SHANTARAM

When a friend who is not an avid reader or stays away from books as much as he/she can help it, asks which one to read, I almost always suggest Shantaram. I know there are whole other choices and really great ones too, but there’ something about this book that has everyone hooked to it from the word go. And to me it’ll always be a special one; my first love when it comes to books. Many ask why, why is it that I feel so strongly about it right from the time I read it in 2005 even to this day. You know how you go through a phase in life and find comfort in the most unexpected quarters? This was it for me.
Charles W. Eliot had said that ‘Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers’. Shantaram was all that and more for me then when nothing else seemed to make sense and life wasn’t a happy picture;

And so I hold it above every other. I’m too much in awe and in love with it to possibly write a review of this marvel by Gregory David Roberts.
Instead, posting a few lines from the book that make me realise what a masterpiece this book is every single time I read it is a better option. Trying to limit them to a sane number will be a difficult task since there are umpteen quotes, paragraphs, pages even that strike a chord and leave their mark forever.
Simply put, the only way to do justice to this book is to read it, cover to cover. These are words that have spoken to so many readers all over, but to each they seem to be written only for their own self; such is the intimacy, such is the bond, such is the wisdom.
P.S Read it before the movie is out. Movies always ruin your experience of a great read.
P.P.S EVERY person who has read this book has loved it. Fact. Just sayin’.