The Long lost love..

… And that is finally found. Isn’t it always a bliss to be doing what we love to do without any guilt towards to it. If that it is, then in a way, I could really boast of it. Given the current “unemployed “ state of mine , or can I give myself a bit of benefit and call  a “homemaker” , where I’ve all the time in this entire galaxy enough to do things that I like the most ,apart from the domestic chores, and by that, reading was not that far away. I was definitely not that kind of a child who loves to go out and meet friends and play as if there’s no tomorrow. I’ve a very blurred memory of the number of times I‘ve actually played  in the entire span of my childhood. And that was when my affair with the books had begun. I still remember the first book that I actually laid my hands on ,  “Gokulam” the English magazine of a Tamil weekly popular named KALKI , exclusively for kids. This book gave me the perspective of “reading” beyond the prescribed text books. The book contained variety genres like short stories, animated stories, regulars and so on. It also had an agony-aunt sort of column where in the kids of the age ranging from 8-16 poured their agonies. There were times when I could relate to most of the queries asked ,though my favorite part of the book was the story of a mouse family which comprised of mother, father, sister and brother and the story would weave brilliantly around their trials and tribulations ,love, affection and also would talk about the sibling rivalry.  The simple English and the educative articles edged this book amongst others.  Besides there were also other similar books like champak which kindled the interest to read books. After this, I’d slowly graduated  to read books like Nancy Drew , Hardy boys , Famous Five and such like. I still remember how insanely I sank in the books in my hand oblivious of the happenings around me. Those were the times when I forsake my physical training classes only to sneak into the library and get in touch with the books that I‘d left half way. This little habit of mine tardily faded paving way for the ever-growing responsibilities and changing priorities. Now with all this once-professional-turned - homemaker tag thought this would be the time to revamp this long lost love which I’d decided to grab it covetously :) .  I was scouring the net to find what was in vogue in the literature world - the books, the reviews and such like and inferred the ones that are now adorning the side bar of this page. There are numerous blogs that I’d discovered which is written so eloquently making me feel small in front of their literary skills which I‘ve decided to hone strenuously. In lieu of this, I’ve also been following closely with the recently held Jaipur literature festival where all the big shots from the literature world had met and discussed the literature as such.  But the dreams were shattered when I heard that this part of the world does not boast of a decent library or in fact ANY library. After an incessant search with a failed mission of finding one led to discovery of an awesome book store which had everything that I desired for . This was when the spouse connived at  me to OWN it. I say it as a big deal because, yes it is as such , with the kind of books that am lured to, buying it would prove it to be pricey but then the spouse gave a go- ahead much to my excitement. So now there’s a mini library in the offing at my  place :). Though I loved to read from all genres but am thoroughly  an avid reader of fiction . So, here are some of my thoughts on the books that I’ve read so far, this is also to keep track on the books that I read.

Brida by Paulo Coelho :

This book is a story of an Irish girl named Brida who embarks a journey in search of knowledge. During that journey she meets people who contribute in a way on her ‘self’ discovery. It’s  a simple plot with spiritual annotations adorning it. This book was recommended by my ex-colleague who was way too impressed with the book.  It was not much of an interest while I was read it as the story was reding things that I hardly was  being able to relate, IMO.

P.S. I Love You By Cecelia Ahern :

 Yes, yes, you heard it right. It's quite an old one as the book was published in the year 2004 and it’s  movie adoption on 2007.So, yeah I read it late :).
It’s the debut novel of the author and the story revolves around the couple Holly and Gerry  who are truly , madly and deeply in love. Gerry dies of a chronic disease and he writes 10 letters before his death to his wife in order to make her move on with her life sans him.
The plot is as poetic , romantic and tragic true to it’s sense but I still felt it could’ve been narrated in an even more elegant way. The book at times wanders far away from the plot and at times it gets repetitive. Despite small falls, this book definitely is one of my favorites just for the simple reason - The Plot.


The White Tiger  By Aravind Adiga :

The Indian author is the  winner of the Man Booker prize and I can see why it is. The book is about a village simpleton who is servant-turned-murderer -turned - entrepreneur. He says about his rise in the form of a single letter to the Chinese Premier in  seven nights.
The book holds onto our attention from the word Go. Exceedingly well written . There’s a dark humor in the way Balram, the protagonist of the book, narrates his experiences. Though I must admit  that there were times when I was perturbed by the fact that my country was shown in poor light, or if I could put it this way, the dark side of my country. But I would like to leave it at that.


The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho :
 This is the story of a shepherd Santiago embarks on a journey to follow his dream and eventually learn the art of listening to what his heart says. “The Alchemist” is a widely read book and always been recommended by people who have read. And now I echo these recommendations. It’s definitely a good read if we understand the underlying message.

Twilight By Stephanie Meyer :

The debut novel of the author where a girl Bella ,meets a boy Edward who in turn is a vampire and yet she’s head-over heels in love with him. The book has a few extremely chilling moments ,like, when we get to know the age of Edward , which is otherwise just a mediocre teen love novel .Am still not sure on what exactly made to pick this one , may be just to see what the ‘saga’ was all about. There were some instances which reminisced my school days , the place where we tend to meet our “crush”.  All said and done this is definitely not my “kind”.

Currently on the shelf :

The Museum of Innocence By Orhan Pamuk :

I don’t think I can write something about this since am half way thro it. But yes, the reviews of the book is awe-inspiring consistently.

On My Wishlist:

Though this list is never ending , but these are my immediate interests :

1) My Sister’s keeper By Jodi Picoult
2) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
3)  Reading Lolita in Tehran By Azar Nafisi
4) The Palace of Illusions By Chitra Banerjee.

And I hope to continue with this love :).