The Berlin Wall by Frederick Taylor

There was a book fair in the city recently. There were plenty of books at reduced prices. I was looking to add to my collection on world history, and managed to pick up The Berlin Wall. This book [486pages] is an account of the wall from its inception to its destruction. It analyses the politics behind its construction, and during the time it existed, and the numerous people involved. There is a chapter on the heroic escapes from East to West. The book is interesting, the wall being just one aspect of the Cold War.

Who is a Socialist? Mahatma Gandhi's concept of Socialism [1947]

In an editorial entitled, "Who Is a Socialist?" Mahatma Gandhi wrote:
"Socialism is a beautiful word and, so far as I am aware, in socialism, all the members of society are equal—none low, none high. In the individual body, the head is not high because it is the top of the body, nor are the soles of the feet low because they touch the earth. Even as members of the individual body are equal, so are the members of society. This is socialism.
"In it, the prince and the peasant, the wealthy and the poor, the employer and the employee are all on the same level. In terms of religion, there is no duality in socialism. It is all unity. Looking at society, all the world over, there is nothing but duality or plurality. Unity is conspicuous by its absence. This man is high, and that one is low, that is a Hindu, that a Muslim, third a Christian, fourth a Parsi, fifth a Sikh, sixth a Jew. Even among these there are subdivisions. In the unity of my conception, there is perfect unity in the plurality of designs.
"But, in order to reach this state, we may not look on the things philosophically and say that we need not make a move until all are converted to socialism. Without changing our life, we may go on giving addresses and forming parties and, hawk-like, seize the game when it comes our way. This is no socialism.'

The Hero by W. H. Auden

He parried every question that they hurled:
"What did the Emperor tell you?" "Not to push."
"What is the greatest wonder of the world?"
"The bare man Nothing in the Beggar's Bush."

Some muttered: "He is cagey for effect.
A hero owes a duty to his fame.
He looks too like a grocer for respect."
Soon they slipped back into his Christian name.

The only difference that could be seen
From those who'd never risked their lives at all
Was his delight in details and routine:

For he was always glad to mow the grass,
Pour liquids from large bottles into small,
Or look at clouds through bits of coloured glass.

Autumnal Day by Rainer Maria Rilke

AUTUMNAL DAY


Lord! It is time. So great was Summer's glow:
Thy shadows lay upon the dials' faces
And o'er wide spaces let thy tempests blow.

Command to ripen the last fruits of thine,
Give to them two more burning days and press
The last sweetness into the heavy wine.

He who has now no house will ne'er build one,
Who is alone will now remain alone;
He will awake, will read, will letters write
Through the long day and in the lonely night;
And restless, solitary, he will rove
Where the leaves rustle, wind-blown, in the grove.

[I am looking for another translation I once read--the third para in this begins 'The homeless man finds it too late to build/ The lonely man will keep his loneliness' would appreciate it if anyone has this version and can send it to me]

Ten more books--The Second List.

In the first list of ten best books, I missed out some really important ones. Here are ten more favourites, some of which should be in List 1.
1. Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; also The First Circle, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by the same author.
2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig.
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
5. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
6. All the plays of Henrik Ibsen.
7. The Mahabharata.
8. The Ramayana of Tulasidasa.
9. Manimekhalai
1o. The Golden Treasury [F.T. Palgrave]
[I'll add another ten soon]