A mellow wind outside. Cloudy skies. Piping hot tea in hand (might have been happier with coffee though). Un-understandable lyrics of Deep Forest singing 'Will you be ready' somewhere in the corner. Images of meadows, a lovely sunset, tall grass billowing in the wind. The scent of fresh, wet mud. A brilliant book in hand - Picture perfect...
At long last, we got a real good free weekend, and needless to say all of us utilized it to the max. I had my fun, but the one part I loved the most was reminiscing about all my favorite books with a fellow bibliophile! Ah well, bibliophiles are few and very rare to come by. And the variety that matches your tastes are even fewer. More often than not, one can find the kind of people who love the self-improvement category of books. They read books that give them gyaan on cultures, languages, time management, economics, behavioral finance and all such good stuff. But just like warming up to Coldplay takes a certain level of maturity (measured in years), warming up to only non fiction books is a taste that can come only with age. At such a time, one yearns for the true fiction lover.
Back in Mumbai, I had a friend who shared my reading tastes. I remember a long talk one night with her, where we spoke about a certain Mary Higgins Clark book, and I followed it up with my dissertation of the Bourne Identity (I had just then completed my third revision of the book). We then went on to talk about our common favorite book - Kane and Abel and went on analyzing each character, picking up nuances and interpretations, which I am sure even Archer might not have thought about! I had an almost similar experience today, discussing all and sundry from the unabridged version of the Count of Monte Cristo, where the Count sails off into the sunset with Heidi (not walks away with Mercedes, as happens in the movie), to O Henry, and of course Jason Bourne. And the experience left me wanting to sing with joy in the middle of the grassy meadows, with the billowing wind, much like the woman in the Deep Forest song!
People to whom I have described this fundoo feeling I get while discussing books, wonder what the fuss is all about. But all I can say is, reading is one level of joy. Discussing the book, the characters, the story with others, takes you deeper into that world, a world that does not have to be left off on the last page. A world where the Gemeinschaft bank exists on Bahnhofstrasse. Where Treadstone 71 is a real building. A world where characters can actually be morbidly malevolent like the wife in Roald Dahl's William and Mary. A world where two seemingly simple people, born on the same day, reach the pinnacles of success, while always being at each others' throats. A world where a person's spirit is brought into a book without even a mention of anything remotely related to an apparition - just the methods of Mrs. Danvers makes you keep looking over your shoulder to see if Rebecca is watching from somewhere. A world of the bibliophiles - One of the best places to be in.....
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