Top 10 Books I Read
1. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
A National Book Award Finalist:
This 'wonderfully descriptive' novel from an author with a 'tremendous imagination' tells the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias have bred their own exhibit of human oddities. (The New York Times Book Review)
The Binewskis arex a circus-geek family whose matriarch and patriarch have bred their own exhibit of human oddities (with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes). Their offspring include Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan, Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins, albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family's most precious - and dangerous - asset.
As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the US, inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene.
Family values will never be the same.
Praise for Geek Love
'If Flannery O'Connor had consumed vast quantities of LSD, she might have written like this' Literary Review
'The most romantic novel about love and family I have read. It made me ashamed to be so utterly normal' Terry Gilliam
'I felt electrocuted when I read that first page with Crystal Lil and her freak brood. I stood there in the bookstore and my jaw came unhinged. No book I've read, before or since, has given me that specific jolt' Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia
2. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
by Flannery O'Connor
ONE OF THE GREATEST AMERICAN SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS In 1955, with this short story collection, Flannery O'Connor firmly laid claim to her place as one of the most original and provocative writers of her generation. Steeped in a Southern Gothic tradition that would become synonymous with her name, these stories show O'Connor's unique, grotesque view of life-- infused with religious symbolism, haunted by apocalyptic possibility, sustained by the tragic comedy of human behavior, confronted by the necessity of salvation. With these classic stories-- including "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," "Good Country People," "The Displaced Person," and seven other acclaimed tales-- O'Connor earned a permanent place in the hearts of American readers. "Much savagery, compassion, farce, art, and truth have gone into these stories. O'Connor's characters are wholeheartedly horrible, and almost better than life. I find it hard to think of a funnier or more frightening writer." -- Robert Lowell "In these stories the rural South is, for the first time, viewed by a writer who orthodoxy matches her talent. The results are revolutionary." -- The New York Times Book Review Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) was born in Savannah, Georgia. She earned her M.F.A. at the University of Iowa, but lived most of her life in the South, where she became an anomaly among post-World War II authors-- a Roman Catholic woman whose stated purpose was to reveal the mystery of God's grace in everyday life. Her work-- novels, short stories, letters, and criticism-- received a number of awards, including the National Book Award.
3. The Power of Now
To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle's extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide us.
A word of mouth phenomenon since its first publication, The Power of Now is one of those rare books with the power to create an experience in readers, one that can radically change their lives for the better.
4. Mindset
“A good book is one whose advice you believe. A great book is one whose advice you follow. This is a book that can change your life, as its ideas have changed mine.”—Robert J. Sternberg, co-author of Teaching for Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, and Success
“An essential read for parents, teachers [and] coaches . . . as well as for those who would like to increase their own feelings of success and fulfillment.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Everyone should read this book.”—Chip Heath and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick
“One of the most influential books ever about motivation.”—Po Bronson, author of NurtureShock
5. How to Read a person like a book
Imagine meeting someone for the first time and within minutes―without a word being said―having the ability to tell what that person is thinking. Magic? Not quite. Whether people are aware of it or not, their body movements clearly express their attitudes and motives, communicating key information that is invaluable in a range of situations.
How to Read a Person Like a Book is designed to teach you how to interpret and reply to the nonverbal signals of business associates, friends, loved ones, and even strangers. Best-selling authors Gerard Nierenberg, Henry Calero, and Gabriel Grayson have collaborated to put their working knowledge of body language into this practical guide to recognizing and understanding body movements. In this book, you will find the authors’ proven techniques for gaining control of negotiations, detecting lies, and even recognizing signs of sexual attraction.
Whether in an office, on a date, or on a family outing, the simple technique of reading body language is a unique skill that offers real and important benefits.
6. How to Win Friends and Influencear People
'How to win friends and influence people’ is a self-help book which is the pioneer of this genre. Written by Dale Carnegie and published in 1936, it has sold over 30 million copies. It has been edited and re-printed several times. This is the 2004 edition of this book. It was on the Time magazine’s 100 most influential books list in 2011. This book is a guide in improving a person's aura in the world. It is about changing how the world views and treats you by changing your own behaviour. That means that if you change the kind of energy that you emit, what comes back to you is also different. This is one of the most influential business and communication skills guide. This book teaches you how to market yourself and generate more clients. This book has been acclaimed by many known figures around the world. This book tries to get you out of a mental hell and provides you with ambition and goals. It enables you to be friendlier and seem a positive person to others, it helps you become a popular person who is liked by the majority and in business terms, it enables you to win new clients. it increases your earning power by helping you use your potential to the fullest and it helps you to become a better public speaker and to be liked by mass audience. If you read the book carefully and follow majority of the tips, you can learn to be friendlier and more presentable as a person. You can become a person who emits the positivity that is inside the heart. You can become a person people trust and want to be associated with. As long as you have good friends and good business associations, you will probably stay strong in personal as well as professional life.
7. The Far Field
Winner of the JCB Prize for Literature 2019. Shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019. Shortlisted for the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award (Fiction) 2019. In the wake of her mother's death, Shalini, a privileged, naive and restless young woman from Bangalore, sets out for a remote village in Kashmir. Certain that the loss of her mother is somehow connected to the decade-old disappearance of Bashir Ahmed, a charming Kashmiri salesman who frequented her childhood home, she is determined to track him down. But as soon as Shalini arrives, she is confronted with the region's politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. As life in the village turns volatile and old hatreds threaten to erupt into violence, Shalini finds herself forced to make a series of choices that could have dangerous repercussions for the people she has come to love. With rare acumen and evocative prose, in The Far Field Madhuri Vijay gives a potent critique of Indian politics and class prejudice through the lens of a guileless outsider, while also offering up a profound meditation on grief, guilt and the limits of compassion.
8. The Psychology Book
How does memory work? Who is the "distractor" in your family? What was the "car crash" experiment?
This book is your visual guide to the complex and fascinating world of human behaviour. Discover how we learn, become emotionally bonded with others, and develop coping mechanisms to deal with adversity, or conform in a group. Get to know key thinkers, from Freud and Jung to Elizabeth Loftus and Melanie Klein, and follow charts and timelines to make sense of it all and see how one theory influenced another.
With pithy explanations of different schools of psychology including psychotherapy, cognitive psychology and behaviourism, this is an ideal reference whether you're a student, or a general reader. It's your authoritative guide to over 100 key ideas, theories, and conditions, including the collective unconscious, the "selfish" gene, false memory, psychiatric disorders, and autism.
If you're fascinated by the human mind, The Psychology Book is both an invaluable reference and illuminating read.
9. Mans Search For Meaning
16 MILLION COPIES SOLD
'A book to read, to cherish, to debate, and one that will ultimately keep the memories of the victims alive' John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Frankl came to believe man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.
10. The Power of Subconsious Mind
The book was first published in 1963, but till date it has not gone out of print. The author, with a lifetime of experience as a church preacher, had done extensive research on how the mind can be healed, which has been dealt with in detail in the first few chapters. The techniques are simple and results come quickly. You can improve your relationships, your finances, your physical well-being. Structured in twenty chapters, each one spells out instructions that one needs to follow in order to be content and successful in life.
For people who are interested in finding out about the basics of the human mind and want to explore the subconscious, this book is a must read. Inspiring examples throughout this book attest to the effectiveness of his methods.