Yes. I know. I know.
It has been ages and this blog is gathering dust and cobwebs and all that.
But trust me, I was busier than the busiest. Still am.
The Captain didn’t abandon ship though.
Stay tuned for a revamped site with a new twist.
That’s all folks.
đ
NOTE:Â I know you all must be confused as to why I am posting old posts now? Well, these are posts from my erstwhile blog (sounds so royal) and I have had people read them last year. But to my new readers, these are fresh posts and I donât want them to miss out on any book related posts đ So I will be re-posting random blogs, which some of you might have already read.
Not very long ago, my friend visited a quaint little bookstore in Allahabad, UP. She mentioned that she was really surprised at the sight of the store selling all sorts of new and pre-owned books and that too at hefty discounts. Being a booklover bookhogger, she dashed straight towards it like a Zombie in search of brains or Vampire in search of fresh blood đ đ 
She bought all those books that I promptly forgot the names…and talked to me animatedly over the phone like a little child clutching treasures in her hands. What she also added was this incident at the store, where a group of local chaps were circling around the store and obviously, they were not there for the books! Guess what, they ended up cornered in the “Mills and Boons section” in the store. đ
X:Â Arey…yeh dekho…yeh badhiyaa books hain. Tumne padhi hai? (See the books? These are excellent. Have you read them? )
Y: Bilkul padhi hai. Badi achchi hoti hai. Main aksar khareedta rehta hu yehi se.(Of course I have! These are awesome. I keep on buying them from this store)
X: Haan…yeh wali “insert any M&B book name”. Yeh badhiya hai. (yes..this one..this is great!)
Y: Bilkul. Aur yeh bhi. (yes..and this one as well) picks up another one from the counterÂ
My friend and another girl were by this time making payments to the shopkeeper. Both of them glanced at one another and could barely suppress the fits of laughter. Because they knew that obviously, the guys had no clue about M&B and it was doubtful that whether they had read any other book as well!
Suddenly,  the other girl spoke up – loudly, so that the “booklovers” could hear her.
“Nice books na…? Girls read them a lot but the numbers are dwindling day by day!!”
To which, my friend replied (with a fictional answer made on the spot) “Yeah…my fifteen year old niece is a die-hard fan. I recently bought some for her.” (her niece is a toddler of barely two years đ )
The store keeper couldn’t resist laughing out loudly and the chaps…they quietly moved away from the M&B section and eventually fled the store. đ
Things that people do for making an impression on strangers !! đ
P.S. I do not want to state that M&B reading is a girly thing or that guys can’t read it, through the post. It is just to highlight what happens a lot around us in the name of “being cool” or to “impress” chicks đ
NOTE:Â I know you all must be confused as to why I am posting old posts now? Well, these are posts from my erstwhile blog (sounds so royal) and I have had people read them last year. But to my new readers, these are fresh posts and I donât want them to miss out on any book related posts đ So I will be re-posting random blogs, which some of you might have already read.
Image Source: Wikipedia
The day I started blogging on WordPress, I have been meaning to write about Enid Blyton. The famous English children’s author was introduced to be by a dear friend. She gifted me a book of stories and then the Enchanted Wood – the first book in the Faraway Tree series. Two books were not enough to satiate the budding reader in me. I yearned for more and more. I borrowed them from friends, libraries, bought them and did whatever it took to absorb the finesse with which she used to write the books.
My British vocabulary developed rapidly and I was always confused as to why people around me did not speak in the same English as to what I read in the books! Why Dinner was not Supper and how come little kids were packed Tea for picnic!! Also, why Cross was a word used instead of Angry? Why why why? It was quite a hilarious affair, now that I look back at it đ
I loved to read her St.Clare’s and Malory Tower series. Based on boarding schools, these books made me value my friends, school and teachers even more. I laughed with the books and I was immensely inspired to work hard like the girls did, to come up with good grades year after year. I also loved her Five Find Outers series more than the cliched Famous Five or Secret Seven!
Image Source: Flickr
Even now, when I visit bookstores, I discreetly comb through the kids section to check out some of her work and give a quite hi5 to the child in me đ It is really soothing to touch the spines of books in person although the new editions make me cringe!
I am really sorry for the children who miss out on her epic collection and stay afar from the joy of reading one of the purest forms of children’s literature. I am sure that there are parents, uncles and aunts and even teachers, who keep the tradition alive by introducing her work to kids. But on a large scale, many of them have no clue as to who she was.
To me, she will always be one of my first English teachers – albeit, virtually đ
Here is a guest post by Adi talking about her love for the author and her books.
NOTE:Â I know you all must be confused as to why I am posting old posts now? Well, these are posts from my erstwhile blog (sounds so royal) and I have had people read them last year. But to my new readers, these are fresh posts and I donât want them to miss out on any book related posts đ So I will be re-posting random blogs, which some of you might have already read.
Dear Writers Of Books I Wanted To Read But Couldn’t,
I am a reader. I want to be an voracious reader once more and I do have the potential in my bones you know. But I can’t. I can’t just go beyond page #1 even though I try hard to !!!! I will not blame you because I do understand. This is why, it is I who is on the wrong side of things. The reasons are nonsensical.
The names seem fake: Some authors (I won’t reveal) love naming their characters as if they are going to name their future brood of kids. Exotic names. Really really exotic names. Now it can be understood that some names do suit the character and the setting. But puhleeeseee….sometimes they just stick out like a purple tongue. Okay, if the name is short and fairly simple, I can still proceed a bit. But lengthy names with cropped idiotic shortened nicknames…I am sorry. I can’t relate to your story at all.
Beating round the bush: Of late, I tend to close a book the moment I find that the author is doing nothing but beating round the bush. Unnecessarily. I read this book in train while going to Chennai and because I had no other backup option to entertain me, I had to struggle through it. The author was just going on and on about things that kicked me into a different universe every now and then. Bumpy ride. Ouch!! Brain-hurt alert!!
Bad endings: I am kind by nature. I happen to finish some books if I really go beyond page 1 through 30. Only to find that the author has stabbed me at the back with his/her pen ruthlessly. How? By penning a bad ending. Not cliffhanger kind of endings you see. But confusing, meaningless endings. Sometimes the endings seem to be torn out of a totally different book! What hurts more is that I lose hope of reading another book of the same type in the future.
Desperate Indian writers: Taking a cue from one of the so called bestselling authors, some Indian writers have totally gone berserk in churning out “Bestsellers” or you can say, cheap novels that cost about a hundred INR or so. I occasionally pick one or two up out of curiosity and to check how similar they are in terms of plot line and language. They never disappoint me. These are the books, I gladly give away to Fans of such Literature. Here is an article that will speak more than I can in ten such write-ups.
Not doing justice to the genre: A crime novella that looks more like an Indian daily soap’s sob story. A horror story that tickles the funny bone on a dark and stormy night. A story about bromance without any signs of the same. A supernatural creature novel that gives you goosebumps and cold sweats by thinking how could this trash get published. Brr….
Parting note –  I have taught school kids of grade 3 and 4. They are better writers.
NOTE:Â I know you all must be confused as to why I am posting old posts now? Well, these are posts from my erstwhile blog (sounds so royal) and I have had people read them last year. But to my new readers, these are fresh posts and I donât want them to miss out on any book related posts đ So I will be re-posting random blogs, which some of you might have already read.
Was going through Buzzfeed, where there is a list of books that have changed people’s lives. Now I wonder which of the books have changed me as a person or have inspired me.
I would say that in my case, books are 99% inspiration/motivation and 1% agents of change đ So, here is my list of books that have made me what I am today:
Special Mention: Shitty Indian Novels. Made me realise if they can exist, I can always be the second worst writer đ Hahahha
You tell me, which books have left their imprints on you?
Knowledge can be art
Learning the ways of the world
Also unlearning some
Favourite Pair
There was this story I read in a book as a child. It was Bengali translation of World’s best stories such as The Old Man and The Sea, The Good Earth, Mother, Hunchback Of Notre Dame among others. As you might already know by now, I do not have a great memory when it comes to remembering details of any book I read. The point is, I read this wonderful story in that book. The name of the story, unfortunately I do not remember. đŚ I have turned the pages of my memory upside down and here is what I remember. Please help me out, if you can and find out the name of the story/book for me.
This is going to haunt my memory a long long time. đŚ If you happen to find out any leads on this, please let me know here. If you have any friends in these countries and have the slightest chance of knowing it, pass on the message if you can..
Summing my school days:
Satchel, Studies, Sports and the Stage
Basking in glory
âVoice is not just the sound that comes from your throat, but the feelings that come from your words.â Â – Jennifer Donnelly (A Gathering Light)
Those who speak the most
Sometimes they too do desire
Silence at its peak
Time is running out
And you are sitting pretty
On a pile of files
Sourced from this link here, a fact that will bring a twinkle in the eyes of book lovers. đ
LEWIS AND J.R.R. TOLKIEN WERE IN A WRITING GROUP CALLED THE INKLINGS.
Yes. They were both working on their respective novels – Narnia and LOTR.
Yes. They met and discussed about writing.
What pure  literary delight â¤
A handful of sun and
Those nested Matryoshka dolls
The smell of the sea
Scribbling Owlet 