ANTHEM by AYN RAND

FOREWORD: Ayn Rand ! for me this word is another synonym for human spirit. For that something which speaks in us ,which is rebellious . I read  THE Fountain Head , which totally flickered my consciousness. A new kind  of me was born out of the book, a new kind of  humanity  is embossed in her words.Her words through a war at the reader. A war between the dichotomy of consciousness. Her philosophy goes deep into every cell of the body, every minute space of the soul. 
       She  isn't dead. She is alive in the form of the spirit which haunts the reader to unleash  more of her work. Her work is shark, thought provoking and brilliant. And that spirit of hers has brought me to this book "Anthem", made me  dig into it.

JOT(from goodreads): In Anthem, Rand examines a frightening future in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values. Equality 7-2521 lives in the dark ages of the future where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, and all traces of individualism have been wiped out. Despite such a restrictive environment, the spark of individual thought and freedom still burns in him--a passion which he has been taught to call sinful. In a purely egalitarian world, Equality 7-2521 dares to stand apart from the herd--to think and choose for himself, to discover electricity, and to love the woman of his choice. Now he has been marked for death for committing the ultimate sin. In a world where the great "we" reign supreme, he has rediscovered the lost and holy word--"I."

MY ANTHEM ON ANTHEM :Firstly I  would advice all the readers to read the preface first . Because leafing  into the book without reading the preface would leave the reader confused. It sounds esoteric. There is some introduction  given in the preface. The Language is totally  unique and It also gives an image that her language is obsolete. But there lies the mystery. The Society in  her book ,chooses a different language where the Idea of Self is shattered . The Concept of Iness is lost ,instead usurped by Mob Dogma.A totalitarian society, killing it's people in the name of  brotherhood. Then comes the protagonist who fights back and brings Light into the brutal darkness , brings "I" into the Mob. 
     Anthem is the protagonist's revelation of  'I' , he re-discovers it and writes an anthem a memoir of the lost 'I'.This anthem on I is Ayn rand's very philosophy which is intended to be imbibed by the reader. This is a glimpse of the Anthem:

I AM......I THINK.....I Will......
    MY Hands......MY sky......My forest .....The earth of mine.......

what must I say besides? these are the words this is the answer.............

The  best lines in the ANTHEM:

MY HAPPINESS IN NOT THE MEANS TO ANY  END. IT IS THE END .IT IS ITS OWN GOAL. IT  IS  ITS OWN PURPOSE. 

one  last thing I wish to mention is that the book ends with the word 'EGO' , I felt the author means the right side of it which is synonymous to 'INDIVIDUALITY', which is the Whole purpose of Life.

ELEVEN MINUTES by PAULO COELHO

FOREWORD: It was actually few years back that I knew about this story teller, why I call him a story teller is, his voice resonates when one leafes through his words.I read his book 'THE ALCHEMIST', I need to say I lived it rather than saying I read it.Such was his intensity and ease of narrating.His words, his language his philosophy every thing was tucked with some magic , some palpable feeling at heart which unleashes the other unkown part of us.I know it got translated from  Portuguese and was not directly written in English but may be 'Margaret Jull Cost', the one who translated it to English might carried the magic as it it is .
                Hoping to savour all that again , I Craved and longed to read his another best selling book elven minutes.

      JOT(from Good reads): Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that "love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . ." A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune. Maria's despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness -- sexual pleasure for its own sake -- or risking everything to find her own "inner light" and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love.

        MY  REFLECTION: Being a male and getting into shoes of a woman is absolutely not an easy task.Women are extrordinary creatures and it takes eons to learn  about a single woman. 
       But here Paulo has wrote a book through the eyes of a woman  , a stong, bold woman I can say.Pouring into her all the subtle  naunces a woman should  have and narrating his  story  through her.
       It was not all like reading a single book, for me it was like reading a Novel which contained a  self-help, a book of romance, a book of spiriual quest ,all put together tapestried as a beautiful story and served Hot. 
       The book makes every reader Introspect , re-discover, transform and enlighten .

The few words from the book which touched me and digged deep into my soul are: 

" THe greatest  aim of every human being is to understand the meaning of total love .Love is not to be found in someone else ,but in ourselves; we simply awake it. But in order to do that we need the other person."