(For all the readers of this blog, I have included the links to my poems in the side-bar. If you go through them, don't forget to drop in your comment)
I never finished the more-than-1100-pages book in fear that once I finished, I would never care to look at Holmes again. Today I took out the book and smiled at myself.
Soon after this during the same years I was introduced to Ruskin Bond. It was his simplicity of words that stole my attention, the depth of his thoughts. And his stories were in first person and while reading them I felt as if I was his confidant. There was something personal in the way his stories were told, quite different from Dr Watson who (almost) merely placed the facts before the readers. There were more reasons - his closeness to nature and that he could touch all the stages of life - childhood, youth and old age in the same way. Then there was the twists he always managed to bring about in some of his short stories like "The eyes have it".
Coming to short stories of course how can I forget some of my all time favorites "The last leaf" by O.Henry, "The Open Window" by Saki, ... I am forgetting some of them, there are so many which I can always read and enjoy even for the umpteenth time. The best however remains "The face on the wall"by E.V.Lucas.
In my standard 9th and 10th I had to stop my frequent trysts with story books. Then in my 11th it started again. But this time the books were quite different. Most of the time I finished them just because I had started them. I didn't give them much of my time either. After 12th, I started classics. "Jane Eyre" was good. "Pride and Prejudice" was fine. But after reading "Sense and Sensibility", I lost interest. The next book I undertook was "Fountainhead". The philosophy went way over my head but I liked it because of the strength of the characters.
Many books came on my way after that - books by Jeffery Archer, "Harry Potter", "Class", "Animal Farm", "Diary of a young girl", and there were more (my memory fails me). I liked them for different reasons.
In the recent days I read Da Vinci Code, The Alchemist. I also read some Indian authors whom I liked because of the richness of language, the poetic approach and because it was not one of those cut-sliced-and-served-on-a-plate sort of book, it was as-you-want-to-take-it kind of book. This includes one more book "The pale view of hills" (my regrets, I forgot the name of the Japanese author).
But you see all these still do not answer the question "Who is my favourite author". All are so much different from each other and I like them for different reasons. Is it not possible that the question remains unanswered.
7 comments:
not experienced enough to comment much on the literary stuff .. only read da vinci code in the last 3 years .. and started doctor zhivago ..
just now read "the open window" .. nice short story .. "the last leaf" was a real classic ..
if you get a link to "the face on the wall" , do send it to me.
hope you are having a great time with your family in the pujas !!
bbye .. tc
Hi Anki :)
hmm like your post, my comment also got a break (a bit too long albeit :D)
Ruskin bond, I'd love to read more n more of him especialy after my tryst in class 6th (The hidden pool- the only story book of school I still have with me). It's nice to know abt someone who is such an ardent admirer of books-no writing- no it is the ART actually, the way we percieve.. the way we express...that is what is unique, that is what you also like, and that is what you YOURself display Anki and with such perfection at times...
I haven't been through so many books (as I said in prev coment) but nevertheless, I like books too and hence it is a pleasure to read this piece, which provides an idea of your journey (a truly marvelous one - I must say) so far.. :)
Keep writin Moon (and ofcourse I know you'll keep readin too :D )
God Bless You
tc bbye
i have the last leaf, and have downloaded the face on the wall.... though i write short stories (which are not so short in reality) i like to read only the looooooooooong ones!
so when are u posting urs???
interesting, reading and authors, books and reading, there's a lot out there,
i figure while i'm here i'll post a theory of mine:
when i was in elementary school up through junior high, i read a lot, i loved books, i loved reading, and i would tackle anything i could get my hands on that was within my skill level, then i got to high school, and everything changed, i stopped reading out of school, i read only what i had to, and i didn't enjoy it, i'm still in high school, and i don't like much of what i have to read. the thing is, i believe school discourages reading, because what they have you read isn't enjoyable, and they don't allow enough time for you to explore books on your own time, because your busy reading theirs, i hate this, because reading was one thing i could always do, whenever i had time, i'd just pick up a book, and go for it, i thought, and i really felt fulfilled, now i read what i'm told to read, and most of it isn't any fun, i know it shouldn't always be, but i can't learn from books that i detest, and i wish once in a while we read some current writing, reading about history is fine, but when all you do is read authors who've been dead for a 100 years it really loses something,
in the past year or so, as i've begun to write, i've gone back to reading, but i still don't have the time or the energy to put towards reading that i would like to, it's a shame, but that's how it works, at least i'm past hating reading, which is what high school did to me at first,
it's not a wonder to me that our youth doesn't enjoy reading, if i didn't want to read, i wouldn't bother either, because our education system discourages it, it's not right, and i think it needs to be changed, but it won't be, and people will read less and less, and that is a shame, because there is so much out there to discover,
well, i'll stop ranting now, thanks for the comments, i continue to write, seems like the inspiration keeps flowing, again, intersting piece, sparked some things in me, hope i havn't gone too off topic,
peace,
jware
http://www.jwarethirtynine.blogspot.com
came here thru anks blog.. and i love your template! very nice
hi..
nice blog...and gr88 template..
actually stumbled upon coz was checking out some templates for a friend..
and good post..
Now I truly know how you inspired me....
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