Lost Random Chatter
Monday, June 06, 2005
Tagged!
in a blog tag blog world, it is quite understandable that my blog mentor, The Letterhead, chose to tack a tag on me...
Thank You ! (the tag, the lighter and everything else)
How many books do I own?
Will take the liberty of assuming part ownership of the family collection. We are complete crazies when it comes to books. I have happy memories of going to the Sunday secondhand book bazaar in Daryaganj- feeling extremely priveleged to be given five odd books to carry to the van while my brothers picked them up by the cartons.
The family - 2 big bros, me, mom and dad scattered over time- and so did the books.
More recently, we made a huge effort to get the collection together- a mandatory carton of paperbacks to carry for anyone making a trip from dehradun to pune. In pune, the operation HQ- measurements were taken- book shelves ordered- the books sorted broadly by genre and then by author- stacked and restacked and shelved and simulataneously entered on an excel spreadsheet, doubles discovered- lists mailed out to friends who might want the second copies...
and PHEW- at the end of it- ( the beginning, really!) 1640 books plus the two cartons still to be opened!
I'm told that the collection is still expanding- more shelves are being ordered- and books are spilling over to the bedrooms (originally vetoed as places of repose for our tomes cos that would limit access to the waking hours) by the rack!
Last book I bought-
A birthday present for a friend- Conversations with God- Book I by Neale Donald Walsch.
Answered a lot of my questions- passes contradictions as paradoxes- funny in places, steeped in irony- introduced me to the art of full-time introspection!
Last book I read-
Lets make that books.. I have gotten into the habit of simultaneously reading a few.
From the Dust Returned- Ray Bradbury
A Passage to India - E M Forster
An Equal Music - Vikram Seth
(Both have been on my list for quite some time)
The monk who sold his ferrari- Robin Sharma
A friend lent it to me as reading material for a 4 hour coach ride to cambridge. Don't like the way the author steals Oscar Wilde's Story, "The Selfish Giant" and passes it off as a story from ancient India.
Am still reading The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg- on how it came to be the language it is today. It has stirred my long dormant interest in history.
5 books that mean a lot to me-
- I will make that authors/ books/series....in no particular order!
(A mock awards ceremony??)
GERALD DURRELL for all his books
The island of Corfu in My Family and Other Animals set the stage for wild and weird encounters- trapdoor spiders, Quasimodo the pigeon who thought she was human , the rose-beetle man, Theodore, the naturalist..
The fight between a wall gecko and a praying mantis- perhaps contributing in part to my gecko-ophobia ?
"Rosy is my relative" is great for laughs - a young man inherits an elephant with an inordinate fondness for ale! and all the rest- packed with weird denizens of the wild with nice sounding names- Aye ayes and tapirs, capybaras and wallabys, nine banded armadillos.........
ROBERT HEINLEIN
He writes science fiction with a twist, very matter of factly introducing alien social structures into human society, challenging today's beliefs and faith systems in futuristic settings.
Read it when I was twelve- came at the right time- when I was beginning to recognise the absurdity of cliques in my class and people's resistance to change.
Every fibre in my being cried out "injustice" when Jonathan Livingston seagull was called by his elders to stand in the centre for shame - he, who could have show them the skies; he, who had dared to be different.
[ Strikes me, that all these books that stand out in my head now, are ones that I read when I was young(er)...]
Now the fun bit- my turn to tag -
Gati and Satya
Thank You ! (the tag, the lighter and everything else)
How many books do I own?
Will take the liberty of assuming part ownership of the family collection. We are complete crazies when it comes to books. I have happy memories of going to the Sunday secondhand book bazaar in Daryaganj- feeling extremely priveleged to be given five odd books to carry to the van while my brothers picked them up by the cartons.
The family - 2 big bros, me, mom and dad scattered over time- and so did the books.
More recently, we made a huge effort to get the collection together- a mandatory carton of paperbacks to carry for anyone making a trip from dehradun to pune. In pune, the operation HQ- measurements were taken- book shelves ordered- the books sorted broadly by genre and then by author- stacked and restacked and shelved and simulataneously entered on an excel spreadsheet, doubles discovered- lists mailed out to friends who might want the second copies...
and PHEW- at the end of it- ( the beginning, really!) 1640 books plus the two cartons still to be opened!
I'm told that the collection is still expanding- more shelves are being ordered- and books are spilling over to the bedrooms (originally vetoed as places of repose for our tomes cos that would limit access to the waking hours) by the rack!
Last book I bought-
A birthday present for a friend- Conversations with God- Book I by Neale Donald Walsch.
Answered a lot of my questions- passes contradictions as paradoxes- funny in places, steeped in irony- introduced me to the art of full-time introspection!
Last book I read-
Lets make that books.. I have gotten into the habit of simultaneously reading a few.
From the Dust Returned- Ray Bradbury
A Passage to India - E M Forster
An Equal Music - Vikram Seth
(Both have been on my list for quite some time)
The monk who sold his ferrari- Robin Sharma
A friend lent it to me as reading material for a 4 hour coach ride to cambridge. Don't like the way the author steals Oscar Wilde's Story, "The Selfish Giant" and passes it off as a story from ancient India.
Am still reading The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg- on how it came to be the language it is today. It has stirred my long dormant interest in history.
5 books that mean a lot to me-
- I will make that authors/ books/series....in no particular order!
(A mock awards ceremony??)
GERALD DURRELL for all his books
The island of Corfu in My Family and Other Animals set the stage for wild and weird encounters- trapdoor spiders, Quasimodo the pigeon who thought she was human , the rose-beetle man, Theodore, the naturalist..
The fight between a wall gecko and a praying mantis- perhaps contributing in part to my gecko-ophobia ?
"Rosy is my relative" is great for laughs - a young man inherits an elephant with an inordinate fondness for ale! and all the rest- packed with weird denizens of the wild with nice sounding names- Aye ayes and tapirs, capybaras and wallabys, nine banded armadillos.........
ROBERT HEINLEIN
He writes science fiction with a twist, very matter of factly introducing alien social structures into human society, challenging today's beliefs and faith systems in futuristic settings.
He made me think by showing an alternative reality- made me aware that there was a choice where I had percieved none.
Stranger in a Strange Land- which evolved into a major cult novel- the concept of non-exclusive love, the word 'grok' and a protagonist like no other- Valentine Smith- a human raised on Mars returned to earth
C.S LEWIS for The Chronicles of Narnia
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe happened to me at 8! Got my hands on the last battle when I was 9 - and it was a first real glimpse into religion (it helped that the mighty Aslan happened to be a lion) .....
OLIVER STRANGE and FREDERICK H. CHRISTIAN
For Sudden- The best western series ever- about James (Jim) Green- so quick on the draw that he is called 'Sudden'
RICHARD BACH for Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Read it when I was twelve- came at the right time- when I was beginning to recognise the absurdity of cliques in my class and people's resistance to change.
Every fibre in my being cried out "injustice" when Jonathan Livingston seagull was called by his elders to stand in the centre for shame - he, who could have show them the skies; he, who had dared to be different.
[ Strikes me, that all these books that stand out in my head now, are ones that I read when I was young(er)...]
Now the fun bit- my turn to tag -
Gati and Satya
posted by Runglee # 12:37 PM 
Comments:
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Thanks about 'Kite Runner'- wasn't aware of it till I read ur comment! Now, it is definitely on my list!
Since you enjoyed this post- will try to keep posting about interesting books as i come across/ think about them..
Since you enjoyed this post- will try to keep posting about interesting books as i come across/ think about them..
Hey Runglee,
Thanks for tagging me. Btw, when I read Jonathan Livingsotn Seagull, I loved it. Just that the love fizzled out over the next 10 years or so. It still is a good book - one of a kind.
But I truly dont want to be him. I am sorry if I have hurt you with my comment on my blog. Not meant to be that way.
And about Kite runner - It is much better in the beginning than at the end.
Thanks for tagging me. Btw, when I read Jonathan Livingsotn Seagull, I loved it. Just that the love fizzled out over the next 10 years or so. It still is a good book - one of a kind.
But I truly dont want to be him. I am sorry if I have hurt you with my comment on my blog. Not meant to be that way.
And about Kite runner - It is much better in the beginning than at the end.
Gati- I am very vocal when I am hurt- so will let you know if any of ur comments or the lack of one 'hurts' me...
still hvn't got to kite runner..
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still hvn't got to kite runner..
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