I like big books!

 I like big books and I cannot lie...

Reading big fat books that run into 800-1000 pages is second to none! It's like a saga that runs into several episodes! It's settling down for the long haul - to witness the entire lifetimes of characters, living through their ups and downs! Rejoicing in their happiness and agonising over their sorrows! You root for some of them and share the author's hatred for the others. 

It's like snuggling into a different world and living amidst people of imagination. It could be a war world, a romantic world, a world where thrillers are taking place. Long books offer us their world for long enough to feel like we are a part of it. There have been times when I finished a book and felt like I returned to the rude, real world - and there wasn't anymore left to go back to.

And the one reason that long, written sagas pull us in is the writing! The prowess of the writer has the power to create a world so vivid and lucid that we can imagine it, we live in it. We weep and smile at the scenes conjured in our mind by the might of the writer's pen! We can't wait to get till the end as the suspense builds. We want to see the good rewarded and the bad punished. 

And as readers even our intelligence is at stake. Giving up at the length of the book or the kind of writing says something about me as a reader too. 

I mean I read Catch-22 because it is deemed one of the greatest books to read - on every reading list ever! I get the satire of war and the deliberate length of the book to cover it from different angles - but still it kinda got too long and slow. I still finished it because it's one of the best books of all times! 

Stream of consciousness, for instance, as a genre is like the author's imagination to ours. Mrs. Dalloway is a whole book with her standing at a street corner and looking back at her life. One Hundred Years of Solitude is the same names coming up again and again. And still, as readers, we find that riveting and love the challenge of keeping up. 

Writing reams and reams of pages, putting one word after the other is a coveted feat in itself. And to make it so riveting that people get to the end of those 500 pages is an accomplishment as a writer. 

It's the flood of words that keeps the rivers of our imagination going! I recently finished The Signature Of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert and I think it's so unfair that she is known mainly for Eat, Pray, Love. Just like Gone With The Wind, this one also tracks the life of the woman protagonist. And I just love to randomly snuggle into the pages of such books once I've read them from cover to cover. Just open it anywhere and begin reading. Or go for the interesting bits where you know how the story unfolds. There doesn't have to be an order to re-read them. It's like plonking myself right in the middle of the ocean - with water on either side as far as eyes can go! It's literally a sea of words to drown in, to forget the world around us and go under the influence of the story. 

Long non-fiction is a different kind of a beast. It's not just a story that flows. There are facts to be analysed and each chapter placed in context while reading it. The process of finishing a 500-word non-fiction book is long enough that one doesn't have the luxury to go back and forth, like we could in fiction. I read Sapiens twice to make better sense of it and I still can't jump in somewhere in the middle and make sense of it. Such books get intense and need probably a few more reads to feel like home. 

I am currently reading 21 Lessons for the 21st century. And while I am done with the technology part of the book, I am still piecing together information and how it would apply to the rest of the book. So it's more of an uphill task. But that's the learning curve as a reader, I guess. It helps to keep up. Sometimes for enjoyment and other times for education. 

The journey of reading goes on...

Day 26: 11 Things Life Is Too Short To Do

We are all usually swamped with more work than time to do it in. Plus, there is also more information that you can probably ever process in this lifetime. I have deliberately given up looking at must read books lists, have pruned my Feedly and am trying to become more goal oriented. And of late, I have realised that there are somethings that I just couldn't be worried about. I don't do them because I don't want to. Call it mid life realisation or whatever you want but I think life is too short to do things you don't want to. And here are a few things, in no particular order, I think we should consider -

Life is too short to:

Complete a bad book just because you started reading it

Drink bad wine 

Let others' opinions affect you

Be someone others want you to be

Spend time with people you don't like (just to please others)

Worry about being nice to people you don't care about 

Ponder over things you can't change

Not re-read books you love 

Not spend time with people you really love 

Be nice to people you hate just because it is rude not to

Be stuck in traffic (find a way out)

To wear clothes you don't like/want to just because someone decided it's in fashion

I am sure that if you give it some thought, you will come up with your list of things you think life is to short to waste on. Can you think of anything at the moment? Do get back and leave your comment when you do! 

This post is written for #NaBloPoMo which stands for National Blog Posting Month hosted by BlogHer every year. 

Day 3: How Many Books Have You Read This Year?

Getting lost in the sea of books! (Photo credit)

I Love reading. I can't be called a prolific reader - definitely not after I found some people on Twitter who have already finished 200 books this year! Having been a literature student for 5 years, I have had my fill of Shakespeare and Shelley, Dante and Dickens. I have also loved reading my share of awesome fiction like Gone with the wind and Shantaram. Or non-fiction books like Emotional Intelligence by Goleman or the Malcolm Gladwell books. Such books give a unique insight into the working of human mind and I find them quite insightful.

Since I belong to the transitional generation that moved from physical books to ebooks, I have seen both the worlds. I still read books in both medium. All the reading through college days, of course, was from a stack of physical books. It was like a full time job to finish novels and poetry texts so that I could start with the criticism of those books and prepare for exams. I read physical books pretty much through the entire last decade. I moved to Kindle a few years ago yet don't really enjoy the experience of reading ebooks. They are great to keep reading on the go and that's the only reason I have the app. I also have this habit of noting down names of books from bibliographies mentioned in other books. I noted down a dozen titles while doing a course on social psychology from Coursera about 4 years ago - never went on buy and read any of those though.

Reading has always been a big part of my life. Reading is to forget the world. You can't think of anything else while you are reading, right? While online exposure on Twitter helped me learn about new books - some of which I read or added to my list from bibiliographies - it has also added some sense of anxiety to my reading. While I have stopped looking at any must read books lists - except for occasional slips - there are times when some one mentions a title as a must read and I can't help but add it to what has now become a list of books-I-might-read-in-this-lifetime. And the ever growing list evokes this fear of - Oh my God! I'm never going to be able to finish reading ALL this! And the knowledge that some mortals have actually finished 200 books makes me feel like I have read about 4 books in my life! Even when I read a book, I feel a strange sense of anxiety to finish it fast and move on.

While I realise that I will never be able to read 200 books in a year, I definitely am working on this knot that forms in the pit of my stomach every time I start reading. I have started reasoning with that voice in my head which ushers in a sense of urgency every time I sit to read a book. For me, it's not a competition about reading as many books as the next person has. It's more about missing out on so much more there is to read. But then it isn't possible to read all books published ever, (Or is there?!) even if you stick to a few favourite genres. Plus, I think it also depends on the kind of books I read. Fiction gets done faster. But I also want to read thick fat books without worrying about how long it takes.

At the moment, I have enough books to last this year from my Amazon sale loot in August this year. I have already read a fair number of books from different genres this year and I am happy with it. Plus there is online reading where we get to learn so much.

How do you get your reading done? Are books obsolete yet with all the blogs and online content?

This post is a part of #NaBloPoMo hosted by BlogHer where I will write one post everyday this month.

Sophie Kinsella: Remember Me?

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella (Photo credit) 

The title of this post is significant for more than just the title of Kinsella's book. As you might have noticed that this is my first post this year. So it's also a question for you guys, remember me? Maybe you should read, comment and share some of my posts in my absence so that I know that you do! :)

Getting on with the real book, Since I discovered Sophie Kinsella a few years ago, she has become my comfort read. I have read most of her books and re-read them. (The cover page of another book that I am now re-reading mentions titles under her pseudo name that I haven't read. So i'm off to treasure hunt after this!). And I started the year with her for my light reads. I just finished, Remember Me? It's hard to talk about this book without giving away the plot. So please bear with me. You will still have fun reading it, which I strongly recommend. The story is about this girl-next-door who meets with an accident and wakes up in the hospital but it happens that this is after another accident 3 years later. Only she wakes up to find her memory stuck at the first accident. Her life from then to now is blank. How she deals with it, is the story. You'll be surprised to read the consequences of the 3 year lapse in her memory. And this is what set me thinking!

How long is 3 years in a person's life? Considering the phase you are in in your life, it could starting and finishing graduate school, going from being single to married, the birth of a child to a school going toddler, from employed to entrepreneur. Your friends might be different, your equation with the family might have changed. Or maybe not! Remember Me? is an interesting journey down someone's forgetful path! And this is exactly why the book is so riveting!

Think of yourself as you were at the beginning of 2013. Imagine waking up now with your life as it was in Jan 2013 and blank about the next 3 years! How was your life 3 years ago? How were you as a person? Less confident? More carefree? How glaring would the change in your life be in these 3 years? Interesting to ponder and discover? I am extra eager to know your responses in your comments. Think about it. I think it's a pretty interesting exercise!

7 books I look forward to reading in 2016

I took the Brunch Book Challenge this year and managed about 25 out of 30 books we were supposed to finish to complete the challenge. I realised that reading as part of a challenge was killing the joy of reading. I'd feel miserable when the counter wasn't moving fast enough. Actually, with all the other work, sometimes the counter wasn't moving at all! It felt like being a part of a race and losing all the time. So for next year, I have thought of books that I want to read in no hurry. Some of them are big, fat ones but I can take my own time to read them and actually enjoy reading.
So, here's the list:

1. Lean in by Sheryl Sandberg (Yeah, this one's still pending!)
2. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo (His Talk Like TED was sheer brilliance!)
3. Presence by Amy Cuddy - The woman behind the inspiring research on power pose
4. Authentic Story telling by Christophe Trappe - (just released)
5. Marilyn Atkinson's 3 books on coaching - to further my studies as a coach
6. Re-read The Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
7. The Social Animal by David Brooks (I need to go back and complete reading this one)

To me, all this books have meaningful learning for me rather than just numbers to complete a challenge. Apart from these, I also want to try and finish the Middle Earth series by Tolkien and the books of Ken Follet that I haven't read yet.

What does your reading list for 2016 look like? Share with the readers and let's inspire each other!

What's your comfort read? Here's mine...

Everyone has what i call a 'comfort read'. A book/series/author which we keep coming back to, to escape the rigours of real world or to simple de-stress. There's something so tempting to snuggle between those familiar pages and be in the company of our favourite characters. It’s like stepping into a world we know and are friends with people in that world. We can enjoy the twists and turns that much more because we know that it’s going to be ok in the end. These books are so close to our hearts that we go back and read them again and again knowing that we have nothing new left to discover. 

My comfort read is mostly to lull me into stupor at the end of the day. When i want to disconnect from the real world and want to put myself to sleep. That is the time when i cannot read new books which require me to be alert. Wrong timing! So, what i really need is the comforting arms of a familiar book whose words I can sub-vocalise in my mind as i read it. 

My first comfort read was when i discovered the Harry Potter series. i would love to lose myself in it’s magical predictability at the end of the day. It was the best way to tame my wandering thoughts before i went to sleep. The earlier books are less complicated and my general preference to read. i can never forget the hilarious descriptions of Uncle Vernon’s invisible neck and Dudley’s chubby hands. i could almost imagine Hagrid’s enormous frame squeezing into the little hut. (It was a delight to actually watch the movie!)

And then came into my life the wonderful Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella! i couldn’t rest till I dug out ever single book in the series. (i have pdf versions of all books, now, to dig in at leisure!) It was such a great read right from the beginning. The adventures of Rebecca Bloomwood, an obsessive shopaholic, as she falls into new troubles of her own making in every book and how she emerges from those situations every single time. So every book moves towards a crisis only for everything to fall into place n the end through Rebecca’s ingenuity. 

The more you read a book the more you start to analyse. Sometimes, i hate Becky for being a scheming, lying, obsessed shopper that she is. And it takes her to the brink of disaster time and again. i have a problem that she has no honesty and communication with her husband, Luke. This irks me. But by the end of the book, you want to forgive her all her sins and look at her excessive shopping just as a foible she cannot help! That is the essence of the whole series. 

Two of my favourite quotes, both from “Shopaholic takes on Manhattan”, the second book in the series. You can look feel the genuine emotion in each and can understand why Becky is forgiven by the readers every single time!

This one is her reaction to a phone message from her parents supporting her in the middle of a crisis:

“God, I love my parents. If I told them I'd committed murder they'd soon find some reason why it was perfectly justified and the victim had it coming to them.”

You see, you can’t help smiling at it even though Becky is in tears wondering what to do.

And this is her first step towards taking things in her control:

“I'm not going to let all this defeat me. I'm going to wash my face, and put on some makeup, and get my life back in order.”

This time i have randomly picked up “Shopaholic and Sister” and i am lost in its pages. In-between-books is the best phase to fall prey to comfort read because it’s my break from using my brains. i know i should be starting a new book. But soon...as soon as Becky becomes friends with her sister again!

What is your comfort read? i am sure you too have a book that pulls you into its folds time and again and you fail to resist every single time! Tell us about it!

Manners maketh a man!

Given the changed times today, everything about the way we function has changed. Technology rules our life and i am particularly disturbed about the way it affects children born in the last decade or so. Compared to my childhood, it has become increasingly difficult to retain the attention spans of kids, thanks to a million distractions, most of them as addictive as technological gadgets.

No, this post is not about the ill-effects of technology on the younger generation. Reams must have been written on it already. Even in the context of today’s times, i strongly feel some values/habits are the bedrock of a person’s personality and can not be compromised irrespective of what times we live in. It can be challenging, very actually, to inculcate these in kids today given their exposure to a totally different world from mine. mostly full of bad influences for those young minds. Here are the timeless values that, i feel, are important to become quality human beings:

Good Manners: Respect for elders. Obedience. And generally doing things the way they should be done. i know this sounds really last century, but my general observation is that today’s kids have a mind of their own and they just have to get their way. i am all for democracy in relationships, but there is a fine line between putting forth your thoughts and putting your foot down on your elders’ views. i know we cant get good old times back but it’s about embedding respect for others as a life long trait. This is helpful not just in personal life but also in professional life later on.

Social skills: i recently visited someone’s place for dinner. The host’s daughter, a teenager,  came in shyly, said hello and that’s it. She was all awkward after that. i think it is important that children be able to conduct themselves with confidence in social situations. So whether it is being able to handle guests when parents are absent to holding a decent conversation is a must. Even in real life, i have realized, success has more to do with how confidently we are able to connect with people and get along rather than about academic excellence.

Reading: This is a very personal favourite habit where reading has taught me so much. It has helped me fill a lot of empty hours with writings that took me to vicarious romance, travel and knowledge of different worlds. For children, the advantages of reading can be endless. Apart from improving language levels, children can enjoy reading their favourite stories and build their foundation to reading more interesting books through the future years. Parents abroad make it a point to read to children before they go to sleep until kids can start reading on their own. That’s their way of inculcating love of the written word.

Hobby: Depending what the skills a person have, the children should always be encouraged to indulge in some kind of hobby in free time. i know someone who’s going to be out of college in some time and is totally lost in her free time. It’s either general browsing n the internet or just lazing around. When i suggest reading, the reaction is “Ehh! Thats boring”. The hobby could be painting, reading, music - anything that serves the dual purpose of adding to a person’s personality and positive channelizing one’s free energies.

Limited technology: Keeping in mind the times we live in, i want to add that it’s very important to limit the amount children are exposed to technology. Gadgets can be very educative if used well, but more often than not they end up being used to for addictive gaming. This is indeed a great time to show them that the pleasure of reading a real book is so much better than an ebook. This applies at least till the time children are grown up enough to use their own discretion in the use of technology.

You may or may not agree with my list. Feel free to add your own!