My reading list is live and changing constantly with new addition to it. Reading list can never be finite if you ask me! I believe that it should be alive and actively updating itself with new books and missed out classics.
My Slow Reading Speed
It took me a long time to understand what I truly enjoyed. Books are a blessing and a bane of my life which took me long while to understand. The act of reading turned into a natural mental solace for me. Though the speed of reading is rather sickly low and it prevented me from reading a lots of books. But then, it allowed me to enjoy each word in a text at my pace.
I took my time and never worried about the slow reading speed. I knew that the effort put by the writer in order to create the work or masterpiece would need the equal steady progress to appreciate the work of his/her hard and earnest written work.
Current Reading Is Slower Than Ever
I am currently reading “Hugging My Father’s Ghost,” though it is taking a lot of time and progress in reading is slow. Some people can finish a book in few hours but for me I need at least a couple of months. If I don’t understand it, I cannot move forward with my reading.
The memoir is fascinating while the author brings out the characters and traits of his father whose life story is brought to life for me. The more I read the memoir and the more I feel I need to catch up on the history of war, community, and survival within the restriction set by one group over another.
A frustrating thing about my favourite activity would be the impeding speed. I love to read a lot of books, but I am not fast enough! I don’t quickly finish up books at rapid reading. I don’t like the idea of scanning and getting the work’s objective. I rather read slow than be stuck with vague ideas about the storyline.
BA Early Reading Fascination
I remember during my first year in BA I would start reading the prescribed syllabus of Novels, Dramas, Prose, and other longer format books a lot earlier. So, by the time the professor takes class on it I am ready for her.
Of course, I never asked relevant questions. My curiosity would inquisitive about the author’s plan for the said work. This meant if I loved a writer’s work I would read up on their other works. I may yet not know the purpose of my fascination for tall tales with a sprinkle of fantasy getting priority over other genres.
Fourth Grade Fascination for Sleuth Fiction
During my fourth-grade break, I had spent the better half of the summer, in the local lending library indulging in the joy of writing down a list of completed Famous Five fiction titles.
That was really when I began reading outside my school English syllabus. Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and all sleuth fictions were done deal in the next four or five years.
Charles and Mary Lambs’ Work
The number of fiction books that I read was higher than my course book. But it was fascinating to read, ‘Tales of Shakespeare’ by Charles and Mary Lamb under the non-detail section.
There were a few dramas selected to be examined and the rest was not prescribed for non-detail reading. I finished them all, since the stories were so beautifully explained by Charles and Mary Lamb simple to read text form while maintaining the certain popular Shakespearean quotes from the play.
Magical Realism and Realisation of My Fascination
I have such fascination for fantasy genre and Magical Realism as a genre I came to know of only a few days before the final thesis defence. It was about a week or so back that I got the book by Isabel Allende, “The House of the Spirits.” It was gripping and I couldn’t put it down.
I even remember when they asked me an open-ended question about what I thought of the writing process. I am not clear what the question was and I am sure I would have been tangentially your with no remorse. I remember being excited and stating that I would be writing like Isabel Allende some day.
Appreciation Comes with Perspiration
I know for the fact that I don’t have to patience to write a novel and to keep at it until it is perfected. I settle for less than perfect and I feel that is heartbreaking every single time I am unable to get my work published. Because it is not even ready for the entry level staff to read my half-baked work.
The blog is just an eyewash and I feel I am not sincere enough to give my all for the genre that I am aiming for. The lack of focus and the absence of complete understanding of grammar and levels of storytelling, I fear the failure and don’t attempt the submission part and getting constructive criticism.
Magical Realism Authors in My Reading List
That was one of my takeaways from my MFA. I also found that more than writing them, I loved reading them. Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014), Isabel Allende, Neil Gaiman, Toni Morrison (1931-2019), Haruki Murakami, and many more undiscovered writers.
The genre by itself was fascinating and seem to propel my interest in it. I sincerely believe that the tales of the past, the present, and the future lines in the flimsy premises of being blindfolded by the author and led on by the secured faith in the narrative.
Rollercoaster Ride of Reading
For me reading a book is like an emotional rollercoaster ride. At the end of the ride, I am either convinced by the tale or have a lot of questions for the story. I remember once when I had read Stephen King’s collection of stories “Four Past Midnight.” The first story made me feel that one of the characters was unnecessarily sacrificed.
I fiercely fought for my point of view, until my brother who had bought the book for flight reading from US to Chennai, clarified that time rift happens randomly which meant one character had to be sacrificed for common good. Sometimes foreshadowing the whole life changing event might led to misconstrued character and motives.
Burgeoning Reading List | Twirling Dog’s Tail
Each time, I think I will finish my reading list of books to be read keeps on increasing and I am like a dog chasing its own tail. It is not going to be caught at all. But I still like to chase my tail to find if it someone else’s reading list and not mine. But then, reading another person’s reading list could also be fun activity.
Itinerant Storyteller 