Shantaram

Several years ago, like, at least two, I had a book reccomended by a friend, Alice. Two days later, this same book was reccoed by another friend, Andy. This wasn’t the new Stephen King, nor Patterson, nor anyone I’d ever heard of. The book? “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts.

When I finally worked down the ol’ “to read” list to “Shantaram”, I was pumped to get started on it! That is, until it actually arrived.

Sidebar: I receive all my books on extended play, four track cassettes from the National Library Services. An average book (say one of those by Patterson or Grisham) will usually run three, maybe four cassettes in total. Four cassettes equals sixteen total sides equals around a 700 page book.

When “Shantaram” arrived, folks, it came in two boxes it’s so big! Now, I ain’t skeered of a long book, but this is probably the second longest work I’ve ever read (the first being “It” by King which I read when I was 14)..

“Shantaram” weighs in at a whopping 29 sides and well over 900 pages. Twenty pages into the novel? I was hooked!

Roberts has led a fascinating, fascinating life. While “Shantaram” is a novel and fiction, it traces many of the experiences Roberts has had. While not a true autobiography, his accounts of Bombay, etc. are true to form due to having lived in the sub-continent for many years.

Now, I’ll not spoil the story for you, faithful reader, but if you’d like to check out a little about “Shantaram”, take a look at:

www.Shantaram.com

I was checking out some of the info on the site and ran into a quote of Roberts’ I really like:

Love the truth, and be true to love.

I’m only on side three (approx. 75 pages) thus far, but if this philosophy is prevelant in “Shantaram” (which from all accounts it will be), expect to hear even more about this work on EE in the coming days!