Friday, September 27, 2013

Let's bucket the bucket list of my books!!


Library-Books
Dear friends and readers, as promised in my earlier post, I have compiled the list of books that I have read since I started reading. The list is long and ever growing. I have missed out quite a few books and authors here. But, I will keep updating it.
Mistress of Mellyn
Bride of Pendorric
The Legend of the Seventh Virgin
The King of the Castle
The Shivering Sands
Shadow of the Lynx (1971)kidsbook
On the Night of the Seventh Moon (1972)
The Curse of the Kings (1973)
The House of a Thousand Lanterns
Mask of the Enchantress (1980)
Judas Kiss (1981)
The India Fan
Rebecca (1938)
Mary Anne (1954)
The Scapegoat (1957)
By Jane Austen –
Emma (1815)
Persuasion (1818, posthumous)
The Alchemist (1988)
The Zahir (2005)
By Dan Brown -
Inferno (2013)
Bloodline (1977)
Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark by Tilly Bagshawe (2012)
Kane and Abel (1980)
By John Grisham -world-book-day
The Firm (1991)
The Client (1993)
The Chamber (1994)
The Rainmaker (1995)
The Partner (1997)Childrens-Books
The Broker (2005)
Hotel (1965)
Airport (1968)
Wings of Fire (1999)
Ignited Minds (2002)
By Ayn Rand- The Fountainhead (1943)14109681-antique-pocket-watch-opened-old-books-and-flowers
By Erich Segal - Love Story (1970)
By Nicholas Sparks –
The Notebook (1996)
By Cecelia Ahern –
By David Morrell –
By Charlotte Brontë -  Jane Eyre (1847)
By Stephen King –
The Talisman (1984)
Insomnia (1994)Library-Books
By Robin Cook –
Coma (1977)
Fever (1982)
Godplayer (1983)
Mindbend (1985)
Chromosome 6 (1997
Vector (1999)
And the list goes on…:) . I read a lot of Mills & Boon and lots of romantic novels in my teen years. In this list however, there are a lot of contemporary writers that I have missed out. I will add to this list as and when I remember more…:) .  To read more about my journey with book click here.
Let me know what books you have read and the ones you like the most. I will write about my favorite amongst these some other time... :) Recommend me some books that you found good and are not in my list yet. would love your suggestions... :)
Share your views in the comments section below or write to me at deeptiamitsrivastava@gmail.com
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A long and lovely journey

A long and lovely journeyLibrary10

Dear friends, I am down with a bad cold and fever. Sulking in bed I was, when Amit called to ask for a good book or two he could buy for leisure time reading. I hope he enjoys his Alchemist and Bro Code…:) Suggesting books to him brought memories of how I got started with reading. Someday I will list down all the books that I have read and the ones that still need to be bucketed. The list is long and I hope it keeps growing.
Reading has always brought me eternal joy. Even as a kid, I think I preferred books to anything else. I started reading novels when I joined Convent of Jesus and Mary, (CJM) Dehradun.  It’s a girls’ college with an amazing library among other things. They used to stock up everything from teen magazines to encyclopedias in that two hall library.
My Dad had been transferred to a new city and I had aced the entrance tests to get an admission at CJM.  It is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Dehradum. It still holds, to this date, an excellent academic record. I remember the first day I walked into the library. It was towards the end of my first day at this new school. As I stepped into the double doors, there was a clerk’s desk on one side of the door and the librarian’s desk and card case towards the other side of the door. I was a little ill at ease at first. Felt a little lost amongst so many books and children of so many different age groups. Some girls giggling together in a group in one corner looked younger to me, others reading quietly at the table could have been from senior year. Librarian was in an animated discussion with one of the senior gals when she saw my confusion and assisted me with what I was looking for.
As you know, it was my fist day at the new school and as I had joined the term late, was running behind with many assignments. I remember I had to finish assignments in English, History and Geography and there was this library rule of issuing only 3 or 5 books on one card (don't remember the exact number). But I told the librarian my plight and she lent me 9 books.
This was the start of a fascinating journey, yes, right then, on the very first day of school. The librarian, Mrs. Gupta was a lady of few words but good natured, always encouraged reading and often suggested authors and good books. An avid reader herself, she even used to review the books herself along with some help from senior class and distribute them according to her judgment amongst the various grades.  I soon became at home at the library and librarian and I soon became good friends. By the time I finished 9th grade, I was already reviewing the books she gave me and suggesting more.
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I felt at home at the library and amazed at seeing so many books, amazed that there was so much that these books contained between their covers, so much knowledge, so many insights.  My school library was a well lit hall lined with wooden cupboards with glass door on all sides of the room. Then there were open multi-shelf racks covering almost half the room, arranged in parallel rows, towards the back of the room, laden with books. The side shelves on one said of the room contained books related to course curriculum. There were books on history, geography, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, etc.  Shelves on the other side had various encyclopedia series, autobiographies and famous nonfiction, books on religion, photography, painting, cooking, knitting and many other hobbies. The open racks that I mentioned earlier, were arranged four in a line, in around eight rows. Each row had novels and story books for a particular class/grade. I think it was from standards 5th to 12th. And you could get novels and story books issued, only from the racks assigned to you.  Apart from this there were several book and magazine stands towards the front end of the room. These had various magazines, newspapers, newsletters and Chicken Soup for Souls’.
There were around 5 or 6 long wooden tables laid out in a T sort of arrangement, from the center of the room to the back end. It was a very comfortable setting for reading/ studying.  After I had been at CJM for a couple of months I realized that in addition to this hall, the library also contained a small copy room and a store room. It was much later when the library was expanded. I was in 11th standard when a second hall was assigned to the library, much to the delight of the librarian.  This new hall too soon filled with book shelves lining the walls and huge benches and tables in the center for reading.
Thus began my reading journey. I traveled the world and though various ages while sitting in that room. One day I was travelling from New York to London to Paris in with a deadly assassin in pursuit as Sidney Sheldon led me on in one of his books.  Another day, I was lost in ancient roman, trying to imagine the age of Jupiter, Venus and Minerva. One day I was growing up and surviving in Poland during the war with Russia with Abel Rosnovski. Another day I was on a ship, exploring mystic seas.  I was an English governess falling in love with her master one day and an American heiress, resolving to do anything to never go hungry the other day. I was a doctor one day with Robin Cook leading the mystery as it unfolds. Another day, I was a struggling to run a hotel with Arthur Hailey. I traveled in time, transverse this earth, walked through a desert, went to space, spent time with Gods, lived in a Malibu Mansion and a French Château.  I lived a thousand lives in that dear library of mine. Dear friends and reader, I wish you can relive some of those moments with me by reading this nostalgic discourse.
After school, I moved to college, again in a new city. The library here too was rich, but mostly in curriculum related books. I graduated in Science and during those three years spent ample time in the Science Department Library and the Central University Library. It was in college when I got introduced to the world of classics. My uncle had a personal library full of Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Wilkie Collins, Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë,  Robert Louis Stevenson, Daphne du Maurier and others.  I developed a taste and appreciation for classics here. This love has stayed with me and every now and then I read an unabridged classic and relish its many joys.
Later I went to a different colleges to peruse higher studies. In this journey encompassing different cities and different collages, with an increase in the regular course load at every level, the reading dropped a little. But even at Law school with all its course work, I always found time to read. IIT life also introduced me to the world of TV series and movies, but I’ll talk about that some other time.  Now a days, I read a mixture of contemporary writers and old ‘n’ famous ones. I read on diverse topics like life, philosophy, entrepreneurship, leadership, relationships, strategy, office politics :), romance :) :) , classics, and suspense thrillers :) :) :) . I do realize that work comes before hobbies and try to keep it that way. But, some days I can’t help myself and just sit for hours at a stretch to finish a book that I like.  Reading is like living and breathing to me.  It makes me get more out of life somehow.  I can live in the shoes of a doctor, an explorer, a business man and a teacher, all in this single lifetime. Books help me understand courage, leadership, friendship and life itself. Reading helps me discover myself.  And just like the first day at the CJM library, I still feel amazed at the world hidden inside books; so much knowledge, so much wisdom and so much to learn (and so much General Knowledge irrespective of what you read!!!)
So, this was my journey with books. I have several favorites in authors and books. I will write about them in a later post. How do you feel about reading? Who are your favorite authors? What are your favorite books? Do you like books better than movies?
Tell me all about your journey with book and what you feel about mine. Share in the comments section below or write to me at deeptiamitsrivastava@gmail.com
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Being Judgmental

Being Judgmental.
gm-diet-alcohol
It’s the post, “Don’t Be Sorry, I Have No Regrets,” that I read on the good life that got me thinking about being judgmental.  I find this topic to be very complex and people to be very hypocritical when it comes to passing judgment.  I had always maintained my stance to be a neutral person until I recognized the hypocrisy of it all. I think it is human to judge.  Even people, who claim to be neutral, subconsciously judge. And that judgment is even worse because it’s like a hidden disease that is gnawing at you from inside and effecting your decisions without letting your conscious mind to make a logical decision. We are human after all; we are supposed to make logical decision, at least in theory if not in practice. Anyways, I realized that I suffered from this disease and to try and cure it, brought it out in open. Now I can either try and cure it or at least live with my decisions.
alcohol_retail_in_australia_2Dear friends, judgment stings equally on both sides of the table. And why should it not, when character is so easily tied to it.
In question is the habit of drinking versus non drinkers.  This debate often calls in question the character of a person, bad habits and abuse. In the post that I just mentioned, a person is angered by a tweet, “Being sober on a Saturday makes you the most judgmental person” and he responds on the lines of character or lack there of.
This tweet was a classic example of judgment from a person who drinks.  It’s not just an odd tweet; judging on the fact whether or not you drink also play a major role in business. I once heard a friend of mine say in his drunken stupor that you can never trust a man who does not drink.  Again, judgment from someone who loves his alcohol!!
For the most part, when it comes to drinking I have been on the other side of table. And from what I know of, people who drink are judged far worse than those who do not. In this post, being sober cost the write a relationship or two and I my case, drinking was a major reason of constant clashes.
What I am trying to say is that Judgment stings equally on both sides.
Being a girl and that too in a conservative country like India; you are subject to constant criticism and judgment. From family, friends and even complete strangers….!! Why??
I am not going to make this post into an argument on the side people who like to drink. But, I certainly want to discuss about the reasoning behind this judgment, sting of criticism that stems from judgment and how to deal with it.
Dear readers, do you think alcohol is evil?
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I do not think alcohol is evil and that people should be judged on this basis. There are numerous instances of drunken driving and accidents, but so are cases of rash driving not involving alcohol, of dozing off at the wheel or technical/ human errors when it comes to plane crashes. There are numerous cases of drinking and rape, but the number not involving alcohol but family members, or close relatives is equally high. Alcohol is bad for health, but so is sugar.
I think were the line gets blurry is the object of judgment.  Were we should be judging excess, we judge the element. Yes, excess of alcohol is bad. No doubt about it. And so is excess of power or money for that matter. Excess of reading or working on the computer is bad for your eyes and can give you a severe back ache. Excess of sugar can give you diabetes and excess of running/jogging can cause injuries. If all these things do not invoke the question of character, why does alcohol.
Just being a non drinker does not make you a saint and drinking does not necessarily make you evil or worse…. Characterless. Similarly, alcohol can make you socially more acceptable, a hero or hip, but it does not make a non drinker a loser.
I sometimes think, if drinking was not taboo in conservative societies, it would lose half its charm. And for those of you, who come from liberal countries, if underage drinking is bad, then so is eating chocolates, candy and noodles below a certain age. It is a question of health, not character.
Dear friends, I am sure we have all judged others, one time or the other. And I am equally sure that all of us have been judged at some point of time. And it only caused more aggression, grief and hurt. I think if we could incorporate more acceptance and tolerance in our behavior, it would make this world a better place.
And I say this after judging people from one side and then crossing over to the other side and being similarly judged. This has happened with so many things in life that I do not even wish to recount. But all I can say is that each side has a story, a rationale behind it. For instance, where alcohol is taboo in Islam and other religions, some ancient cultures worshipped wine goddess.
For me alcohol is a part of fine dining and a social lubricant. You may not necessarily agree with me, but try not to dismiss it as just another bad habit of a characterless person.
If you are interested in more, read the History of Alcohol and Drinking around the World. I found it to be very well researched and through. It is not however, related to the question of judgment that I discussed in my post.
If you have judged someone or been judged because you drink or not. Share with me your stories and what you feel about judgment. Leave a comment or write to me at deeptiamitsrivastava@gmail.com
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