Books
give immense pleasure. Only the person who is fond of reading can
understand the unparalleled joy which books give. So it is indeed a
great treat to read what authors feel about their favourite books.
I’d Rather Read comes with a subtitle Your Favourite Authors on
Their Favourite Books. However the book is more about how these
writers were inducted into reading than their favourite books.
While
Sudha Murty and Ruskin Bond have written (in their other writings)
about their childhood and the influence which reading has had on
their childhood, others writers have seldom written about it.
Jash
Sen very beautifully creates the atmosphere of reading a thriller in
the late deserted night. I held my breath and absolutely related to
him while reading the following lines. ‘Over the next few hours,
you will hold your breath, you will breath shallow out of excitement,
but you won’t know it, for the story will build up tension and all
you will remember is to much on a biscuit every time it gets too
tense.’
Indeed
Jash Sen’s piece is exciting, thrilling and undoubtedly USP of this
book.
I
also liked what Anita Nair has to say about children. She says,
‘Children don’t remember authors. They remember stories. A child
doesn’t read a book because it is fashionable to do so. They read
only because the story speaks to them. Children start a book with
neither prejudice nor expectations. That makes them a true reader in
every sense.’
Arundhati
Venkatesh speaks of a childhood which every child born in or before
eighties can relate. She says that during her growing up years the
adults were too busy with the household chores to foist the books on
her. They nagged endlessly about posture or poor lighting and
complained about her reading habits. Her words brought my mother,
grandmother and father in front of my eyes.
In
her write up Deepa Agarwal says, a book is a gift box of all the
possibilities you can conjure up to transform your mundane world. So
read on!’
This
book is a rare feast for every child and every person who was a child
at some point of time. This book is not to be missed.