Just finished reading (actually listening to) John McCain's Why Courage Matters. A good read. Identifies the need for courage in our daily lives: how to recognize it, how to develop it, and ofcourse, why it matters? There was however too much emphasis on martial courage. Expected, considering John McCain himself is a Vietnam vet and an ex-POW.
In the book, McCain give examples of people in different walks of life and how they showed courage to stand up for what they believed in: Jack Lewis and America's civil rights movement, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, and Hannah Senesch of the jewish resistance who was captured and executed by the Nazi government in Budapest.
This was one of Hannah's poems:
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flames.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fortress of the heart.
Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor's sake.
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flames.
Other recently completed books (Mix of Fiction and non-Fiction):
Vikram Chandra, Love and Longing in Bombay
Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Audiobook)
BB Lal, The Saraswati Flows On
Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Rohiton Mistry, Tales from Firozsha Baug
Ayn Rand, “Fountainhead” (Audiobook)
Next on my reading list: Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha.
Arun Shanbhag 
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