Monday, June 27, 2005

How to pick up a great book..

About two months back, I was walking through the aisles of this one bookstore, accompanying my more well-read friend on a general shopping trip. My friend, who is a bookie, no.. that means something else, my friend is a books-enthusiast. If she gets into one of those bookstores, it is hard to drag her out of one.

It was one of those quintessential situations. It had been twenty minutes and there was no sign of her approaching the counter. I begged, pleaded.. no avail, I caught her by the hair, and pulled out, no retort.. just an absent minded nod. Finally, after an eternity she looks up and says.. “Why don’t you pick up something?” The last lit book I read was something by Vikram Seth, a delightful book nevertheless, but I am not one of those bookies..er.. book-people. I was a computer girl. I didn’t read books unless it had names, Richard Stallman or Steve Jobs on the cover and they had none of them around.. at least none I wanted. So I just tailed along her, tugging away at her salwar like those lil kids in super markets pestering their parents. “Ee.. chupp!” she hushed me up, typically. “Pick a book and we’ll leave..” she mumbled. “Promise??” I hopped. “Umm.. promise..” I heard a reply.

Desperately, I looked around that shelf, nice hard covers, beautifully made intelligent looking covers. But all intellectual books by some obscurely famous writers, I never knew. After bobbing my head up and down first and the rhythmically right to left, then left to right, suddenly my eyes fell on this title.. “Brave New World” it announced. Iron Maiden in a book!??!! This was the album that ruled my ex’s car forever. I never heard a different album, ever in that car, never. I can sing Wicker man better than even Bruce Dickenson. I grabbed that book (amazing abstract cover.. didn’t even bother reading the foreword) in one hand and my wailing friend in another and marched to the counter.

Ten minutes later, we got out the bookstore with her sporting a silly grin. Two hours, I wince. Two months later, I complete a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley.

6 comments:

Rat said...

Read the foreword.Always read the foreword !!!

How was the book though ?

Self Writeous said...

Bust of the Beast..eh? :-p

Thetis said...

rat: amazing book. recommended.

hoh: hota hai, hota hai..

Arindam said...

LOL - Brave New World indeed. you got to read the work of the genius who gave the doors their name and iron maiden a coupla songs!

good stuff. you should go into the book shop more often - make a few "discoveries"!

Teleute said...

melchizedek: err, aldous huxley didn't xactly giv d doors deir name... it ws william blake, actually - via aldous huxley!
:D

Pranav said...

yep, its an awesome book and a very interesting yet disturbing concept of delineating emotions from day to day life. And its scary, but we ARE slowly yet inexorably moving towards that...!