I distinctly remember my dad constantly begging us to take a trip to Athens, Greece when we lived in Turkey with my family for 3 years in the 1980s after we had left Iran. For some inexplicable reason, the whole family was against going anywhere else. Perhaps the unexpected move from Iran had left us [...]
In Print
As an avid reader, who could still read a lot more, I write detailed book reviews on business and marketing books to classical literature, from modern and historical fiction to short stories and novels. I share my deep personal reviews on each book and talk about the reading experience on digital devices such as the iPad, the Kindle and the iPhone Stanza application.
Remember that reading keeps your mind sharp and active. Reading is the greatest favor you can do to the longevity of your brain and your mental growth. I highly encourage you to read often and voraciously.
What did I do on a 4-day vacation in Montreal in September? We came to Canada a few days before Toronto International Film Festival and Montreal was the obvious traveler’s guide choice in which to spend a few late summer days. We walked countless miles every day, and while I found the people warm and [...]
To be fortunate enough to have an infinite source of wisdom is rare, so I consider myself lucky. The source is my younger brother, Sina Bahram (I have been informed that he is now too old to be called my “little brother” but you know how that goes). Sina happens to be the smartest, sharpest person [...]
Japan has fascinated me since I was a child. My grandparents made a trip over to Tokyo in the 1970s and for years, they talked about it to everyone. That’s what people did back then. Or at least where I grew up. They would go on one trip to a “foreign” land and come home with [...]
How do we reach the critical point in our endeavors where we can tip the scale of success to reach not just mediocre success but one of colossal size? How do some people reach success, wealth, fame of enormous proportions, while others just as likely, just as probable, barely tip that scale? What is the defining distinction [...]
Reading Jane Eyre marks one of my most bittersweet journeys into a novel and into a character’s life and psyche. I read Charlotte Brontë‘s masterpiece of accomplishment for an unusual reason. I wanted to find a way to get closer to her sister, Emily Brontë. I devoured Emily’s singular publication of ”Wuthering Heights“, a story that is at [...]
Ageless movies are boldly ignorant of the passage of time. The past and the future merge in the permanence of a timeless story. Years and decades pass us by, we grow up and grow old, and yet these movies only become more enduring with time. The Godfather story is insurmountable, it is beyond a classic, [...]
There is no doubt Valerie Martin is a good writer, and she writes her short stories in the style that draws me in and makes it hard to stop reading. I finished “The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories” over the weekend trip to San Diego. A total of 6 short stories are in this book [...]
When I was first invited to join the Amazon Vine program, I was sure it’s a scam: Amazon wants to send you free products to keep and enjoy, so long as you promise to review 75% of the items you receive. I contacted Amazon directly and to my surprise, it was no scam. Now, 5 [...]
When I saw Azar Nafisi‘s “Reading Lolita in Tehran” on the shelves in my beloved Maui, Hawaii, I distinctly heard it beckon me. The time has come to read this book. I was in paradise, as anyone who has ever set foot in Hawaii knows well. The warm perfect breeze combined with Mother Nature’s pristine beauty [...]
Opening paragraph of Yoko Ogawa‘s short story: “What is your shoe size?” “How much did you weigh when you were born?” “What is your height?” “When is your birthday?” These were some of the questions the housekeeper encountered every morning from the professor whom she cared for. He asked because he loved mathematics and because [...]
I read “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, an American classic, as a grown adult and out of pure curiosity. I cannot say that I enjoyed the book or the writing, but that is not the intent for reading all books. Not growing up in America until my teenage years precluded me from [...]
Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811 when Jane Austen was just 36 years old, and only 2 years before the publication of Pride and Prejudice. In the span of such a short time, and almost 200 years ago from today, Jane Austen produced two timeless classics. I find it bitterly ironic that in almost every case, [...]
The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones… -William Shakespeare Imagine reading a book filled with quotes, anecdotes, and plots from Shakespeare’s masterpieces!
I picked up “The Zahir” before leaving Tokyo airport in September. Paulo Coelho is a new author, the story line sounded adventurous and I had precious few options in the “English” or rather, foreign book section. I started reading it in Hawaii on vacation and finished it in the course of two days. Here is [...]
It is best to be reading Wuthering Heights in the cold of winter. Perhaps when and where we read our classics and our favorite novels makes them particularly memorable to us years from now. I read Emily Brontë’s brilliant singular novel this winter, a few days short of Christmas. I already knew the story, all [...]
In “What happened to Anna K.?“, Irina Reyn gives us the life of Anna Karenina in a new light. Reyn’s writing and story-telling was simply riveting. This brilliant young author had me captivated and glued to her book from page one. Reyn’s writing style is remarkable for such a new novelist. Her spellbinding way of [...]
It was nearly two years after I had received “On Writing Well” that I started to read it. William Zinsser is not just writing a book on writing well; he is in love with the art of writing and using the English language. This passion comes through clearly in every page and invites the reader [...]
My passion and curiosity about Professional Blogging started accidentally enough with stumbling upon a fantastic personal development website by Steve Pavlina in 2006. I loved what Steve managed to do with his successful blogging and his myriad of personal improvements. Most of all, I loved the idea of creating – creating content, creating readership, creating [...]
Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, is an epic novel, and no review or praise of this book, including mine, will yield it justice or measure the genius of the author behind it. There have been countless reviews of Jane Austen’s writing style and epic novels. What else can I say that has not been [...]
A salute to Rhonda Byrne, the author of “The Secret”, for superbly over-promising and under-delivering on every single page of this trite book. The transformation that I experienced was being awed at the mastery of her powers of influence by connecting dots where no dots exist except for her say-so
Reading “Angels and Demons“ in Italy added the intangible that makes reading a novel just right. Dan Brown‘s Robert Langdon, the famous Harvard symbologist, is out to solve a mystery about an ancient brotherhood called the Illuminati. The discovery of the existence of Illuminati, through a careful study of a genuine mark left on the [...]
“Getting to Yes“ is quite possibly one of the best negotiation books you will ever read. First published in 1981, the authors founded the first Negotiation Program at Harvard Law School and have been successfully teaching their negotiation technique globally. I enrolled in a one-day course at my company. The course teaches the fundamentals of [...]
I am not a history buff. I had no particular reason to read the “Timeline” other than Michael Crichton wrote it. I am very happy I followed my notion. I read the first 50 pages two months ago, forgot all about it, and then picked it up to keep me company on some long flights. [...]
