My tally of bunked parties has swelled to three in the past two months. The first I thought about and gave up on. The second I hemmed-and-hawed away. The third I refused to acknowledge in the hope that it would disappear–it didn’t, but I didn’t go either.
So here I sit at home marveling at how unsocial I have become. There is a wedding at month-end that I’d love to add to my bunk tally, but there are some things that you just cannot miss.
A month and a week have passed since my last post–a month and a week of heavy deadlines, and a burnt out mind that slowed work and made the deadlines seem worse than they actually were. Still, I managed to get quite a bit of reading done (surprisingly), despite the more-than-normal work pressure.
Below is a list of the books gone by in the past month (in no particular order because it has been a month and I can’t quite remember the chronology):
- The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing by Tarquin Hall: This book surprised me by being even more fun than the first episode (itself one of the funnest books I’ve read in awhile). Not only does the book star Vish Puri and his rebellious Mummyji, but is also chockful of magicians, illusionists, rumours, supernatural occurences, and even a corrupt godman. Tarquin Hall, have you considered sending Vish down to Kolkata on a case? Given his aerophobia, I’m guessing he will take the train.
- Watchmen by Alan Moore: I first encountered Watchmen on a movie channel on TV. But Mr. Manhattan seemed too blue and the Mars setting too unreal. Then a friend left a bunch of books (including Watchmen) with me as he set off for foreign shores. I read it during Christmas week. Until then, I would never have guessed that a comic could be unputdownable. Now I know. I’ve already read Watchmen thrice, and am not even close to done with it. Maybe I need to get my own copy.
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson: What can I say about this book except that it turned me into an excited, nerdy schoolkid for awhile. A long while. Until people started grumbling that any conversation with me was turning into a list of “Did-You-Know-s”. As a result of this book, I now know that Yellowstone is a volcano, that the molecules (or is it atoms?) in glass flow, that fossils show up in the weirdest of places, and that, if I could start all over again, I would really really want to become an astronomer. Science has never been this much fun. Never ever.
- Windmills of the Gods by Sidney Sheldon: I used to read a lot of Sidney Sheldon back in school. Then at some point I became a book snob and refused to look Sidney Sheldon’s way for years on end. Recently though, I wanted to read something light and easy but not boring. Tada! SS ended up being a pleasant surprise. Literary fiction this ain’t, but it sure is exciting. It does take some willing suspension of disbelief to swallow the idea of a university professor becoming USA’s ambassador to an Iron Curtain country, but who cares? The book is perfect for bathroom breaks and a wonderful palate cleanser for when you are between books.
- Famous Five: Five Go Adventuring Again by Enid Blyton: The second of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series has always been my favorite. I know it by heart, and yet, I unfailingly pick it once every few years. The secret passages get me every time.
- Things Fall Apart by Chenua Achebe: This is a really good book–well-written, well-plotted, an important story–but it does not connect with me. Maybe I need return to it at a later date, or maybe read something else by Achebe.
My current reading list has two books:
- Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, which is very hard to read because of the Scottish accent, but with so much energy that you want to keep reading anyway.
- The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, which is a great study in precision and dialogue. I didn’t get Hemingway at first, but now I can’t get enough.
Unsocial Bookworm 