My newest resolution is to develop the habit of reading. Regular reading that is. 6 books a year, one in two months – quite a reasonable target to begin with, I think. Especially, given that I took one FULL year- last year, to finish a single book that went by the name – “When Genius Failed”. Of course, it was more like a textbook on exotic derivative products and stuff, rather than a readable story; so not entirely my fault for being so slow. This made me ponder over how my reading habits have gone through a sea-change over the years.
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The first time I would have started reading something other than my school textbooks would have been at the age of 6-7. Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha, Champak etc were some of my favorite reads back then. I still remember how used to eagerly wait for my subscriber’s copy of Tinkle every two weeks, go straight on to the Puzzles page, solve them and send them across to the magazine’s office. But all I ever got in return for my ‘correct entries’ were some ‘Coupons’, which if I collect in certain numbers would entitle me to a ‘bigger gift’! Which I never ultimately claimed anyway.
Over a period of time, I started cultivating the habit of reading novels. This was when i was in standard 7th or 8th, those were the days of Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys; of course Tinkle never did lose its charm even then! Ah! The Teenage years – A time when a lot of my friends used to go absolutely ga ga over the ‘romantic’ Mills & Boons books. Somehow I never really had the courage to pick up one of those books and peruse the contents. The sheer number of those books lying around in my neighborhood library and the ridiculously mushy content thoroughly repelled me. Anyway, romantic novels never really were my cup of tea. Thrillers, Action, Murder Mysteries were more of my type. Surprisingly, my choice is the exact opposite when it comes to movies. While I quite enjoy watching romantic movies with the occasional mush, I do not really fancy action movies.
After some years, the Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys were replaced by the likes of Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, James Hadlee Chase. Tinkle was almost out and in came Archie Comics. Those were the days when I used to easily finish off one novel a day.
I used to particularly love the Hercule Poirot mysteries of Agatha Christie. Poirot was absolutely unique in the way he solves crimes, purely by talking his way through the various characters, playing with their psychologies and getting them to reveal more information than they desired to.
In a complete contrast to Poirot was Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason whose first step after a crime has taken place invariable is to collect ‘physical’ evidence – fingerprints, footprints, cigarette butts, ash trays, anything and everything that one can lay hands upon at the crime site. Of course, the character Perry Mason was a lawyer by profession, rather than a detective, as was the author himself, and therefore more than 50% of his novels involve courtroom dramas. I simply loved those courtroom dramas of Perry Mason, and the way he defends his client in a seemingly impossible case.
I have come across very few people who have read a James Hadley Chase, and rarely anyone who actually liked his books! What I really enjoyed about his books was that they are always full of action, extremely fast paced, and would always keep one guessing what’s going to happen next. Although crime is always central to his novels, they are not exactly murder mysteries; each novel will have a unique adventure to tell.
Coming away from thrillers and murder mysteries, an author who remains my all-time favorite is PG Wodehouse – a legend in his own right. The classic Jeeves – ah! Who wouldn’t have heard of him? The quintessential butler, who always has an answer to every conceivable problem in the life of his employer Bertie Wooster, who has a knack for landing up in all kinds of awkward social situations.
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Juggling my thoughts... 