Quote # 5.1 - 'I took a speed reading course. Read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It involves Russia' - Woody Allen
I have been reading for as long as I can remember. Most people I know have been reading for as long as they can remember. When we meet we talk about reading. When we don't we are reading.(Remind me to discard my social circle.)
Quote # 5.2 -'5 is too darn less, too darn less!' - unregistered Miner to that who is giving him small lumps of coal as wages in Medieval Estonia.
How can anyone, who reads, possibly restrict their choice of books to 5? Calls for a very small library. Burn the rest, eh? Anyways, found a decent opportunity to try and popularise the 5 books that I feel are the best that I have read.
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Quote # 5.3 -'Play it Sam. Play'As Time Goes By'.' - Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine to the pianist Sam, Casablanca
THE UNCONSOLED - KAZUO ISHIGURO
Ishiguro is best known for his Booker Prize winning novel Remains of The Day. Filmed by Ivory-Merchant, it had exceptional acting by Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Truly, one of the greatest love stories that I may have read. My experiences following this book left me searching for more of Ishiguro. It was then that I came across The Unconsoled.
The Unconsoled is best started on a rainy day. When the skies outside are dark, when there's a soft cold wind that blows suddenly across the room, when big, black drops of water are expected to drown out all the noises from the streets below. The book, too is of a similar colour. Dark, surreal and downright confusing. But you start, and then you do not why but you continue to read on.
It's about a musician who is about to give a concert in a nameless town. Known people throng the unknown streets, expectations, surprises, old cars in big houses, small houses, what smells like family - all get headily mixed up in an emotional journey of a man we all want to understand. Remains of the Day - The reader is Unconsoled or are we.
Worth the read.
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Quote # 5.4 - 'What is reading but silent conversation?' - Walter Savage Landor
THE GRAPES OF WRATH - JOHN STEINBECK
After much debate did I decide to include this book as a must read. Though a lengthy review has been written by me, recently I simply could not deny the impact that this book had on me when I read it. A very powerful book that moved generations - a story of an America we refuse to see.
Written in the post depression era, this book deals with the great movement of the poor'okies' from the Dust Bowl to sunny California(hence the'grapes'), in search of work. Tom Joad and his family, driven to poverty decide to make the fateful move west. What follows is a tale of horror, sadness, dreams unfulfilled, abject poverty - A poignant tale of humanity. Steinbeck tells a story like no other.
Pick it up.
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Quote # 5.5 -'From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.' - Groucho Marx(who else?)
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - DOUGLAS ADAMS
Douglas Adams requires more space, no puns intended.
Hard to believe, what started off as a small BBC Radio Show turned the world around(though Arthur Dent would like to believe that it is completely demolished whatsoever). Douglas Adams' wit is from another planet(Forgive me - yet again)
But then again, I fear are most English Witters(if that's a word).
The earth is demolished. Ford Prefect, the glassy-eyed alien saves the only human Arthur and hitch-hikes through spaceships which have depressed robots, two-headed presidents and a wise guy computer.
Probably the best marriage of Humour and Sci-Fiction ever, the Hitchhiker's series consists of 5 more books(incl. The Salmon of Doubt). Though some may feel Pratchett rules as well - Adams is the Godfather.
Pick'em all, then look vaguely in the direction of Betelgeuse and pick your nose.
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Quote # 5.6 -'The world may be full of fourth-rate writers but it's also full of fourth-rate readers.' - Stan Barstow
THE ALCHEMIST - PAULO COELHO
Now this is a book that gained tremendous mileage in the last couple of years. I had picked it up in Poona in early 1999 and then on have gifted it to anyone who hadn't read it.(Hey! Maybe it's me who is responsible for this phenomenal success.Hmm)
On a serious note, this is one great book. What starts as a simple tale of a young shepherd chasing his dream remains till the very end - simple. In fact this is one of the simplest stories ever told after the'Little Prince' by Antione de Saint Exupery(yet another classic, not in this list though). What follows is a journey through countries, people and experiences. A romantic ideal indeed.
Follow it.
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Quote # 5.7 -'I divide all readers into two classes: Those who read to remember and those who read to forget.' - William Phelps
THE JEEVES SERIES - P G WODEHOUSE
Tried so, so hard but just couldn't come up with one novel that exceeds the rest in terms of humour, ability to make people laugh and just plain funny. Wodehouse is always in pristine form when he writes about the affable'mentally negligent' Bertie Wooster(and his plethora of wealthy aunts) and his man Jeeves.
Sheer delight! Flitting in between the problems, trials and tribulations that seem so far removed from today's world that it's actually endearing. Wandering negro minstrels, French cooks, American millionaires, stuffy kids, stolen manuscripts - you'll find them all. All lovingly hand-tossed to fit every stomach longing for that little humour.
I am sure you've read them all. Go read them again.
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*Quote to end:
'The end is near' - Phish_pot, wandering Philanthropist and major protestor of chain supermarket book stores.
