I'm currently reading..

Seven Years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer.

Choosing books to read is a really tough task for me. I spend several minutes browsing my library shelves trying to recollect familiar names of authors/books but I usually don't go past the ones I've already read. Among my favourte authors, like Forsyth - I have yet to read many of his books including Day of the Jackal - but I've decided to leave that for a very rainy day.

Sometimes I try and consult some of the many 'recommended' lists on the net. I've long given up going by Booker/Pulitzer nominations as I think these judges are have traded excitement for descriptions of exoticism at best.

I came across this tattered paperback, then, at my trusty United Western Library at the Pune Club. It is actually held together at the bind by a nylon sting, which has succeeded in cutting through most of the initial pages.
I may have taken this book only because I remembered there was a movie based on this one, and I remember some glimpses of it and that it was interesting. It sounded like something to do with exile or escape, with a hostile place like Tibet involved..

This is a fantastic read. It lacks the pace of, say, Papillon; but the author does well in mincing descriptions and staying right to the point, whilst juxtaposing some irrelevant and interesting nuggets about life in a strange, isolated land caught in the past.
Oh, and it has an escape story :) That's how it begins.

The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham

Eh.. well I was reading Warren Buffet's biography on Wikipedia when I saw that this was his favorite book. Downloaded it that very instant.

According to him, this is the best book on investing ever written.

Graham's principles have stood correct on many many occasions and appear to be some sort of guidelines to invest wisely. Interestingly, like Buffet, he discounts Technical Analysis (which is somewhat of a disappointment - I was really wanting to learn it).

This is a good book.