Books I have read

Nobody visits my blog. It seems to reside in a parallel 4th dimension beyond the reaches of normal visual faculties. And it's probably just as well. I keep reading all these blogs that are visited over and over by more than 20 people on a single day and they are full of book tagging exercises, that are designed to let the taggee (as in tagger, in the first part, and taggee in the second part) show off his literary acumen and list the books he has read.

And I keep getting intimidated by all these long book names, and even longer author names, and foreign authors and unheard-of authors, and one-hit-wonder authors and cult authors, and indian authors, and classical authors, and literary authors, and famous authors (Some of whom I have heard of, and even fewer I have read).

And unknown names like Muriel Spark, Julio Cortazar, and Jasper Fforde and slightly known authors like Douglas Adams, and Paulo Coelho, and names of books like Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

And nobody mentioning Enid Blyton, and Richard Scarry, and A.A.Milne, and JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling and the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, and Archie Comics, and people mentioning books by Woody Allen who I thought, only made movies with beautiful women like Diane Keaton (I have seen one, and enjoyed it thoroughly).

And everybody nodding sagely in internet fora, and in coffee served dining rooms and at book launches, and book readings, and when sitting with famous poets and authors, and understanding complicated meanings of words, and deciphering sentences that begin at the first page and end on the last one and carrying on long discussions with people on balconies and balustrades about authors that inspire them,

And laughing at jokes referred to from books that I have not read, and quote characters from books that I have not read, and following philosphies and lifestyles from books that I have not read, and discussing technologies from books that I have not read, and acting superior and smug about people about whom I have not read, and thanking god for the value systems they have because of the classics that they read in school that I have not read.

And nobody willing to talk about Gandalf the Grey, and Hagrid, and Bigglesworth, and The Soldier with the Tinder Box, and the 7 Chinese brothers, and Little Red Riding Hood, and Dirk Pitt, and Tweed, and Paula Grey, and Frodo Baggins, and Shadowfax.

And I am glad that my blog is isolated and not visited otherwise everyone else in the world will know that I do not read too many books.

utekkare,

Pranay