"My Days - A Memoir" by RK Narayan - An Inspiring Autobiography

A memoir is many a-times dry & even dull, but not this one; this autobiography was an amazingly well written, interesting and inspiring narration of Narayan's extraordinary life and incidents. A very simply narrated account, yet so beautiful that one feels one is actually seeing it all through his eyes and can feel the surroundings. R.K.Narayan is a very famous Indian author who has written lots of short-stories and novels. His younger brother is a famous cartoonist.

The story talks about various aspects of life - love, struggle, love for pets, raise a daughter, communicating with souls, soul mates, spiritual encounters and the real beauty is that it is all written in such simplistic manner that you will believe it all and may even wonder how you would have reacted or felt if you were in a similar situation. I am sure most of us would identify with the day-to-day incidents narrated in book.

The beauty of this author's work is the simple narration, which is so free flowing and easy to follow that one gets totally immersed in the book and finds it difficult to put down once you have started reading the account. At one instance, nature is so beautifully described that one feels transported to another world of mystic beauty all around.

While reading the book one does feel moved and pained as Narayan is trying hard to cope with his wife's death. One does feel sorry for a devastated husband. Then finally he finds a psychic way to communicate with his wife's soul which is always nearby him, to help him, guide him and to come to terms with the loss and life after her. This bit was a little hard to believe for me, but then strange things do keep happening in the world.

This autobiography has actually inspired me a lot and makes me want to read all the other novels written by this author inspired by various phases of in his life. Some of them include - "The Bachelor of Arts", "The Dark Room", "The English Teacher" & "The Talkative Man". He has very beautifully given a brief account of what was happening in his personal life when he wrote these novels ad it would be interesting to read the traces or derivations of influence of those incidents in the novel. Another of his famous novel "Guide" was filmed in early 70's and it became a major commercial hit movie, gaining popularity and critical acclaim in that era.

Yours Magazine - For the Women of Today

Most magazines that target women are similar in content. They do not meet the readers' expectations and requirements. Magazines must be in line with the current times and must have articles on the topics that are of interest to the readers. Some of the popular woman's magazines like Yours magazine do, otherwise most of them fail to do so.

It is difficult for readers to unsubscribe certain magazine which they have been following for years. The readers grow but the magazines fail to do so. Sometimes, the focus of the editor changes to something absolutely different than what the magazine was originally famous for. This disappoints the readers. The magazines must try to retain their customers by doing a lot of research on what they want to read and what are the hot topics of today's times.

Yours magazine publishes everything that an average women would want to read. All magazines must publish articles on issues which are related to the women of today. Here are a list of things that must be covered in a ladies magazine.

Investigative Stories and Reports related to Women

Generally, women care a lot about the latest trends in case of clothes and accessories and also a lot about what is going on in famous people's lives; there is also a section of women who would like to keep abreast with relevant issues plaguing our times. Most magazines, however, have a very shallow perspective on what interests women.

Women, in fact, love to read about the diseases that are nowadays prevalent, career options and advices on these topics. Nowadays, more women go for higher studies than before. So, these women will obviously want to read things that are related to their life. So concentrating only on fashion and accessories would be a suicide attempt in these times.

Real Women on the Cover Page

Magazines having models and movie celebrities on their cover page are bought by men and not by women. Women of today will buy those magazines that have real men who are on top of their career and fields. The aspirations of women of today has undergone a sea change. They would like to read stories on women whose footsteps they would like to follow.

Promotion of Women with Realistic Bodies

Anorexic models aspire only teenagers. A real woman is well aware of the issues related to being overweight and underweight. She would instead like to read about women who are like them. A story on how to remain healthy would be read by more women that a story on having a size zero figure.

The women of today have tried it all and know very well that those kind of figures are difficult to attain and even more difficult to sustain with their kind of lifestyle.

Sybil's Choice - Author Iris Sechriest

It takes inner strength, courage and conviction to do what Iris Sechriest has done, chronicle the events of her daughter's fight with cancer. This is not an ordinary book, the subject deals with unyielding determination and faith. It shows the difference caregivers can make how positive attitudes promote healing. "Sybil's Choice" is certainly a necessary book. First it is a tribute, a memorial, to Sybil, bringing to the reader the true story of a real person from the small town of Forest City, North Carolina. Secondly it was a necessary labor of love for Iris to write this book to help cope with her loss. Finally it is necessary to have all that has happened not be lost but be both instructional and inspirational to those of us that may find ourselves or loved ones in such an unfortunate position.

For me, I found it often easy to slip from book reviewer to empathic reader; from a witness of Sybil's demise to remembering my own family's similar circumstances. From the true story of Sybil to the story of my losing my mother after her fight with cancer. As few of us live a life unscathed by medical tragedy, "Sybil's Choice" brings the sober reality of surreal decisions people are faced with in the light of such devastating alternatives.

Iris Sechriest has an amazing emotional constitution; deeply embedded in her faith however noticeably she doesn't take her daughter's demise as an opportunity to preach her personal belief. Her writing is as objective as a journalist, and as honest as a witness under oath. She respectively names and identifies the scores of doctors, places, and procedures Sybil had undergone. She honestly assesses the contribution each has made to guide them through their ordeal. She has shaped her book to become a tool for others undergoing similar choices.

"Sybil's Choice" is a terse 173 pages with a thought provoking cover photograph of a woman walking towards a light at the end of a tunnel. Iris Sechriest stays "on topic" throughout her book, as if she were to digress into telling stories about Sybil this would no doubt rival War and Peace in word count. There is a lovely high school picture of Sybil at the end of the book, revealing her charismatic smile and intelligent eyes.

For any person or family faced with a malignant diagnosis, this book is a must read.

Eat Pray Love

There's a reason we refer to 'leap of faith' - because the decision to consent to any notion of divinity is a mighty jump from the rational over to the unknowable, and I don't care how diligently scholars of every religion will try to sit you down with their stacks of books and prove to you through scripture that their faith is indeed rational; it isn't. If faith were rational, it wouldn't be - by definition - faith.

Eat Pray Love recounts the detailed bits of the Elizabeth Gilbert's sabbatical leave from her usual world to dedicate one year of her life to traveling and soul-searching. Gilbert, the author, is jumping out of norms when she decided to end her marriage with a divorce, quit her job, and travel to 3 different countries to come to terms with herself again.

Incidentally, these 3 countries all begin with "I" - Italy, India and Indonesia. For 4 months in each country, Elizabeth tried to learn new things. In Italy, she learned the pleasure of eating and speaking Italian. In India, she confined herself to a meditation camp where she found her own definition of prayer. And finally, in Indonesia, she tried to find balance between the earthly and the divine.

Just how many of us could really do this? If I can sum up this book in one word, I'd say it's all about faith. And it's not just about believing in a great transcendent being, but in my opinion, also more about believing in oneself against all forms of rationality.

I am forever in search of my own god whom I can totally trust and depend on. Much to my dismay, I have been a very passive traveler of this temporary world. Thus, it's the main reason I am totally gripped by Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Eat Pray Love. She didn't wait for any big and dramatic transformation upon herself, instead changed her life by taking small and rather tedious steps.

Elizabeth Gilbert charmed me with her very candid narrative that I felt I was only listening to her storytelling instead of reading it. I loved her honesty, from how she gained 23 lbs because of all the eating in Italy, to succumbing to her physical sexual need. Perhaps, her honesty is one of her strengths that led her to a very magnificent transformation. After all, it all starts with one's acceptance of insecurities and misgivings.

Incidentally, Eat Pray Love is now a movie. It will be shown this year starring Julia Roberts.