Mindful living is not only an all-encompassing holistic escape to a luxurious wellness retreat reminiscing the warmth of hot stones massages, calming steam baths or the grounding essence of Ayurvedic ambience — but also a quiet cultivation of introspection, pertaining to literary contemplation. Perhaps, it would make for a more thought-worthy indulgence to retreat not outwardly, but inwardly — through words that restore and reflections that renew.
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As the weekend approaches, whether in less than twenty-four hours or during a fleeting moment of contemplation between the Monday Blues, here lies your next literary list — weekend reads that may just awaken the instinct to pause, breathe, and ruminate on life’s quieter luxuries.
Coffee With Plato Donald R. Moore
Philosophy and reality stand as the ultimate juxtaposition — one seeking truth through ideals, the other testing it through experience. Coffee with Plato, in retrospect, becomes a figurative encounter over a cup of thought; an imagined conversation where the good, the flawed, and the abstract intertwine, echoing through the fabric of an examined life.
Born into one of Athens’ most aristocratic families in 400 B.C., his philosophy lingers as nourishment for the contemplative mind, inviting reflection on the delicate balance between ideals and reality. Controversial by nature, Moore revisits Plato’s teachings not as rigid doctrine but as living thought, questioning, reframing, and revealing how ancient wisdom continues to mirror the subtleties of our modern conscience. At its heart, he highlights through dialogue the preeminence of good and the consequence of wrongdoing, democracy, freedom and censorship, women’s equality, love, mathematics, and the enduring search for truth.
The Heartbeat Of Iran by Tara Kangarlou
Stories as reflected by the literary course of the title — judge a book by its cover, and sometimes, it may be just the guide you need to uncover the stories that make up the heartbeat of a country. As many may terminally conceive the region of Iran within its political context and rich Persian ancestry, Award-winning Al-Jazeera journalist, Tara Kangarlou narrates the beautiful undercurrents of bittersweet aspirations and dogmatic structures that make up the lives of everyday individuals.
And through the wild pursuit of not only changing the world, her words execute sentimental focus on individuals with the power to touch lives. Through its pages, The Heartbeat of Iran captures a people whose dreams and fears reflect a universal humanity, yet who remain obscured by the mist of geopolitical tension.
The Lower River by Paul Theroux
In complete honesty, The Lower River may not be for the faint of heart, but through the cultivation of thorough introspection, the author suggests an underlining anecdote of romanticising the fantasy of humanitarian efforts — but in the spirit of bettering lives, it doesn’t necessarily translate to the the desired outcome.
A riveting tale about a man in his sixties, in pursuit of an age-old concept illustrating notions of purpose, The Lower River is a story of fiction and the underlining current of adventure to seek out happiness in the past. Whilst absent of any ideas perpetuating futurism or time-travel in the literal sense, Theroux takes his readers on a journey to rediscovering that things don’t just happen the same way twice, and what once left behind, may not appear as it may seem.
Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho
From the author who brought you a reflective awakening, guided by the thoughts provoked from the Alchemist, Paul Coelho redirects his sensorial approach towards his female ego, and narrates in the third person. Veronika Decides To Die is a modern quest to decipher the backbone of a culture eclipsed by melancholy, the foreboding of a soulless routine and the perpetrating echo of homogeneity.
This semi-autobiographical meditation on Coelho’s past, his story mirrors individuality on a fictitious course of crumbling madness and the beauty of living as an outcast – whereby the protagonist herself unearths feelings seemingly estranged from existence. Through aspects of quiet intensity, it chronicles a woman’s passage from despair to liberation, with a profound reminder that each day holds the promise of beginning anew.
