The Book Corner

Today I saw this twenty books  challenge on Pal’s blog. I found it very interesting and is going for it right now. To complete 20 books in a year ! The challenge was for 2009 , But I am simply making it 2010.

From April to April . Following The Indian Calender .

Here it goes :-

April

1. The Hobbit- Tolkeyn

2. The traveller- John Twelve Hawks

3. Are you afraid of the dark – Sidney Sheldon’s last novel

4. Nora Roberts – Daring to dream ( first of the dream series )

Now reading Jumpa Lahiri….. and have got one of Tolkeyns as well. Yumyum…….. !!!!!!

Reading is something I enjoy beyond myself. An obsessive reader . Before I get my hands on a book I make sure that I have enough time to finish it. Otherwise everything will be a mess. If I have started seriously with a book then nothing else matters much!I would love to be left alone for one reason or other.

Like every child I started with child magazines , Balarama , Poombatta. I have said this earlier . My mother used to send us to our neighbor’s house on Saturdays or we had to go there to sleep over while the old lady’s son went for night shift. There they had a huge collection of old story books. Balarama , poombatta, amarchithrakatha , Balamangalam…. every thing .

….And that was a treasure . ( Even now I tell my kids stories I have read then.) That old lady was more strict than any librarian. We were allowed to read the books sitting in the dark store room where they were kept. With so much pleading we could take one book at a time to our house. One day she told us she just sold them to scrap . One of the loses I have not yet gotten over. If I had the money then I would have bought it all .

From there me and my sister moved on to reading The Great Indian Epics . Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Aithihyamala, Sree Krishna Katha , Sree Mahabhagavatham …. It was a competition for us. Who will finish the book first. And then second round… Gone are the days !!!!

Then to Reader’s digest from my Aunt’s house. She taught me how important it is to keep a book neat and mended and how important it is to give a book back to its owner however unimportant it may seem to you.

From there starts my love for books. A book with torn pages or back cover is like a sin to me. I am happy that my kids do not tolerate even a folded page or graffiti in their books. And always keep them neatly covered and mended.

I like classics and thrillers the most. Books that explain life styles, history, geographical details etc. ……….Other than that any interesting book will do.

While reading books I get so much carried away,that I feel the characters are real. Most of them I see in my dreams.

One of the books I have read and reread so many times is “ Crime and Punishment ” . I have seen ‘Raskolnikov’ in my dreams almost every day that sometimes I forget I haven’t met him in person. In my dreams he had the most beautiful hair and eyes.

In college it was ‘Mills n Boons‘ season . Even the name brings to my mind the back ground of Anatomy classes and the packed hall with students in front row eager to take down lecture notes. But soon realised it is not of my kind. ( I am romantic by myself. Thank you very much ! )

Then to Daniel Steele . I feel sorry for our Professor who had taken great effort to prepare notes and all for abdominal surgery classes . All through it I was with ‘ The  Star ‘ . ( oh! It reminds me so much of my best friend and the beautiful moments we had together . ) There is nothing like reading and dreaming in an afternoon class . Some times I want to go to college again so I can just sit there and dream during lectures. ( Hey, I had the most updated lecture notes! It seems I can multitask ! )  ) ‘The ring‘ and ‘Message from Nam‘ are also my favourites of Danielle Steel.

Then one day I stumbled on ‘Gone with the wind’ by Margret Michelle , which changed my view of life . From every book I read I absorb at least one line into my life. This book taught me to fight for my life. To change all the negatives to positives . And ofcourse , the famous line  ‘I will think about it Tomorrow ‘. It is one of my habit to follow all the books of the author if I like their first read . Because of this my list of authors is very short.  I really feel sorry that Margret Michelle has written only one book .

One of my other favourite is Anna Karenina of Leo Tolstoy.

God father by Maria Puzo

Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon, Robin Cook , Jane Austene, Paulo Coelho, Charles Dickens , Dan Brown, of course Harry Potter Series …… Chetan Bhagat….

Something I enjoy very much is eating and reading. Sometimes while eating I crave for books , like it is some other dish. If I can’t find a book, I end up reading cartons, ingredients, my shopping list or anything with alphabets on it.

So coming back to the challenge ,  its my fifth book now.

5. Reading Unaccustomed earth – Jumpa Lahiri .