en-US Sat, 09 May 2020 19:59:48 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 228378 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780312330538

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel by Gregory David Roberts, set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. Shantaram is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.

Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.

As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.

Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.]]> 936 Gregory David Roberts Iwona 5 4.18 2003
author: Gregory David Roberts
name: Iwona
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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date added: 2020/05/09
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Wise, inspire, moving. A little bit of India unknown for us, a little bit of adventure, a little bit of philosophy. The best book I read this year.
]]> 865 197 Paulo Coelho 0061122416 Iwona 4 3.85 1988
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Iwona
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1988
rating: 4
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date added: 2010/12/27
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]]> 3064956 303 G.I. Gurdjieff 0710070322 Iwona 0 to-read 4.18 1960
author: G.I. Gurdjieff
name: Iwona
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/12/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 144256 247 A.H. Almaas 0936713011 Iwona 5 4.42 2000
author: A.H. Almaas
name: Iwona
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2000
rating: 5
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date added: 2010/12/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 71730
In this internationally acclaimed text, Marshall Rosenberg offers insightful stories, anecdotes, practical exercises and role-plays that will dramatically change your approach to communication for the better. Discover how the language you use can strengthen your relationships, build trust, prevent conflicts and heal pain. Revolutionary, yet simple, Nonviolent Communication offers you the most effective tools to reduce violence and create peace in your life—one interaction at a time.]]> 220 Marshall B. Rosenberg 1892005034 Iwona 5 4.32 1999
author: Marshall B. Rosenberg
name: Iwona
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2010/12/08
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review:

]]> 304079 The Essential Rumi includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks and more than 80 never-before-published poems.

Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has been instrumental in bringing this exquisite literature to a remarkably wide range of readers, making the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of thirteenth-century Sufi Mystic Rumi more popular than ever.

The Essential Rumi continues to be the bestselling of all Rumi books, and the definitive selection of his beautiful, mystical poetry.]]> 416 Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi 0062509594 Iwona 5
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.


~ Rumi ~


(The Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks)
]]> 4.40 1273
author: Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
name: Iwona
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1273
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2010/12/02
shelves:
review:
"The Guest House"

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.


~ Rumi ~


(The Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks)

]]>