"My books, Mine alone" spake Gollum.
I feel utterly possesive about books that belong to me... and I feel likewise about likeable books that belong to others. I then plot, plan and scheme to extract these bound pages of joy from their owners. I weave intricate webs of deceit to envelop him and giddy his mind until he parts with the treasure - treasure I will henceforth call my own and guard fiercely like a mother her baby or a pirate his wooden box. (him/her interchangeable- me no MCP...not that much. :) )
Inspite of the love, I consider my reading to be limited. I have felt rather downcast upon hearing several of my friends wax eloquent about some obscure work or talk about Franz Kafka or Yasunari Kawabata (Aside: If you are like me, you would not know who this fellow is. He is a Nobel laureate for literature from Japan - wrote books on the effect of sex on culture and explored very strange minds. One of the aforementioned friends gave YK's book - "The Lake" - for reading. I read it and understood nothing... only figured it was about a crazy fellow who had foot fetish, could not distinguish between reality and imagination and ultimately he turned out to be more complicated than he started out. One thing was sure. I felt repelled and whenever my mind reminds me of this book, I consciously instruct it to keep away. Powerful writing? Perhaps. But to my taste?No).
Anyways, Janani tagged me and here is my list. Thanks, J - you gave me one more topic to write about.
Books I own:
------------
I have about 150 books (equally divided between tech and non-tech) here and perhaps another 300 back home. While they are all in once place and arranged neatly in Urbana, its a nightmare back home in Madras - on bored afternoons when we rummage through old boxes, cabinets and overhead shelves, new books are discovered often. A couple of years back, I found some tax books bought by my grandpa in 1910 hiding inside a shelf untouched in years! Anyways, my collection keeps expanding. My worry is, how will I transport them when I return back to India?
Books recently bought:
----------------------
Complications by Atul Gawande - Doctors are revered and sought after the world over. But they are not miracle workers and face crucial decisions of life and death every day. While their patients have to live with the consequences of their actions, the doctors have to live with the knowledge that it is they who made the decisions. The book is a true story of the uncertainities, perils and pleasures in the life of an intern who becomes a doctor - Dr. Atul Gawande. Written in a very Feynmanesque style. Loved it.
Love story by Erich Segal - Being late has become a character trait for me like being honest, hard working etc. While teenagers read this book in college and try hard to fall in love, I read it at the end of grad school - late again. Very poignant and nicely written. As for falling in love, err...
Books I am reading now:
-----------------------
Prizes by Erich Segal - After love story, I attacked Oliver's Story, Acts of Faith, Only love and Man, Woman and Child. Prizes comes next naturally.
Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham - Recommended by a friend, I got this book from the library. The movie was splendid and moved me to tears. I was told the book is better!
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - My birthday gift! The imagery is excellent and the characters are so real and yet live in a magical world. If the translation was this good, I wonder how wonderful the original would be.
Favorites:
----------
I like this section! :-)
Surely you must be joking Mr. Feynman by R.P. Feynman - Rip roaringly hilarious! One cannot but be inspired by the spirit of this man and his antics. The king of all pranksters, I will worship him by default (along with Hanuman, of course :) ). And to top it, he was also extremely smart! But at a slightly deeper level, this book is about the remarkable hidden treasures that life holds at every corner. We all see them and make a choice - to pursue it and sate our curiosity like a little brat or move on hoping for more interesting things to turn up (like a "grown up"!). Feynman belonged to the first category and he ensured that I too remained in the first. I owe you one, fella! A+
Curious minds by John Brockman - A collection of essays by scientists recollecting the events that made them what they are today. Nicely written and full of life, its a perfect gift for your kid when he grows up. A
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - There are some things which are revered and held so high in the altar that words can never reach them. This one is at the very top of 'em all. Text version of a Michaelangelo sculpture.
Travels by Michael Crichton - The beauty of it is that the reader is taken for mindboggling adventures along with this author. Magically transported into the deserts of california to talk with cacti and then, to the depths of oceans to dance with sharks in a swift underwater current, it opened my mind up a bit more. Loved it. A+
Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - Outrageous book! Amazingly well written (especially in the initial parts). We can sit with DA and laugh our hearts out on sunny days when the neighborhood tree wakes up from slumber to shed its leaves on the parked car nearby. A+
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse - A book on the life of Siddhartha as he grows up as a child seeking to answer the ultimate question of "Why". Subject to varied experiences, he is finally taught the answer on the banks of a river. Its a religious experience (even for an atheist!) A+
Trouble with Testosterone by Robert Sapolsky - A remarkably deep book by the renowned Stanford Professor, Dr. Sapolsky. He is a primatologist and visits the jungles of Africa to track a single herd of Gorillas through their life cycle. Must read for anyone who asks "why the hell did I behave like a chimp in front of that babe?". A+
There are a few others like "Waiting for the Mahatma" by R.K. Narayan, "We Indians" by Khushwant Singh, "Climbing Free" by Lynn Hill (The last one is a fantastic account of rock climbers around the world. I bought it and dutifully read it when I had a surge of enthusiasm for rock climbing) which were close runners up.
Now the baton passes to Born a libran, Amit Sethi, Anupama. :)
Inspite of the love, I consider my reading to be limited. I have felt rather downcast upon hearing several of my friends wax eloquent about some obscure work or talk about Franz Kafka or Yasunari Kawabata (Aside: If you are like me, you would not know who this fellow is. He is a Nobel laureate for literature from Japan - wrote books on the effect of sex on culture and explored very strange minds. One of the aforementioned friends gave YK's book - "The Lake" - for reading. I read it and understood nothing... only figured it was about a crazy fellow who had foot fetish, could not distinguish between reality and imagination and ultimately he turned out to be more complicated than he started out. One thing was sure. I felt repelled and whenever my mind reminds me of this book, I consciously instruct it to keep away. Powerful writing? Perhaps. But to my taste?No).
Anyways, Janani tagged me and here is my list. Thanks, J - you gave me one more topic to write about.
Books I own:
------------
I have about 150 books (equally divided between tech and non-tech) here and perhaps another 300 back home. While they are all in once place and arranged neatly in Urbana, its a nightmare back home in Madras - on bored afternoons when we rummage through old boxes, cabinets and overhead shelves, new books are discovered often. A couple of years back, I found some tax books bought by my grandpa in 1910 hiding inside a shelf untouched in years! Anyways, my collection keeps expanding. My worry is, how will I transport them when I return back to India?
Books recently bought:
----------------------
Complications by Atul Gawande - Doctors are revered and sought after the world over. But they are not miracle workers and face crucial decisions of life and death every day. While their patients have to live with the consequences of their actions, the doctors have to live with the knowledge that it is they who made the decisions. The book is a true story of the uncertainities, perils and pleasures in the life of an intern who becomes a doctor - Dr. Atul Gawande. Written in a very Feynmanesque style. Loved it.
Love story by Erich Segal - Being late has become a character trait for me like being honest, hard working etc. While teenagers read this book in college and try hard to fall in love, I read it at the end of grad school - late again. Very poignant and nicely written. As for falling in love, err...
Books I am reading now:
-----------------------
Prizes by Erich Segal - After love story, I attacked Oliver's Story, Acts of Faith, Only love and Man, Woman and Child. Prizes comes next naturally.
Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham - Recommended by a friend, I got this book from the library. The movie was splendid and moved me to tears. I was told the book is better!
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - My birthday gift! The imagery is excellent and the characters are so real and yet live in a magical world. If the translation was this good, I wonder how wonderful the original would be.
Favorites:
----------
I like this section! :-)
Surely you must be joking Mr. Feynman by R.P. Feynman - Rip roaringly hilarious! One cannot but be inspired by the spirit of this man and his antics. The king of all pranksters, I will worship him by default (along with Hanuman, of course :) ). And to top it, he was also extremely smart! But at a slightly deeper level, this book is about the remarkable hidden treasures that life holds at every corner. We all see them and make a choice - to pursue it and sate our curiosity like a little brat or move on hoping for more interesting things to turn up (like a "grown up"!). Feynman belonged to the first category and he ensured that I too remained in the first. I owe you one, fella! A+
Curious minds by John Brockman - A collection of essays by scientists recollecting the events that made them what they are today. Nicely written and full of life, its a perfect gift for your kid when he grows up. A
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - There are some things which are revered and held so high in the altar that words can never reach them. This one is at the very top of 'em all. Text version of a Michaelangelo sculpture.
Travels by Michael Crichton - The beauty of it is that the reader is taken for mindboggling adventures along with this author. Magically transported into the deserts of california to talk with cacti and then, to the depths of oceans to dance with sharks in a swift underwater current, it opened my mind up a bit more. Loved it. A+
Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - Outrageous book! Amazingly well written (especially in the initial parts). We can sit with DA and laugh our hearts out on sunny days when the neighborhood tree wakes up from slumber to shed its leaves on the parked car nearby. A+
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse - A book on the life of Siddhartha as he grows up as a child seeking to answer the ultimate question of "Why". Subject to varied experiences, he is finally taught the answer on the banks of a river. Its a religious experience (even for an atheist!) A+
Trouble with Testosterone by Robert Sapolsky - A remarkably deep book by the renowned Stanford Professor, Dr. Sapolsky. He is a primatologist and visits the jungles of Africa to track a single herd of Gorillas through their life cycle. Must read for anyone who asks "why the hell did I behave like a chimp in front of that babe?". A+
There are a few others like "Waiting for the Mahatma" by R.K. Narayan, "We Indians" by Khushwant Singh, "Climbing Free" by Lynn Hill (The last one is a fantastic account of rock climbers around the world. I bought it and dutifully read it when I had a surge of enthusiasm for rock climbing) which were close runners up.
Now the baton passes to Born a libran, Amit Sethi, Anupama. :)
posted by littlecow at
10:40 AM
5 Comments:
Nice list(though I haven't read most of them and not heard of some of them) :-) And yes, remind me to never let you near my book shelf. :-)
Thanks! Does a pirate inform the cops about his plans to rob? :)
Was wondering why Ayn Rand's book didn't get a grade. Recheched teh post and realised it is Atlas Shrugged and not Fountainhead. And i like the latter a lot better than the former so decided i shall not mention about the grade coz anyways 'A is A' :)
@Kumari: Almost everyone I speak with, sides with your opinion that Fountainhead is better than Atlas Shrugged.
I did not intend to give a grade but you got it nailed perfectly. A sharp good one!
@a: Ah! The tug-of-war is quite balanced then.
Anupama is you (atleast thats what I thought!) - Pardon me! Now that I look at your website, your name does not seem to be mentioned... hmmmpf... I wonder... Anyways, go ahead and blog your book entries now.
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