Got anything to read?. Review on General Tips on Books

I love reading. Its one of my passions apart from music and writing, ofcourse. I like reading romance, philosophy, psychology, humour and even thrillers sometimes. I can read anything as long as there is a lot of human values, emotion and sentiments thrown in. I used to enjoy Indian writing in English too(I read a book called Ladies Coupe and I decided I’d give myself a break from Indian writers for a while. A review about this book is due from me. In the meanwhile if anyone wants to try reading it – please do so – at your own risk). Oops, am I digressing? Okay let me get to the point. I have a problem now. Of late I’ve been realizing that I somehow or the other end up reading books written by women. Somehow, I feel my vision is getting narrowed down by constantly looking at things from a woman’s perspective.

As such I am a woman who thinks a lot, especially of things that concern me and my immediate surroundings and I’ve been battling with myself to come out of that. And again when I read women writers, I feel I’m going back into that trap. Initially I thought I read a lot of women writers because I read a lot of Romance. But then I also read many books of Emma Bombeck and recently for a change I picked up an autobiography of Anne Moody about her struggle against Racism – great book no doubt but a woman again!

Its not that I’ve never read any books by male writers. I’ve read almost all of Sidney Sheldon’s bestsellers, Irving Wallace, Jeffery Archer…. Why? I’ve even read Ken Follet. He was “recommended” to me by a certain person whom I innocently thought was only trying to widen my literary knowledge. It took me 2-3 books(I don’t even remember their names now) to realize I was wrong. Now don’t give me those looks.

Those who’ve read the books about the luxury plane crash and US-Afghan war will definitely understand what I am getting at. And guess what, the same person “strongly” recommended “Twelve Minutes” when I mentioned I like Paolo Coelho! Ok fine… he even suggested some great books like “One minute wisdom” and the cheese book.

And then, there’s Richard Bach. I think it would be blasphemy if I even mentioned his name in the same breath as Ken Follet or Sidney Sheldon. I think he’s something else. He’s one writer I really associate with. I only wish he blessed fans like me with more books. I guess that’s what sets him apart. I should thank my sister for introducing Richard Bach to me. I even liked Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig. I didn’t understand some concepts. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable reading.

And yes, Erich Segal. How could I forget? Wow!(sigh) Anyways, so “here I am, seeking help from all you well-read brothers and sisters of Mouthshut”(wow! What melodrama!). By now you must have an idea of what I am looking for. So please send me your ideas, thoughts and suggestions.(You know what happens to people who suggest sidey stuff… this time I’ll even mention names!).

My main source of books is my local lending library - those from Madras will recognize Eswari Lending Library. So, I don’t mind reading old books also, even Indian writing would do(no clichéd stuff please), are there any male writers who write love stories minus the sleaze?(apart from Eric Segal) Anything nice and humorous?(not the wry English humour – something cute)….

In case you are wondering what started off like a request is now taking undertones of command, come on, we are all friends – “what’s there?” Waiting to hear from you soon.