Books and a lot more.com

So now that you all know about my so-called bungee jumping, you must also know how great I feel nowadays. There’s a swing in my step and I feel tremendously productive even if I may not have written a single world and spent my time reading nonsense on the internet. It’s like all the clutter has disappeared from my head and I can think clearly about what I want to do, especially with respect to my reading goals and I am so enthusiastic about this week.

 I happened to buy If on a winter’s night a traveller by Italo Calvino on Amazon, all because of these guys at Books on Toast. Anuya and Sharin seem to be the kind of people you know you’re going to like, thanks to a mutual love for books, along with the enthusiasm with which they talk about them. Also, isn’t Kanan Gill such a cutie? So now go and watch this:

So many new books that I don’t quite know which one to start first! I am most enthusiastic about reading Post Office by Charles Bukowski though.  Now I have always found Bukowski interesting. He’s always been the bad boy that you are so tempted to kiss, the one your mother warned you about. Now, I have finally decided to go to bed with him.

I also happened to pick up a photo book on Elvis because, well, Elvis! At the same time, I got a great bargain on Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif and John Green’s Looking for Alaska.  The people at Penguin Randomhouse were also kind enough to send a review copy of Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. The book is a 2014 collection of short stories, translated and published in English, this year.

So yes, life looks good. Surprisingly, I am choosing to start with Looking for Alaska by John Green. I like my copy of the book. It’s a hard bound version with a golden jacket – makes the book shine before you can even open and read and be impressed by what the author’s written. The edges are all black, along with the text embossed on the gold – this combination of gold and black seems to signify catharsis to me, in some odd manner, although it is probably because it’s the 10^th anniversary edition. I’ve just read the introduction and I realised what has instinctively made me pick this book. It’s the reference to these lines by a French poet, Francois Rabelais, and they also happen to be his last words – I go to seek a Great Perhaps. I chanced upon these words last month and they happened to leave a lasting impression on me. Subconsciously, I think it made it easier to realise what I wanted to do. I hope that the book shall not spoil that for me.

So what do you think? Have you read any of these books? Any pointers?