Thursday, September 18, 2014

Passion. Intensity. Harm

Every now and then, a reader may be lucky enough to find a book that changes his or her life. I read Wuthering Heights when I was 15, and my perception of the world has never been the same again. If I had to chose only one classic to read for the rest if my life it would be, without a doubt, Wuthering Heights, a novel that can be read again and again, with different insights each time.

Wuthering Heights is realistic, but it also deals with ghosts and grave and a love that transcends time. In many ways the book is a mystery. Why do people self-destruct? Make the wrong choices? Marry the wrong man? Betray the people they love the most?

Catherine's  frantic and fevered declaration-I am Heathcliff- is as chilling a moment as it is brilliant. Is that what love is? To lose yourself completely? Does it add to who you are or take away your identity? These are the questions Wuthering Heights asks, and the answers are left for us to mull over.

The heart of the story unfolds slowly, as though it were a take told directly to you as you sit beside the fire on a dark and stormy night. At times it can be difficult going: the distinction between the two Catherines, mother and daughter, the convoluted family ties. Catherine's choices may seem foolish or selfish but these choices makes her more real. Break people after all, make mistakes, are haunted by doubt, take revenge, die before their time, love two people in different ways.

When I first read Wuthering Heights what affected me the most of all was the fact that this incredible masterpiece was written by a young woman with very little life experience. She was 29 when the book was published and died the following year. Surely no one thought that a mere girl can create Wuthering Heights, a universe where the moors are wild and love never dies.

I have come to believe that the real hero of Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë. Her great accomplishment is a timeless story of love and loss. Once you have read it, you will never forget it and that is the real magic of the book.

7 reasons why Fifty shades series is a wild success


         ( This one is for you Aadya)

Yep. I read it.
If you haven't heard about the popular erotica series Fifty Shades by E.L. James, you are probably living under a rock. But why has a series that started out as a twilight fan-fiction become a worldwide obsession?
 Here's the top seven reasons why:


1. The perfect on-paper man.


   Christian Grey is the dream man of every girl. He is rich, successful, good looking and charming. He treats Anastasia like a princess. Women wonder what it is to be like taken care of.

2. Taming the bad boy

   What women doesn't dream to be the only one to reform a bad boy? By the end of the series Ana was able to convince Christian that he's not fucked up after all. Sounds like a dream come true.

3. A life of luxury

 Which women doesn't want to showered with presents? Christian Grey has ridiculous amount of money and spends whatever for the girl he's trying to seduce. Be it brand new Audi, diamond earrings, a new laptop, trip to Europe, walk-in closets or one of a kind of a book, Mr. Grey has it all.

4. It is a sex novel, not a novel with sex in it.

     The series focuses on the BDSM lifestyle, where one partner is submissive and the other is dominant, which is not exactly a new thing.  But El James had made it at least a little more mainstream. Women everywhere are reading explicit sex scenes and then wondering whether they can try out some of that stuff themselves. It may not be well-written, but Fifty Shades of Grey may be helping make women more open about their sexuality, and that definitely isn’t a bad thing.

5. The dominating factor 

   Many women are used to taking care of everything all of the time. We raise children, run households and run businesses — it’s exhausting. Sometimes, we just want someone else to take over.Most women would kill for a man who instead of asking, “I don’t know, where do you wanna go?” simply says, “I made reservations for us at this restaurant tonight." Christian Grey makes it so that you, can sit back, relax and let the man cater to you.

6. Danger & pushing your limits


  For some, the fantasy of potential danger can be a turn on. Christian Grey pushes the limits of his lover(s) in a fantasy escape from more routinely practices. 


7. Monogamous relationship.

  The fact that after meeting so many girls, Christian wants only Ana, is enough to make every girl crave Ana. After all which girl doesn't wan't her partner  to love her only? 


So I must leave now for you are going to read it. Ofcourse you are going to read it. You have probably already read it ;)
    


Deadly ever after

Have you heard of happily ever after? I'm sure you have. But what about deadly ever after? What if the all the fairy tales you know are wrong?

In the series "Grimm diaries" Cameron Jace, brings a whole new version of our beloved fairy tales. Where, the evil snow white wicked queen is not so evil, and the snow white herself is a beautiful blood-sucking vampire. the Prequels! I liked them. A lot.  

I think we should all agree that Cameron Jace is one creative writer. He took the fairytales we all know and spun them, twisted them, combined-tangled-reinvented them until he reached a mind-boggling result… or almost mind-boggling, because some things are still a bit confusing and should probably be reconsidered and reedited. But, leaving the small flaws aside, he managed to create a pretty exciting and clever series that I will gladly read up to the very last book, so please write faster, Cameron Jace!


Before I begin, here is the list of all thePrequels that have been published so far:


Snow White Blood Red – narrated by the Queen of Sorrow
Ashes to Ashes and Cinder to Cinder – narrated by Alice Grimmu
Beauty Never Dies – narrated by Peter Pan
Ladle Rat Rotten Hut – narrated by Little Red Riding Hood
Mary Mary Quite Contrary – narrated by the Devil
Blood Apples – narrated by Prince Charming
Once Beauty Twice Beast – narrated by Beauty
Moon and Madly – narrated by Moongirl
Rumpelstein – narrated by Rumpelstiltskin
Jawigi – narrated by Sandman Grimm( spolier alert: the evil queen!)
Happy Valentine’s slay – narrated by Willie Winkie
Children of Hamlin – narrated by the Devil
Tooth&nail & fairytale – narrated by jack madly
Embers in the wind – narrated by the match girl
Jar of hearts – narrated by the queen of sorrow
Welcome to sorrow – narrated by Igor the magnificent.

Laddle Rat is one of the badass girls of this series, and I get excited every time she is mentioned. 

Mary Mary Quite Contrary was interesting for two reasons. First, I must say that the Devil is my first all-time favorite character, and I definitely want to see more of him in the series. He’s absolutely hilarious! He’s fun, witty, he clearly loves his Hell kiddos, and overall is doing a great job as a devil, even though he sometimes thinks he’s pretty lousy at it and he should quit. Someone should grab him by the shoulders, shake him good, and tell him he’s the best devil the Dreamworld has seen. That would raise his spirits when Hell gets boring. Have you noticed how dull and uninteresting is Prince Charming in most fairytale retellings? I say most because I, obviously, haven’t read all of them. It reminded me of how dull and annoying he is in the Once Upon a Time TV show. I was glad that I met Jack Madly in this one, because he’s my second all-time favorite character. He’s simply perfect and someone should write a book about him! Jace makes us ponder if evil is just a point of view.

What more we want in a fairytale than vampire, ghosts, werewolves, and boogeyman? Cameron Jace puts all these together in one book and we simply loved it. 
And I will conclude here by quoting Cameron Jace " I would like to see them( diaries) as poisoned apples once you eat them, you will never see the fairy tales in the same light again." 

Sunday, September 14, 2014

The dwindling young reader

On my way back home from school in a dingy van, I would often take out a book, and start reading. The journey in the van was like a vacuum the only time when my mind was not preoccupied with the mundane battles I had to fight at school or the lessons that awaited me on returning home. It was the ideal time to take out a novel and read.

I was 11, and had recently discovered Agatha Christie; it would set my pulse racing, and make a pleasant distraction from the sultriness of the days and the noisy bullies in the van. On the first day, as I was reading I noticed an uncanny silence in the van. I lifted my eyes and found every girl staring at me, one of them trying to figure out the title of the book. Their eyes were brimming with astonishment and as I like to imagine, the allure of seeing something mysterious. But when I looked back at them, they broke into a dismissive laughter. Apparently, they had never seen anyone reading before in the van.

Being a teenager who loves books( reading, buying, collecting and talking about them), I feel disappointed by the exoticism with which many young people perceive reading. Reading is as natural as breathing to me, and that's why I didn't realize that for many people in my milieu, taking extraordinary interests in books was bizarre.

Most Indian youngsters, on being asked which books have they read or are reading would give the following answers: The Da Vinci code, the Twilight series and everything written by Chetan Bhagat. Literary fiction is by and large unheard if and remains a unexplored territory. While there is nothing wrong in reading about Potter or vampires, why should young people restrict their choices to such narrow options?

 Looking back at the days when my reading habits would surround me by circus of curious students, I don't think things have changed much. Parents too would rather have their children study for the umpteen entrances, success in which would ensure a seat in a top professional college, rather than waste time reading novels , from which in their opinion little can be gained.

As long as teenagers do not openly express their love for reading, these irrational attitudes won't change and my generation will have to live with the label of being ignorant to the pleasure of reading and cherishing books.



When people ask me why I love reading, I run out of words. How do you explain something that is a natural occurrence? How do you explain your existence?
For me, books opened up a mysterious world, one that I couldn't help but fall into, one that saved me from myself. Words filled my days with laughter, stories kept my storms at bay, fictional characters became my best confidantes and pages filled my head with wonder.
Growing up friendless was a hard thing, so finding solace in reading wasn't surprising.

In a nutshell, BOOKS SAVED ME FROM MYSELF. Words ignited my soul and Reading consumed my very breath, I do not regret it