The Bookish Elf

Here is a small list of the most challenging books which gave me hard time to reach last page of the book. No matter how hard your heart wants to read these books till the end but at certain point your mind will take over the will of your heart and convince it to drop the book once and for all. These books will test your patience and control over your mind. Give yourself a round of applause if you’ve also made it through any of these books. And if you get it what was written or what you’ve read then you deserve a standing ovation. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967) What makes it challenging: Few family sagas stretch as wide as that of the Buendía clan - there are seven generations depicted here. As if that's not confusing enough, names are frequently repeated (basically ever character is named Aureliano). And oh yeah, try reading it in Spanish. Excerpt: "He sank into the rocking chair, the same one in which Rebecca had sat during the early days of...

There are some authors whose work had inspired so many people and is still inspiring. Some of them are not living in this world, while others are still living and producing wonderful literature that keeps bookstores afloat. The works of those authors are immortal and so they are. Here is a small list of those authors whom you might have read and if not, you should immediately add them to your ‘to be read’ list. 1. William Shakespeare The Bard. This "Renaissance Man" was truly prolific (though if you believe some skeptics, he never existed at all, was the pseudonym for someone else or was perhaps the moniker under which a group of authors published.) Chances are strong that you've read or seen at least one of his plays, but if it's been a while since you perused a copy of "The Tragedy of Hamlet" or "Macbeth", it's time to re-acquaint yourself with this master of language and storytelling. 2. George Orwell Orwell (whose real name was Eric Arthur ...

Born: June 22, 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire, US. Dan Brown’s books are paramount encounter of excitement and ecstasy for the fan of secrets, codes, symbols and conspiracies. The books are set in 24 hours period story that swallow up the mind, soul and heart of the readers completely. A musician by profession, Dan Brown switched to the vocation of writing full-time later on. However, his move was just the perfect one as he mastered the skill that thriller-based novels demanded and went on to become one of the most celebrated writers of the genre. In his writing career, Brown has come up with classic novels some of which are ‘ Angels & Demons ’, ‘ The Da Vinci Code ’, ‘ The Lost Symbol ’ and ‘ Inferno ’. Amusingly, all the aforementioned novels have the same protagonist, Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbology expert. Additionally, they share historical themes and Christianity as motifs. Most of his works have garnered immense positive response from the public and the critics. Also, h...

Early Life : Paulo Coelho Writer Paulo Coelho was born on August 24, 1947, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A son of an engineer and a housewife. He attended Jesuit school and was raised by devout Catholic parents. He determined early on that he wanted to be a writer but was discouraged by his parents, who saw no future in that profession in Brazil. According to Coelho, his parents responded to his artistic aspirations and to his introverted personality by committing him to a mental institution and approving electro-convulsive ("shock") therapy for their son. "I have forgiven," Coelho said. "It happens with love, all the time - when you have this love towards someone else, but you want this person to change, to be like you. And then love can be very destructive." - source Biography.com Paulo Coelho eventually got out of institutional care and enrolled in law school, but dropped out to indulge in the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" of hippie lif...

Born: September 15, 1890 in Torquay, England Died: January 12, 1976 in Wallingford, England English author and playwriter Agatha Christie was the best-selling mystery writer of all time. She wrote ninety-three  books and seventeen plays, including the longest-running play of modern-day theater, The Mousetrap. She is the only mystery writer to have created two important detectives as characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Childhood and Early Life: The daughter of an American father and a British mother, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born at Torquay in the United Kingdom on September 15, 1890. Her family   was comfortable, although not wealthy. She was educated at home, with later studies in Paris, France. Christie taught herself to read at age of five years . She grew up in a family environment full of stories—from the dramatic, suspenseful tales her mother told her at bedtime to her elder sister's frightening creations. She began creating her own fictions, too, with t...