Books, etc

The current topic for Indibloggers seems to be books. One of my favorite topics. I buy all kinds of books, no idea how many I have. I have boxes up in the attic, books around me, in shelves, on the floor, on kitchen counters, tables and sofas. As a family, we are all voracious readers, my older one immersed in one as we speak. She could be a good contender for a reading bee, if such exists.

My husband and I both love Wodehouse. Asterix and Tintin comics are good for the 15 minute read breaks. Harry Potter, I am ready for the third time around. May be after reading the sixth, I will start again. David Eddings - Belgariad, Mallorian, Terry Brooks - Shannara series were good reads. All of Enid Blyton is still a favorite. I grew up on them, along with Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, moved on to Chase and Edgar Wallace. And then I discovered Ayn Rand. I was blown away after reading Fountainhead, I was 17 I think. Atlas Shrugged was a special favorite. I went through Gone with the Wind in 2.5 days, in spite of being in the thick of school work :-)

Then I started on Sidney Sheldon, If tomorrow comes is still a favorite. There was another saga based in Russia with Rasputin playing a heavy role in that.

During my summer holidays, I would bike away to my aunt's house, my uncle had a great collection of all kalki, kumudam and ananda vikatan novels bound together. He guarded them preciously and refused to lend them. So I would go there everyday and sit there till I finished a book. I was not good enough in fluent reading (Tamil) and preferred easy reading. These were mostly the post independence era books. I don't remember much about them now. Wish I could get hold of those again.

I have started Umberto Eco's The Island of the day before. This is the first of his I am reading, wanted to read Foucault's Pendulum, but couldn't find it in the library. From the first few pages I have read, I like his writing style, which, to me, is very important to sustain my interest - I couldn't finish Life of Pi. I guess I will someday.

Another book I have been reading is about India's Independence. This is really interesting, me being a sort of a history buff. It is mostly unbiased and shows how things were in those days. Advani is not too far away about Jinnah. He was quite secular initially, but seems like he was forced into being what he was later on. I couldn't finish it before my India trip, I didn't want to carry the huge book around, haven't been able to get back to it yet. If I don't finish a book right away, it is hard for me to get back, unless it is Nora Roberts or Wodehouse. :-)

BTW, if anyone recollects this Wodehouse story, let me know what the title for this is. I have the omnibuses and one of them has it, but I can't recollect which one. Bingo Little says he used to be a pretty baby, but one day his nurse took him out in the pram and he was swapped at the park. So he ended up being ugly. Any ideas?