BOOK RIVIEW: Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul: Teens Talk – Growing Up
This lovely book is compilation of ‘inspiring 101 stories about meeting challenges and growing up’ in life, which took me back to the dreams I have had, the aspiration that I aspired for and the childhood I grew up in. This is not a book only for the teens but for many of the older generation, who will benefit by reading these inspiring stories, moments of life as well as raw thoughts that were to be shaped by relentless march of time. While reading these lovely leaves from the tree of growing up, I could touch base with my own roots, the earth and the environment, which made me what I am today. An interesting side effect of reading these lovely stories was to bring out the lost memories, aspiration and goals back into present focus. It inspired me to take out those lost stories, poetry and dreams from the attics of life; dust them up and show them the light of day and begin fresh on the path long last. This book is all about living those dreams and making them possible through experiences of many who have been there and done that…
THE BOOK:
The compilation by Jack Canfiled, Mark Victor Hansen & Aarti Katoch Pathak is apt with various stories put under 7 aspects of Teenager’s growth. And as Aarti quotes in her introduction to the book,
“If you could live without passion, may be we’d know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow empty rooms, shuttered and dank… without passion we would be truly dead” – Angelus in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Passion is an abiding element in this collection of 101 stories.
HIGHLIGHTS:
As it has quite a number of stories from the famous people who have shared their dreams and desires, which makes it a lot more interesting. Another thing that I liked about the book, is sharing a brief note on the author with their contacts so that any one inspired enough by their story can connect.
A lovely read and highly recommended for all, but especially so, to the teenage kids around.
THOUGHTS:
Now I will leave you with some interesting thoughts from the stories in the book to give you the flavour and entice you into picking this book up one lazy Sunday afternoon and float away into the long lost land of dreams and aspirations….
“… that day, he (My father) gave me a new life and I promised myself that I would make it meaningful” – from ‘A New Life’ by Khurseed Dinshaw (A Pune based freelance writer with more than 620 published articles)
“The key (to choose) is to look beyond the imperfections because happiness is a journey, not a destination“ – from ‘Bless the Broken Road’ by Kadambari Shah (17 years old FY student of St. Xavier’s College)
“ Many times in life, when things don’t go our way, it is perhaps because God has something better planned for us” – from ‘Sometimes you just got to Wrestle it Out’ by Sushil Kumar (World Champion Wrestler)
“… the soul and the intellect often have growth spurts – they grow in fits” – from ‘Rites Of Passage’ by Gayathri Ponvannan (A network Engineers and Free lance writer)
“While, the good times shared by friends bring them closer, it’s the dealing with adversity together that really transforms that friendship into an everlasting bond” – from ‘A Lesson from the Birds and Bees’ by Nidhi Kaushik (A free lance writer well published writer)
“I now believe that faith probably is the only thing that can preserve the sanity of an individual, and thus the culture, tradition and respect of the nation” – from ‘Resurrection of Faith’ by Tarundeep Singh (IT professional who has co-authored a US Patent and self published two books)
“Success is a combination of destiny and intelligent planning” – from ‘The Centre Stage’ by Amrita Rao (Actress)
____________
This review is a part of the http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank">Book Reviews Program at http://www.blogadda.com">BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!
_____________
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
Up Close & Personal: Wilbur Smith
Thankyou for your review. Was pleased to read about the interesting sideeffect.
ReplyDeleteYou left us with some lovely thoughts and the contributers to those stories will be happy to read them.
AKP