India Books

In this latest instalment of the saga, Flashman finds himself mixed up much more closely than he would like in the First Sikh War of 1845. Duck and dive though he will, his unconscious instinct for being in the wrong place at the wrong time never deserts him, and he gets into any number of scrapes, twice escaping from the Sikh's capital at Lahore, once breaking back in under disguise, and having to show his face at two of the bloodiest battles the British ever fought in India.

There is a great deal of action of all kinds going on, and a fair amount of machination is required to get Flashman, funking and whining as usual, at the centre of each scene, whether military or romantic. With his usual mix of bluster, robust charm, luck and deviousness, he obtains his usual dollop of credit from the adventure, plus a flesh wound to impress doubters. Not quite at the top of his form in this frenetic pot-boiler, Flashman still guarantees a thoroughly good read from both the historical and the entertainment perspectives.

After reading Royal Flash and Flashman's Lady, I was beginning to think that I as over Flashy, as those books didnt move me in quite the same way the Flashman Papers and the Dragon did.

However, this tale of debauchery and adventure redeemed good ole Flashy in my eyes. Actually, I have been beginning to suspect that Flashy isnt as big a coward as he plays himself to be. His aim appears steady and his sword arm sure when ever he is in a pinch.

The only draw back is that if you are not careful to remember the meanings of all the native lingo, you'll bound to get lost.

Neither has historical fiction. Harry Flashman is both. By now you are probably joining me in wishing Harry Flashman was here today. I'd vote for him to President.

In the fourth installment of the Flashman papers, our intrepid hero is in India, helping the Empire expand into the Punjab. And yes, there are instances where Flashman does seem to demonstrate a little spine - but perhaps this is more a result of his working along side equally manipulative and underhanded schemers that Flash looks downright heroic in comparison.

As Flashman fans would expect, the history behind the story is meticulously documented. The tale is set a few years before the crown assumes control of the sub-continent from the East India Company, as India makes is greatest (but ultimately failed) attempt to drive the English out of the region by force. The history alone makes a fascinating read. With the addition of Harry Flashman's escapades to "liven up" the byzantine plotting of real -life theives, turncoats, cowards and liars you have the best Flashman book to date.

In George MacDonald Fraser's 'Flashman and the Mountain of Light', our man Flashy sees Queen Vicky holding the Koh-I-Noor diamond and flashes back to India - more precisely, the Punjab where he arrives just in time for the first Anglo Sikh War (1845-46), not to suggest that Flashman had a hand in the war or anything.

The reader meets some of the most colorful figures ever to occupy the historical stage - as Flashman says "there were some damned odd fellows about in the earlies" - many of whom have just about slipped into the obscuring mists of time before Frasser rescued them. There's the White Mughal Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner, the Queen Mother Maharani Jeendan (ohh, what a mother!), British 'agent' George Broadfoot and more. Flashman even meets up with a couple of fellows who are bigger cowards than he - Lal Singh and Tej Singh.

Fraser also takes the reader through the war in some detail, especially the battles at Ferozeshah and Sobraon. If anything the battle scenes last too long, but that will be a matter of taste for the individual reader.

Along the way, Harry engages in some rather disturbing behavior, which other reviewers have suggested indicate a degree of bravery heretofore undetected. Bosh! While Flashy isn't always the quivering mass of jelly we have come to expect, any actions suggestive of courage are simply acts of self-preservation. And anyway, Flashy gets his just reward for such behavior in the end.

Highest Flashman recommendation.

The first and best of a family saga during the mid 1800s in England, when industry changes everyone's lives.

I first read this in 1971, and followed through with all Delderfield's later books. Now, through Amazon.com I can reread the entire series and and my husbands is reading it for the first time and is enthralled!

I have read God is an Englishman 45 years ago. It was a great book to read. I have enjoyed reading it so much that I have read it twice. There is a book 2 that follows this first edition and that too is great. I wish you they whoever can produce a movie of the story. It would make a wonderful masterpiece. Let the author know to produce a movie and let me know because I would be the first to see and then purchise it on DVD.
Thank you for a great site. I will be ordering a copy of this book again in the near future. I strongly recommend this book to all single ladies who enjoy reading a good novel and romantic story. Henrietta Netta, Exeter PA

Adam Swann has followed his family's tradition of military service for long enough to turn 30. He's seen a lot during those years, including a horrific massacre of civilians. When chance places a fortune in rubies in his hands, he's more than ready to make drastic changes. Back to England he goes, the England of a world just prior to the American Civil War, looking for a better way to spend his life. He finds it in two places. First, in a revolutionary business idea sparked by an encounter with a railway official; and second, in a runaway young woman. He marries the woman, factory heiress Henrietta Rawlinson (who's swiftly disinherited by her infuriated father), and he turns the idea into a hauling firm that deliberately fits itself into all the gaps the railway system cannot fill.

That's the bare outline. What makes this novel remarkable, though, isn't its plot. It's the characters, and the way author Delderfield lets them grow naturally out of the time and place in which he sets them. Adam Swann is in many ways a man ahead of that time, disgusted by what he's seen in war and determined to make his way in the world without committing outrages against basic human decency. In fact, he's determined to make a difference for the better while succeeding as a businessman. Henrietta, blessed with her enterpreneur father's sharp mind and quick wits for commerce, grows from a willful, uneducated and thoroughly spoiled girl into a worthy and even challenging partner for Adam in the course of the book's 800-some pages. Nothing seems forced, and none of the details of Victorian England ring false, in all of those pages. Some of the best reading comes from secondary characters who weave in and out of the main story, because each is well drawn and interesting - no matter how brief the appearance.

A tour-de-force, all in all. One of the best "family sagas" around, still, nearly 40 years after its publication.

R.F.Delderfield's "God Is An Englishman" begins a truly riveting history lesson of Britain's Victorian era and beyond. When I first read the book nearly 30 years ago fell in love with Adam and Henrietta Swann and their brood of children. You will, too!

This is such a powerful book. This book is written as if the author is talking directly to me and exactly addressing my life problems. Amazing book. This is not a book it is a formula, it is a tool that helped and transformed my life to better.

It talks about energy centers in the body, the impacts in our daily life, how to handle a problem, the awareness for the problem, intellectual understanding and easy meditation techniques.

This is definately not your typical shallow self help book. This book provides practical answers to life's difficulties. I keep it next to me on my nightstand. If I have a problem or question with my life -- I always seem to find the solution in this book.

This book provides an excellent path to spiritualize your life. Negative emotions like Worry, fear, jealousy, greed block spiritual energy and create the suffering in our lives. This book deals with transcending these negative emotions and transforming your life to to exude constant bliss. This state of constant bliss is Nithyananda or enlightenment.

The Buddha only promised on thing to this disciples -- the end of suffering. Nithyananda delivers in an easy to read and follow language.

If you are planning to gift someone a book (including yourself!), then this is the one you should gift! It's applicable for any age group, and for any occasion. I gifted this one to a friend on her marriage, and the newly weds enjoyed it!

Once you know your mental set up, you will reach greater heights in life. This book doesn't give any complex philosophical jargons, but pertinent truths written in simple language, which will make your daily living blissful. Surely, as the name suggests, it's GUARANTEED to work on you and your life's problems!

Here's an excerpt from this 600+ page book:

"All the beauty products tell you repeatedly that you are not good enough. You start feeling guilty of your own inadequate body. What do you do? You go and buy their products and use them. You automatically fall into their control. Once you use them, you are engulfed with one more feeling of guilt -- 'did I go into all this trouble for this after all?' The moment you achieve something, the first feeling that engulfs you is guilt."

This book will change your life, guaranteed!! Books by enlightened masters are always a treasure, and this one is a master-piece even by those high standards!

GUARANTEED SOLUTIONS provides the Way, the Way to undo effects from the past and the Way to bliss and enlightenment, while still living in the human body!

Other books may point out problems and they may even offer ideas for solution. But, do they work? Are they lasting? After doing them are we any different? Do they do anything more than offer hope? Is there evidence that what they write is true and reproducible? Do they offer thousand-year-old techniques BASED UPON SCIENCE? And most importantly, are these books written by a living, Enlightened Master?

In this book Swamiji simplifies things for seekers who want the highest quality of life possible. As a devotee of Swamiji's, I attest that every single technique he has taught and that I have tried WORKS.

Initially I was very closed to both Swamiji and his teachings due to my religious upbringing and practice until, that is, I actually applied his teachings to everyday life and practiced his techniques. The bliss I feel and the success I continue to experience bring me a type of wealth that is immeasurable - I am becoming more and more the I that I was meant to be. It is like being born again.

Full of good ideas, good list of tour groups (must go on a tour) especially locally owned. Good information on what to do, costs, etc.

I bought this guide before my first trip to Bhutan, and it helped me immensely in planning my tour. It contains detailed information about the country--history, culture, geography, and facts for travelers. And it gives accurate information about the trekking routes and cultural tours. As is typical for Lonely Planet publications, this one is interesting and well written, and I found the information to be relevant to my trip. It is not easy to travel to Bhutan (there are many government restrictions), and this book made everything easier. I had such a successful, fun trip that I've been back several times (www.jachungtravel.com), and I still refer to this edition of the guide. It's packed with good information, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go to Bhutan.

Lonely Planet is unbelieveable! They continually pump out the HIGHEST quality guidebooks, and they've done it again with this edition covering Bhutan. I have spent a good portion of my life researching, and hording information on Bhutan, and have found Lonely Planet's guidebook to contain everything and more that the traveller could ever want...with two exceptions. I think that the lack of the U'cen script in the language chapter is a serious mistake. Lonely Planet has the capacity to print in the U'cen script as they did so in their Tibet edition. My other qualm is with the sparse coverage of the smaller and admittedly FAR less visited dzongkhags (districts) (i.e., Daga, Samdrup Jongkhar, Pema Gatshel, Zhemgang, Tsirang, etc.). Lonely Planet, resolve these issues and your book will be the best it could be.

In anticipation of a trip to Bhutan in 2008 I was looking for a travel guide and opted to buy Lonely Planet's. I read it cover to cover and found to contain very good information, advice, tips, descriptions, recommendations, etc. I travel extensively worldwide and Bhutan will be a novel adventure. It brings back memories of my trip to Tibet in 2000. I highly recommend this guide.

Hello!

I'd been searching for a book on Bhutan which could provide me with a little bit of everything about the country viz. the history, geography, people and the culture. I have searched for books on Bhutan in several book stores around. It was so hard to find one in English but I think this one will do.

May be, finally......... I have found the book I'd been looking for.

I'm not a huge YA chick lit fan, but I really enjoyed this book. The story is about a teenage girl from California named Jazz (short for Jasmine--she is half Indian) and her summer vacation at an orphanage in India. Jazz's mother was adopted at a very young age from the orphanage by American parents and wants to go back to find out more about her roots. Jazz is initially reluctant to travel to India because she has to leave behind her best-friend/crush Steve, but she eventually comes around. The story is sweet and the main character is likable from the get-go. The author does a great job of showing India from an American teenager's perspective (having gone to India myself as an American teenager). The ending was a little too optimistic to be believable but at least it was a happy one (phew!), which is almost essential in these kinds of books. I would highly recommend this as a fun summer read.

I've read all of Mitali's books, and I love this portrait of Jasmine Gardner . This is a beautiful story of a wonderful change in Jazz's life, brought about by a summer trip to India.

Mitali Perkins is a wonderful writer who weaves a great story!

Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins is a mediocre teen novel. A young California girl, Jazz Gardner, leaves with her family on a summer vacation to India, during the magic monsoon season, for volunteer work. Throughout this book Jazz realizes how strong, generous, and desired she really is. This novel was not the best I've ever read. The author did not do a very good job of explaining the characters. I felt the characters made me bored and they rarely expressed, or showed any emotions. In Monsoon Summer there was not an exhilirating climax, nor a great ending. The plot of this teen novel did not capture my interests. I felt the need to stop reading the book after several chapters, but I don't like to abandon a book halfway through it. Monsoon Summer did not meet my expectations of a wonderful book.

I absolutely loved this book. Monsoon Summer is the story of 15-year-old Jasmine Carol Gardner, known as Jazz. Jazz is the product of her bulky, introverted white father and her petite, activist Indian-born mother. Genetically, and by her choices, Jazz takes mostly after her father, while her younger brother, Eric, resembles their mother. Their family is very close, however, with a strong sense of mutual loyalty. Thus when Jazz's mother wins a grant to go set up a clinic for pregnant women at the orphanage in India where she lived as a child, the whole family leaves California to go along for the summer.

Jazz is quite reluctant to go to India, however, mostly because of her newly-discovered, and undisclosed, love for her best friend, Steve. Jazz and Steve run a thriving business giving Berkeley tourists postcards of themselves in front of local landmarks and nostalgic activist signs. Jazz is worried about leaving Steve to run the business by himself, and even more worried about leaving him to the mercies of other girls from school. She can't imagine actually telling Steve how she feels, because she considers him so much more attractive and popular than herself, and she is sure that he would never be interested in her in that way. Still, she hates to leave him.

Most of the story takes place in the city of Pune, India, during the monsoon season, which many believe is a magical time. Jazz is at first quite resistant to the pull of India, and to the needs of the people around her. This is mostly due to her own self-doubt (and a little bit because of her obsession with Steve). The memory of a failed experiment in helping someone else, one in which her trust was betrayed, keeps her from wanting to get involved. But gradually, the monsoons work their magic on her, and she finds her over-protected heart expanding, as she becomes more brave and confident.

I think that Jazz's self-doubt and complete inability to think of herself as beautiful will resonate with anyone who is, or ever has been, a teenager. This authenticity makes Jazz's gradual transformation an inspiration. I think that this book could help teens to see themselves in a new light.

Jazz and her father both also evolve through the book from being fairly hands-off to being people who take an active part in helping others. Without being preachy about it, Monsoon Summer makes the reader want to get more involved, too. I'm not quite sure how Mitali Perkins manages that feat. I'm personally quite resistant to books that feel like they're promoting some larger agenda. I think that it works in this case because Perkins shows us how Jazz and her father react to a specific situation, rather than simply telling us that we should act in some particular way. All I know is that I cried at the end (in a good way).

I also liked the long-distance relationship between Jazz and Steve, sweet at times, realistically snippy at others. The descriptions of India, as seen through the eyes of someone raised in America, are eye-opening, without being overwhelming. And I liked the way that the author resists the temptation to wrap up every detail, leaving at least one issue unresolved. All in all, I enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it for teen readers. I also think that adults, especially those who are feeling a bit jaded about life, will find it a refreshing treat.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on September 2, 2006.

I keep this book in my car, next to the drivers seat. I read a few segments while waiting at red lights. The light is always green befor I know it, and the wisdom I have acquired from reading this book over the last 4 years, makes me feel like the little old wise man,on the top of some mountain. I originally found this book, in my fathers library of books, and have been hooked on Demello ever since. I tend to drive my friends crazy quoting fables from this book, but they tend to say what could be said to somebody.

The beginning of this book says that "The Master in these tales is not a single person. He is a Hindu Guru, a Zen Roshi, Taoist Sage, a Jewish Rabbi, a Christian monk, a Sufi Mystic. He is Lao-tzu and Socrates. Buddha and Jesus, Zarathustra and Mohammed." The conversations with the Master make me think about being present in the current moment, awake and aware and encourages me to change my vision of the world. Each conversation is a very few words on one page, but totally thought provoking. Read slowly and think a lot.

This is a wonderful book, full of thoughtful pieces. It's not something you would want to read quickly, because mulling the thoughts over is quite interesting. DeMello starts you thinking. Things that are ultimately so obvious are the very ones we've overlooked as we travel through life.

For those among us in the hunt for a deliverance of some sort, the late Fr. Anthony de Mello delivers the goods right here. My first exposure to Anthony de Mello was via his book titled Awareness. I don't want to spend time reviewing another book here, but it likewise is a must have. One Minute Wisdom is a book filled to the brim with sharp, charming, and sometimes outright hilarious axioms from all-around the world. De Mello dips into the treasure fields of the Gospels, Eastern and Western mysticism, et cetera. He unabashedly borrows from any spiritually sound tradition, be that a Christian or even Buddhist source. As he once put it rather succinctly in another work of his titled Taking Flight, "Truth only calls for an open mind." And an open mind he most indubitably did have! These parables/allegories cut straight to the heart of spirituality. No commentary by de Mello, no personal interpretations of his own here (though his insights in other works are always very insightful). No, he leaves commentary up to us readers in this one. He literally covers just about anything you can visualize people setting out for a voyage into the spiritual plateau could need. Buy the book. Your going to absolutely love it.

The "one minute" wisdom that Fr De Mello shared in this book is actually timeless. There is no end or beginning, it "is". A most inspirational book to be felt not read. It serves as a great self spiritual cleasing book. I am very blessed to have found this book and also the One Minute Nonsense as well...

What better antidote to toxic news about Wall Street greed and corruption than to read one story after another of people helping one another. This book is not about the how of giving, but about the why of it all. It wonderfully delivers on the promise of its (two!) subtitles: "How giving back enriches us all - Creating abundance in your home, at work, and in your community."

Creating abundance, for example, can mean joining a babysitting co-op, thereby affording busy parents a bit of time for themselves. Though elsewhere in the book it's evident that the authors, professional fundraisers Jamal and McKinnon, work with very high-income donors indeed, this book is for EveryCitizen. The authors intersperse funny personal stories from their own lives with poignant vignettes, quotes of wisdom from the ancients, helpful web links, and so forth.

One can feel sick at heart and powerless to do anything effective about huge disasters like hurricanes, or gang violence, or homelessness in a rich country - or even about "smaller" problems in the neighbourhood. American Trappist poet and social activist Thomas Merton captured this malaise well: "To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to the violence of our times."

Jamal and McKinnon have spectacularly not "succumbed to the violence of our times."

Each page seems to have been written with love and laughter. Even though all my life I've donated time and money to various causes; have worked as a fundraiser for non-profits; and know the many benefits of giving, I love this book because it's an invitation to everyone - not just the fundraisers - to experience the happiness and the health we create - and the meaningful relationships we build - when reach out to others.

The subtle design of the book helps you slow down a bit, taking pleasure in the relaxing act of turning the well-printed pages... of considering how the next idea might play out in one's own circle of friends.

This immensely compassionate book could make an eye-opening and inviting gift for anyone in your life - including the friend who "has everything."

From the pauper on the street to those in the arena of Bill Gates this book should be a "must read." We can give in thousands of ways. I have given in many of the forms mentioned here. I like the way the book is organized. Now as I share my ideas for giving with others I have a book to back up and expand my thoughts from.

Thank you for sure an insightful book on giving from the heart. I practice random acts of kindness daily; WHAT FUN!

This should be required reading for everyone. Give it to your friends, your family, and your co-workers. It will inspire you to do what you have always wanted to do - make a difference. And Harvey doesn't just tell us, he shows us. All the profits from book sales are being donated. A great read with great ideas that you can act on. Buy it by the dozen.

Congrads and special thanks to Azim and Harvey for giving us a deeper understanding and reminding how powerful GIVING and sharing is. The Power of Giving has helped me solidly in 2 areas:

1) It gives a wider definition of giving and envisioned me for learning to give beyond money. When I think of all the opportunities of giving I have throughout my daily life, I started living more fullfiling days. There are so many opportunities everyday for giving a smile, a compliment, valuable knowledge...Giving and sharing, thus serving, helping each other is part of purpose. It's great to be reminded this and shown the way.

2) I have read so many books on personal development, self-help etc. Of course it is vital to know what you want in life, learning to manage your thoughts, thinking positive, keeping a high motivation etc. But very few books talks about the actual POWER of giving. Giving truely creates a POWER within, it makes you feel more abundant, more connected, definetly much better.

Good book showing you all the benefits of giving but I recommend another book that deals with giving and getting back through the Law of Attraction. The book is entitled Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbookand a must read if your concerns are for a happier life through gratitude and giving.

I am in the process of answering a questionnaire asking, if I could recommend one book to someone to read, what book would it be?

I came on this site to check the spelling of the full name of this book.

I love this book.

A collection of interwoven tales told from the perspective of the different residents of Ferozsha Baag, an apartment building in Bombay. All the stories are good; some are outstanding. In particular, the story of the son who emigrates to Canada to become a writer has a uniquely autobiographical feel to it. =)

I read A Fine Balance about a year ago and loved it. I just finished Swimming Lessons and I'm going out to buy Family Matters right now. He writes so beautifully and descriptively that you feel that you lived alongside the characters in his books.He's my favorite author right now.

"Swimming Lessons", a short story collection, may be Mistry's earliest published work. He of course wrote the awesome "A Fine Balance", a panoramic look at life in India circa 1975. "Lessons" is set in about the same time period and chronicles the life experiences of middle-class Indians from a particular apartment complex. Major characters in one story show up as minor characters in other stories, giving the book a novelistic feel. Emigration, experienced directly by Mistry in his early 20's as he moved to Canada, is a major theme of the book. The story "Squatters", contains a "story inside the story" that affect your thinking about the trials of emigration (as it relates to bodily functions) for a long time. Those who know Mistry will enjoy this look at his early writing. Newcomers to Mistry might enjoy the short story form as an intro before tackling the epic "A Fine Balance."

And I thought that "A Fine Balance" was Rohinton's best! Yet again, I find myself speechless in my admiration for his astute command of language. His precise and inventive prose never quits until he has portrayed an image in sentences. Images that I grew up with myself but never quite would have thought of expressing in the grippingly sensitive way he can.

Swimming Lessons is a collection of such reminiscences from the author's childhood in a Parsi neighborhood in suburban middle-class Bombay. The setting itself may be confined to a particular community, but his compassionate brush carves such a wide sweep of the minutest of human emotions that the sheer force of this book is not in its plot or setting, but in its recognition of the universal bounty of life.

Our quirky residents of 'Firozsha Baag' have every reason to be disconcerted and baffled with their difficult lives. The walls of their building complex are coming apart. Washroom flushes don't work. One family has the refrigerator that's shared by the entire colony, and another has the common telephone. Their lives are marred by simple everyday things, innocent infatuations, unconfessed fantasies, fatal jealousies, neighborhood bullies, petty thefts, memory lapses, shared newspapers, cultural/generational clashes, etc etc.

Yet, beneath this veneer of this seeming hardships glimmers a subtle undercurrent of hope and happiness, of a bond that does not need expressing in the common social forms.

The high praise that Mistry has garnered is not exaggerated. The man has a disarming sense of humor and a lingering sense of what makes literature great. I laughed, I cried, I sat back and pondered. I was especially stirred by the moving story "Of White Hairs and Cricket", and the cover story, which is saved for the last, "Swimming Pools."

Couldn't recommend this brilliant compilation highly enough. It hardly reads like a debut.

As a longtime seeker of enlightenment, I've read many a book that promised guidance. And I've received a fair share. But this book has come into my life at a crucial time and seems, more than others before it, equal to the task. It provides a simple and effective--I didn't say "easy"-- method for attaining bliss by teaching a two-question process. The first question brings one's present reality into focus; the second gives one a "leg up" on accepting that reality.

When I read a book that thoroughly meets my needs, as now, I don't pretend to be impartial or a careful critic. In fact, I want to say that the writing is exquisite, but don't know how much my pleasure in the book's content informs that opinion.

If timing is everything, and I believe it is, then my wish for you, reading this review, is to share my good fortune. May you meet this book with an open heart, letting the gift of its message march in.

Unconditional Bliss came into my hands during a devastating breakup. I needed what most self-help books, with their bright covers and promises, never gave me: specific strategies for handling moments of crisis. With great gentleness and humor, Howard Raphael Cushnir asks the reader to study the way he or she feels joy or grief, to see how breathing and self-talk affect that process. The way he does this showed me tools I had never before recognized, and what I learned from using them changed my life. I recommend this book with all my heart.

In this little book you might find some answers.It gives you a simple method to cultivate awareness.And even more,it gives you one method that WORKS for dealing with emotional pain as it happens.

This book is such a gift. I went through incredible changes and tragedies in my life this past year, and now towards the end of all the chaos, this book has given me the balance and understanding I needed. It teaches us to accept what is happening, and to understand that we can live in the moment and not stress about what will happen. Thank you to the author - this book is truly exceptional.

Cushnir begins by explaining how he came to experience the rejection and finally, his acceptance of bliss. He writes in a friendly tone that helps you understand how living the questions can promote an abundance of profound results in your life.

Living the questions teaches you to stay in the "now". When faced with difficult situations, you invoke this two-step process that takes you to a place of internal focus where you feel and experience what's going on "now". Cushnir gives real-life examples to help you clearly understand the experience of bliss and how to use the process to keep you focused in the "now".

Cushnir believes that everyone has experienced this profound state of consciousness and explains how we have been trained to reject this mystery of life.

Cushnir divides Bliss into four sections: Terms of Service is an orientation to his perspective and development of the book. Basic Bliss, provides a foundation for the questions and examples to put them to use. Advanced Bliss, clarifies questions about the state of bliss and the process to achieve and remain in the "now". The fourth and final section, Beyond Bliss, examines how living the questions gives you tools to transform your life-perspective and tune in to the ups and downs each of us experiences.

reviewed by Robert Moore

I have purshased a whole lot of books on indian cooking.Most of them try to cover a lot of reciepes resultinng in quantity over quality.

This book covers a limited number of reciepes but coveres the entire range to plan a complete feast.The book makes good uses of the images to convey the ingridents as well as give an idea of the end result. The small tips and trics given on most of the the pages really works wonders.

I have tried most of the reciepes and have got great compliments from people who have tasted them.

I just received the book two days ago and have read it from start to finish. A beautifully written and illustrated book - you can tell it was written with a lot of love. I would have given it a heart 5 stars BUT, not being at home with many of the ingredients, I have compiled a significant list that needs more definition, and perhaps source recommendations before I can try the recipes. It also has a STRONG mothball like smell so it's airing out in the screened porch!

Cooking at Home with Pedatha (Best Vegetarian Book in the World - Gourmand Winner)

This is an awesome book filled with traditional South Indian Vegetarian recipes and includes hints on varying the dish either by adding/changing other spices or vegetables. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow and the illustrations are very appealing. It is impossible to find such authentic home food in any restaurant, whether in or out of India. The food based on these recipes definitely transported me back to my childhood!

Shiva
CA

We bought this cook book shortly after an extended stay in India with family and it is the real deal. The recipes are just like our Autie's. Clear instructions and great pictures. It's just not a beginners book.

Looking for a South Indian Veg. cookbook with clear instructions, well laid out text, images of raw ingredients and finished products, tips on getting things "just so", and suggestions for variations in case you have the urge to try the same dish with other materials? Look no further, because "Cooking with Pedatha" has all these features. The end products are authentic and taste like home cooked food (quite unlike most over spiced and greasy restaurant food) and leave you wanting to try more recipes. You will need to be able to get to an Indian store to get some ingredients but they can be used in multiple recipes and it is worth your time to do so. I hope you enjoy the book as I have since owning it the last month or so.