My fascination with books..apart from text books of course started when i was in school..We had a amazing library with huge collection of fiction,science,history etc.Library was one of my favorite places in school..i started by reading Hardy boys, Archie's.One of my first experience wit a non fiction was reading My Experiment with Truth-Mahatma Gandhi.The best thing i liked about it was the language which was very simple & easy to understand.My fascination with the Hardy Boy's continued till i completed my schooling.I used to finish at least one book a week.Nancy Drew which was favorite among our school girls, was always a boring book ( i have read only one of them)I also used to read Sherlock Homes & Agatha Christie.
This habit of mine continued & co-existed along with my hobby of philately & coin collecting.But my relationship with reading books still continues to this day even though the others have been left behind due to various reason such as lack of time etc.
During my college & post college days i continued my fascination with fiction written by Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey archer, Robert ludium etc.During my stint in Deccan Herald i used get good books which where coming for review ( The librarian was kind enough to give me).This is when i started flirting with the non-fiction titles & auto biographies etc..which opened a new window of reading for me.Real life experiences of the people where more interesting than the fiction which i was used to till this time.Now i balance both fiction & non-fiction books.The following below are some of my all time favorites..
1.The God Father- One of the book which like the most,written by Maria Puzo.One of the books which i consider as Bible of Fictions.One of the few books which is made as a movie which as good as the book.The character you visualize while reading is portrayed in the same way in the movie.Otherwise what happens is usually the movie comes out different from the visualization which the reader would have built in his mind while reading.
2.Reilly's Luck- One of the best western novels that i have come across with beautiful portrayal of west in a fiction format.with those ups & down the author ( Louis Armour) brings into the book is amazing.My fascination with the western novels started with this book.But i have never till now come across a novel as good as RL in this space.
3.How i lost my virginity- The autobiography of Richard Branson was a eye opener.A single man achieve so much makes a real good read.The journey he has taken is a worthwhile read & a inspiration in itself.
Che biography is also one book which is worth a read in the non-fiction space.
The Third Reich which portrays how Hitler rose & fell is a amazing account of the life & time during the world war.
Apart from these any novel in the fiction space my Jefrey Archer or Chethan Bhagat,John Griham is worth a read.Chetan Bhagat is one of my favorite indian author apart from Jhumpa Lahiri,RK Narayan who also writes well.RK Narayan's short stories such as An Astrologer's day was a worth reading for the suspense and the ending.
For those of you who don't know Rabindranath Tagore has return a series of Detective stories which are a great read.
At present i am reading simply Fly by Capt Gopinath which again is a fascinating portrayal of entrepreneurship of an indian.It gives the belief in indian economy & if you have courage then no red-tapism bureaucracy can stop u from achieving what u want 2 achieve.
