Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Tuesdays With "Tuesdays With Morrie"

As I write this on a Tuesday, I would like to announce that I've finally finished reading the novel "Tuesdays with Morrie" after my own weekly Tuesday appointments with the professor. It started out that way, me reading Mitch Albom's bestseller on Tuesdays but as the weeks passed, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays came into the picture as well.

It may sound like a difficult book to read since I took so long but in actual fact, this masterpiece by Mitch Albom isn't that hard to read at all. I would consider it easy reading and anyone would be able to grab the book off the shelf and enjoy reading it. I would have simply finished reading it in just a few hours if I had the time to do so. Unfortunately, I took months to finish this wonderful book which is no more than 200 pages, only because someone was kind enough to loan me the book. Thanks!

Mitch Albom seems to like exploring topics related to life and death. This you would also see in his two other bestsellers which I will write in upcoming posts. His books are well written and not daunting at all. Unlike some books, you don't get that feeling that you're dumb or have to go search for a word in the dictionary or stop reading to try and figure out what you have just read, even for some well read folks.

I like how he breaks everything down into small little chapters and how he keeps things fresh by teleporting you to different time zones or different events and yet keeping it all relevant at the same time. I especially love what I call "intermission chapters" that makes you reflect on stuff and set you in some soul-searching sessions. I guess that's why "Tuesdays with Morrie" is still a bestseller even now, ten years after it was first published.

What makes this book so interesting, although it is classified as general fiction when in truth I don't see anything fictional about the contents of the book, is how you can so clearly associate yourself with it. It is not exactly an inspirational book but more of what I like to refer as a soul-searching book or a book with a soul. These books are excellent as gifts and would definitely help lift anyone's spirits after reading such a book.

I'm sure all of us constantly search for someone to guide us through life - to answer life's mysteries, to hold a hand out when you're down, to hold you steady when you're way up high, to praise you when you've done right, to remind you when you've done wrong - to be our teachers, our life coaches. Some are fortunate to have found ours and some of us may have more than one but some may still be searching for someone to be their sifu. To them, I say be patient for it will all be worth waiting for.

I find it strange that quite a number have somehow considered me to be their life coach. Strange because I definitely do not have answers to all of life's mysteries, strange because I'm still raw and rough around the edges myself, strange because I myself am a student seeking for the guidance of my sifu. But what I realise is you don't really have to be as old as Morrie to be a life coach. You don't have to have experience that could fill the Library of Congress. All you have to be is yourself and share whatever that you've learned so far with others in hope that something good will come out from that exchange.

I'm fortunate to have had a few of my own life coaches along the way and honoured that others consider me to be one myself. If you've not found your life coach, reading this book may actually help. Who knows? You may have already found your life coach but just do not realise it yet.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. You don't really have to buy the book if you don't feel like it. You can always check with you local library or borrow it from a friend or relative. Of course, you can also find an MPH, Borders or Kinokuniya outlet and "preview" the book week after week. ;) There's no reason why you shouldn't read this book. If you're not convinced, you can always read an excerpt from the book.




2 comments:

  1. finally! so what r u going to do on tuesdays now?

    ReplyDelete
  2. hmmm....any books for me to read? ;)

    ReplyDelete