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Book Review Essay
26 January 2013
Matthew Smith
Reflective Essay
The three books I read in the holidays personally affected me in more than one way, not only inspiring me to achieve my goals, grow in character, overcome difficulties and become more spiritual.
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma is a book which truly inspired me to stretch my imagination, dream further and to achieve my full potential. In his books he says, “The path to success is the hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.” This one sentence is so true and ultimately defines reality.
This has shown me how important is to strive towards your goals and that although we all encounter challenging situations in life, if we face them head on and grab the bull by the horns we end up reaping the rewards. Personally this has motivated me to work my hardest in my matric year and to work towards improving my marks, studying harder and doing the best I possibly can.
One of the most important aspects the book taught was how vital it is to create a balance in life, which means in order for me to succeed in matric I have to balance my sports, my work and my social life in order to create equilibrium. Not only to live a life of purpose, but to have a full appreciation of each moment daily.
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky was a different book to the others I read as the book almost pulled you into the story and you felt as if you were the main character and you shared all the same experiences.
Chbosky showed me how important it is to spend time with your family and fellow peers and to embrace every minute you get to spend with them as well as dealing with situations which are not always ideal. One of the sentences in the book that stood out for me which was, “Even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there and achieve the impossible.” This taught me even if I make decisions or choices which didn’t work out,

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