Review: Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day

Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day by Jay Shetty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Hooter: Imbibing learnings from the monk way of life and implementing them into our regular lives.

Jay Shetty is a social media influencer in the modern sense and tries to share all his learnings into a book. I picked up his audio book on a friend's recommendation - again narrated by the author himself after having spent 3 years as a monk in an ashram and figuring how he could practice those learnings in the real material world.

Like all self help books ever written, most of it is common sense or at least traditional Indian common sense since a lot of it culturally resonates like meditation, breathing techniques and philosophies like seva etc. But it never hurts to get those concepts reiterated through various books to help you focus. This is that refresher course you can read up on as it reiterates the goals you need to set for yourself in life and the discipline you need to imbibe to get the most of life.

His story of finding his meaning in life after having a conventionally successful career makes for decent reading but couldn't really connect with it all. I'd say if you needed a refresher on mindfulness, being grateful and some common anecdotes on the same in one place, you could get through this book.

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Review: Becoming

Becoming by Michelle Obama
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: The memoirs of Michelle Obama from her childhood through the two terms of Barack's presidency.

Having heard an audiobook by her husband, it seemed like an interesting experiment to hear Michelle's memoir in her voice. Comparisons are to be drawn but what I loved was her authenticity and honest perspectives of her struggles all through from her childhood dreams , being clueless at times, struggling at others but pushing herself and reaching out. Her first impressions of Barack to an insider perspective of the life of a public figure foisted to the limelight from a common man background makes for interesting insights.

Having read the Promised Land, it also provided a second person account of the some similar situations Barack spoke off in first hand and both make you feel you were right there when these moments occurred. She adds a very personal touch to all the ongoings around her and everyone in her family and friends. How she vets whether Barack is the one for her and the framework she lays to deciding that and her career along with dealing with the changes it meant for her kids , Michelle highlights what a lot of women go through in terms of thinking about multiple aspects of every decision and how it would impact everyone around her in the family. She makes it a relatable tale for everyone hearing her out.

While I'd be biased towards her husband's narration style and command over the proceedings, Michelle is equally engaging and a lot more raw and heartfelt a narrator.

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Review: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: An almost 8 year old goes about saying sorry on behalf of her dead grandmother and building relationships with her family and neighbors as an adventure only a nearly 8 year old could think of.

Backman leverages a very light vein to real human issues and only when you double take do you realize how depressing reality could be, only for his writing perspective that adds a halo of positivity to it. Our protagonist Elsa is a loner in school, bullied by the kids. Her parents are divorced, she has a step father and a step brother halfie is on his way. Granny is her only friend in the world and Granny decides to move on. There are a motley crew in her apartment and each one outwardly as despicable a neighbour as the other. Not till Elsa realises apart from the make believe fantasy world she and granny had, her granny had also prepared a treasure hunt for Elsa to come in terms with life and leverage the people around her. As she delivers letters of her granny being sorry for each person, she gets to know more about the disasters that life has thrown at each one and how they have survived life rather than cruise through it. Heart wrenching yet kept light since all of it is from a kid's perspective ( no matter how mature she is for her age).

The fairy land felt like an interesting premise that could go somewhere but didn't really except act like a filler to switch over between chapters. Not all superhero wear capes and not all books filled with nuggets of wisdom have to be heavy reading. Backman proves it with this book of an eccentric granny and her wise 7 year old granddaughter.

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