“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
― Cicero
I love books. They were my first love…they still are. And I will have to thank my Maa for that. Thanks, Maa! Books have always been an integral part of my life since I can remember. I always preferred to take a book and find a corner to read it, without any disturbance, over any other activity – that’s what I did in most of my summer & winter holidays as a child.
For my coming days, I dream of setting up a library, or at least a room, full of my favourite books. I have plans to fill the walls, from top to bottom, with those books. Wouldn’t it be lovely to spend my ‘me-time’ in that room, inhaling the bookish smell and heading off to a faraway land, watching the lives of some fictitious characters from close quarters? A room like this maybe, eh?
“I go back to the reading room, where I sink down in the sofa and into the world of The Arabian Nights. Slowly, like a movie fade out, the real world evaporates. I’m alone, inside the world of the story. My favourite feeling in the world.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
I had started this blog as a place to put down my random rants on all things around me. As with many other things, I started sharing my thoughts on books I read and some bookish rants too. And with this, I came across many like-minded book lovers, with love for similar kind of books and authors. Also, I got to know about many books which maybe, otherwise, I would not have been aware of. So this page is dedicated to all those people who stop by my blog and are solely interested in my bookish thoughts, reviews, and rants. Also, this page will be the place I will refer my friends to when they need my opinion on a book – to buy or read or gift. In my blog, I do not rate the books I read; I simply put down my thoughts on it – positive/negative/things that had touched my heart. I hope this effort of mine will help someone in some way . And isn’t it wonderful to exchange views and thoughts on some wonderful books you have come across and want book lovers like myself, not to miss?
My Lil’ Book Corner is my place of reading, reviewing & recommending books and anything to do with books. I read books on romance, thriller, travel, mythological or historical backdrop, short stories, chick-lit and once in a while some non-fiction too. In fact I read anything that engages me till the last page. However, my first preference is always fiction, I love to get lost in a world of the author’s making. And hence, I prefer to read one book at a time – living the lives of the character as I make my way through a book till the end.
“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Do come back for regular updates! 🙂
A. My thoughts on books I had read (since 2012):
- Aruni Kashyap – The House with a Thousand Stories
- Shriya Garg – Take one More Chance
- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – The Palace of Illusions
- Sid Bahri – The Homing Pigeons
- E.L. James – Fifty Shades of Grey
- Manish Gupta – English Bites
- Preeti Shenoy – 34 Bubblegums & Candies
- Vipin Behari Goyal – Tall Man Small Shadow
- Madhumita Mukherjee – The Other Side of the Table
- E. R. Braithwaite – To Sir, With Love
- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – The Mistress of Spices
- Durjoy Datta & Nikita Singh – If It’s not Forever. It’s Not Love.
- Clark Prasad – Baramulla Bomber
- Sheila Parker – The Spirit Within
- Anmol Rana – Seven Days without You
- Preeti Shenoy – The Secret Wishlist
- Faraaz Kazi & Vivek Banerjee – The Other Side
- Lestine – Unbowed
- Gillian Flynn- Gone Girl
- Priyanka Sinha Jha – Supertraits of Superstars
- Nilesh Shrivastava – No Man’s Land
- Dorothy Koomson – The Flavours of Love
- E. B. White – Charlotte’s Web
- Anandaa – A Cupful of Aha!
- Vipin Behari Goyal – Maya in search of her Tantric Father
- Sumeet Jain – Life is a Pack of 52 Cards
- Various Authors – Potluck : A Literary Collection of the Critique Group
- Sreemoyee Piu Kundu – Sita’s Curse – The Language of Desire
- Various Authors – The Milk of Female Kindness – an Anthology of Honest Motherhood
- Sarika Pandit – Bucketlist of a Traveloholic
- K.B. Jensen – Painting with Fire
- John Green – The Fault in our Stars
- Ratna Vira – Daughter by Court Order
- Vipin Kumar – The Bluest Marble
- Shobhan Bantwal – The Full Moon Bride
- Harper Lee – To Kill a Mocking Bird
- Temsula Ao – Laburnum for my Head
- Varun Agarwal – How I braved Anu Aunty & Co – Founded a Million Dollar Company
- Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games (#1)
- O’ Henry – Best of O’ Henry
- Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea.
- Rikin Khamar – The Lotus Queen
- Siddharth Dasgupta – Letters from an Indian Summer
- Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol
- A. B. Chakrabarty – Split Second
- D. Sathwik – In a Feeling Named Love
- Rajesh Parmeswaran – I Am An Executioner: Love Stories
- Pinky Acharya – Tat Tvam Asi
- Anurag Anand – The Legend of Amrapali
- Sriram Karri – The Autobiography of a Mad Nation
- Jojo Moyes – Me Before You
- Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
- Salil Desai – The Murder of Sonia Raikkonen
- Santosh Avvannavar – Title is Untitled
- Liane Moriarty – The Husband’s Secret
- Santosh Avvannavar – Surrogate Author
- Rishad Saam Mehta – Hot Tea Across India
- J.D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye
- Santosh Avvannavar – God’s Table: The Last Supper
- Rupa Bajwa – The Sari Shop
- Santosh Avvannavar – Black, Grey & White
- Kishalay Bhattacharjee – Che in Paona Bazaar
- Kunal Nayyar – Yes, My Accent is Real
- Ruskin Bond – Delhi is Not Far
- Twinkle Khanna – Mrs. Funnybones
- Rohit Sharma – 12 Hours (e-book)
- Parishmita Singh – The Hotel at the Other End of the World (graphic novel)
- Mulk Raj Anand – Greatest Short Stories (e-book)
- Samanth Subramanian – Following Fish
- Saraswati Nagpal – Draupadi: The Fire-Born Princess (a graphic novel)
- Agatha Christie – And Then There Were None
- Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife
- Anita Krishnan – Fluffy and Me
- Harsh Snehansu – Mango Chutney
- Jean Sasson – Princess
- F. Scott Fitzerland – The Great Gatsby
- Sonia Bahl – The Spectacular Miss
- Jhumpa Lahiri – Unaccustomed Earth
- Malala Yousafzai – I am Malala
- Ruskin Bond – The Blue Umbrella
- Ruskin Bond – Season of Ghosts
- Mitra Phukan – A Monsoon of Music
- Rachel Joyce – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
- Ruskin Bond – The Room on the Roof and Vagrants in the Valley
- Kristin Newman – What I was Doing While You were Breeding
- Blogadda.com – Six Degrees
- Rachel Joyce – The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
- Sarnath Banerjee – Corridor (a graphic novel)
- Paula Hawkins – The Girl on the Train
- Scott Haas – Those Immigrants!
- Neil Gaiman – Coraline
- Bhaskar Chattopadhyay – Penumbra
- David Michie – The Dalai Lama’s Cat
- Marjane Satrapi -Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return
- Rachna Singh – Band Baaja Boys
- Twinkle Khanna – The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad
- Ishani Malhotra – Until I Met You
- P G Wodehouse – Ukridge
- Stieg Larsson – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Jatin Hazarika – Shadow Behind the Throne
B. My bookish rants –
- Forgotten joy
- Bookish Hangover
- Which Species do You Belong to?
- Tinkle Tinkle Little Star
- My First Reading Challenge
- There is something about this smell
- What makes a book good or bad?
- Books & Wine
- A New World
- Do you mark the lines?
- Mark Downs
- Why do you love it?
- Archie will die??
- Take that!
- My Best Books
- Challenge completed!
- Looking back at 2014 – A Bookish Journey
- What’s in a Name?
- A Hangover
C. Bookish challenges, memes, etc. I am a part of (since 2013) –
WWW Wednesday hosted by MizB(the host discontinued it from 2015)- IQR Challenge 2013, 2014, 2015 hosted by The Tales Pensieve
- This Week in Books hosted by Lipsy of LIPSY LOST & FOUND.
- 2016 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
P.S. (1):- Coming Soon: I am trying to compile a list of all the books I have read till date, which is going to one huge task.
P.S. (2):- I am still a paperback/hardcover girl…yes e-readers haven’t impressed me as yet. UPDATE: I have started reading e-books on my iPad but still prefer my ‘real books’ any day 🙂
I relate with you, even iam a paperback/hardcover girl, I cant imagine reading in a kindle, I cant do it, though I tried reading in my tab!
@Novemberschild: e-readers can never beat the feeling of touching & turning the pages of a paperback/hardcover book. And then, there is the smell and also the feeling of owning a precious treasure too. 🙂 I am glad to find another blogger who thinks the same 🙂
And I liked the content of your blog, why don’t you guest write a post for my blog? for more if you are interested please read this – http://thewhitescape.wordpress.com/about/write-for-the-blog/
I am heading off to your blog now to find out if I can jump in 🙂
I love that you dream about having your own library, you are a girl after my own heart! I hope one day you get it. 🙂
i am. looking forward for my dream to come true 🙂
I can’t believe you are making a list of all the books you’ve ever read, I wouldn’t know where to start! Happy 2014! SD
I know that will be one hugggeeee task. And I haven’t yet started it as yet 😛
Happy New Year! 😀
I’m not sure I could remember all the books I’ve read. I pass many of them on to friends and family to read, some return them, some don’t.
I love holding a real book and smelling the pages, but I have to admit that for convenience sake, I do have many books on my e-reader. It is especially helpful when traveling because a. it is easy to fit in a purse or carry-on, b. I don’t have to lug several books around with me.
What did you think of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS? I’ve got it in my TBR pile, but haven’t read it yet.
Sending you hugs.
yes that is one huge task. This is where Goodreads come to help me, if I come across a book I have read and forgotten about it, I add it to my Read-list.:)
I agree on the convenience part of e-books. Maybe I too will convert soon! 🙂
I loved THE FAULT IN OUR STARS 🙂
Hugs to you too, Michelle! 🙂
Ooh book-talk! This is such a happy place to be- your blog. Snowflakes falling, talking about books… what else does one want?
welcome to my space Abhyudaya! I am glad you liked it here and hope you will come back for more! 🙂
And I would love to know how you found me in the big web world 🙂