reading habit
What is your most powerful and/or cherished childhood memory of a book?
One book, or rather, set of books, I will always remember from childhood is Enid Blyton’s ‘The Enchanted Wood’ from ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ series. With this set, Blyton met every criterion that I looked for and relished in a book. The enchanted forest she created was as emphatic an escape from reality as any work of fiction could be. Cross a line and in a through-the looking-glass sort of experience you were at once in a magical land peopled by fairies and pixies and where, atop a magic faraway tree, exotic lands of delicious descriptions perched, waiting for you to visit. Yet, embedded in these stories was also a sharp sense of knowing that all good things did not last forever, and that you had to leave these kaleidoscopic worlds when your time was up, lest you remained stranded there forever. I think I have carried this bittersweet realization within me ever since.
<A tree portal that takes you far, far away? We could all use one right now!!>
What line of literature or poetry can you quote ad nauseam? Brownie points if you can tell us when and where you quoted it most recently.
I have to confess here that I am not a quoter. I have never quoted any line of prose or poetry; a deep, dark secret that I am, with trepidation, revealing today!
<Ah! ‘Cause we usually do like Dorothy L. Sayers: “I always have a quotation for everything—it saves original thinking.”>
An author you adored as a child but haven’t thought about in years?
A A Milne—who does not love ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’? However, in recent years I have rarely turned back to read any of these much-loved books.
<Wait, you actually read the books? We thought everyone just watched the movies.>
Which book would you gift to your new best friend, and which to your worst enemy?
As for what I would gift a new best friend, I don’t have to think hard: any one of Alice Munro’s excellent collections of short stories. To an enemy, ‘Gray’s Anatomy’! I am cheating a little here but this seminal text of anatomy was a heavy burden in my student days—literally heavy, I almost could not lift it, let alone memorize it.
<Why? What’s not to like about convoluted love affairs, gory close-ups of bloody organs, angst-driven (but very hot) doctors… Oh, wait, you mean that other ‘Grey’s Anatomy’! Yup, we’ll take a hard pass on that one too.>
I would love to see a movie/series adaptation of ___________ starring ____ as _____ .
Would it be terrible if I said I would love to see ‘Undertow’ with Joyeeta Dutta as Loya? Please do excuse my bad form in wanting to see my own novel up there on the screen, but so many readers have written to say they would love to see ‘Undertow’ made into a film that I am quite curious to see how it would turn out.
<Self-promotion is a cardinal virtue in publishing. Never apologise.>
A book review that was better than the book?
I haven’t yet come across a book review that has been better than a book.
<In which case, you need to check these out.>
Which book do you pretend to have read?
Much of Shakespeare!
What is the first “forbidden” book you read in secret?
The first “forbidden” or near forbidden book would be ‘Sons and Lovers’, by DH Lawrence.
<It’s always either Lawrence or Nick Carter. Hmm, we wonder if there is a ‘smut personality’ quiz in there somewhere.>
What’s one of the funniest books you’ve ever read? Something apart from Wodehouse, Adams, Durrell et al would be even better.
I would have to say ‘The Bafut Beagles’ by Gerald Durrell. Still laugh when I think of it!
<There is no escaping the Durrell!>
Send us a photo of your tsundoku pile.
<Look at all those excellent women writers! 150/100 just for that!>
Thank you for playing, Jahnavi! PS: If you haven’t bought one of her wonderfully written books, you are missing out!
