For someone who has spent very many years trying to inculcate the habit of reading (yes, it did not come to me naturally) today's challenge is quite the task. It is hard to put a finger on which book is my favourite, not because I like so many, but only because in a marathon to stretch my boundaries beyond what I knew, I forced myself into reading so much... so much of everything, that I really cannot make up my mind as to what is my favourite.
Reading was a choice I made. Something that happened to me really late in life. Unlike many of my friends who say they read their first novel at the age of 10 or 12, I read my first non-text book at 19. Yes, I was the ignorant sorts, and to add to that, there was no external motivation that would force me into reading at a younger age.
For an average punjabi girl, brought up in Delhi, you are not really expected to be well read. Back when I was growing up, reading outside of texts was not even considered a good enough hobby, forget an achievement of any sort.
It was only papa, who had himself widened his boundaries by all the reading he did during his youth, who softly but consistently reminded his kids... Read, reading makes a lot of difference.
So when I reached a place in life where I had to make the decision about what I want to be like when I grew older, I decided, I must read! Now since I took to it late, the first few books were sheer torture. But a few books down, I realised that with each novel that I read, I gained so much--so much of language, so much of thoughts, so many new ideas, so much of history, so much motivation... I started noticing how my mood and my attitude changed with the book that I was reading, and the point where the story in the novel was.
I have read MANY books over the last 8-10 years. Of them all, I have carefully kept about 50 with me safely. I have read several of them over and over again. They moved with me into my new home after marriage. They are kept on the book shelves of our home and somewhere in my mind, I feel that they are the symbol of the knowledge I brought with me into the life of my man. Every time when mundane matters try to drown me, I remind myself of some character of some book I had read, and there, my mind drifts into a more peaceful world.
So while the list of my favourite books would be long, this is one book that means a lot to me. It was bought for me by a very dear friend, who is my guarding angel and is responsible for a lot of what I am today. He had picked Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho for me, along with a bunch of other books. I nearly extorted him by force, because he had got his first salary, and I am glad I did so.
Eleven Minutes, which I keep telling everyone, is unlike any of the other (usually boring) stuff that I have read of the author. It changed something inside me, and that moment when I felt something within me changing, will stay with me always.
Here, I have tried to draw my favourite page of (one of) my favourite book... Do read.
Reading was a choice I made. Something that happened to me really late in life. Unlike many of my friends who say they read their first novel at the age of 10 or 12, I read my first non-text book at 19. Yes, I was the ignorant sorts, and to add to that, there was no external motivation that would force me into reading at a younger age.
For an average punjabi girl, brought up in Delhi, you are not really expected to be well read. Back when I was growing up, reading outside of texts was not even considered a good enough hobby, forget an achievement of any sort.
It was only papa, who had himself widened his boundaries by all the reading he did during his youth, who softly but consistently reminded his kids... Read, reading makes a lot of difference.
So when I reached a place in life where I had to make the decision about what I want to be like when I grew older, I decided, I must read! Now since I took to it late, the first few books were sheer torture. But a few books down, I realised that with each novel that I read, I gained so much--so much of language, so much of thoughts, so many new ideas, so much of history, so much motivation... I started noticing how my mood and my attitude changed with the book that I was reading, and the point where the story in the novel was.
I have read MANY books over the last 8-10 years. Of them all, I have carefully kept about 50 with me safely. I have read several of them over and over again. They moved with me into my new home after marriage. They are kept on the book shelves of our home and somewhere in my mind, I feel that they are the symbol of the knowledge I brought with me into the life of my man. Every time when mundane matters try to drown me, I remind myself of some character of some book I had read, and there, my mind drifts into a more peaceful world.
So while the list of my favourite books would be long, this is one book that means a lot to me. It was bought for me by a very dear friend, who is my guarding angel and is responsible for a lot of what I am today. He had picked Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho for me, along with a bunch of other books. I nearly extorted him by force, because he had got his first salary, and I am glad I did so.
Eleven Minutes, which I keep telling everyone, is unlike any of the other (usually boring) stuff that I have read of the author. It changed something inside me, and that moment when I felt something within me changing, will stay with me always.
Here, I have tried to draw my favourite page of (one of) my favourite book... Do read.
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