Of Books and Reads !

There are phases in life when you happen to like some books a lot and then years later when you look back and turn over the same pages you don't find them as interesting as it used to be. As worthy as it was back then, but still, you have some feelings for the book-for the read you made. In this write I felt like talking about my love for books; when and how it started and where is it going these days.

My book love started back in the school days where reading stories from text books used to be fun. After finishing my own class reads, I used to finish up all the stories from my elder sister's English and Nepali text books. In addition to these there was a English supplemetary book for our school reads which used to be a short story book. All these instances geared up my love for the books.

Daniel Defoe was the first writer I read back in class 1 with "Robinson Crusoe" crowned up as the first novel. I have faint memories of Johann David Wyss with "The Swiss Family Robinson" in Class 2. I read more of Mark Twain in the latter classes with "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". And then it was Sir William Shakespeare with "The tales from Shakespeare" which was a compilation of the tales by Shakespeare compiled by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb. I read the "Geeta" and "Mahabharat" back then in my high school days.

At the same time back at home we used to read "comics" which kept on increasing the fascination for another genre of book. Chacha Chaudhary, Bhokal, Super Commando Dhruva, Naagraj, Pinky, Channi Chachi, Raman, Bankelal, Doga, Fantom, Mandrake used to add up the attraction always. Along with them there were monthly story books Nandan, Nanhe Samrat, Champak and others which were the added attractions. There always used to be chunk of books in both Nepali and Hindi back at home which always fascinated me. 

While I started reading the second genre of novels it started with Arundhati Roy's "The god of small things", Ayn Rand's "The fountainhead", Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina". I read couple of Sidney Sheldon as well. Books kept on adding up and so on added were the reads.

In the later days, I liked Paulo Coelho after reading "The Alchemist". The Alchemist is one of its kind. It has impressed me in many ways. I was so impressed by the author the then that I immediately bought and read "By the river Piedra I sat and wept"-I liked the read. But then there was "Brida" and "Eleven minutes" which I started and never finished. Albeit there are many other reads which I have never been able to complete after starting but regarding these two reads they didn't fascinate me anytime, so I just stopped reading them. Lately I had a discussion with a friend of mine who was telling Paulo Coelho is such a lousy writer who writes of things and talks of fantasies and a dream world which never exists. I could not convince him with the idea that some books are just like first love, you love them a time and just like them with not much of attraction or things now but still like them.

Similar was the case for Robin Sharma. Sharma is famous for his motivational writes and speeches. The first read I made from him was "Who will cry when you die". I really liked the book then, which was a train souvenir while we were coming back from India to Nepal. Immediately after finishing the first read by Mr. Sharma I bought "The Monk who sold his Ferrari", I liked the read then too. This year I happened to buy one more motivational read by him which I could never turn even a page more. And these days, when I try reading the first two reads I made, I cannot read them anymore. Those books have some good memories with me and now they are like nonexistent being for me.

I like Murakami, Khaled Hosseini, Khalil Gibran and Kafka too. After reading "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini I tormented for a long time, it was that touching. I have grown up reading my grandpa Aatma Ram Ojha. I like books by Saru Bhakta, Jagadish Ghimire, B.P.Koirala, Parijaat. I keep on reading one or the other writer time and then. A single read by some while a chunk by others. I have been reading more of Richard Bach and John Green lately. I am impressed by both of these writers. Reads keep on adding on the list and my hunger for reading them keeps on increasing too.

As Ernest Hemingway says,“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”  I can't help adding my friends :-)

Happy reading folks!

Metta !!

Picture courtesy: Deviant Art