Booked

I am a huge HUGE fiction reader. A book is a hit with me, if it keeps me interested. That’s the reason why I usually don’t end up reading a Paulo Coelho or a Yann Martel. My absolute favorite books of all time are listed below:

Love Story (Erich Seagel)

What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me.

Go on … finish off your sniggering. Done? Done. I am a girl and I like mush…I rest my case!
The first time I read the book was, I think, around eleven years back when I was constantly in the throes of one crush or another and, understandably, I was completely floored by the book. A couple of years later, I chanced upon a paperback of the book again. Just to check whether the book would have the same effect on me as 4 years back, I re-read it. I was reduced to tears the second time around (again!) at the end. I have read the book once more and it has managed to have the same effect on me and to the same degree.

Anyone who would actually have the nerve to tell me that they didn’t absolutely adore the book, would I know, be lying through their teeth and pretending to shrug off this poignant tale as a piece of mush chick-lit.
I must admit though, that the movie base on the book, was a complete DISASTER!

Dracula (Bram Stoker), The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova), Vlad: The Last Confessions (C.C.Humphreys)

First of all, let me clarify that I am no Vampire Tales junkie. The books listed above are listed here only for one reason- Once you start reading them, you just cannot put them down.

Dracula and The Historian are fictionalized accounts of Dracula, the Vampire. The Last Confessions is a near to truth account of the real Dracula, Vlad III Dracula. All the three keep you gripped for different reasons.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a cult classic and has given me many a sleepless nights. The Historian is something like the Da Vinci Code..it has the same mish-mash of interesting historical facts and is a complete historical thriller which will keep you engrossed from the first page onwards. The Last Confessions, on the other hand, has no supernatural elements and no vampires. Its an honest attempt to demystify the legend of Dracula by drawing out the person that Vlad Dracula was and the circumstances which lead him to commit the atrocities that he did. It’s a most compelling read.

The Palace of Illusions (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)

This is one of my recent reads. The portrayal of the big war (Mahabharata) and of the Pandavas and their lives, in the voice and view of Draupadi is fascinating. Apart from refreshing my memory of the Mahabharata tale (based almost entirely on the television serial), the book also managed to shed some interesting light on the core character of each of the Pandavas (I always thought them to be the greatest warriors/heroes of their times) by stripping them off their glorified versions. Must read for the sheer novelty of it.
Curfewed Night (Basharat Peer)

This is not really a fiction novel. It tells a gripping tale of Kashmir and of the eruption of the separatist movement and other developments that had lead Kashmir to become what it is today. For me, this book was an eye opener. The romanticism of the militancy which attracted young boys towards it, the reasons why kashmiri muslims have been spilling their blood for the right of self determination, is something that I could understand and now appreciate. If you are a tolerant Indian, I would strongly recommend this book.

And then there are the classicly inane books like Veronica Decides to Die, The Alchemist, Life of Pi, which I absolutely refuse to appreciate simply because the rest of the world appreciates. This genre of books does nothing (except wastes my time) for me.
Anyways, do drop in a word of recommendation, if there are any books that you feel everyone should read.