Bookworm in me...

Happiness is a brand new Book

It has been a habit for me to have passion for certain things but ignore those emotions and continue with the normal routine. Until the day I explode. Once I explode, there is no stopping. Hailing from a small town, I had access to the state library since I was in school. But as expected from my procrastinating personality, I rented my first book from the library when I was in 6th and that book was lying in my house for I don't know how long. Finally, I returned that book after hatching it for about a year and paid the fine. "I can't believe I kept a book for about a year, din't read it and paid fine for it."

As I grew older, my school headmaster introduced me to Marathi Novels. I was in awe of those historical & mythological heroes, freedom fighters. This was during my school days. Some of my all time favorites include:

Yugandhar by Shivaji Sawant

Mrutyunjay by Shivaji Sawant

Shriman Yogi by Ranjit Desai

Majhi Janmathep by V. D. Savarkar

Ek Hota Carver by Vina Gavankar

Kale Paani by V. D. Savarkar

During junior college days, we had an assignment wherein we had to read books and write reviews on the same. It was completely my kind of assignment. I so wished to have such assignments the entire time☺. During these days, my reading was diverse. I read Marathi, Hindi, English, whatsoever I could get my hands on.  Some of the books I read during these days were:

Lajja by Taslima Nasrin

Phera by Taslima Nasrin

About Daddy by Meena Nayak

Not without my daughter by Betty Mehmoody

Fever by Robin Cook

This library gave me my next favorite author Robin Cook. From here on, I did not stop my reading and it is continuous till date. After I left the junior college, my next destination for books was the central library of which I made membership when in 6th std and was unused till date. During college time, I continued my reading of Robin Cook's books which includes Mutation, Toxin, Coma and Vector. 

Going through the huge shelves in the library, I started reading avidly. Thanks to my college time best friend and the person who made me fall in love with English literature and English music. My first Romance English novel was "Petals on the wind" by V C Andrews. After I read this book, I was so desperate to read its sequels but never found them. Here, I started with Nicholas Sparks who is my favorite till date.

"When you get a favorite, it remains a favorite forever."

That is exactly the case with Nicholas Sparks. As of date,  I can proudly say that I have read all his books apart from the  most recent ones.

My top favorite is obviously 

The Notebook

And the rest follow: 

Walk to remember

The Choice

Dear John

The Guardian

A Bend in the road

The Lucky One

Safe Haven

Love Story by Erich Segal is another top favorite book of mine. Because of the book Love Story, I happened to read other books by Segal like Doctors, Acts of faith, etc. But these books din't have the charisma of "Love Story." 

Then, there was the wave created by Chetan Bhagat. As per me, he was the pioneer of Indian English literature for youth. I read all his books because of the buzz they created. I started with One night at Call center, Five Mistakes of my life and the rest followed as they were released. 

Here itself, I was introduced to Cecelia Ahern's PS I love you. The movie as well as the book were outstanding. Another not so well known book of Ahern is The Gift which is again a masterpiece. This book is all about the value of time. Other books by Ahern that I read are Thanks for the Memories, A place called Here, The Girl in the Mirror.

Like all girls during their teens, I was highly attracted to romance novels. I used to read books from Mills & Boons publication for the romance and lightheartedness in these books. They always had happy endings.

After college, I moved to Mumbai... the city of dreams... Mumbai showed me the path to reach latest books. It was like I had to read every book which was released; also keeping in mind that I need to catch up with those old books I have not yet stumbled upon. These were the days of Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. I purchased the entire set and it became my favorite. The movies were quite convincing but not up to the mark. 

Since I was earning by this time, a substantial amount of my salary went to buy or rent books. Books on rent was a new concept for me because at my home town, we only had access to books through library and libraries not always had latest collection. When you rent a book, you pay the price of the book and when you return the book, the seller keeps some 20-30 rupees depending on the value of the book and returns the remaining amount. 

During the same time, there was a boom of e-books. I read the entire Harry Potter series by J K Rowling within 2 months or so and was so enchanted by the same. My college time friend was my room mate when in Mumbai and she was like my guardian. I also started watching English movies thanks to her. There were so many movies we saw together. When I used to research those movies and come to know that they were based on book, I would go crazy till I find the book and read it all. 

Another book that needs mention is Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This book is about a man who travels in time and his wife. I also read some self help books like those by Paulo Coelho, Jack Canfield. During the same time, I came across Dan Brown and his books became instant hits because of the mixture of all emotions found in them. All books of Dan Brown including Angles & Demons, Da Vinci Code and the lesser known ones like Digital Fortress, The Lost Symbol, Inferno & Deception Point have history, myths, suspense, romance, drama. His books are a complete package.

After working for 2 years, I joined PG College and had to be dependent on the College library for books. But sometimes, I did splurge on buying books. At the college library, there were books from various domains. Here, I read some of the very good books on management, success, autobiographies and so on. 

Notable books of this time are:

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Maverick by Ricardo Semler

The Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Mahashweta by Sudha Murti

Strange Obsession by Shobhaa De

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono
If God was a Banker by Ravi Subramanium
The Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I too had a Dream by Verghese Kurien

All the books were like good fodder for brain. But one book needs a special mention: Shobhaa De's Strange Obsession. Like the name suggests, I found the book quite strange. The Book was about a lesbian girl and it completely failed to reach out to me. 

From Mumbai, I moved back to my home town to the same old central library. But to my surprise, this library had a makeover. The dingy library was shifted to a new constructed state of the art six storeyed building. It was now open on Sundays and beyond normal working hours. So, working class people could have access to it. 

And once again a bookish journey with different pile of books began. I read some novels of Khaled Hosseini who became a favorite for an entirely different genre of books. I read The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, And the Mountains echoed. All his books present a simple life of individuals and revolve around Afghanistan. 

My love for Marathi books once again emerges as I stroll through those isles of shelved books. I read books of V. D. Savarkar, Gopal Godse, V. S. Khandekar and other Indian Marathi authors. Some of the mind-blowing books of these authors I read are:

Paawankhind by Ranjit Dessai

Radheya by Ranjit Desai

1857 che Swantatra Sangram By V. D. Savarkar
Saha Soneri Paane by V.D. Savarkar
Hindupadpaadshahi by V.D. Savarkar
Gandhihatya aani Mi by Gopal Godse
Panchavanna Kotinche Bali by Gopal Godse
Amrutwel by V. S. Khandekar
Yayati by V.S. Khandekar
Warssaw Te Hiroshima by V.S Walimbe

I was always interested in mythological and historical books, so I picked Shiva trilogy by Amish Tripathi. It is a slightly twisted version of the story of Hindu Gods and goddesses. But the books are very well presented. I was a little late to read these books but better late then never. Not to be late again, I purchased Amish's next book Scion of Ikshvaku as soon as it was released.

Apart from these, I read other English Novels as well by well known authors like:

To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
Dongri to Dubai by Hussain Zaidi
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts

Shantaram became a favorite because of the manner in which Mumbai is illustrated by the author. It was as if I was seeing Mumbai through the author's eyes. I could relate to this book as I was also an outsider in Mumbai getting to know it.

Along with printed books my reading was continuous on phone. "Thank God for the smartphones that we use." I started reading Sophie Kinsella's books on phone. Her books are very entertaining. You just don't feel like keeping the book down. Of her books, I got a chance to read only 2 books: Can you keep a secret? and I've got your number.
I also had an inclination to read the books from the "Must read" on the internet. So, took to reading Frankenstein by Mary Shally. This book actually played itself  like a movie in my mind and it felt scary at times.

"Book people coming in my life is like God's gift to me."

There was a boy working along with me who had a huge collection of books and he used to lend me some of the good books he read. After working together for about a year, he moved to a different city and gave many of his books to me because it was difficult to carry them. " Lucky me.."  One of those books I was crazy about: Fifty shades of Grey by E L James. And then, I could not wait to have the sequels. Now I have them and I have read them.

Once I was travelling from Goa to Mumbai by train and the train was quite empty as it was monsoon. There was an old uncle sitting in my compartment itself and we got to talking to each other when he saw me reading. "Perks of having books in your hand while traveling. You make friends." This uncle was a Marathi teacher from Sawantwadi and an avid reader of Marathi literature. He gave me a list of Marathi novels to read and I'm still in search of some of those books. The books that he referred to me were truly magnificent. I wish I could meet him again to tell him and discuss on those books.

Now, I'm back to Mumbai married to a boy who loves to buy books and but does not end reading them. "Lucky again." But I wish he too starts reading because reading is amazing. More than reading, husband likes to watch movies or series. He was a fan of "Game of Thrones". He made me watch some of the episodes. I disliked it at first but then it caught my attention and I started watching the series. But I'm never satisfied with the story as shown in movies or series. I want to read. My husband purchased the entire set of 7 books of Game of Thrones by George R R Martin for discounted rate on Flipkart. "Shopping for books and that too at a discount... Woohoo." But those books are so large that I have only managed to finish two.

I had another amazing discovery when I came across Books by Weight sale. You can buy as many books as you want for so much lesser price. Whenever I go for such sale, I come back carrying heavy loads.

My recent reading apart from Game of Thrones include:

Fault in our stars by John Green
Men Are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Sita by Devdutt Pattanaik

All these books were amazing. Sita presents an entirely different ideology about the history along with facts to prove all the incidents. Gone Girl was out of the world with the twists and turns coming up in every page of the book. Fault in our stars was a very sad love story but worth a read.

Bookshelf was purchased when I had few books.
Today the shelf is overflowing to the table.

It is such a true saying...So many books to read and so little time.
I say so many books on my shelf and so little time.



















Currently, I'm reading one of the classics: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (e-book) and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Hardcover).
The year 2016 is coming towards an end and so is my book reading resolution for the year. I'm ahead of what I planned.