Random thoughts

Books, books, books!

Books mean so much to me! And it’s strange I haven’t yet enumerated my favorite books or books I grew up with (and which grew upon me ;)) Lemme try.

I have been reading since as long as I can remember. When I was very small (1st-2nd standard) I could read only English and only one letter of Marathi :D But my parents used to read out from a lot of books to me. And I actually had a coupla Marathi children’s books subscriptions which I started devouring after 2nd standard once I could read Marathi too. ‘Chandoba’ and ‘Chota Dost’ used to be my favorites. I still have so many copies of those (and at times even read those!!) At the same time, I was fascinated by English fairy tales. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Thumbelina’ were my favorite then. I didn’t care much about the “Happily ever after…” stories. Another amazing set of books I have are the Russian children’s books translated into Marathi and English. Till the fall of USSR, every summer we used to get some really good Russian books.

As I grew up from my 5th standard onwards, Enid Blyton and ‘Faster Fene’ were my constant companions. I must have read all the ‘Fafe’ books they had in all the libraries in Nasik. And all the ‘Secret Sevens’ and ‘Famous Fives’. Another favorite during that period was ‘Robin Hood ani Tyache Rangel Gadi’ by Bha. Ra. Bhagwat. (It’s so difficult to write Marathi words in English!) That is one of the most entertaining books I must have read at that time. Later I read the original ‘Robin Hood’ also but that couldn’t recapture the magic the Marathi book created. Those were the days of amazing fun in school, crazy energy at the playground in the evening and more adventures through books at night!

9th standard saw me grow out of Enid Blytons and graduating to Nancy Drews ;) I even tried a P G Wodehouse at that time but the humour didn’t appeal to me then. A book I read in 9th that impressed me a lot was ‘Lost Horizon’. Maybe I was very susceptible at that time, but that book has left an indelible mark on my mind. I still fascinate about ‘Shangri-La’. And of course by this time the King had arrived into my life. Though I had read ‘Asami asami’ when I was in 6th, I got addicted to Pula only from around this time. I read and re-read ‘Wyakti ani Walli’, ‘Asami asami’ and a horde of his other books. I still do.

11th standard opened a whole new world to me. I discovered a Queen this time. It became an obsession to read all the books available in the library by Agatha Christie. And I also started trying out new authors. ‘A Suitable Boy’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘The Final Diagnosis’ entered my life during this time. This period kinda set the trend of the books I would reach in future. Mostly classics and murder mysteries. And of course P G Wodehouse! I somehow cannot classify his books under any category. They are in a class of their own :)

Once I joined engineering somehow my reading habit took a backseat to all the “other activities”. But still managed to read ‘Gone with the wind’ (twice), ‘Fountainhead’ and some really good books (and some real bad ones like ‘God of small things’) I also read a Mills&Boon during this time so that I could tell my daughter that I had read these books also;) I also started buying books by this time. And thus books finally started bearing my name on them :)

In the last 3 years Harry Potter has been the highlight. I am still experimenting. Reading and even liking books like ‘Da Vinci Code’, ‘Godfather’ which don’t exactly fall in my genre of classics;) (Though I think Godfather is a classic in its own way!) I still don’t read books with too much action, sleaze or violence. Of course, I don’t like all the books that fall in the classics category either.

Here’s a list of some books I am crazy about! (Though not in any particular order)
1. Lost Horizon:
Though its cover reads as “a wondrous adventure” I think it’s less of adventure and more of philosophy. As I suggested this book really hit me hard the first time I read it! Have gifted this book to some very close friends :)

2. A Suitable Boy:
I have written enough about it before. A true classic!

3. Pride and Prejudice:
I love this book. The characters appeal so much to me. I can read it any number of times!

4. Gone with the Wind:
This book deserves a separate blog. There’s so much in it. Even after reading it thrice, every time I discover something new.

5. Dennis chya Goshti:
This is a Russian book translated in Marathi. It’s an autobiography of a 6 year old boy. Simply amazing! I generally don’t laugh out loud while reading books. But this book actually brought tears of laughter in my eyes! Highly recommended on a low day.

6. The Final Diagnosis:
My first Arthur Hailey book. I like his thorough study of the system and the very believable characters. The drama in this book is nail-biting! (Only if you get as involved as I did :D )

7. P. G. Wodehouse Books (esp. Jeeves and Bladings series ):
What do I write about these? You either love them or you don’t get them! Amongst the non-series is ‘The Summer Moonshine’ which also happens to be my first PGW. This guy rocks!

8. Most Pula Books:
I say ‘most’ because there are some books, esp. about real people I don’t know much about, that I cannot relate too. But rest of the books are awesome! Be it travelogues, Vyakti Chitre or collection of articles, no person in the world ever can write those the way he did!

There are scores of other books which at some or the other time in my life meant a lot to me. But at this moment this is the list that is at the top of mind. And if I finish everything now, what will I write about in the future? ;)

posted by Ila @ 11:32 PM