Momina's Space

I read this novel a while back but didn't get a chance to post its review here, so here it goes:  The novel is a story of a young man, Dorian Gray, who gets his portrait made by a renowned artist, Basil Hallward, and the portrait in question eventually becomes the reason for his ruin. In the beginning, the character of Dorian Gray is introduced to us as a youth possessing astonishing charm and beauty. It's his beauty that first mesmerises Mr. Hallward who then tries to replicate his likeness onto the canvas. The painter falls in love with his own handiwork and also with the person who inspired it in the first place. He begins treating Gray as an artwork himself and develops a strange tendency to protect him from the prying eyes of the world lest he be "spoilt" by the exposure. Speaking of spoil and exposure, another important character, Lord Henry, Hallward's friend, is introduced here, who upon realising Gray's importance in Hallward's eyes grows...

The Story of Philosophy  by Will Durant I'm reading this book these days and enjoying it so very much. I try and read one chapter of it daily and usually talk about it on my Instagram page where I have joined a challenge called #betterreadschallenge from the 1st of January. In this challenge you have to basically update your followers about the books you read everyday whether you get to read a hundred or merely five pages a day. I think this is a really great challenge as it pushes me to do at least a little bit reading everyday.   So this book covers the lives and works of all the important Western philosophers. And it's simply fascinating to read about these great thinkers as real people with real, exciting lives. Most of the times we get to know about these intellectuals with reference to the work they have produced without thinking of them as real human being made of flesh and bones, having relationships and all. So The Story of Philosophy is very useful as it le...