Books have always kept me company. As a kid it was comics like Champak, Amar Chitra Katha, Asterix/Obelix and Tintin.Stories in Champak have always interested me, all the characters were animals and all of them knew to talk, dance, cook, study...Dogs were involved in cat-fights, mice would rule the world, monkeys and squirrels and all other animals in one big happy family and many many unimaginable things. Asterix and Obelix was another hot favorite, though I did not at that age understand that all names had some meaning. My first password for quite a long time was one of the characters from A & O. Cacofonix and Vitalstatistix and Getafix..Amazing creativity to come up with such names.
The first big book that I read, was some 'Famous Five' by Enid Blyton. It was and still is an amazing experience to read her books. The kids having picnics in their summer hols and the adventures they had and the sulky Georgina. The thing I clearly remember is the picnic baskets filled with food I had never heard of; Sausages and Ginger beer. Reading about the underground tunnels and the island light houses and gypsies was so exciting. After having devoured all Enid Blytons in the school library I was itching for more. Went to my cousins book shelf and picked a book called 'The Good Earth' by Pearl S Buck; a story set in war time china. Wonder how I still remember that, its been 11 years now since I read that book. Recently bought a copy of that book to read it again.
Moved to a new town, a new public library and plenty of books to read. Sidney Sheldons and Jeffrey Archers and Agatha Christies. These 3 authors kept me busy for 3 long years, all through my high school days. Christies books deserve a special mention, no other books have had the same effect on me. I would be totally transported to England with good old Marple books. Many a people have a dislike for Marple and consider Poirot as Christies best detective. While I think Poirots good, I sure do like Marple. A little bit of eavesdropping, a little bit of village gossip and a keen insight of the humand mind and voila the case is solved!!!Apart from her Marples and Poirots Christie has written some books under the pen name Mary Westmacott. Have read a book 'Absent in the spring', till date it remains one of my favorite books. Its about a woman who painfully re-examines her attitudes, relationships and actions and how it affected others life and what people have always felt about her. A delightful journey into a womans mind, more of an analysis of the protagonists mind. Would love to read more of Mary Westmacott's books. Am so much in love with Christie that now I am currently reading her auto-biography. Hardy boys and Nancy Drews were the books I read for the lack of any better books. Of all the Sheldons the book I loved was 'Tell me your dreams', that was the first time I read of multiple personality disorders. Sex in Sheldon novels deserve a special mention :-) . Of the Archers I liked 'The Prodigal Daughter', somehow I liked it better than 'Kane and Abel'. 'Acts of Faith' by Erich Segal and 'The client' by John Grisham are two other books I remember, the former being a hot favorite of mine.
Never really ventured into Romance and Classics category. The only out n out romance I read was 'The Ring' by Danielle Steele and I liked it, but never tried anymore. The closest thing to a classic that I read was 'Treasure Island' (if it can be called a classic), Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum.... The next genre I tried was comedy by the comic genius P.G.Wodehouse. How an author manages to keep the reader in splits, a whole 200 pages book not some short story. Jeeves and Wooster, the nincompoops and the tinkerty tonks - a comic genius indeed. 'Aunts aren't Gentlemen' is one of the most recent of his books that I read.
The next 4 years never really tried any new author as there was no decent public library in Mysore. The only noteworthy book is the 'Harry Potter'. Hats off to J.K. Rowling, imagination has no bounds. While a lot of Indians argue that the Panchatantra and Chandamamas are filled with stories like that, I would say nothing comes even close to the Potter series. The Segals and Sheldons and Archers and Christies continued for 4 more years.
At the age of 18 I tried reading a Salman Rushdie 'Midnights Children' and it was pure Greek and Latin, I would come across about 20 new words per page and could never understand the story. Now at the age of 22 I read his book 'Shalimar the clown' and I am sure glad that I never passed the first attempt because I dont like his style of writing. 'No Onions, No garlics' by Srividya Natarajan, the Indian P.G.Wodehouse - I would suggest this book to any P.G.Wodehouse fan. Somehow I did not like some of the biggest names like 'To Kill a mocking bird', 'The old man and his sea', '100 years of solitude', 'Life of Pi', 'God of small things' . I guess I expect more melodrama in the books or my mind is not mature enough to understand hidden meanings (if any) in the books. Finally a mention of the best book I read - 'The Kite Runner'. Have written a review on the book : http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Kite_Runner___The_-_Khaled_Hosseni-128388-1.html
