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Yup. I've been book tagged by thea. So here goes... Total number of books I have 42. Nah. Wish it were that easy... I don't know, somewhere in the region of 500... Scattered over 4 houses and 3 cities... Stacked haphazardly on shelves, tables, chairs and beds... Some packed away in corrugated boxes and black plastic garbage bags... Last book I read We don't read books in the singular. We either juggle a healthy number of hard and paperbacks in our leisure time or do not read at all. Therefore- The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes by Jamyang Norbu (Tongue in cheek, and very, very likeable) Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (Ponders over issues that, at my age, seem largely irrelevant to me. But touchingly written and, therefore, endearing) Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (Very forgettable) Last book I bought We also believe that, like reading, buying should also be done by the cartful. However we do not posess the means as yet. Therefore- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon (No self-respecting Holmes fan could fail to recognise the title. Plus the snazzy red jacket cover. Yes, jacket covers matter you know. It turned out to be well worth the money, in the end, which is more than what I can say about a lot of other books with snazzy red jacket covers.) Five books that mean a lot to me Fine print: I can't count. Not if my life depended on it. Douglas Adams' five book trilogy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (Because I can't stop laughing! No one makes me laugh as much- not even, dare I say this, granddaddy Wodehouse. Lines like "All eyes in the room were on Ford. Some were on stalks." and "It feels a little like being drunk. / What's so bad about being drunk? / Ask a glass of water." are priceless.) Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books (Because they remind me of a childhood spent living those adventures; A childhood spent idolising that greatest of sleuths and his maverick methods. And a door opened to the lives of two other sleuths- Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and GK Chesterton's Father Brown, both brilliant, both mavericks and both likeable, in their own way.) Ayn Rand's Anthem, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead (Because beyond all the controversy and debate I saw a person who could see so much that was wrong in the world and had the courage to show it didn't have to be. Hank Rearden and Howard Roark have become characters that I can identify with in a way I can never fully explain to anyone.) Ken Kasey's One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (Because you don't have to identify with a character to be able to believe in him. Randall Patrick McMurphy and Holden Caulfield, both, were rebels not-so-right-in-the-head. I explored their troubled world and believed. Implicitly- even to the point of beginning to understand.) Homer's Illiad and Odyssey (That came at a time when I thought that the classics were for fuddy-duddies. I stood corrected. Thankfully) Vilas Sarang's A Fair Tree of Void (This little known professor of English at Mumbai University and his littler known book of short stories opened up a whole new world, of Beckett, Ibsen and Kafka, for me. Without the Void there, probably, wouldn't have been Godot or Samsa either. Or maybe they would've been much, much later which would've been a pity because I spent many growing up years in the dark, troubling but perversely satisfying worlds of their books.) St Exupery's The Little Prince and Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist (Two little books that I treasure immensely. Why? Maybe because they tell of things so true, and tell it honestly.) Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude (Because he paints pictures with words. And these two are the best he ever painted.) Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (Its a book full of cynical characters. But then its war time. And war time is full of cynicism. And in some ways I'm a cynic too, though I've never been to a war. Ask those who know me.) Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila (Because I fell in love with Phaedreus and his interminable quest. Read the books and you'll probably know why. If not, don't call me to tell me you were disappointed- it probably serves you right for listening to me anyway.) And now its my turn to tag. The poor victims are- mm prachi hemal shuchita (Oi this should be reason enough to get your spiffy blog up and running again) the unknown poet And that will be all ladies and gentlemen.
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