Happy to be reading again!!

Picked up a book after a loooooooooong time today. The last time I read a book not related to Biology was many months ago, and that was Chetan Bhagat's "2 States: The Story of My Marriage". Something which didn't take more than a day, nor provided the required satisfaction for my long literature-deprived brain. I have been reading 4 as long as I can remember. My mother used to take me and my sister to the neighborhood library regularly. Starting out with Noddy, I grew up on a staple diet of Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, then moving onto the Classics like Jane Austen, Alexander Dumas, Thomas Hardy, The Bronte sisters and so on. I read passionately throughout school, and though time was scarce, I continued during my time in Venky, when I came across some of my all-time favorites like The Idiot, Eva Luna, An equal music and so on.

However, I can count the number of books I have read ever since I went to Pondicherry on one hand! Hence, When I finally picked up Jhumpa Lahiri's "Unaccustomed Earth" this Sunday, (that's when I had started writing this, :P) it was another exercise in reclamation. Reclaiming the one good hobby I had. As soon as I started reading it, I could actually feel the rush..... It felt like the sluice gates had been opened after ages, allowing a sudden gush of gallons of water into vacuum (aka my brain). It was almost like my brain was literally devouring the book, as if it had been fed after years!!!

The book is a collection of short stories, and the first one was finished immediately, not even putting the book down during lunch. And it was amazing. Can't wait to finish the rest of it, as well as other books by her. I do recommend it to everyone else who enjoys reading. And your recommendations are more than welcome! :-) I owe it to Ms. Lahiri, who not only got me reading again, but performed an even greater miracle, which was to induce my mother to pick up a book again, and finish it................... after a long, looooooooong time!!!