Tag: bibliophile

  • From Subscriber to Paperback Loyalist

    From Subscriber to Paperback Loyalist

    Let me tell you my story of my reading habits. It’s a journey which started in my school days and continues till today. I wrote about my love for books and how it all started in a blog post “B for Books” in the 2017 edition of A to Z Challenge. As I recollect it now, my reading habits have changed over the years. The way I read now is completely different than the way it started. As you might have read, it all started with that one big chunky book, bound in a yellow leather jacket. It was a novel by Ranjeet Desai titled ‘श्रीमान योगी’. Even today, it remains the book closest to my heart. From this book, journey started to become paperback loyalist

    A treasure trove called सा. वा. ना.

    My hometown is Nashik where I lived with my family till my graduation. Back in those days, I don’t think I had more than 10 books which were mine. At first, I was dependent on the books owned by my grandma. And later, I used to get my supply of books from our local public library, “सार्वजनिक वाचनालय, नाशिक (सा. वा. ना.)” which housed thousands of books from all genres of Marathi Literature. The first ever English book which I read was ‘Wise and Otherwise’ by Sudha Murthy. One of my cousins gifted it to me. And before I knew it, I was sucked into the world of English literature. Back then I had no clue that all those “English classics” do exist. For me, Sudha Murthy, Shashi Tharoor, Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta were the English writers. 

    How I became paperback loyalist

    As I shifted to Pune, my connection with the library got severed. I started collecting my own copies of books. Crossword stores became my hangout place where I picked all the English books. Akshardhara’s annual exhibition turned out to be my annual pilgrimage to gather gems of Marathi literature. Emergence of e-commerce sites like Flikart and Amazon has been a boon for bibliophiles like me. I am a proud member of Amazon Prime from the times when they only used to sell a few products other than books. 

    Hardbound books attracted me for some time. I even bought some copies of those fancy hardbounds. Awww, they look so pretty on the shelf. But, I read anywhere and in any posture which you can imagine. That’s when you understand how bulky and heavy these hardbound books are. I soon got over my fascination with hardbounds and embraced lovely colourful paperbacks. In this journey of my love for books today, I have my personal collection of around 300 books with almost three-fourth of them being paperbacks. Does this mean, Am I eligible for the title of “Paperback Loyalist”? Or have I changed into something else now? I will talk about my latest habits in the next one. Until then, happy reading…

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon

  • हे सर्व कोठून येते? – A Book Review

    If you are aware of the contemporary Marathi theatre scene, then one name will be very familiar to you: Vijay Tendulkar. He was a fantastic playwright with many milestones in Marathi theatre like Ghashiram Kotwal, Gidhade and Sakharam Bainder which are recorded in his name. He has also written stories for some amazing films, such as Ardhasatya, Akrosh and Nishant. On the other hand, he had written many short and long articles, essays on various occasions. “हे सर्व कोठून येते?” is a compilation book.

    While talking about this book in its prologue, he said “After observing people for so many years, I feel labelling them is pointless. They are very complex, we can only scrape the surface of one’s personality. We have to accept that every person has a whole different life other than one we have experienced. We should not make judgments about the ‘other part’ of life. If we do, then it should be for our own musing.”

    What more to expect from this!

    This book is all about people Vijay Tendulkar met, interacted and worked with in his long span of a career as a journalist; an editor of various periodicals, a writer and during his work under Nehru Fellowship. He came across various politicians as a journalist and editor. While writing he tried to present them differently trying to put some light on their unique facet. He had taken the interview of ex-CM of Maharashtra Vasantrao Naik, ex-CM of Gujarat Chimanbhai Patel and J P Naik but in this book he has written elaborately about them and his experience of meeting them for an interview.

    While working for Maratha, one of the old popular Marathi daily, he had witnessed a lot of different avatars of Pra. Ke. Atre, legendary writer, orator and owner of Maratha. He has been active in politics in those days and was famous for being blunt while putting his thoughts to words. He has dedicated some of the articles to his fellow writers, friends, and colleagues.

    But the last two articles from the book are really different from others. They talk about death, murders and the death penalty elaborately. These two articles have made me reschedule my today’s blog post for next week and write this review for you guys. I tell you, folks, I had never read anything so thought-provoking about somebody’s death or somebody’s act of murdering another human. I wasn’t able to speak about anything for almost 15 minutes after I finished the book on this note.

    My rating: – 4.5/5

    About the book

    • Name of the book: हे सर्व कोठून येते? by Vijay Tendulkar
    • Publisher: Rajhans Prakashan
    • Pages: 195
    • ISBN: 81-7434-317-2
    • ISBN13: 9788174343178

    My ratings

    Stories: 4.5/5
    Writing Style: 4.5/5
    Cover Design: 3/5

    Overall Rating: 4.5/5

    Where to get your copy

    Should you read it?

    Guys, I recommend that you grab a copy of the book at least for these two articles. I know, it’s a Marathi book but you feel free to ask me anything if the language is a barrier for you, I will be very happy to help you in this matter.

    I am taking my Alexa Rank to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa and #BlogChatter. Click here to read my other book reccos…

     

  • Starting a new

    Turn the page — by Lori Spray

    It has been days for me turning that page. I put the full stop on our relationship. You know how difficult it is to move on and starting a new life. When there is no further page to turn, you have to accept the end. We had such a good time together. But alas, the journey has its destination. Wait, wasn’t I aware of this destination since the beginning? Ever since I took that first step with her, back of the mind I was always staging for the moment when we reach the end of this road.

    Isn’t it obvious for a book? If you open the cover and dived in the amazing world created by an author, there is always “the end” written on the last page of the book. When the book is so fascinating, it kind of cast a spell on you and take you along the journey of its characters. I get involved in the story so much that I start thinking of being part of the story. The author takes the characters by hand and takes them to their destination by the end of the book. They fulfill their destiny. If writer gave them happy moments at the end, they enjoy them. If it’s tragedy, characters at least get closure at the end. But hey dude, you forget to write something for me? What about my destiny at the end? What about my share of the closure? Haven’t you thought about me as an uninvited traveler of this journey when you wrote a book?

    This is my condition when I turn that last page of every fascinating book. I need more time to come out of the world between those covers. I know it’s crazy to some other level, but hey my fellow bibliophiles, aren’t we all crazy in the same way? Just like some love yearning person, I fell for a new world. I get pulled to the bookshelf. Aroma of those printed pages always fascinates me. It entices me to pick up a new book and start a new.

    ~~~~

    I am participating in A to Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on day 14 challenge. “N for Starting a new”