Books have been a constant companion of mine since a very early age. I often judge a person based on this simple criteria, whether they read for pleasure or not. Many of my friendships have been based in the common foundation of having an intense love for books.
How it all started…
The Library ❤️
I was lucky enough that my father enrolled me as a member of a lending library near our home called “Eloor Lending Library”. This library books to read with a 10% reading fee and a two weeks reading time. Me and my sister would decide on our respective quota for the fortnite as our book genres had taken a pretty divergent turn by then.
The journey…
Then the phenomenon that was Harry Potter came into my lifee! Life has not been the same since. The wait and the subsequent reading of those mammoth tomes, sometimes even under the blanket with the help of a torch, are one of life’s sweetest memories. In those days, for me definition of a perfect day was me alone with a book, some snacks and nobody nearby to disturb my reading. Every other activity would pale next to this utopic scenario which I seldom got.
Me and my sister were conditioned in such a way that we refused to go anywhere without a back up story book in hand; lest we are bored and we have nothing to read as a backup! Such was the degree of our book addiction.
Then came high school, college, job life and through it all books have been a constant companion for me. I sometimes feel I have a little bit of every book I have
ever read embedded as a code in my DNA. They have shaped me and help me become the person that I am today.
I have only one regret that in my quest to read all the English story books, I got detoured from the rich cultural heritage of the literature of my mother tongue Bengali .I hope I will be able to rectify that in the future.
The Blogchatter Reading Challenge
I am sure this year will be a lot of fun for us bibliophiles and bookworms who are out there!! I have already completed 1 book for January and am well into my second book.
‘I’m participating in the #TBRChallenge by Blogchatter’
https://www.theblogchatter.com/tbrchallenge-aka-the-blogchatter-reading-challenge-2021
Torch under a blanket…I have done that many many times! About ignoring our heritage…I plan on doing that this year too.
A heartwarming piece, Ginia! All the best for the Blogchatter challenge! 🙂