B for Books (AToZChallenge)

I am back with the second post of the A-Z Challenge. For all the bookworms out there, B always stands for Books. You cannot agree more.

Books have been my lifeline. It is a book which comforted me during my blues. It is a book which made me feel love. It is a book which taught me happiness. It is a book which introduced me to worlds that never existed. It is a book which made me to forget myself & immerse in an imaginary world. It is a book which helped me take that first step towards my dream. Books are, of course, gateway to heaven. I have always been the best when I read a book.

Here I am going to emphasize on my relationship with books, the different books which I read from my childhood and how they shaped me as I am today.

As it happens with everyone, my first meeting with a book was through my mom. She introduced me to fairy tales when I was just 5 years old. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Jack and The Beanstalk and The Little Mermaid made me experience a magical world where a happy ending was always possible. These stories inculcated the belief that I can achieve anything in my life. Later, I began reading books like Goodnight Stories, Moonlight stories, Jataka Tales, Aesop’s Fables and Panchatantra Tales. Books like these are replete of virtues which every child needs to learn. They imbibed good values in me and molded me into a better person.

Well, my tryst with books went two notches higher when I began reading magazines like Tinkle Digest and Champak. The stories in them were too enjoyable. I get goosebumps whenever I think about those sweet memories. Me and my magazines. In a solitary place. 🙂 How happy I was! When I journeyed into the 9th year of my life, my grandfather bought me a copy of Gokulam. For all the uninitiated, Gokulam is a leading English magazine for children in India. I strongly recommend every parent to buy this magazine for their children. Though I don’t know about its quality today, it was such an informative magazine during those days. Facts, trivia, puzzles, short stories, poems, contests, drawings, doctor help, grandma worm and much more. Gokulam was a different world altogether.

Then, I forayed into the big world of Enid Blyton. I became so obsessed with The Secret Seven, The Famous Five, The Mystery Series and Malory Towers that I almost opened a blog for Enid Blyton in 2009 (heehee! That was an amateurish blog. :-D). I devoured each and every book of hers. I even imagined lots of adventures and put myself in them. 😛 Because of reading Enid Blyton, I have missed out on reading Nancy Drew series. But that’s not an issue. Some of my other favorites during my teenage days were Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, The Enchanted Castle, The Akhenaten Adventure, His Dark Materials (trilogy) and The Baby-Sitters Club. 

After passing out of 12th grade, I began reading books that were meant for adults. One such book which almost enlightened me was The Alchemist. Well, I don’t need to go on and on about this book, you can read this post where I have poured out my love for the book: A journey of self-discovery : The Alchemist. Aaaannnddd, then I began reading Chetan Bhagat! Oh, I don’t want to start a controversy here. Let me move on. Then I was introduced to Preeti Shenoy’s novels. I was and I am enchanted by her writing style. Her books explore real human issues and not the IITian ones. Especially if you are a girl, you must surely check out her books. Following her books were The Notebook, The Da Vinci Code, Lost Symbol, Digital Fortress, Inferno, The Krishna Key, The Rozabal Line and Chanakya’s Chant. Of course, I also occasionally plunged into the world of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and James Patterson.

And, some of my recent favorites are Pride & Prejudice, The Secret, In The Shadow of Inheritance, The Gift, The Fault in Our Stars and Gone Girl. I can go blah, blah, blah about books. Because the world of books is unimaginably vast. That world is a magical one. You wouldn’t like to come back to reality. I recommend everyone to read at least one book in their life.

Happy Reading! 🙂

P.S: Since this is a post about books, I would like you to check out my ebook in Amazon. Here is the link: Tale Journey : A Collection of 21 Short Stories.