Book tagged...at last!

After reading a couple of book tag memes, I had been fervently wishing someone would tag me. It took a good month or a little more, and finally it was Sunil (who's balanced his life) who tagged me! I'm very passionate about reading, much to amusement of my roomies (who see a book in the mail almost every 2-3 weeks - via Amazon Marketplace ofcourse). At any given time, you'll find bookmarks in 3-4 books. The bookshelf here is overflowing with books, files and the odd CD! The sole reason why I didnt buy one at Ikea was the fact that I'm surely moving within the next 2-3 months. Where I go....that's uncertain, but as the days go by it becomes clearer just a wee bit.

On to the books...



The last book I bought:
I'll name a few here, coz I bought them off the Amazon marketplace together.
Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 days
Michael Palin's Full Circle
Patricia Schultz's 1000 Places to see before you die
Shashi Tharoor's Great Indian Novel

The last book that I read:
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho. Had nothing to read on the train back from Camarillo last night, so flicked the book from N-Ettan's collection. After reading all the travelogues by Messrs. Palin and Theroux, and the mindless (and brilliant) satire by Mr. Tharoor, this was one book which really made me think. Got me into a discussion with a co-passenger, which was really interesting. All the same, good to know that people here do appreciate good literature.

Which books have my bookmarks in them right now?
Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 days
Shashi Tharoor's Great Indian Novel
Rahul Bhattacharya's Pundits from Pakistan (thanks a ton for the book E & RE)
Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari (last few pages, phew!)

Five books that have made me think/influenced me:
Here are a few of my favorites...
John Grisham's The Partner...The end was bittersweet! I bought it way back in 1997, and I might have read that ending a good 15-20 times, and everytime I read it, I feel kinda suffocated (the feeling that crushes u deep within). It was something totally out of the blue, coming from John Grisham.
Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist...It's a very simple story, almost like a children's fable, but the deeper meaning it carries is phenomenal, and impossible to miss.
Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge..It's all about the choices we make in life, and the way we want to lead our lives. I had my eyes on this for a long time (ever since I did my summer internship in Bombay in 2001, and RR told me about the book), but finally bought it here in Irvine last summer.
The Mahabharatha. This might sound corny, but here is one book I can never get enough of. I might have read this one atleast a good 15-20 times from cover to cover (a huge task, considering that the one I have by Kamala Subramaniam might have atleast 800 pages). There is a lot to assimilate everytime I read it, especially analyzing various characters.
Anurag Mathur's Inscrutable Americans...Another book which had me laughing uncontrollably pretty much all through. As a graduate student in the US, for some weird reason I sympathize with the dude a fair bit!
Vikram Chandra's Love and Longing in Bombay...Bought this is Chennai for just one reason, it had a snap of the Mumbai skyline on it! But the stories in there were absolutely amazing. Captured the essence of Mumbai, the sights, sounds, smells, weirdos, cops....

And so it's time for me to tag:

Bhillu the Rambling Man
Kartik Balasubramaniam who's supposedly playing Mindgames after reading the Vedas and Upanishads.
Dercosyst - supposedly in your face and he aint smiling! yeah right!
Govind of Halasya/Promiscuous Contemplations
Anjana of Afterword- politely rude, briskly vague and firmly unimaginative. it seems!
Anysh
Sumi/Tinkerbell from Never-neverland!