Tagged

Sudip tagged me so, I get to talk about books.

Last book I bought :
The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen). This was nominated for the Pulitzer a couple years ago, when the author dissed Oprah and her book club ( deeming them an inferior literary audience). Massive bad PR. The book sounds like it is going to be v. good.

Last book I read:
Timeless way of building( Christopher Alexander), maverick architect whose book inspired the gang of four Design Patterns bible. Awesome.

Book(s) currently reading:
India: A wounded civilization( V S Naipaul). He and I share a dislike of Gandhi (ji). I have to put the book down every few pages. Hate him for that ( wrecks my book reading average) and love him for that( makes me think)
Aspect Oriented Programming. Love it. why is it so hard to get?

Total # of books I own:
A lot, but not enough.

Books that mean(t) a lot to me:
I read authors not books, don't really have an all time favorite author. Jane Austen comes close, but that maybe because she died before she could wreck her books by becoming serious. Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton, Heidi, What katie did, all precious memories from my childhood. My mom was a book nazi, wouldn't let me read American Authors( they don't know how to write, besides life is too short to read just any book!). Needless to say, I lapped up American authors when I got out. Despite my childish complaints, my mom, is to-date my best book reading buddy. I can never thank her enough for the gift of reading.
Off late the new crop of Indian authors has been an interesting study, they are prolific. Most of them talk of an India that is far cry from the safe-suburban place I grew up in.
Books I have read are like bookmarks in my life, they signify a transition, a change, who/what I was when I was reading them, so here goes, a list of books that were by me in my transitions...
We, the living( Ayn Rand) she should have stopped writing after this.
Listening Now ( Anjana Appachana) this was like an onslaught, no book has assaulted me so bad, and it wouldn't stop.
Azadi ( Chaman Nahal) retold the stories of partition I had heard from my grandma.
MiddleSex ( Jeffrey Eugenides) intriguing.
Replay(Ken Grimwood) what would I do if this happened to me.
All quiet on the western front(Erich Maria Remarque) I was 16, too young to read this book.
Grapes of Wrath ( Steinback) he told me about an america I could have never imagined
Memoirs of a Geisha(Arthur Golden) a 'man' wrote this book !?!?!?
Ender's game ( Orson Scott Card) child's play ?
From Heaven lake ( Vikram Seth) ignited my wanderlust, yet again.
Trinity( Leon Uris) because the Irish fascinate me.
Jude, the obscure( Thomas Hardy) how could someone be so unfortunate?
A good man is hard to find ( Flannery O'Connor) my american rebellion.

The list is endless, I will stop now.

As far as taggin is concerned, the cheese stands alone:)