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What is your fallback book?

So this is for all the booklovers out there? What is your fallbook? As in which is the book you read when you don't feel very good, or need to take a break from the Universe?


ssver2,JD2021and35 otherslike this
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Talking of memorable opening lines

The Great Gatsby: "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." 

Slaughterhouse:“All this happened, more or less.”

Anna Kerenina:“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”


ssver2,
2.9k views

Bepopsaid

@Villanelle Genres are too constricting, I would not say Kafka on the shore is a young adult coming of age story, it's a bit of everything a little coming of age,magical realism, a bit fantasy fiction and 100% Murakami's own brand of writing elements.


Yeah, I should have been more clear. I mean the other two books. Not Murakami, he is his own genre :)

2.8k views
@Neyawn so why dnt u substitute it with Forum ethics book or say epic edition just 4 a change 😊?nice idea huh?


2.6k views

Talking of memorable opening lines

The Great Gatsby: "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." 

Slaughterhouse:“All this happened, more or less.”

Anna Kerenina:“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”


That Tale of two cities :heart:

ssver2,
3.7k views

Agogsaid

@Neyawn so why dnt u substitute it with Forum ethics book or say epic edition just 4 a change 😊?nice idea huh?


The red book of ethics, book, it’s sitting on my table. I have to review / revise and edit it. For a second edition :(


People have pitched in with some suggestions, and I want to make it slimmer.

ssver2,
3.7k views
Alchemist By paulo Koelho
2.8k views

Neyawnsaid

» show previous quotes

Don't judge me, but its Doctors by Erich Segal. Its preface still gives me goosebumps. I read it as an adolescent, and it has stuck with me.

With a single exception they were all white. And with five exceptions all male.


 Some were brilliant bordering on genius.

Others, genius bordering on madness.

One had played a cello recital at Carnegie Hall, another had played a year of professional basketball.

Six had written novels, two of which had actually been published.

One was a lapsed priest.

One was a graduate of reform school.

All were scared to death.


 What had brought them together on this bright September morning in 1958 was their common status as first-year students at Harvard Medical School.

They had gathered in Room D to hear a welcoming address by Dean Courtney Holmes.

 His features could have come straight from a Roman coin.

And his demeanor gave the impression that he had been born with a gold watch and chain instead of an umbilical cord.

He did not have to call for quiet. He merely smiled and the spectators hushed.

‘Gentlemen,’ he began, ‘you are collectively embarking on a great voyage to the frontiers of medical knowledge – which is where you will begin your own individual explorations in the yet-uncharted territory of suffering and disease.

Someone sitting in this room may find a cure for leukemia, diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus and the deadly hydraheaded carcinomas …’


 He took a perfectly timed dramatic pause. And with a sparkle in his pale blue eyes he added, ‘Perhaps even the common cold.’


There was appreciative laughter.


Then the silver-haired dean lowered his head, perhaps to signify that he was deep in thought. The students waited in suspense.


When at last he looked up and began to speak again, his voice was softer, an octave lower.


‘Let me conclude by disclosing a secret – as humbling for me to reveal as for you to hear.’


He turned and wrote something on the blackboard behind him.


Two simple digits – the numbertwenty-six.


A buzz of bewilderment filled the room.


Holmes waited for quiet to return, drew breath, and then gazed straight into the spellbound auditorium.


‘Gentlemen, I urge you to engrave this on the template of your memories: there are thousands of diseases in this world, but Medical Science only has an empirical cure for twenty-six of them. The rest is … guesswork.’


And that was all.


With military posture and athletic grace, he strode off the podium and out of the room.


The crowd was too dazzled to applaud.

Man I remember reading this book, also as an adolescent.  (I remember crying after the ending of this book and the movie Casablanca as a teen). Thanks for reminding me about this book. I need to read it again.

Sankoza,
2.9k views
@Villanelle the best joke Hitchhiker’s guide is about humans and test mice in labs. The sheer ingenuity of that joke confounds me to this day! Damn good book! 


ssver2,Villanelle
2.6k views

Neyawnsaid

» show previous quotes

Don't judge me, but its Doctors by Erich Segal. Its preface still gives me goosebumps. I read it as an adolescent, and it has stuck with me.

With a single exception they were all white. And with five exceptions all male.


 Some were brilliant bordering on genius.

Others, genius bordering on madness.

One had played a cello recital at Carnegie Hall, another had played a year of professional basketball.

Six had written novels, two of which had actually been published.

One was a lapsed priest.

One was a graduate of reform school.

All were scared to death.


 What had brought them together on this bright September morning in 1958 was their common status as first-year students at Harvard Medical School.

They had gathered in Room D to hear a welcoming address by Dean Courtney Holmes.

 His features could have come straight from a Roman coin.

And his demeanor gave the impression that he had been born with a gold watch and chain instead of an umbilical cord.

He did not have to call for quiet. He merely smiled and the spectators hushed.

‘Gentlemen,’ he began, ‘you are collectively embarking on a great voyage to the frontiers of medical knowledge – which is where you will begin your own individual explorations in the yet-uncharted territory of suffering and disease.

Someone sitting in this room may find a cure for leukemia, diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus and the deadly hydraheaded carcinomas …’


 He took a perfectly timed dramatic pause. And with a sparkle in his pale blue eyes he added, ‘Perhaps even the common cold.’


There was appreciative laughter.


Then the silver-haired dean lowered his head, perhaps to signify that he was deep in thought. The students waited in suspense.


When at last he looked up and began to speak again, his voice was softer, an octave lower.


‘Let me conclude by disclosing a secret – as humbling for me to reveal as for you to hear.’


He turned and wrote something on the blackboard behind him.


Two simple digits – the numbertwenty-six.


A buzz of bewilderment filled the room.


Holmes waited for quiet to return, drew breath, and then gazed straight into the spellbound auditorium.


‘Gentlemen, I urge you to engrave this on the template of your memories: there are thousands of diseases in this world, but Medical Science only has an empirical cure for twenty-six of them. The rest is … guesswork.’


And that was all.


With military posture and athletic grace, he strode off the podium and out of the room.


The crowd was too dazzled to applaud.

Man I remember reading this book, also as an adolescent.  (I remember crying after the ending of this book and the movie Casablanca as a teen). Thanks for reminding me about this book. I need to read it again.

I also loved The namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri . I grew up in a hostel with lot of Bengali and a few Chinese students. I would recall how the mother of the protagonist would use a “chilohi “ ( known by other names in other communities / states ) , sitting on the floor to chop vegetables. These days people use knives and do it standing.

The descriptions in the namesake were very vivid. It’s not my fallback book, but I have a sense of nostalgia attached with that book.

ssver2,JanuaryLexa
3.5k views
Zen and the art of motorcycle repair

Wow! This IAS prep keeps throwing up surprises every day. 

Not to be condescending or anything, but I genuinely didn’t think I would meet someone here who’s read this book. 


To be honest, it was a good book but it scared the shit out of me! But the father-son relationship in that book is heart-wrenching to say the least. 


stoic97,KV17
2.6k views

Consolations by David Whyte. subtitled The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words

disrupts assumed superficiality of language through which we live our lives, and delves into the slower, attentive point/path of what is possible with it.

excerpt for the word Procrastination-

What looks from the outside like our delay; our lack of commitment; even our laziness may have more to do with a slow, necessary ripening through time and the central struggle with the realities of any endeavor to which we have set our minds. To hate our procrastinating tendencies is in some way to hate our relationship with time itself, to be unequal to the phenomenology of revelation and the way it works its own way in its very own gifted time, only emerging when the very qualities it represents have a firm correspondence in our necessarily struggling heart and imagination.
Procrastination helps us to be a student of our own reluctance, to understand the hidden darker side of the first enthusiastic idea, to learn what we are afraid of in the endeavor itself; to put an underbelly into the work itself so that it becomes a living, satisfying whole, not a surface trying to manipulate us in the moment.
Procrastination does not stop a project from coming to fruition, what stops us is giving up on an original idea because we have not got to the heart of the reason we are delaying, nor let the true form of our reluctance instruct us in the way ahead. 

Neyawn,ssver2and4 otherslike this
2.8k views
Zen and the art of motorcycle repair

Wow! This IAS prep keeps throwing up surprises every day. 

Not to be condescending or anything, but I genuinely didn’t think I would meet someone here who’s read this book. 


To be honest, it was a good book but it scared the shit out of me! But the father-son relationship in that book is heart-wrenching to say the least. 


You have no idea of what the best of forum is capable of doing. We had the glory once when we had a clean forum with clean discussions. We will have it again. We want a small but meaningful community. 

Sapien,ssver2and9 otherslike this
4.8k views
Zen and the art of motorcycle repair

Wow! This IAS prep keeps throwing up surprises every day. 

Not to be condescending or anything, but I genuinely didn’t think I would meet someone here who’s read this book. 


To be honest, it was a good book but it scared the shit out of me! But the father-son relationship in that book is heart-wrenching to say the least. 


Scared?? Beyond the fright, there's light. It's like the zen perspective slowly percolates down your being as the chautauqua gradually covers the breadth of the United States

Sankoza,
2.7k views

Dont know what exactly does a fallback book mean.

But these days for fun and to get over anxiety momentarily I would pick

1. Raag Darbaari- It also fitsthe genre of great opening lines.@Neyawn 

2. Discourses In Hindi- almost all are also available  in the form of books- by Rajneesh.


2.8k views
@Neyawn yeah and I hope I can contribute whatever little I can to the community! 


2.4k views
@stoic97 If you’re into the zen tradition, I would suggest ‘Art of Zen’ by Allan Watts. It’s a really good intro into the subject. 



ssver2,
2.4k views

Dont know what exactly does a fallback book mean.

But these days for fun and to get over anxiety momentarily I would pick

1. Raag Darbaari- It also fitsthe genre of great opening lines.@Neyawn 

2. Discourses In Hindi- almost all are also available  in the form of books- by Rajneesh.


Oh oh oh !

Raag Darbari by Sri Lal Shukla.

If there is only one Hindi book I have picked up in past 6 years, it is this.

The humour is bone / bone marrow / soul tickling.

दूर से देखा तो लगा की कुछ गठरियाँ पड़ी है। नज़दीक गया तो देखा औरतें घास काट रहीं है !

Very typical scene of Hindi belt where rural women wear colourful sarees and take away grass for cattle. And the way they sit, with head and faces covered it actually looks like a baggage. Also because the baggages are made of old sarees only and there is no dissimilarity !

Sapien,ssver2and5 otherslike this
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@Neyawn "door se dekha toh baarish ho rahi thi
Paas jaake dekha toh,bhing gaye"ye bhi hai kya??😉


Sapien,
2.1k views
@stoic97 If you’re into the zen tradition, I would suggest ‘Art of Zen’ by Allan Watts. It’s a really good intro into the subject. 



O yea. I listen to his lectures a lot. His equanimous composure is infectious

2.5k views

Neyawnsaid

» show previous quotes» show previous quotes

Oh oh oh !

Raag Darbari by Sri Lal Shukla.

If there is only one Hindi book I have picked up in past 6 years, it is this.

The humour is bone / bone marrow / soul tickling.

दूर से देखा तो लगा की कुछ गठरियाँ पड़ी है। नज़दीक गया तो देखा औरतें घास काट रहीं है !

Very typical scene of Hindi belt where rural women wear colourful sarees and take away grass for cattle. And the way they sit, with head and faces covered it actually looks like a baggage. Also because the baggages are made of old sarees only and there is no dissimilarity !

There are many more such lines. In fact the entire book is made up of such 'chota packet bada dhamaka' types.

Two of which I could fondly recollect :-

1.Definition of intellectuals


2. Palayan sangeet.

तुम मंझोली हैसियत के मनुष्य हो और मनुष्यता के कीचड़ में फ़ंस गये हो। तुम्हारे चारो ओर कीचड़ ही कीचड़ है ।
कीचड़ की चापलुसी मत करो। इस मुगालते मे न रहो की कीचड़ से कमल पैदा होता है। कीचड़ मे कीचड़ ही पनपता है। वहीं फैलता है, वही उछलता है।
कीचड़ से बचो यह जगह छोड़ो
यहां से पलायन करो।
वहां, जहां की रंगीन तस्वीरे तुमने ‘लुक’ और ‘लाइफ़’ में खोजकर देखी है;जहां के फूलों के मुकुट, गिटार और लड़कियां तुम्हारी आत्मा को हमेशा नये  अन्वेषण के लिये ललकारती है; जहां की हवा सूक्ष्म से सूक्ष्मतर है, जहां रविशंकर - छाप संगीत और महर्षि योगी – छाप - अध्यात्म की चिरंतन स्वप्निलता है…। जाकर कहीं छिप जाओ।
यहां से पलायन करो यह जगह छोड़ो।

नौजवान डाक्टरों की तरह, इंजीनयरों, वैग्यानिकों, अंतर्राष्ट्रीय ख्याति के लिये हुड़कने वाले मनीषियों की तरह,जिनका चौबीस घंटे  यहीं रोना है कि यहां सबने मिलकर उन्हें सुखी नहीं बनाया, पलायन करो। यहां के झंझटों में मत फ़ंसो।

अगर तुम्हारी किस्मत ही फूटी हो, और तुम्हें यहीं रहना पड़े तो अलग से अपनी एक हवाई दुनिया बना लोउस दुनिया में रहो जिसमें बहुत से बुद्धिजीवी आंख मूंदकर पड़े हैं होटलों और क्लबों में। शराबखानों और कहवाघरों में, चण्डीगढ़ - भोपाल – बंगलौर के नवनिर्मित भवनों में, पहाडी आरामगाहों में, जहां कभी न खत्म होने वाले सेमिनार चल रहें हैं। विदेशी मदद से बने हुए नये नये शोध संस्थानों में, जिनमें भारतीय प्रतिभा का निर्माण हो रहा है। चुरुट के धुएं, चमकीली जैकेट वाली किताब औरगलत, किन्तु अनिवार्य अंग्रेजी के धुन्धवाले विश्वविद्यालय में। वही कहीं जाकर जम जाओ, फिर वही जमे रहो।

यह न कर सको तो अतीत में कहीं जाकर छिप जाओ. कणाद, पतंजलि, गौतम में, अजन्ता, एलोरा, एलिफेंटा में, कोणार्क और खजुराहो में, शाल – भंजिका – सुर – सुन्दरी – अलसकन्या के स्तनों में जप तप – मन्त्र में सन्त – समागम- ज्योतिष – सामुद्रिक में – जहां भी जगह मिले, जाकर छिप रहो।

भागो, भागो, भागो.
यथार्थ तुम्हारा पिछा कर रहा है
ssver2,alankritbhatia6382and6 otherslike this
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