Books have always fascinated me, intrigued me, entertained me. They have always provided me with a mean to escape from the mundanity, monotony of life, creating vistas of beautiful landscape in he far reaches of my mind. No matter what the situation may have been I have always found solace in those pages, in those words and the stories they told. I was never a bookworm and have never considered myself one, but what I do have is a love for reading.
My interest in books has evolved with age. As a child, my aunt always encouraged me to read. My childhood has been filled with fairytales, fables and stories from Hans Christian Anderson, Aesop, Enid Blyton and so on, not forgetting the tales from the Bible. There were stories of princess and peas, golden tresses, sleeping beauties, handsome princes and beautiful princesses, of witches and elves and fairies, who repaired shoes, ate children, rode broomsticks, talking critters, of lessons to be learnt. Of thirteen o'clock and other tales and Brer Rabbits and his adventures. I used win prizes in school for religion (so much that people thought I would be a priest) and the prize would be a book, so I had ample of them. One thing I was kept away from Archies, Astrix and TinTin, for the fear that it would spoil my eyes and my English, and on hindsight I am glad that they did, but yet read them secretly .
The teenage years ushered in a love for mystery and adventure. For hours together I spent my time within the pages of Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys and Bobsey Twins and The Famous Five and The Three Investigators. Pouring through every page, eagerly devouring every adventure, every mystery. Remember sitting out on my parapet, for hours together, on vacations, reading these books. The school librarian too knew our love for these books that she allowed us to go and choose the books directly from the shelves. So much I wanted to write my own mystery novel and actually attempted to write one.
Thanks to Rapid Reading, got introduced to world of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and their adventures. Not to forget Oliver Twist, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Scrooge, Romeo and Juliet, puck, midsummer nights dreams and their like.
The onset of college brought about a change in the books I read. I had out grown the mystery books and into novels by Sydney Sheldon, Michael Crichton, John Grisham. Found myself reading books that were adapted to movies. So read Jurassic Park, Lost World, Andromedia Strain, Congo, Pelican Brief. Then there were books I couldn't put down like Tell me your Dreams, books that moved you like A Time to Kill and kind of shook you like The Exorcist. Always found that the books were better than the movies which they were adapted into cause they left things to your imagination.
Moving out from college and into a career brought yet a change in my reading habit. Though I got less time to read, the novels I read didn't change. I Began to read bit more heavier stuff (as I would like to call it). Amazingly I found Harry Potter during this phase. Read and re-read the books in the series, though I felt the series reached it peak with the Goblet of Fire and then it was a let down with the next couple of books, with the Deathly Hallow redeeming the series. A cliffhanger brought me to the Lords of the Rings and the marvellous world of J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle Earth. Till date it is one of the best Fantasy Novel I have read. After that there have been a number of books which I have read that have tried to emulate the formula of both Harry Potter and the Lord of the Ring to varying success. There was Eragon series, Percy Jackson and Phillip Pullmans Dafk Material.
At the same time read some really interesting books like The Namesake, the visually stunning God of Small Thing (I liked it more than the story), The Train to Pakistan, Mrs Funnybones (Twinkle Khanna is a way better writer than an actor) and the really intriguing Gone Girl. The Game of Throne series led me to the world of Westros and Winterfell through the Song of Fire and Ice. Currently totally engrossed in the Call me by your Name.
Along the way read books that perplexed me. Never been an intellectual reader or a philosophical reader so always wondered what was all the fuss about books such as The Alchemist and Fountainhead (never could get myself to finish it or relate to the characters). Then there were the ones that depressed me like The Kite Runner and Thousands of Splendid Suns. Then there were ones that I felt were downright bad like the Twilight series and Fifty Shades.
No matter what book I read and when I read them they not only improved my reading skills they helped my language, they helped my thought process, giving me an inspiration to write. For which I will always be grateful.
So here's to many more books out there that are just waiting to be read.
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