There must have been times when you have been in long train journeys where you have nothing to do. You only get to do some visual work. Enjoy the scenery, the people , etc. You walk around the train and see a good set of people totally engrossed in their novels/newspapers/magazines. You wonder what they really enjoy about sitting in a place and reading. You wonder and wonder and you get back to your berth , wrap yourself in your little space again.
And then the wondering gets to peak and you get to talk to your reading friends about what they really enjoy about reading. You get the same constant answer. "Why don't you give it a try?". You very much want to give it a try but your so called inner ego shields you from doing it. And so you carry on saying its not your kinds. And then days pass . You get more and more curious. You want to give it a try. You take a book that might interest you. For a start, a medical thriller. You start with one book and you end up reading two, the second being the oxford dictionary. You give up again thinking this is definitely not your kinds. You forget it all for a while and be back to your happy outdoor calorie-burning activities. And then you travel time and suddenly you are in a mood to try it all again. You start reading Harry Potter. You read the first book and the second and third and fourth. You are not so well in love with any of the characters. You don't find the faintest of attachments with any of them . You know the series goes dull and the pages just got more for money making. But still you keep reading it all aloud and make your inner self close its ears.
And so your reading spree begins. You feel you have crossed the first barrier. You are not bothered about all those aspects good readers want: writing style , strong characters , philosophy, blah..blahs. You keep away from all those. You only pick books where people go into meaningless missions into dense forests, find talking gorillas , showing them routes to the hidden treasures . You end up reading every such book and you are totally happy about updating all those read books in your shelfari account. You are simply too proud that you are about to finish reading a hundred books.
And then one fine morning you get to read a blog of your friend about books he/she has read. You see a quick light in your eyes. You run through the entire blog series to see how many of those books you have read. You hardly find any. You wonder whats going on. You start reading the blog. You read about the characters, the mood , the style and what not. And then you walk to your book-shelf , visually run through the books and try to recollect about those books you have read. You only see a blank line running in your head.
And then you decide to give one of those books a try. You quickly narrow down on a couple of books and start reading them. Suddenly you feel everything makes sense now. You get to really think about what you are reading. You involuntarily begin to appreciate the writing style, the imagination , the perspective. You now get to realize all those 90 books you have read do not tag you as a reader. Your journey as a reader has just begun.
Well, if any of this is not you, it certainly is me .
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And then the wondering gets to peak and you get to talk to your reading friends about what they really enjoy about reading. You get the same constant answer. "Why don't you give it a try?". You very much want to give it a try but your so called inner ego shields you from doing it. And so you carry on saying its not your kinds. And then days pass . You get more and more curious. You want to give it a try. You take a book that might interest you. For a start, a medical thriller. You start with one book and you end up reading two, the second being the oxford dictionary. You give up again thinking this is definitely not your kinds. You forget it all for a while and be back to your happy outdoor calorie-burning activities. And then you travel time and suddenly you are in a mood to try it all again. You start reading Harry Potter. You read the first book and the second and third and fourth. You are not so well in love with any of the characters. You don't find the faintest of attachments with any of them . You know the series goes dull and the pages just got more for money making. But still you keep reading it all aloud and make your inner self close its ears.
And so your reading spree begins. You feel you have crossed the first barrier. You are not bothered about all those aspects good readers want: writing style , strong characters , philosophy, blah..blahs. You keep away from all those. You only pick books where people go into meaningless missions into dense forests, find talking gorillas , showing them routes to the hidden treasures . You end up reading every such book and you are totally happy about updating all those read books in your shelfari account. You are simply too proud that you are about to finish reading a hundred books.
And then one fine morning you get to read a blog of your friend about books he/she has read. You see a quick light in your eyes. You run through the entire blog series to see how many of those books you have read. You hardly find any. You wonder whats going on. You start reading the blog. You read about the characters, the mood , the style and what not. And then you walk to your book-shelf , visually run through the books and try to recollect about those books you have read. You only see a blank line running in your head.
And then you decide to give one of those books a try. You quickly narrow down on a couple of books and start reading them. Suddenly you feel everything makes sense now. You get to really think about what you are reading. You involuntarily begin to appreciate the writing style, the imagination , the perspective. You now get to realize all those 90 books you have read do not tag you as a reader. Your journey as a reader has just begun.
Well, if any of this is not you, it certainly is me .
