Day 17: Favorite Quote from A Book

I have many favorite quotes that come from a variety of books. Some of them are:-

“Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (…) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”
— John Green (Looking for Alaska)

“But there was something I liked about the idea of those seeds buried so deep having at least a chance to emerge”
— Sarah Dessen

“We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.”
— Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go)

“What is pertinent is the calmness of beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it.”
— Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)

“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
— J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.”
— Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)

“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
— John Green (Paper Towns)

I will not write anything else but this:-

“A quote is something that grabs your heart; you feel its absence in your chest because it has been stolen by the words that you thought were written just for you.”

-HA

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Day 15: Your Five Favorite Characters

A very hard question. I like so many characters. I don’t know which of them are my favorites; so I am discussing some characters that I liked (again, in no particular order):

1. Mariam from A Thousand Splendid Suns: She is sort of a submissive character who adheres to the male-dominant society throughout her life but when it gets unbearable, she revolts and she becomes mighty powerful. It was the change in her character with time along with her ultimate sacrifice which makes her a very powerful character,

2. Tridib from The Shadow Lines: He is a mysterious character who is kept to be quite suspenseful throughout the book. He is mature, understanding and a master story-teller. He is instantly likable. Even though he holds a small part in the book, he is significant to the story.

3. Margo Roth Spiegelman from Paper Towns: She is another mysterious character and the basis of the plot of the novel. She is a free soul who thinks deep and make such decisions to live a life, breaking the social norms. She is a person I would like to be myself.

4. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye: Here I am mentioning once again, one of the most criticized characters. He is some one with a distinct personality with individual thoughts which are sometimes confusing, yet profound. The character development is really commendable in this classic by J.D. Salinger.

5. Balram Halwai from The White Tiger: The protagonist who is also the antagonist from this Man Booker Prize (2008) winner book is some one I wouldn’t like at all as a person but would have understood him and his actions to some extent, which given any degree of circumstance were still not justifiable. But I do like the character sketch which is successful in bringing to life this character. I would recommend you to read this book to know this complex character who is just a common man but a lot more than that.

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That is all.

Day 13: Your favorite author

Well, this is like asking about your favorite book.

No, I don’t have any favorite author. Yes, I have many favorite authors.

That is all to be said. That is what says everything.

Okay, so I am going to make a list of all those authors I liked (in no particular order) and what I liked about them:

1. J.d. Salinger- Direct straightforward approach in writing

2. John Green- Understanding of teenage and true narration of coming of age

3. J.K. Rowling- Weaving a superb fantasy world

4. Sidney Sheldon- Hard-paced thriller; page turner content

5. Stephen King- Perfect blend of mysticism and spookiness

6. Jeffrey Archer- Wonderful depictions of a person’s psychology

7. Kathryn Stockett- Joyful writing about a serious issue

8. Marcia Willet- Dramatic and heart-touching writing

9. Dan Brown- Symbols and conspiracy theory

10. Kazuo Ishiguro- Life stories bared; what else to say!?

11. Rick Riordan- Mythological content presented for the young ; easy to understand and enjoy

12. Suzzane Collins- Planning and plotline

13.  Mitch Albom- Understanding life for all its complexities and accepting its end

14. Khaled Hosseini- Heart wrenching tales of unfortunate people, tangled in the web of war

15. Paulo Coelho- Spirituality and metaphors

16. Amitav Ghosh- Words you would treasure; characters you won’t forget

17. Jhumpa Lahiri- Inspiring with the tales of family and mature relationships

18. Sylvia Plath- Raw emotions portrayed in a way that creates a gaping hole in the chest

19. John Grisham- Stories that leave a message and keep you entertained

20. Stephen Chbosky- Gently caressing story, speaking of the wonders of friendship

Day 12: A Book You Don’t Like Anymore

Today, I have to discuss book(s) that I once liked but I don’t anymore. May be it is the The 39 Clues Series. It is a children adventure series written by a collaboration of authors including Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Roland Smith, David Baldacci, Jeff Hirsch and Natalie Standiford.

I liked the original series and I read the 11 books in a matter of a week. They were a very quick read; the language being simple since these are meant for children. It revolves around the two siblings who go for an adventure hunt in competition with their distant relatives, who all belong to the world’s most powerful family i.e. Cahill. They all are on a hunt of 39 clues which would lead them to the ingredients to make a serum that could make one the most powerful person on the Earth.

Then I started reading the sequel to the series which is named Cahills vs Vespers and I was disappointed by the way the story moved on. But I somehow read all the six books of this series as well. I was not happy at all. My experience with the sequel of the original series make me question whether I still like the books from the first series.

They were an enjoyable read once but I don’t think i will ever get back to them. They are quite childish for my taste now. Neither would I want to continue with the future series continuing the journey of the two kids. It was especially the second series, in which instead of maturing, the characters had become even more childish. It was irritating and quite frustrating.

And here I say goodbye to these books.

Day 10: Favorite Classic Book

I haven’t read many classic books. Or shall I say I have completed only a few of those books which can be considered a classic?

I am presently reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I have started reading it yesterday; so it hasn’t been much that I have read. I am liking it so far. I haven’t read any of the work of Charles Dickens to my heart’s dismay. I am stuck in between of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I never completed To Kill A Mockingbird; I had crossed the half-way mark but then something came between me and the book.

The book I have read and liked a lot is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

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I liked the character of Holden Caulfield which is subjected to a lot of criticism. Many people believed him to be a selfish, heartless, ignorant, while I saw in him the quality of being a normal teenager. He has his own viewpoint which is quite strongly depicted in the whole novel. I could relate with his confusion and the feeling of just running away, that is a normal part of teenage. He is quite a cynic and resents others for somethings that do not even matter much. But aren’t many of us just like him?

He may anger you but think about it. What is wrong about him? He is not wrong; the society has deemed him wrong. I sometimes feel myself into his shoes and that is when I could see him clearly for who he is. He has his faults but I won’t consider his thoughts to be one of them.

Another book which I quite liked was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. The depression and the journey of Esther Greenwood was too concrete for me. I would rather not discuss more about it.

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That is all. 🙂