false 27 707 405 true 5624134 read 1 true 5291437 currently-reading 301 true 5291436 to-read 255 false 8244239 i-own 183 false 8244216 2009-reads 111 false 8243759 young-adult-books 88 false 8247073 borrowed-books 86 false 8243905 classics 82 false 8243968 series 79 false 8244046 chick-lit 74 false 8243786 contemporary--fiction 49 false 8244645 women-s-fiction 32 false 8243878 romance 29 false 8244959 mystery 27 false 8244034 fantasy 25 false 8642523 young-adult-challenge 23 false 8247032 kid-lit 21 false 8243798 historical-fiction 19 false 8252053 2008-reads 13 false 8256689 medical-mystery 12 false 8244099 vampire-zombies 11 false 8252495 paranormal 11 false 8244072 humour 10 false 8256518 self-improvement 9 false 8260147 cookbooks 6 false 8243857 graphic-novels 6 false 8243819 science-fiction 5 false 8642544 south-asian-author-challenge 5 false 8243845 short-stories 4 false 8243893 memoirs 4 false 8643171 indian-authors 4 false 8256753 thrillers 3 false 8244230 rory-gilmore-books 2 false 8643085 medical-fiction 1 false 8643184 fiction 1 false 8300219 audiobooks 1 false 8244601 poltical-fiction 0 false 8243994 picture-books 0 false 8244079 non-fiction 0 false 8642530 a-to-z-challenge 0 false 8642556 flashback-challenge http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78516764 to: March (Paperback) by Geraldine Brooks
bookshelves: borrowed-books
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77411216 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Paperback) by Jonathan Safran Foer
bookshelves: borrowed-books, currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77933610 to: The Angel's Game (Paperback) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
bookshelves: 2009-reads, i-own, mystery
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77933526 to: The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus (Hardcover) by Margaret Atwood
bookshelves: 2009-reads, borrowed-books, historical-fiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77408269 to: The Red Tent (Hardcover) by Anita Diamant
bookshelves: 2009-reads, historical-fiction, i-own, women-s-fiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77410504 to: On the Road (Paperback) by Jack Kerouac
bookshelves: 2009-reads, borrowed-books, contemporary--fiction, rory-gilmore-books
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77421000 to: Letters to a Young Poet (Paperback) by Rainer Maria Rilke
bookshelves: rory-gilmore-books
We read numerous books in our lifetime but a select few stay in our memory as fresh as it has been read this day itself. Each of us has these all time favorites . I too have a few and I made an addition to that list when I turned the last page of Rilke’s Letters To A Young Poet.

It’s a slim volume but never go by looks. These 10 letters were Rilke ’s response to Franz Kappus , a new recruit to the military academy in Germany , who had sent his poetry to Rilke to ask for his opinion. The senior poet starts the first letter with his honest opinion and goes on in his subsequent correspondence in to the depths of creativity , imagination and its utilisation . It’s not just about poetry but also some very important lessons in life that these letters address to. He doesn’t preach , just tells the young man who is seemingly confused and dejected in life due to his failure in the field of poetry , to take heart , to learn new things and try to find satisfaction in his work not for the sake of others but for his inner happiness.

Reading this book is kind of experience in itself and I know I would want to read it again , very soon. Not because I would have forgotten the matter , but because it has certain things which we constantly need to remind our selves .

I will leave you with a few lines that I loved :

It is also good to love: because love is difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. That is why young people, who are beginners in everything, are not yet capable of love: it is something they must learn.

So you mustn’t be frightened, dear Mr. Kappus, if a sadness rises in front of you, larger than any you have ever seen; if an anxiety, like light and cloud-shadows, moves over your hands and over everything you do. You must realize that something is happening to you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall.

This would make an ideal gift to students who are just finishing school and are about to step in to the world . Even other wise this would be a great gift to anyone who loves reading.

Highly recommended.

My rating 5 out of 5

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77098734 to: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Paperback) by Betty Smith
bookshelves: 2009-reads, contemporary--fiction, i-own
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