Inspirational Books and Movies List

List of Inspirational Books and Movies

I’m sharing some books and movies that have deeply inspired me (to live, to move forward, to forget pain, to work hard, to love, or for any other reason) after reading or watching them.

Books:

The Swimmer and the Water Nymph
(All of Shirshendu’s books belong to him, but this one is mine alone. I’ve read this book 7-8 times so far.)

Reach Out Your Hand
(This book gave my young mind a tremendous shock)

The Secret (This is a masterpiece!
However, you must read this book with faith in its words. It’s not for those who overthink. Read this book at least three times. First time you’ll read it, second time you’ll understand it, last time you’ll feel it.)

Outliers (Read it slowly.
You’ll never want to think small of yourself again. You’ll understand very well why great people are great, whether they were really sent here with extra powers that we don’t have.)

Waiting for Godot (This is where I found the philosophy of taking everything around me simply. I learned beautifully from this book how ridiculous it is to make unnecessarily big deals out of small matters. This is one of three books that has greatly influenced my thinking and personal philosophy of life. Another such book I’ve read is Much Ado About Nothing)

Tuesdays with Morrie (After Waiting for Godot, this book made me think about life in a new way.)

The Alchemist (There’s something in this book—I’m still enchanted by some of its words.)

The Last Lecture (You’ll find some meanings of life differently in this book. Imagine you know how many more days you have to live. You’ll get some idea of what your feelings about life might be like then.)

Eat, Pray, Love (Reading this taught me how beautifully one can enjoy life even after losing everything.)

Man’s Search for Meaning (There probably aren’t many psychological books this profound.)

You Can Win (One of the books I read early on. I used to read it from time to time—it worked like a tonic.)

Who Moved My Cheese? (This book created in me the mentality to easily accept change.)

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (Read it; you’ll be repeatedly struck while reading, that’s certain.)

The Power of Now (The book taught me not to procrastinate. After reading this book, it’s hard to sit idle.)

Chicken Soup for the Soul (The book is interesting. It contains simple lessons of very complex life philosophies in story form.)

The Greatest Salesman in the World (The book didn’t seem pleasant to read; but some words do strike you.)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
(No one becomes great without big thinking. This is taught in this book.)

When Bad Things Happen to Good People (If you read this book, you’ll stop whining ‘why me,’ I’m sure. If I had the power, I would make this book a textbook.)

I Am Tapu (Reading this book by Jafor Iqbal created a lot of affection for Tapu and for myself.)

Mother (Reading Maxim Gorky’s Mother taught me to think courageously when needed.)

The Diary of a Young Girl (From a little girl I learned to think anew about many aspects of life.)

Eat That Frog (Reading this book brought me no benefit except describing the evils of procrastination to others! Hahahaha……)

The Habit of Winning (The real-life examples in this book are very inspiring.)

Wings of Fire (I’ll only say this much about the book: after reading it, there will definitely be a difference between who you were before reading it and who you are after! An extraordinarily wonderful book!)

Movies:

Cloud-Capped Star

3 Idiots

A Beautiful Mind

A Moment to Remember

Amélie

Apocalypto

Blood Diamond

Braveheart

Cast Away

Children of Heaven

Dead Poets Society

Forrest Gump

Gandhi

Gladiator

Grave of the Fireflies

Guru

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale

Into the Wild

Invictus

Kung Fu Panda

Life Is Beautiful

Rang De Basanti

Roman Holiday

Schindler’s List

Seven Pounds

Taare Zameen Par

The Bicycle Thief

The Bucket List

The Color of Paradise

The Pianist

The Prestige

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Shawshank Redemption

The Terminal

I can’t remember any more at this moment.

(I didn’t write anything about the movies. Movies can be watched in a flash!)

At one time I used to read lots of motivational books. I watched such movies too. Many people often ask me for names of such books and movies in various places, on the phone, in my inbox. So I wrote this note. You can save it. It will come in handy from time to time.

At different times many people have shared names of many books/movies of this type that they like. From those, I arranged only the relevant ones in my own way.

Books:

100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Call of the Wild

Desire Under the Elms

How to Win Friends and Influence People
(It’s a great pity that I haven’t read a single book by Dale Carnegie yet.)

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Les Misérables

Life & Times of Michael K

Maximum Achievement

Psycho-Cybernetics

Revolution 2020

Robinson Crusoe

Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Seize the Day

Talent Is Never Enough

The Antidote: Happiness For People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking

The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism

The Magic of Thinking Big

The Old Man and the Sea

The One Minute Manager

The Secret World of Doing Nothing

You Can If You Think You Can

Think and Grow Rich

Many Are Alone

Undefeated

The Unprotected

Steel

Days of Seventy-One

There’s Still Time

Orion

The Pregnant Woman

Hunger for Life

Three Comrades

Earthly

The Water Pot and Bowl

The Curse Lifted

Seven Stories (The weirdly funny thing is, I still haven’t read this masterpiece by Samaresh.)

Movies:

12 Years a Slave

127 Hours

3:10 to Yuma

After Earth

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Birdman

Blue Jasmine

Boyhood

Brave

Captain Phillips

Chak De! India

City of Joy

Daisy

Déjà vu

Exam

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

Goal! The Dream Begins

Gravity

I am Kalam

Iqbal

Labor Day

Life of Pi

Little Big Soldier

Manjhi: The Mountain Man

Men of Honor

Miracle in Cell No. 7

Never Back Down

Now You See Me

October Sky

Olympus Has Fallen

Once Upon a Time in America

People Like Us

Pinjar

Prison Break (American television
series)

Queen

Saare Jahaan Se Mehnga

The Book Thief

The Croods

The Dark Knight

The Devil Wears Prada

The Equalizer

The Fault in Our Stars

The Great Debaters

The Greatest Game Ever Played

The Help

The Illusionist

The Internship

The Karate Kid

The Lake House

The Lunchbox

The Sound of Silence

The Theory of Everything

The Train

The Way, Way Back

Ugly

Unbroken

Light

Let’s Make a Change

The Hemlock Society

Read, and ask others to read.

Watch, and ask others to watch.

Happy Living!!

(Sharing this note will benefit many.)