Reading a book | Methods of reading a book | Podcast #24 by Neha's Notebook

Reading a b​ook is a multisensory experience. A book bombards our brain with sights, smells, sounds, voices and textures. We come across scenes we have never seen before and meet people we have never met before. Sometimes we collide into new concepts and previously unknown facts. We learn to deal with different circumstances and express a wide range of emotions. Whilst immersed in a book, we explore a brand-new world or find ourselves drifting in an old world of ours. We gaze at the party of ocean waves and at the clusters of stars from a distant point of view, witnessing the story happening.

There is a plethora of details to grasp and learn from the reading of a book. Vocabulary, concepts, quotes, story ideas, references, scene images, characters and more. When organizing our brain after reading a book, eidetic memory helps. Cultivating an eidetic memory enables us to recall these details in the form of photographic screenshots. Storing our information in categories also helps.

Similar to the categorical organization there is a system called Zettelkasten method. In this method, one stores the information collected from the reading of the book into subject headings, tags or numbers by using index cards or slips. Tiago Forte’s second brain method is also a functional method.

Another interesting method to record your reading experiences is Blurting method. As the name suggests, once you complete the reading of the book, you take a notebook and blurt out all the information you can about your reading of the book. This, I think, not only stores the collected information but also enables us to exercise our brain and instill this information deeper into our subconscious. By writing it all down, we make it retrievable for the future. We learn new things and we visualize whip-smart systems.

In addition to the bombardment of information, there is another aspect of reading a book. Reading a book launches a cocktail of hormones inside our body, altering our brain chemistry. While flipping pages, we feel trust and empathy, it boosts the oxytocin hormone and on the other side, a good story boosts the happiness hormone dopamine.

Just as a good emotional song offers us warmth in the cold, a good book stirs the rich menagerie of our emotions, adding to the flamboyant cornucopia of our archetypal psyche. Reading doesn’t only bestow us with a detective mind, it also teaches us how to jump out of love triangles, while also tightening the underpinnings and bolts of our knowledge-stippling subconscious caboose.

Reading is fun. And entertaining. But it is also a workout. An exercise that improves the overall quality and expanse of our mind. A good library is all that we humans need, I believe, apart from good food and nature.

I usually like to read fiction over non-fiction, but for all the books that I read, I post my reviews on Goodreads. So, if you too are an avid reader, let’s connect!

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Animated Book Review: The Mistress of Spices

The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Swaying and pulsating with pipey-hot spice descriptions, syrupy-emotive narrative, portrait-worthy characters and beautiful storytelling, The Mistress of Spices is a novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakurni, the Indian-American writer and poet. Tantalizing, enchanting, charming and bewitching, the novel is a work of fiction, most-appropriately falling into the category of magic realism fiction.

But apart from all things magic, the book also ripples with romance, and croons with the fragrance of feelings like courage, intuition and following one’s heart.

The novel, fundamentally is rooted in the connection that plays between human mind and the psychological healing power embodied in different Indian spices.

The Mistress of Spices is a novel depicting the story of a young woman who is born gifted with certain magical powers. The story takes the reader through a spectacular journey of how she navigates the discovery of her magical powers, stumbling and tripping into the rollercoaster of emotions that her gift brings to her, both pleasures and pitfalls.

The woman’s name is Tilo.

As a child, Tilo was kidnapped by a pirate gang, who destroyed her village and took her away in their ship. They thought that her magical power would bring them good luck.

Unaware still of her true magical power, Tilo escaped the ship when the pirates were asleep, and discovered herself on the shore of some mysterious land.

As she was lying half-unconscious on the sandy ground, she noticed that a motherly woman was examining her hand with utter curiosity.

Later on, she came to discover that this place was ‘The Island of Spices’ and this motherly woman was called by the names of ‘the Old One’ and ‘the First Mother’. The First Mother was a powerful witch who knew everything about the magical power of different spices. On this island, she taught and trained her students the craft of harnessing magic and how to cast spells with the magical power of spices.

Every spice has a meaning. Every spice can be used to cast a certain spell. Every spice carries a secret magical power which can be used to trigger both healing and destruction.

As time goes on, Tilo turned out to be one of the most intelligent students of the First Mother. The First Mother seemed happy about her, but at the same time she cautioned her for her future. Upon examining Tilo’s hands that day, the First Mother had told her that her hands were singing with spices, but they were also singing with danger and destruction. And Tilo must never deviate from the rules if she was to prevent this destruction from happening.

At the end of their training, the First Mother asked her students that now they’d need to pass a test. Each student would have to step into the Shampati’s fire. The fire would not burn them, but only take them to their respective destinies. In their new lives, they’d lose their youthful beauty and each student would be called as ‘The Mistress of Spices’.

She told them that a Mistress of Spices shall only use their magic to help other people, and never for themselves. They must never look at their reflection in a mirror. And they must always follow all these rules, or else, they’d lose their magical power.

The First Mother warned Tilo that even though she was as brilliant as a diamond, but she was a diamond with a crack, and it would be hard for her to resist the temptations of her desire. And following her desires would only bring her destruction.

Also, the First Mother told her a tale about her name’s origin, which features in the book as a story-within-a-story.

This is what she tells her.

The name ‘Tilo’ is based on the Hindi name (til) which refers to the sesame seed spice.

Furthermore, the spice name ‘til’ is derived from a Sanskrit word Tilottama. Tilottama was the name of a goddess in Indian mythology. Tilottama goddess was bejewelled with an enchanting, rapturous beauty. However, she was cursed that she could never fall in love. But once, she did fall in love. And true to her curse, her body became bent and twisted. Her beauty turned into ugliness. And she was evicted from the heaven of gods.

The First Mother warned Tilo, that just like Tilottama, a Mistress of Spice could not desire or fall in love, or else she’d lose her magical powers and bring great destruction to the world. She told her that,

“When a mistress of spices loves someone she should not love, then all the people she loves will be destroyed.”

Promising her that she’d follow all the rules of her magic training, Tilo stepped into the Shampati’s fire. Soon enough, her body was swallowed into the ocean of fire lolling with tongues of blazing flames.

The fire took Tilo to her destiny. In this new life, she found herself in the city of Oakland. She had lost her youthful beauty and now resembled a middle-aged woman, her face creased with wrinkles, even though in her heart she was still as young as before. Here she was a businesswoman operating a store named ‘Spice Bazaar’.

In her store, she sold an assortment of spice powders, pickles, tea powders, spice herbs, spice mixes and Indian spice snacks.

But this was no ordinary spice store. In every packet she packed for her customers, she also whispered words of magical healing spells.

Her purpose was to use the magical power of spices to help people. Throughout the day, many customers visited her store. They purchased spices, some of them got their palms read by her and others talked about their everyday life.

Among all these people, some of them were the regular shoppers in her store.

For instance,

One of her most regular customers was Lalita. Lalita was a middle-aged woman who had an abusive husband. Tilo gave her the spice packets of turmeric (haldi) for love and fennel (saunf) to strengthen her mind.

Her second regular customer was Haroun. Haroun was a taxi driver but he was often attacked by local Americans for his nationality. Tilo packed for him black cumin (kalo jiro) for protection against evil.

Kwesi, an African-American was another of the regular shoppers in her store. Kwesi ran a martial arts school and he would often visit Spice Bazaar store to buy packets of spice mixes to cook delicious Indian pakoras for his girlfriend.

Jagjit, a school boy, was another of the shoppers. Jagjit often visited her store alongwith his mother to buy sabu papads and other things. Jagjit was a traumatized child who was bullied at school and ignored by his parents. Tilo gave him a packet of cinnamon (dalchini) for friendship. However, a literal twist to her spell, he became friends but with a mischevous gang of violent drug-addicted boys in his school. To help and save him from bad company, Tilo gave him the spice packet of Indian Madder (manjishtha). She believed that this spice would bring calmness of mind to him. She also offered him a poster of Kwesi’s martial arts school, suggesting that there he’d be much better off with his friendships.

Besides these, another elderly man was the most frequent shopper in her store. He was the grandfather of a young woman named Geeta. While he visited the store to buy some spices, he told Tilo that his family was going through a disturbing scenario. His granddaughter Geeta wanted to marry a Mexican man but her parents Raamu and Sheela were against their marriage. And so, Geeta had left the home to live on her own.

Tilo gave his grandfather one of the most powerful spices – the thorn-herb (kantak) mixed with golden honey.

This is how Tilo spent the days of her life helping people with the magical power of spices she had learned.

After having helped many of these people by solving their problems and healing their sorrows, Tilo found herself slipping into the valley of forbidden love, as a young American man named Raven, also a frequent shopper, stepped into the store.

Raven seemed to display more interest towards Tilo than towards the spices he was there to buy. Tilo wanted to avoid him at any cost. At first, she thought of giving him a spice packet of asafetida (hing), which was the antidote for love. But all she could offer him was a packet of spicy papad snacks, spiced with black peppercorn (kalo mirch). The magical power of peppercorn spice caused Raven to feel open-hearted, candid and frank. Instead of running away from the shop, he started sharing his life-story with Tilo.

When she couldn’t muster the will to resist her desire for him, she set herself on the verge of breaking all the rules of her magic training, one after the other.

At first, she stepped out of the store to meet Geeta. Breaking the rule that a Mistress of Spice could not leave her spice store.

Next she broke the rule by using the magic of spice to get back her youthful beauty. She used the King of Spices (makaradwaj) to conquer time.

She even ordered a mirror for her store to look at her reflection.

But most of all, what happened was that, she made a packet of red chilli powder to deliver to Haroun, as he had been attacked by some Americans in a terrible accident. But red chilli was the ‘Spice of Anger’, ‘The Spice of Destruction’. The moment she realized this, she threw away the spice into an ocean but she knew that since a spell was already cast, it was too late.

That night, the ghost of the First Mother appeared and in a haunting appearance enraged at her that since she had broken the rules, she would now have to bear the punishment for the same and Shampati’s fire would soon arrive and take back Tilo to the Island of Spices. She ordered Tilo to close the store and to get ready for stepping into the fire.

As per the instructions of the First Mother, Tilo put up a heavy sale in her store, selling everything at big discounts and closing her store forever.

That night, she gathered all the leftover remains of the spices in her store, arranged them in a heap, whispered the prayers, and sat there waiting for the fire to take her back to the island.

The next morning, as she woke up, there was an earthquake in the city. Strangely enough, the fire had not taken her back.

Raven came to save her. Together they were about to leave the city which was in a massive rubble, and go in search of their paradise, Suddenly, Tilo stopped. And said to him that she had decided that she wouldn’t go. She would rather rebuild her spice store and help the people of the city. This, she told him, was the real paradise!

The story dances with a medley of spices, spices which are metaphors representating emotions…

Feelings and emotions are temporary,

just like the motley of spices

and just like the unique flavours they seem to exude as their effect;

All the magical power that may reside

in either these spices or the emotions that they trigger,

is fleeting too,

but the magic that resides, springs and bubbles within our hearts

is imperishable independent of the ingredients of our everyday life!

The story of Tilo is a flavoursome reminder that the real magic is within our heart. So, follow your heart and be magical!

Thank you & Wonderful day!

Neha

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#14 IDEAS FOR CREATING AND KEEPING A BOOK JOURNAL (OR A READING DIARY) 📚

 

#1  INTRO & OVERVIEW

Books are the paper-reels through which we can travel anywhere in the space-time universe.  

 

All those who discover themselves to be book-lovers, will synchronize with how true this feeling is.

 

To read a book is to live so many lives, all at the same time.

 

To read books is not only a leisure activity but also an act of consuming and digesting various forms of energetic data – words and sounds, music and colours, poetry and passion, things like that.

 

There is one thing, that is reading. And then, there is another thing, that is, learning & memorizing data from what you’ve just read; as well as brainstorming creative ideas out of this data in your own style.

 

And one of the super-exciting ways to do so is through a book journal.

 

#2  DEFINITION: WHAT IS A BOOK JOURNAL? 

Also called as a ‘reading notebook’ or a ‘reading diary’, a book journal is nothing but a notebook, or a set of documents dedicated for the purpose of recording your book reading experience.

 

#3  PURPOSE & UTILITY OF KEEPING A BOOK JOURNAL

A book journal is a fantastic way of recording your reading experience & reading response to a book that you’re reading or have read; as well as to jot down all those things that poke your interest or pop in your imagination while reading.

 

You might like to look at a book journal in this way.

 

Book Journal = Memory-keeping + Note-taking + Creative/Art Journaling/Doodling + Reading Response Logging + Tracking your reading habits/schedule + curating your own collections/projects

#4 FORMAT IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOK JOURNAL

When starting off with your first book journal, and thinking about its format, there can be endless possibilities.

Here are some examples for creating your book journal in simple yet creative formats.

Physical Or paper-based book Journal

A physical journal is a journal featuring a paper-based format.

 

You can create a journal of this kind using

a notebook,

a diary,

a sketchbook,

a foldable paper scroll,

a folder with loose paper sheets,

a ring-bound set of index cards, notecards, sticky notes or fancy writable paper of any kind.

 

Two things that make a paper-based book journal most interesting is

the scope of creative/artistic possibilities that this medium offers.

While jotting down your book notes or hand-writing your favourite quotes from the book, you can also decorate the pages with all those stationary & art supplies you have.

You can

Doodle. Draw. Sketch. Scribble.

Paint something.

Hand-letter some words.

Paste stickers & photos.

Do scrapbooking with ephemera.

And so on!

And second, the flexibility it offers

in terms of organizing your notebook space in a way that uniquely suits you. In a way that you can include your unique set of logs & entries, and exclude those which you don’t want.

 

DIGITAL or web-based book Journal

While a paper-based book journal offers us the various possibilities of composing our reading experience in an artistic manner, a digital journal enables us to do the same thing in a much quicker, systematic & portable way.

 

If you select the option of creating a digital-style book journal, there are various kinds of tool options that you have. Such as,

• Create a folder for books or reading notes in Google Drive
• Google docs or Sheets are almost always great owing to the flexibility of device-synchronization that they offer
• Besides while using these tools, you can create your own template with only those entries that you want to include
• Use an existing platform to document and share your reading experience
• Might not have all the entries you want to include
• But are good to connect with a larger group, network or community
• Also every tool comes with its own unique entries which you can explore while you log your reading journey – Use these ideas in your own book journal
• Social Media Book Journal
• Another great idea for making your book journal in a digital style is to create a gallery, page, section or blog dedicated solely to your book reading experience.
• Document your book reviews, share quotes, write & post about the book you are reading and the possibilities are numerous!

• You may even noticed some Instagram galleries or twitter pages dedicated specifically to a book series or a book-turned-movie

Printed book Journal

To create & have a printed style book journal is a great option if you’re someone who likes to have a giant collection of notebooks and journals, and to be able to see and flip through them from time to time.

 

There are various ideas for creating a book journal for yourself in a printed format.

• Design your book journal digitally using any design tools and then print it out.
• If you don’t want to have the entire journal printed out, you can simply print out the pictures of book covers or spines, and print them out to paste in your book journal
• Create a visual book log or reading log page with these pictures
• you can also print these pictures in the form of self-adhesive stickers and simply peel and stick them in your book journal notebook
• Accompany with assortment of related embellishments to decorate your book journal with doodles, photographs, magazine cutouts, collage, scraps, embellishments and Author pictures – other illustrations etc.

REPURPOSED & DECORATIVE book Journal

This is very similar to the paper-based or printed style journal. But here instead of a fresh notebook, you use an old book or an old notebook by repurposing them with crafty embellishments and paper notes

• If the book is a one-time read then you can also convert the same book to create a book journal for it – just letting the important points from the book to remain highlighted – and using the rest as space for your notes & crafty decoration. 

#5 ENTRY IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOK JOURNAL

There can be as many entries in your book journal as you like to have.

And there are as many ideas for these entries as you can imagine.

The sky is the only limit.

 

Here are a few examples of what you can or what you should include in your book journal

CREATE A READING BOOK LOG

o   The List of Books

• You have in your book collection
• You’ve read
• You want to shop
• You want to read

MAKE A READING CALENDAR

o   Highlight dates

• For starting and completing a book
• For purchasing a book in the future
• For reading a book in the future – from your reading list or at a local library

 

CREATE A SECTION FOR BOOK SPECIFICATIONS

• Format/Type of book
• What type of book you’re reading or have read
• Paper/Print books
• Ebooks
• Audiobooks
• Book Owner
• Do you own this book or have rented from a friend or a library or a book shop?
• Mention the Title of the book
• Mention the Author(s) name(s)
• No. of pages
• If you're a writer yourself and aspire to publish a book some day, you can also note down the names of Editor, Publisher or Publishing house. 

WRITE YOUR READING NOTES FROM THE BOOK

• Write a brief summary of the book or a book review or a book report
• Capture your overall reading response in your own words

 

#6 SOME INTERESTING EMBELLISHMENT IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOK JOURNAL

And here are some super-interesting ideas that you can have in your book journal, especially, if you have some spare time or when you’re looking to participate in some spontaneous creative activity.

 

The idea of including these elements is to reflect who you are, to discover your own interests, and to keepsake your personal elements, something that you liked while reading your book

 

ADD YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTES FROM THE BOOK

While reading, highlight your favourite quotes and lines from the book, and thereupon, you can curate

passages and dialogues you loved

if you’re a writer, then you can note down some inspiration for writing

 

CREATE A VISUAL OR TEXT-BASED MOODBOARD BASED ON THE BOOK'S THEME

If you are into graphic design or any other form of visual art, then this is a great exercise to take note of the visual elements of the book such as the color theme of its cover & spine, the typography & fonts used in the book, the texture of book’s papers, or other design elements that you can notice in the book. You can also add the theme, mood & genre of the book as well.

 

If you’re a writer, you may like to extract & add your favourite words, phrases, adjectives, etc. from the book

 

WRITE SELF-REFLECTIVE INSIGHTS & LESSONS FROM THE BOOK

If it is a non-fiction book, you can write a list of lessons, insights and thoughts that you had in your mind as you were reading through it.

 

CREATE A STORYBOARD

If it is a fiction book, you can create the book’s storyboard outlining plot, scenes and characters

 

CRAFT CHARACTER SKETCHES IF IT IS A FICTION BOOK

Craft characters sketches from the book with drawings, cuttings from magazines, and details like dresses they wore, how they looked, what they ate, what they liked and didn’t like, how they think, what they say, etc. Invent meals/drinks/food/colors/dress/anything related to the characters or anything from the book, and jot these down in your book journal!

 

#7 COLLECTION & PROJECT IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOK JOURNAL

You don’t have to limit your reading journal to only the book summary and your notes.

You can also utilize the book and your reading of it as a prompt for starting a new project, a challenge or a collection. The main idea is to focus on any or all of the ideas that were popping in your head while you were reading the book.

Here are some ideas for that!

 

USE RANDOM WORDS FROM THE BOOK AS PROMPTS

Randomly flip the pages of the book, select a random word from the page and use it as a prompt for writing, art journaling, sketching, painting, or brainstorming.

 

You can also use a set of random words to write a poem, a short story, or even your own manuscript!

 

USE CHARACTERS & SCENES FROM THE BOOK AS PROMPTS

Select a random character, scene, setting or descriptive element from the book and use it as a prompt for your writing practice. 

CREATE ART JOURNAL, COLLAGE OR SCRAPBOOK

If you like to record your reading experience in an artistic format, then creating a page with art journaling, collage or scrapbooking is a wonderful idea!

 

WRITE LETTERS TO AND FROM THE CHARACTERS OF THE BOOK

Write letters to and from the characters of the book if it is a title in fiction.

 

CREATE YOUR OWN BOOK-THEMED ART SUPPLIES

Create book-themed stickers, posters, notecards or any other supplies; and use them to decorate your art journal; or gift it to your friends or readers’ club.

 

LEARN FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

Make a list of other books or collections written by this author. Research about the author, read & listen to their interviews, learn from the author & make notes out of your learning.

Thank you, Good day & Subscribe to my channel for upcoming videos!

Neha