Book Report

Sen has tagged me for the book list thats been doing the rounds of Indian blogs lately. Before I jump to the list itself, I thought I'd reminisce a little bit about my reading over the years.

I've always been a 'light' reader. I usually stick to crime thrillers that come with blurbs like 'hard to put down' and 'has many twists and surprises'.

My earliest memories of reading are the bi-weekly and monthly children's magazines that were published then. At one point I used to read 7 such magazines and among them were Chandamama, Mickey & Donald, Superman & Batman, Tinkle, Children's World and Dew Drops. Among those, I have all the issues of Mickey & Donald and Superman & Batman bound and still browse through them when I go back to India. Truly timeless.

My introduction to full-length fiction was through Enid Blyton. I was into thrillers even back then as I read books in her Famous Five and Secret Seven series. The most intelligent children's books I remember reading were those in the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series. With the master of suspense himself making cameos in each book, the books had some very clever mysteries, riddles and solutions.

Next came Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, which were all the rage in school. We used to read them at the rate of 2 or 3 a week and I remember having read every published Hardy Boys novel by the time I finished my 10th standard. I then progressed to Alistair Maclean, whose thrillers were truly of the 'cannot put down' variety. After that it was a free-for-all as I read any author who caught my fancy. Some of my favorite authors then were Jeffrey Archer, Sidney Sheldon, Irving Wallace, Arthur Hailey and Ken Follett.

I guess my current phase started after that. I now read books by James Patterson, Jeffery Deaver, David Baldacci, Dan Brown, John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Tami Hoag, Tess Gerritsen and Iris Johansen. In the non-fiction category the only author I read is humorist Dave Barry. I'm a huge fan. His Guide to Guys is a must-read for pretty much everyone.

And now for the list...

Total Number of books I own: About 50

Last book I bought: The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Last book I read: 4th of July

Five books that mean a lot to me(since I typically read 'light' fiction, I'm changing this to simply five of my favorite books):

Kane and Abel - A true masterpiece from Jeffrey Archer that portrays the lives of two men who come from completely different backgrounds but find their lives intersecting in unexpected ways. Has some amazing surprises and goosebump-inducing moments.

The Second Lady/The Seventh Secret - Two of the best 'what-if?' books I have read. The Second Lady has the Russians placing an impostor in place of the First Lady of the United States while the Seventh Secret goes into what could happen if Hitler's wife is still alive. Great storytelling built upon intriguing scenarios.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - The best of the Harry Potter books that contains the best elements of the series. Rowling's soaring imagination presents characters we've come to know well and love and amazing set pieces and action. There are also skillfully constructed twists that we never see coming.

Shantaram - An exhilarating tale of an Australian whose life is proof that truth can be stranger than fiction. A drug addict and bank robber who broke out of prison and escaped to India, the book is about his life in the slums of Bombay. He writes amazingly well and his love of India and Indians comes through clearly.

Absolute Power - This book holds a special place since it reintroduced me to the joys of reading after I took a rather long break. A thriller that races along at breakneck speed, it has an ordinary thief go up against the most powerful man in the United States, its President.

I'll go ahead and tag Munimma, who had some interesting titles in her recent post on her reading habits over the years.