And the Mountains Echoed

Something was amiss. Like one of the characters in the book, Pari who feels something was missing in life... I felt something was amiss in the story.

Khaled Housseini is a brilliant writer. He has a way of describing relationships, depicting people so vividly... with all their varied nuances. It makes you feel like you know the characters personally, it makes you feel what the characters feel. I had picked up the book, "And the Mountains Echoed" with as much conviction.

It had a lovely beginning, but somewhere along the middle, it got all got disarrayed. At times it made me feel like I was watching a poorly edited film, where it gets confusing to know which is the past and which is the present. In the book, there were certain characters who were not talked about in detail, while certain characters who weren't a actual part of the story were discussed at length, making me wonder why. But then again it's just my perspective that I share here.

As I finish this book, I miss that feeling of warmth, friendship and family that had enveloped me after his last two books. I was waiting for an echo, but even after the turning the last page, there was a lull.


Images from here and here.

Have a Little Faith: A True Story

Once in a while, you read a book which makes you feel like you're listening to a close friend. It makes you giggle out loud. It answers your questions even before you ask them. It makes you want to say, 'Yes, you are right!'.
That is what Have Little Faith by Mitch Albom did to me.

I've not been much of a non-fiction reader, but when I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. There's one thing about Mitch Albom that I admire, it's not just the amazing people he meets, it's also how he puts their story in such a beautiful style that it makes you feel as if you're too a part of them.

The story is about hope, about how bad people can turn good, about how goodness is still alive in the world, about the life force that guides us, keeps us secure and keeps us together.