Perdonez-moi for the delay, but I guess I’ve taken the meaning of vacation way too literally.
While my peers have been living it up by going on road trips, partying and being, well, what is expected of the youth, I have been nestled in my little island, surrounded by high walls of books. Eccentric? Recluse? Pseudo-intellectual? Or just plain boring? I’m too self-content to care.
Still haven’t read ‘Wuthering Heights’ (got bored after the first sentence), ‘Of Human Bondage’ or ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ (All the classics are lined up in the drawing room showcase alongwith the encyclopaedia and my few trophies. I’ve read the encycloapedia more than any of these.) So, I’m not as bookwormy as you might think. I like a good dose of emotion, dialogue, some drama and some culture. Sardonic humour is major plus. I don’t like mysteries, wars, thrillers, science, too much of romance, teen plots, too much of setting description and jargon. I have surprised myself by reading (and liking) Henry Cecil’s legal comedies, the first book of Artemis Fowl fantasy and ‘The Godfather’ by Mario Puzo. My taste in books and movies is varied and erratic.
This time however, what I did read were (in repeated fervent borrowing trips to the library):
‘A Hundred (or thousand) Shades of White’ by Preetha Nair (I think)
‘World’s Richest Losers’ (from Gloria Vanderbilt to Marilyn Monroe to Howard Hughes)
‘Desirable Daughters’ by Bharathi Mukherjee
‘Chicken Soup for the dieter’s soul’ (an, ahem, attempt at motivation)
‘Rainy nights in Madras’ by Samina Ali
‘Size 14 is not fat either’ by Meg Cabot (Give me the first three Princess Diaries and the first ‘All American Girl’ any day over Meg Cabot’s other works. Actually, the Diaries are ok even till the sixth)
‘The Year I Turned Sixteen’ (with a testimonial from MTV VJ Anusha on the cover about how it made her want to be sixteen again However, I must mention that the author has given us snapshots of Noida-Delhi and it reminds me of the holidays spent with my cousins in dreamy little Noida before it became associated with murder.) by some author whose name I forget (Apologies)
… And some other books that I’ve forgotten completely
Apart from the chicken soup, nothing else really left a warm feeling in my stomach.
RIGHT NOW, however, I’m reading ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a delicious little book (yes it’s little! And it’s got drawings! Why has this book been avoiding me all these years?!) I swear, it was neatly wedged between huge volumes of Charles Dickens and crew and it just winked out to me. I was captivated from the first page. Will review it once I’m done. I’m drawing it out slowly.
Also reading: ‘A Marriage Made in Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair’ by Erma Bombeck (I love her. She’s too funny), a short stories collection, ‘On a Shoestring to Coorg’ by Dervla Murphy (so far really interesting and well-written), ‘Chasing Rainbows in Chennai’ (not so much about Chennai as I discovered, disappointed) by Colin Todhunter.
Not just books, this semester break has been one of film appreciation. Do I have to be completely honest and mention that this fine art began with the viewing of ‘Golmaal Returns’? Well, honestly speaking, it did and I kinda enjoyed it. It’s brainless and noisy!
Mum and I had a full movie outing (thrilled me to bits) by watching ‘Fashion’ and ‘Quantum of Solace’ consecutively. ‘Fashion’ was excellent but what blew my mind was Kangana Ranaut’s performance. Seriously, that girl is an underrated actress. I thought she was pretty good in that movie, whatsitsname ‘Woh Lamhe’ but in this she simply stuns. I felt so much power in her portrayal as the arrogant, cokehead supermodel-the way she blazed into the screen, the way she portrayed her reckless self-destruction. She needs to work on her voice but her body language speaks volumes.
The big Bond movie was not as much of an impact as ‘Casino Royale’ was. Daniel Craig, of course was brilliant with his steely gaze, undoubtedly the toughest Bond ever. But the movie was far too much of action and far too less of style. Bond girl Olga is cute though.
On dvd, I watched ‘Phoonk’ (don’t even ask) ‘U2: Rattle and Hum’(Goosebumps for this one. Especially the band performance of ‘Bad’, probably in my top 5 favourite songs of all time) and ‘Roman Holiday’ ( Awwwwwwww. Audrey Hepburn’s so cute!)
And tomorrow, I’ve got plans to see ‘Dostana’. That concludes my checklist of movies I wanted to see (No, ‘Golmaal…’ was not on it. That was Numbi Jim’s insistence. She considers it a religious rite to pay homage to Kareena Kapoor). But I don’t I’ll run out of such lists.
Bring it on!
P.S: Since writing this, I've watched 'Dostana' (funneeee but the second half is a bit too typical rom-com resolution. Can't blame them though!) and finished reading 'The Little Prince' (beautiful)
"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart...."
3 comments:
I know exactly what ure talking abt...i hate reading classics, but i love *having read* them :). ive tried reading "a tale of 2 cities" so many times that i have the first line memorised! (it was the best of times, it was the worst of times) but ive never gone beyond the first line.
And yes, I think audrey hepburn is the cutest thing in the universe! :)
Sorry you were disappointed with Chasing Rainbows in Chennai not really have a great deal to do with Chennai. But I hope you managed to enjoy it in part nevertheless.
It's great to hear from you!
No, the only thing I was disappointed about was thee rather unfortunate impression you had about hometown and the length of your book. But I thoroughly enjoyed your account of the gym and read aloud (to my mother) your experience with the bodyguards on the train. I couldn't stop laughing.
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