[Book Review] The Power of Now

"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle can easily take a position in top 3 must reads. This book is what one can say as life changing. Every single sentence rings with truth. I really don't have any other way to put it but one can relate to myriad details written in this lovely spiritual piece. If you are looking for something less of an exercise-meditation guide, then this is the one for you. Unlike 'The Alchemist', this one's not a story but follows a question-answer kinda way. Neither is this one like 'The Monk who Sold his Ferrari'. 'The Power of Now' is more of a knowledge guide. This book is highly spiritual and if you're not into spirituality then I don't think you will be much interested in this.

Author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle emphasis the power of 'Now'. According to him, we can unleash the power of consciousness by being completely aware of the present. Through consciousness and surrender, we end the suffering. We accept suffering to enter a place of inner peace which is often veiled behind the egoistic mind. Pain and suffering takes us a step closer to enlightenment. Acknowledgement and acceptance of pain body can take us to a higher level of consciousness away from mind modulated thoughts. According to him, we are the key to enlightenment. 

[Book Review] In Your Sights

"In Your Sights" by Elizabeth Krall wasn't really what I expected and it wasn't up to the mark for me. To start off, the cover went well with the theme of the book. The monochrome picture of a person walking was in coherence with the photography themed mystery-thriller. 

"In Your Sights " revolves around the life of Caroline Bready, a widow who tries to bury her past and moves on with her life. When Caroline finds a brutally attacked woman, she is drawn into a tangled up mess of crimes. Soon, Caroline realises that a photography class and a blog may even pave way for the attacker to find her. Things go from bad to worse when she couldn't trust the people whom she trusted and when faith brings her into this web of deep trouble. 

Elizabeth Krall has done a fine job with the writing. Her description of scenery and surroundings were quite vivid and beautiful. The dull dark mood prevailed throughout the book. Caroline was an interesting character who is beautiful in physical sense but she is also quite naive and a vulnerable person. Then there's Reece whose handsome features stands out which is quite contrary to Johnny, whose beauty is not in his marred scars. My favourite of all was Johnny. I would love to say something about his beautiful character but I would give away the complete plot so I will stick to saying that he is a character who is well accustomed to pains and experiences of life. These characters suited well with the theme but the book focused more on romance than mystery and that quite got annoying at some point or other. To sum it up, I wasn't satisfied with it as a mystery thriller and the melancholy was a bit over dramatic but I loved the description of oceans and Australian surrounding. 

[Movie Review] The Theory of Everything

It wasn't the fact that this movie is life of the great physicist Stephen Hawking nor was the truth that the lead actor has won the Oscar for his splendid performance as the scientist that made me watch this film. It was the poster. The poster made me see this film. The way Jane and Stephen Hawking held hands and the poster caught the movement when they twirled with joy. And it was upside down that made it even attractive. So good... 

Moving onto the movie. 'The Theory of Everything' is the life story of the physicist who has astonished the world with his mind. Directed by James Marsh and adapted from Jane Hawking's memoir "Travelling To Infinity: My Life with Stephen", this movie revolves around Stephen's Cambridge days to the time when he became the world's most renowned scientist of all time despite his motor neuron disease. Eddie Redmayne was not acting at all, he was becoming Stephen Hawking every single minute. There were times when I thought am I seeing a younger Stephen Hawking? No wonder he got the Oscar. Felicity Jones did a fine job of Jane Hawking. Charlie Cox adorned his role as Jonathan quite well. 

As a life story, the movie was intriguing and fast paced but if we look at it just as a movie then it's lacking the point of keeping the viewers glued. There were a few jokes to lighten the plot but the seriousness prevailed throughout. When I said the movie was fast paced, I literally mean it. His life events were depicted so fast that halfway into this movie I thought what the hell are they going to go on with?! It's almost done. But at the end I was satisfied with this movie. After all, I got to know a Brief History of Stephen Hawking's life. Loved the tag line too: His mind changed our world. Her love changed his.