Monday, October 27, 2008

Overbooked

I went to a bookstore yesterday with the intention of buying Ian McEwan's Atonement, having watched the movie the night before. It was a nice movie. James McAvoy as the wrongly accused young man was simply delicious. And the story was, what’s the word I want, tragically endearing. Very Shakespeare. I haven’t read much Shakespeare but didn’t he write all those tragic, lovers dying in the end kind of stories? Or was it only Romeo and Juliet? Whatever it is, Atonement was very touching, leaving you all sad and moody and asking why did they have to die, why is it so unfair? Well, the bottom line is, it was kind of haunting in a pleasant emotionally distressing way.

So I went to the store and located the book. I sat there for about half an hour reading it, it was good. Well written. But I didn’t like the cover (too filmy although I wouldn’t mind having a picture of James McAvoy anywhere) and so I didn’t buy the book. There were a thousand other books that screamed from the shelves “Read me, buy me, take me home!!” so I ended up buying The Kite Runner.

I went home, opened The Kite Runner, it looked good. But I didn’t read it because I am currently reading Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones-The Edge of Reason, and I need to finish this book soon because I was in the middle of Jane Smiley’s Moo which I abandoned halfway to read PG Wodehouse’s Something Fresh.

But Atonement still haunted me. I regretted not buying it. So what if the cover is filmy? I told myself, the contents of the book still remain the same, the story unchanged. I will go back next week and buy it, I concluded.

The point I am trying to make here is, am I the only one, or do you also have this habit of reading many books at one time? My bookshelf is full of books which I haven’t finished, books I haven’t even started reading and some which I have given up reading. Take for example Zadie Smith’s On Beauty. I bought this book on 28th July 2007 and I am stuck somewhere in the middle. Well, that’s more than a year ago and if I didn’t finish reading something within a month of its purchase it usually means (a) I was too busy to read (b) I had some other books to finish first, or (c) It simply wasn’t interesting enough for me. Most of the time it’s almost always (c). I bought this particular book only because it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and I am gullible enough to believe that anything shortlisted for an award this huge must be good so I should read it. But I didn’t like it at all. Maybe it was way beyond my grasp and I just wasn’t smart enough to figure it out. Or maybe it was too literary.

Another regular Booker customer I couldn’t figure out at all is Salman Rushdie. I borrowed The Satanic Verses from a friend and when she took it back a year later I had only read a couple of chapters. Another friend gave me Shalimar the Clown and after two years I still haven’t gone beyond a few pages. Midnight’s Children I haven’t read though (or attempted), but I hoped it would be good; after all didn’t it win the “Booker of Bookers” prize? (There I go again).

Love in the time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez. Date of purchase: 16th November 2004. Pages read-maybe 50. Dust collected on cover-a couple of inches.

Do you also buy books you never read? I am quite impressionable when it comes to books. Big names and famous authors always attract my eye in bookshops. If it’s something that everyone is reading it immediately gets added to my list of books to read. I also tend to judge books by their covers (a huge mistake) and by their titles. Cutesy names and funny sounding titles catch my attention more easily and I’ve ended up buying some books with the best of titles but with the worst content.

But the bright side of this multiple reading? One can never get bored.

13 comments:

  1. I do that all the time - buy books that I read only a couple of pages of and never get back to. Like 100 Years of Solitude and Shantaram (which bored the piss out of me), and there's The Life of Pi I bought last year or sth and never went beyond the first page.

    Glad you went and got The Kite Runner. Man, that's one awesome read. Salman Rushdie is boringly ponderous and pretentious. Years ago I once bought a book of his about three sisters which was wayout weird. Since then I've never tried to read him again. My absofreakinlutely fav Indian writer in English is Amitav Ghosh. I like light, fun reads most times, and not too emotionally cloying chick lit either.

    Btw Shakespeare didn't write many lovers dying in the end kind of plays apart from Romeo and Juliet and maybe Antony and Cleopatra.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey, this is just the kind of post I would write. I thought I was the only one in the habit of reading quite a few books at the same time - especially when I start on a book that doesn't particularly grab me within the first few pages. Or sometimes I have quite a few books that I have been looking forward to read for quite some time - in which case, I just have to read them all at the same time! I sometime have three-four books strewn round the house all of which are current reads.
    The Kite Runner is one of the best - you should also watch the movie which is one of the best adaptations of a novel I've seen.
    I also have the same problem with with Rushdie. I tried reading Midnight's Children once and just couldn't get beyond page 20 or so. As far as Booker winners go, Arundhati Ghosh's 'God of Small Things' remains my favourite.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ...And here I was, thinking I was the only one who displayed such inconsistency when it came to reading. There seems to be quite a number of us! I read three or four books simultaneously most of the time. I guess it has to do with my moods too; sometimes I'm in the mood for lighter stuff and so on. I'm also a fan of The Kite Runner. I also enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera immensely. You should give it another try. As for Rushdie, I'm a little embarrassed to say I can't figure what he's saying most of the time.So I shall regretfully remain ignorant as far as he's concerned. Have you read How the Garcia sisters lost their accent? The cartoonish cover completely belies the content.

    ReplyDelete
  4. J,Shantaram is boring?? I've heard people saying it's good, and I was planning to buy it sometime but it's too thick and scares me a bit. The Kite Runner was bought because it was highly recommended by you, will read during the weekend. And isn't Othello another tragic love story?

    ruolngulworld, The God of Small Things is one of my most favouritest books! I also have The Kite Runner movie but haven't seen it yet, was waiting until I read the book. And I always keep a stack of books near my bed, books I am "currently reading".

    DDB, never heard of "How the Garcia sisters lost their accent". I looked it up, it seemed quite good, will try to find a copy. But Love in the time of cholera? It brought tears of boredom to my eyes. Too slow. Give me another four years and I will finish it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. yeah, J, shantaram boring? hey, aduhi, dont listen to J on this one. i found it one heck of a read.

    ReplyDelete
  6. hmm.. let me see if I can borrow it from someone, it it's good then I will buy a copy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. OOO! i thought it was only me, so good to discover i'm in very decent company. Sometimes i get into four-five books at a go, not finishing any. 'The Inheritance of Loss' got lost after three chapters or so. 'Shantaram' is staring at me from the shelf. These nights i go to bed with a bunch of who done its. I did finish the Crossword winner 'A Girl and a River'. Quite worth reading. I haven't touched Kite Runner', must look for it since you all commend it. Anyone done 'White Tiger?'

    Hey, we got Arundathi's name wrong, it's Roy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. OOO! i thought it was only me, so good to discover i'm in very decent company. Sometimes i get into four-five books at a go, not finishing any. 'The Inheritance of Loss' got lost after three chapters or so. 'Shantaram' is staring at me from the shelf. These nights i go to bed with a bunch of who done its. I did finish the Crossword winner 'A Girl and a River'. Quite worth reading. I haven't touched Kite Runner', must look for it since you all commend it. Anyone done 'White Tiger?'

    Hey, we got Arundathi's name wrong, it's Roy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The White Tiger got such rave reviews I almost blindly bought it but the thing was there wasn't a copy to be found. But that was last week, and I wouldn't be surprised if by this weekend it occupies half of all the shelves in any bookstore. And of course after a coupla weeks you'd get the pirated kinds for half the price, but I'm not a very good pirate.

    I haven't tried The Inheritance of Loss yet. Somehow I find the title very unappealing; who would want to inherit loss? Please finish reading it and tell me how it is, my dear mesjay.

    And, it's Arundhati Roy :P

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kite runner's on my list, already made the promise on my book post too :)

    Right now I had a moment of weakness and went back to Archer *GRIN* Just finished "A prisoner of birth" and I loveddd it. It felt more like a John Grisham novel :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I haven't read much of Archer lately, I think the last one I read was that collection of stories, A Quiver Full of Arrows, I think it was. And John Grisham is another favourite, he makes the legal world interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Everybody's sayin the same thing, but I'll say it anyway. The Kite Runner is one fabulous book, and I heard the movie is also super I'm planning on getting the DVD. And I can't stand Rushdie's writing - for no specific reason. I usually hate reading different books all at once, but I've started doing that now too. I am currently alternating between HG Wells and Tolstoy now.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That's some heavy stuff you're reading, Jerusha. I heard these Russian chaps are good. Rushdie seems to be quite unpopular, at least out here. I've started The Kite Runner, am somewhere now in the 3rd or 4th chapter. But at the speed I'm going it might take a month or so before I finish the whole book.

    ReplyDelete