Kim & Brajesh's Review : The Novel Cure - An A-Z of Literary Remedies

Kim's Review :

The minute I saw "The Novel cure - an A-Z of Literary Remedies" by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin up for pre-order on flipkart, I just ordered it immediately. It seemed like something right up our alley. And when it arrived on 21st August, I dove into it. In fact, Brajesh and I were fighting over the book, since he was home when it arrived.

I've been dipping into it on & off since that day. Its not a book that can be read cover-to-cover, but its meant to be savoured one topic at a time, referred to often and enjoyed whenever you are in the mood for a recommendation.

Its written by 2 Bibliotherapists, like a medical handbook, but the remedies are books. Ailments are wide ranging from fear of fatherhood to fear of dinner parties, loneliness to selfishness, feeling like an idiot to bad manners and serious ones like being widowed to falling off the wagon.

They have a list of Reading ailments too - which is not just apt but also humorously written - ailments include compulsive book buying, fear of finishing a good book / series, too many children requiring attention, reading induced loneliness etc. We identified with so many of those illnesses and found some valuable tips too.

I have to recommend it to every reader, because I'm sure each one of you will love it.

The only drawback of this book : its adding more titles to my ever growing bedside books "to be read"

Rating : 4.5 / 5

Brajesh's Review :

If you are a book lover, you MUST have this book as a part of your library. A most unusual book , which I am delighted to have discovered.

First the facts, prior to this book I was unaware of “Bibliotherapy” as a concept. As I discovered, it is an expressive therapy which uses ones relationship with the written word as a cure.

This book is a Bible of bibliotheraphy, it provides a literary cure to all ailments ranging from physical problems like “headache & hiccups” to psychological issues like “pessimism & sadness”. It addresses the funny problems like “missing your flight & public urinating” while also addressing the cure of serious issues like “ageing parents & alcoholism”. So no matter what your problem is this Bible will suggest a literary cure for the same.

Obviously this is a book which can never truly be read, but without having this in your library, you can't really call yourself a book lover.

A good way to familiarize oneself with this book , is to flip through the pages while reading the highlighted pages listing the common “Reading Ailments” like “fear of finishing” and “seduction of new books” or the most common one for book lovers “overwhelmed by number of books in your house”.

While going over these, also read the book lists of 10, sprinkled throughout. To sample a few consider “the 10 best novellas” or “the ten best shocking novels” or my favorite, “the ten best novels for seemingly well read”.

At INR 595/- this is a perfect gift and my recommendation for the “best value for money book” of 2014. Go order now at flipkart or amazon.com

Rating : 4.5 / 5

Mum's Review : Natural Kingdoms – Healing with Homeopathy

Mum has been treating most of the family with Homeopathy and other Natural / Alternative Remedies, for over 35 years. She started when I was a kid and used to throw up or react violently to any allopathic medication (mum also says that our cat throwing up her worm tablets on me, is some kind of Karmic Justice).  Soo whenever I find a new book on Homeopathy in the market, which I think may interest her, I send her a copy.

When I was recently offered Dr Rajan Sankaran's - Natural Kingdoms – Healing with Homeopathy for review, I sent it to my mum as she is much more qualified than me to review a book on this subject. Below is mum's review in her own words.

Dr Rajan Sankaran's - has named his method of diagnosis as the sensation method. It is based on his concept that an individual’s perception of stress is shaped by an inner pattern, or song, which is connected to one of the three kingdoms in nature — animal, plant or mineral. Identifying this fundamental connection enables homeopaths to cure ailments at their root, even in the case of individuals who find themselves trapped in repetitive patterns, despite their best efforts to break it.

Natural Kingdoms – Healing with Homeopathy uses 3 case studies to explain the homeopathic process in the hope that it will encourage the reader to discover his/her own inner song to bring about better health and harmony in their own life.

Although, I am an amateur homeopath with limited experience, I like to read up a lot. This is the first book on homeopathy that I have read, that keeps in mind the emotional and mental state of the patient while treating the symptoms. Thus, it takes into account the entire individual, rather than just the symptoms exhibited and it was a refreshing change.

Very few homeopaths like Fr Augustus Muller have given a couple of pages to explain the physiological constitutions (sanguine/ lymphatic/ nervous/ bilious) and pathological constitutions (herpetic/ hysterical/ gouty/ haemorrhoial/ tuberculous) Most of the other authors only focus on the Materia Medica (body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing) and the symptomology. Which are more or less very concise and precise

Being an amateur NLP practitioner, I was happily surprised that homeopathy could even help a NLP teacher where the root cause was an insect bite (physical) and that he could not help himself despite his skill and high qualification. The verbal and non verbal cues and body language was beautifully integrated with the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdom personalities which was totally new reading for me.

The subtle touch of spirituality struck an emotional chord. It was nice to read Kabir’s Dohe and the explanation of the root cause of stress.

On the whole it was very good light reading, but, it was like walking on the beach with only the waves touching my toes. It left me asking for so much more, as there are so many unanswered questions.

It it is a new approach with maybe a more accurate diagnostic repertoire, but this book just touches the tip of the iceberg. I wish he would write a more comprehensive book which will open new horizons and help heal a lot more people.