interest for history enthusiasts. The book takes its reader through the year 1911, the year of coronation of King George V as the Emperor of India. This book indeed contain lot of b/w pictures from the year 1911 showcasing the Coronation Durbar at Delhi. According to the book the Coronation Durbar was attended by one hundred thousand people. Various Raja’s, Maharaja’s attended this Coronation.  There is no storyline in the book per se, it simple takes its readers through the arrangements for the Coronation, menu, camp arrangements, travel arrangements, bills etc. Read this book if you are interested in understanding Indian history and britishers tamashaa for coronation.  I personally liked this book a lot.

TRAIN TO PAKISTAN: KHUSHWANT SINGH Two days before we lost legendary Khushwant Singh. He died at the age of 99. He always remained and will remain one of the most read Indian author. Train to Pakistan remained one of my favourite books. This book can really bring tears rolling on your cheeks. I read this book way back in the year 2009 (to be precise I read this book on July 11, 2009). When I went to buy this book at a book store, there were two versions available (a) hard bound with pictures and (b) hard bound without pictures. I flipped though the book with pictures. The pictures of India-Pakistan Partition were so disturbing, I could not gather courage to flip through the book till its last pic…. i simply  bought the book without any pictures. Both the countries suffered a lot during partition of 1947. Religious fanatics from both the sides - both muslims and hindus, butchered their fellow countrymen like vegetables. Both sides went on rampage, rape, mass murders….