What kind of reader are you? | A rant

The books you read say a lot about you. How you read a book however, speaks volumes about your personality.

Are you a book addict? Tearing at a novel's pages every free moment you get?

Are you a reading addict? Scanning the contents at the back of cereal boxes during breakfast or under packets of tissue paper in the loo?

Are you a fidgety reader? Fluttering through pages never really getting in or out of a story with ease?
Are you adventurous with your picks? Scanning lists and lists and lists related to your lists to find your next read?

I’d like to think of myself as “all of the above” though of late I have been leaning towards the fidgety side of things. This isn't because my style of reading has changed. It's because my lifestyle has.
I guess that's another category of “reader”, isn't it? The kind of person who loves to read but is hindered by distractions like beeping phones, chattering at coffee shops or motion sickness...

The only thing to do in such cases is not to give it. To chug along. Keep trying. Reading. Neil Gaiman can't keep you in his grip? Move on to chicklit. Zadie Smith just going on and on and on? And on. Move on to a thriller. Fantasy just too fantastical in the midst of the mundane? Hello YA!
I guess I'm still in the throes of 'all of the above' which can be summed up in one word, really - indecisive.

But there's no room for self-doubt even if I have only finished two out of the last 10 books I started.
What is wrong with me? Nothing, really. Just life. A certain lifestyle. Distractions and... stuff.
There was a time I wrote about everything I read. EVERYTHING. But lately I haven't been reading enough, or intensely enough to churn out a decent enough review-rant-rave.

So this is where I will insert your voice, dear reader, whispering: "Don't beat yourself up about it." "Everyone goes through these phases." "Why don't you just pause? Take it slow for a while?"

Pause? Take it slow? I can't pause. I'm nothing if not a reader. I love words and the worlds they wield. But you're right. Maybe I should take it slow. And give myself some room to breathe. Think. Formulate my thoughts.

To be honest, I didn't always finish all the books I wrote about in the past. For good reason too. Reasons I often used as anchors for my posts.

So what's changed between then and now? Nothing what-so-ever! Well, maybe the new city, new job, two dogs and unfamiliar domestic setting are still more or less brand-spanking-new. But yes, other than that, nothing much.

I'm still an ardent reader. I still love discovering cool new titles across genres.

In fact, now that I've got this rant out of the way, I'm actually buzzing with new things to write about. Like Gone Girl, which I read and, well, really really need to discuss with someone before I go absolutely insane! Oh, and GoodReads has become my go-to site to find seriously awesome reads I wouldn't have ever found otherwise. That deserves a post, don’t you think so? I also live in a city which has a ridiculously large number of readers! The largest in India, if sales figures are to be believed. The number of quaint little bookstores are staggering in how they're designed to keep you trapped behind beautiful stacks of books -- old, new, undiscovered, forgotten -- until closing time.

It’s time to wake up and bring this blog back to life. Now, I know we’ve said this once before and went back to the grind, our post drafts getting rusty, and our bookshelf lying forgotten.

This is where I promise you new and exciting posts a week. Maybe more if we can wing it! But it’s time to stop making promises and actually putting those posts about wonderfully exciting books into action so you can see for yourself.

PS: Does anyone else think we need to get a design makeover? Reshma and I have been discussing this (agreeing mostly) for months now but haven't really come to a conclusion as to whether we want a new look. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Update at 4.29pm: Ok, we went ahead and changed it anyway. It's a lot simpler than our previous layout but it has way more features and opportunities to interact. Also, subscribe?

An overdue update & a comeback plan!

We’ve been leaving long gaps between our reviews, I know. But that isn’t because we aren’t reading. Because, boy are we reading a whole lot!

I’ve just spent the last few months exploring independently published erotica and up-and-coming fantasy/horror/ thriller titles. I’m also currently chugging through Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series because I want to have all the details fresh in my mind for the October release of the final Heroes of Olympus novel.

Reshma has been fluttering through book launches, book shops and densely populated bookshelves at book publishers’ offices, not to mention off-beat books that she has been discovering on her travels. But I’ll let her fill you in on this part because she tells it better than I.

In short: We owe you. Big time! And we’d like to thank all our readers who’ve been waiting patiently to discover brilliant titles far off the bestseller shelves.

We’re quite excited to announce that we’re expanding our repertoire to include aspects of reading that go beyond the written word nestled inside paperbacks and e-readers. I’m talking about adventures in the aisles of bookstores, people whose bookshelves we admire and lists and lists of recommended reads!

So keep an eye on our little blog as we go back to some old habits – two posts a week *fingers crossed* – and some new ones that we hope you will absolutely love.

Have a great weekend!

The Book of Shiva | Namita Gokhale

One of the most surprising and delightful things I discovered when I when to England to do my A levels was that there was an entire A level devoted to Classics. This meant a study of Greek Classical Literature which would include The Illiad, The Odyssey and even the Old Testament. This helps us understand everything from Astrology to Astronomy.

Sadly no such thing exists in the Indian school syllabus. Fuelled by secularism and vote bank politics, neither are taught in school and so we grow up with a basic, and even worse, an altered storyline of our favourite epics and almost no serious knowledge of our mythology. This is a shame because it is perhaps the richest and most complex  in the world. Epics are a way for society to  transcribe our past especially since we have a terrible track record of retracing our civilisation -- the dancing girl does not count. For instance, a study of our Vedas over time will show how our society turned patriarchal and monistic. Our goddesses were pushed aside to make way for gods who had infinite power.

But the funny thing is that our mythology is critical to who we are. As Namitha Gokhale says, "India, with its infamous lack of historical sense of time, with its non-linear approach to ideas and events, has managed to retain a sense of the dynamic and the interactive with reference to its mythology. The gods are still alive in India. "

In my journey to understand Tantra and the gorgeous Kali, it's almost impossible to ignore her aspect of Sati and therefore Shiva, the man she sacrificed her human form for. And for a quick download on Shiva, there's nothing to beat this book. 

Namita Gokhale helps us unravel Shiva, my favourite of all the god aspects. I say 'aspect' because I really don't believe there is a Shiva sitting somewhere, but I do believe there is an energy whose aspect is to create and destroy and it probably loves hurricanes. Shiva fascinates everyone; chiselled face and blue toned abs, what's not to like. The Natraj dances and the earth shakes. 

She begins with a quick introduction and then moves on to summarise various aspects of Shiva in individual chapters, his variety of manifestations, his divine family, an understanding of his erotic and ascetic self. My favourite of course is the Shiva -- Shakti: the reconciliation of Male-Female polarities. Here she clearly talks about a very important conversation between Parvati and Shiva, where Parvati challenges Shiva's misogynistic attitude towards her. Parvati was the first feminist ladies. Namita has a lovely way of recreating philosophical conversations between gods that shaped the thoughts our entire culture rests upon be it the role of Sati, and its warped understanding over the ages, or the role of women in society. 

Her language is technical -- I found myself reaching for a dictionary many times, but its never indulgent. It is tight and refrains from being preachy. It is a classic brief study of Shiva which I will have to read a few more times to understand but I would have been extremely happy if this had been a textbook in senior school.

Buy The Book of Shiva from Flipkart.com

Lost and Found

To those who’ve borrowed my books. I’ll get them back slowly but surely. To those whose books I’ve borrowed – I love you! They shall be returned with a note of gratitude and a cupcake.

She gave me the most beautiful dress I’ve ever owned. We walked into a closet that would make Carrie Bradshaw's penthouse look like cardboard box, and with a hint of sadness in her eyes, Shruti bequeathed me with a treasure she said didn’t quite go on her. She’s a fashionista, she is. She’s generous too. She’ll lend you a dress (within reason, so don’t take this as a testimonial for some free service) when you think you’ve got nothing that will do justice to an occasion. But don’t…ever…ask…to borrow one of her books. The answer, I’ll tell you right now, is NO!

It was a beautiful copy of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro which sat on her newly stocked bookshelf. It seemed to be making a pass at me. “Take me home,” it said in a low, seductive voice. “Just a fling for a few nights and then you can bring me straight back home.”

“I don’t let people borrow my books,” was her response when I told her about this conversation. I couldn’t help but point out that she had just given me – straight out of her closet and into a paper bag, please, it will totally look better on you – a beautiful peach dress. Then why couldn’t stand to part with, for a day or two months, a book she had just finished reading a few weeks ago?

It’s like she said. She didn’t loan her books out to people and the reason though curt, was straight forward: “People never return them (“I do,” I argued to deaf ears) and I’ve lost too many books to even begin accounting for where they went.” That’s when I felt my ego begin to crack and started poking, prodding and even resorting to bratty emotional blackmail (“But I will die if I don’t read it!”) to have my way.

Thing is, I really want to read Never Let Me Go. But buying it isn’t on top of my literary priorities. The prospect of borrowing it just seemed better at the time so I wanted to make the most of having a friend who owned a copy.

But her refusal made me think about her passion for the shelf she is so painstakingly building with books she will either read immediately or save until a later date. They’re her friends and she’ll do anything to keep them feeling safe and appreciated. I couldn’t help but respect that – at first because she didn’t give me much of a choice – and then think about how much sense it made. How many books have I lost track of over the years? There’s The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, one of my favourite books to date. Not to mention My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, a gift from a dear friend at university. Then there’s Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri with Hema and Kaushik, a story so sad that I still cry when I think of it. And then there are several others which were equally important to me, but have been gone so long that they only come back to me when a conversation, an incident or a stray thought on the Mumbai Local sends me running to my bookshelf to locate them in vain.

Clothes wear out or go out of fashion. But books are eternal, like diamonds. They’re your friends who tell you stories that make you laugh, cry, take you places you’ve never seen and educate you beyond anything a fancy education can ever offer.

Shruti’s got a good policy that I’m about to adopt. Keep your books close to your heart and don’t borrow those that mean something to others. Because books belong to you though, more importantly, you belong to your books.

Happy Holidays| New Year Giveaways

The weekend of excesses is finally here. While Reshma is off to Edinburgh to headbang in a ball gown to the music of Still Death (or something life that), I will be staying in Mumbai, reveling in rest, relaxation and movies I didn’t get to watch during the year.

But before we sign off for the weekend we wanted to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! We sincerely hope that you see at least 3 resolutions through, and read all the books on your wish list.

To add some cheer to the season, we have decided to give away three books in the coming week. Just look at the titles above (selected totally at random) and use the comments section to tell us which one you want and why.

Rules: Wittiness could earn you one points. Randomness, maybe two! Only one entry per reader. No borders or boundaries - readers from across the world may enter.

We’re also giving out 5 Caterpillar Café bookmarks to the first five people who write in so hurry if you want your name stamped on those.

We will pick our winners at random and get in touch over email for your address. Contest closes on January 6 and winners will be announced the next day.

Happy Holidays! Hope you drink like a great white shark, and have a somewhat productive year ahead.