I am an avid, ardent and voracious reader. Reading is not just something I do to pass my time. I Make time to be able to read. I wouldn’t want to call myself a ‘bibliophile'. It sounds very negative to me. Guess I can be called a book vampire - bampire? - because I am attracted by the sight, sound and smell of books. I am almost hypnotically drawn towards a pile of books when I come across one – books sold on the side-walk, at the station, in the train. I just have to go look and maybe even buy. It is with difficulty that I stop myself from doing that when am on way to work or when am heading back home tired.
It is my dream to, one day, have a room, full of books. My own personal library. One entire wall (at least) covered with wooden shelves and filled with all my books. A cosy special room, to read and maybe have book club meetings! (I just love the idea of having such meetings but we don’t have much of those around here. Pity.) I don’t want to have just classics. I am in to popular fiction. No non-fiction for me unless it’s science related – like Phantoms in the Brain and Survival of the Sickest. And I’m not fond of biographies either. I don’t want to know what happened to XYZ person, how they lived their life, who they dated, their controversies etc. I am not interested.
But one day as I was scouring for books in the library, I found a book by the same name. I was intrigued and I opened the book and read the preface. And I was delighted! It was such awesome brilliant humour. I had never read anything like it before yet I immediately took a liking to it. It just struck a chord with me. I borrowed it immediately and finished it in no time. (During the vacations following school, I would finish one Sidney Sheldon novel-sized book in a day. So I would visit the library almost every other day.) But the library did not stock the rest of the trilogy of 5 which was disappointing. And I remember getting Catch-22 once. Quite an interesting book that too. There were parts of the book, some of the humour that I didn’t get. I wasn’t mature enough I guess. But that is one book that I have Laughed Out Loud while reading. Like really loud. Like someone just cracked a hilarious joke. I don’t remember experiencing that ever before or since. Books don’t normally do that. They make you smile, a lot. (I have felt pleasure pangs in my brain. Really.) They may be bring out a chuckle or two. But not whole-hearted laughter.
I can describe what a good book does to me – when am reading a good, interesting book, I can sort of imagine my head munching on the words and the tidbits of information it provides, sucking in the knowledge, lessons, story, humour. It is very difficult to find books that are as interesting as say the phenomenally awesome sci-fi humour set of the Hitchhikers; the addictive fantasy of the Harry Potter series, LOTR or the Twilight Saga; or the scientific knowledge and radical thinking imparted by Survival of the Sickest. I am currently reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and it’s very very interesting. It is an e-book that I own and reading it on the laptop is not as much fun and engaging as I’d like (No I don’t own a Kindle. Yet.). I am always on the look out for new, more interesting books to read and I am hoping for such books (and a Kindle, maybe) to come my way soon.
It is my dream to, one day, have a room, full of books. My own personal library. One entire wall (at least) covered with wooden shelves and filled with all my books. A cosy special room, to read and maybe have book club meetings! (I just love the idea of having such meetings but we don’t have much of those around here. Pity.) I don’t want to have just classics. I am in to popular fiction. No non-fiction for me unless it’s science related – like Phantoms in the Brain and Survival of the Sickest. And I’m not fond of biographies either. I don’t want to know what happened to XYZ person, how they lived their life, who they dated, their controversies etc. I am not interested.
A home library like this would do just fine! Image courtesy - Home Library - Ideas for Design, Bookcases, Shelves and Desks
There was a time, back in 2000 when I was just out of school and had joined a nice circulating library near my place, when I was surrounded by tonnes of books and I had to pick and choose which one to read first. Most of the books I read were because I came across them and found the synopsis interesting, not because I read book reviews. I did not even have, or know how to use, the internet then. I did not even have a cell phone. Well, I miss those simple days sometimes. I digress, we’ll make that another post. Back to the topic of reading, I found gems of books that literally changed my life - changed me as a person, my outlook, my sense of humour. The one book that had the most impact was The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2, for those who didn’t know). I would see the dvd or rather vcd of the movie in the glass cabinet at the library and since I’m a sci-fi fan, it piqued my interest. Obviously I couldn’t go look it up. There was no wikipedia then, I think.But one day as I was scouring for books in the library, I found a book by the same name. I was intrigued and I opened the book and read the preface. And I was delighted! It was such awesome brilliant humour. I had never read anything like it before yet I immediately took a liking to it. It just struck a chord with me. I borrowed it immediately and finished it in no time. (During the vacations following school, I would finish one Sidney Sheldon novel-sized book in a day. So I would visit the library almost every other day.) But the library did not stock the rest of the trilogy of 5 which was disappointing. And I remember getting Catch-22 once. Quite an interesting book that too. There were parts of the book, some of the humour that I didn’t get. I wasn’t mature enough I guess. But that is one book that I have Laughed Out Loud while reading. Like really loud. Like someone just cracked a hilarious joke. I don’t remember experiencing that ever before or since. Books don’t normally do that. They make you smile, a lot. (I have felt pleasure pangs in my brain. Really.) They may be bring out a chuckle or two. But not whole-hearted laughter.
I can describe what a good book does to me – when am reading a good, interesting book, I can sort of imagine my head munching on the words and the tidbits of information it provides, sucking in the knowledge, lessons, story, humour. It is very difficult to find books that are as interesting as say the phenomenally awesome sci-fi humour set of the Hitchhikers; the addictive fantasy of the Harry Potter series, LOTR or the Twilight Saga; or the scientific knowledge and radical thinking imparted by Survival of the Sickest. I am currently reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and it’s very very interesting. It is an e-book that I own and reading it on the laptop is not as much fun and engaging as I’d like (No I don’t own a Kindle. Yet.). I am always on the look out for new, more interesting books to read and I am hoping for such books (and a Kindle, maybe) to come my way soon.
