The month of books

For a large part of my life i hated reading. I always thought it was a waste of time and that one can actually experience the whole thing in just 3 hours via making the trip to a movie theatre. This and the fact that my attention span was as short as Kamal Hassan in Appu Raja compounded my disinterest in novels. I come from a family of readers. My mom loves reading and used to be voracious reader in her prime. The duties of taking care of two over sized children, equally over sized hubby and the rolly-polly dog has left her with no time to read and arthritis (not that it has got to anything to do with reading but just thought i'd mention it). My sister too reads a a lot and probably has followed her mothers foot steps in that regard.

I though was like my father when it comes to our relationship with books. Dad, to put it as gently as possible, is a damn slow reader. He too has the attention deficit that had claimed me for a while. He took a year to go past the first chapter of the 'Chromosome 6' by Robin Cook.But that's dad....his excuse whenever we tease him about it saying..."ayye dad..ur so slow...even maalu(my cousin who was 3 at the time) would do a better job"..."alright i am slow..but that is because i have work on my ind..u know what that is ..no u don't ..coz all u do is sit on ur ass all day and act as a smart alec"...end of teasing.

It was when i got in s5 (third year) that i started taking up reading as a hobby. I must confess i don't read anything and everything that i get my hands on. I am very selective. If i find that a book that i have been reading ends up being sucky then i might inflict irreparable damages to anything that comes in my way..generally poor impy(my pet Labrador...by the way she's doing great kartik). As a result i tend to ask people who have read the book about their opinion before i begin reading. Generally, it is pappu who advices my on which books i should invest my time and which to skip(thanks 'ol chum).

In the course of this one year i have read some very interesting stories...starting with 5 point someone (highly recommended to those in college), catch-22(highly recommended to all), Hitch hikers.., Catcher in the rye and so on. The funny thing about it is that the books that i have read have all been so good that with every book i feel that that was the best that i have read thus far. Though i must admit i really had to labour through The Fountainhead(those who disagree are free to comment).

The last one month has been a marathon of soughts when it comes to reading. I started with 'Shantharam'..which very well written and very touching. For me the best part of the novel was the time he spent in the Prabhakar's village and in Zopadphatti. One gets to read a lot of novels about the mafia (Scared Games is recommended if that is ur genre) but not many write too much about Mumbai..a city one loves automatically for reasons that are as many as the people that live there. The book dragged a little, i felt, when they went to Afghanistan...but all-in-all when one completes the novel it does move u. I hear the book is being made into a movie and can't wait to see it.

The next book that i read was 'The Namesake'...this was a book recommended by mom as she felt it was a story that we could easily relate to. I found the story very interesting but i am afraid it did not move me as much. I felt that the sequence of events in the story could have been rearranged which would have made the title a lot more relevant...but i would certainly advice all of u who are on the cusp of leaving for states or some far off land...or who are already there..to read it. It is shirt and sweet.

the last that i read and completed yesterday was 'The kite runner'. We look at the back of the book and check out what critics have to say about it..there is one common theme that they have mentioned..that is a very sincere book. I couldn't agree more. The author was really honest about his account about Amir and his weaknesses. I always believe that the story gets more touching when it is written in first person..and this book stands as an example. This was recommended by pappu and i would recommend it to u all. A great read and one that will make u think that this is why books can never be out of fashion....despite all the developments in media and technology.

P.S: I request u all to comment if u disagree or agree with what i have said about the books that i have read. I would also appreciate if u can recommend some books for me to read..as u might have already go the idea of what i like...