Books I have read and NOT enjoyed

I have read a lot of books in the last few years, even more when I was not well, and there have been only a few that I would NOT care to recommend to others. People come up with all kinds of suggestions for what you SHOULD read, so I thought I would make a list of the ones I did not like and ask others not to waste their time. So here we go..

1. As you like it, by Shakespeare.
This was a textbook in college for English Literature. Its one of those Pastoral Comedy stuff, dont bother.

2. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte.
This was also a textbook in college, depressing dark and boring. Don't even think about it.

3. Far From The Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy.
Same textbook stuff, useless meaningless drivel, but people will start cursing me so i wish to answer them. go to the end of this post.

4. A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams.
Ya right, this is also a textbook, so forget it.

Now comes the more interesting and important part. The above four will serve my analysis perfectly.

All textbooks and award winning literature is bad. And there is a reason for this. Book reviewers and academicians who select texts for young people to study, are depressed sadists and take pleasure in torturing others, maybe because they themselves suffer in life. There are a lot of people out there who feel that suffering is good. And it is an elevating experience that a young man has to undergo to "grow up". Dont get fooled. Its a big load of trash.

Let us see what people say when they talk about the award winning book. They say that the book or story is a faithful portrayal of life and its hardships. Its a brilliant critical analysis of the fallacies of mankind. It serves as a mirror to society by showing it whats wrong with it. It talks about what is and not what should be... etc etc etc..

Now dont get all worried if you didn't get even one word of it. Its not meant to be understood its only meant to make you feel its something important and highly intellectual. And they succeed in giving you that feeling. Dont get fooled.

Now let us see what it is and what it means. They say that mankind can improve only if you show them what they are and tell them what they are doing wrong, By criticism and evoking thought, dynamic change and a lot of other high flown words to go with it.. Add anything you can think of..

But the point I am trying to make is this.

You can never change mankind and the way the people think by showing them their own ugliness. they will only get revolted by it, cover it up, but move on WITH it. What you can do is this. Show them the beauty of life, the hope, the enjoyment, the fun and the excitement. but send a message - in a captivating story about morals and ethics and principle and whatever you hold sacred and dear.

Simply put its this. Jeffery Archer, Alistair McLean and John Grisham can teach a lesson and make people swallow a bitter pill far more effectively than Shakespeare or the Brontes or Jane Austen.

This applies as much to Literature as to the study of literature in college, Authors like Richard Steele, John Donne, Jonson, Johnson, Chaucer or any old coot is bound to bore students.

Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, Chesterton, Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie, and other exciting authors are far more effective. If you dig deep enough, you will find authors in every period of history who told exciting stories and at the same time have a lesson to teach, below all the superficial excitement..

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Oh god that was a long one, Tell me what you think, I would love to discuss this with anybody who is interested. comment and email me at maitreya . jagalur @ gmail . com

Neglect

I am extending my apologies to my blog, keyboard and head, for not coming up with something interesting for a long time now. My blog archive consists of 29 posts including this one and I have written posts in 8 months, in 3 years.. This is unacceptable! I am studying Journalism and hope to do something with my language and kidney (Kidney = Brain, an old joke at home) abilities in life..

So I am now making a new year resolution (yugadi) to write at least a post a week, and be more productive. A khushwant singh joke comes to mind. A journalist interviewing him on his 90th birthday "How can you be so productive, even at 90?" and he replied "Nobody has invented a condom for the pen you see!" :-)