How to Pick a Good Book

"How to pick a Good Book and not feel let down?"
"I want to read something good...tell me one."
"Yaar recommend me some book...!!"

These are just some of the questions that many of my friends and colleague who are not much into books, ask me and I, in response, help them recommending books from current bestsellers list or the ones I found interesting and good enough to go through and be a part of my shelf.

It's only when I found one and only one of my blogger friend Smita  enlightening people with Mantra's to Read more and more on her blog, I decide to enlighten people on how to pick a good book and not feel unhappy or disappointed.

Here I go...

How to Pick a Good Book..

1. Feel the Need

Don't read just because you have to. Read because you want to. In my case I read to survive. One should feel the need, the desire, the hunger to lay your hands on something as beautiful as a book and once you find something that appeals to you or interest you...Read to bask in its Beauty.

2. Go to a good and well known Bookstore nearby your place.

When you want to dine out or eat out what do you do? Well, you go to tastiest restaurants (considering you have the money), one which is classy and modern and  specializes in both traditional and contemporary cuisines, where menu and chef's cooking displays and services are sure to get the taste buds interested.

Same goes for shopping(well..most of the time) and Books as well.

A bookstore offers a collection of fictions, novels,classic, books on interior decoration, cookery books, books on religion and various other subjects. You can also find current bestsellers, page turners and so forth.

Here are the names of some of the good Bookstores followed by their Address in Noida and Delhi which can really help you pick your choice.

1. Oxford Book Store : It's the best and feels like heaven. A must visit for every Bookworm.

148, New Statesman House, Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001

011 23766083?

2.Om Book Shop

Ground Floor, Great India Place

Sector 38-A, Noida, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301

3. Galgotia book Shop

G - 64 Sector 18, Noida

Near MC Donald's

4. Teksons Bookshop

G-24, Sector-18, Noida, 201301

0120 2511363

You can also do some online shopping where you get discounts on no. of Books and great offers.

Some of them are as follows:

1.Flipkart

2.Rediff Books

3.Indiatimes

4.Indiaplaza

5.FriendsofBooks

3. Search for online book reviews and join some  "social cataloging" website such as  Goodreads and Shelfari.

These social network for readers have more than millions of members who have added  thousands of books to their shelves. This is a place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members or Shelfari members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more. 

4. Decide what you want to read and pick books which interest you.

Books and Women are the only two things that come in wide variety ( No Offense here....I respect nothing as much as every Women in the world..) with a difference that it's lot easier to handle books as compared to women. 

Read only what you want to at the moment. Well, you should be sensible enough to know what you want.

5. Find out about the Best of the Authors and their work and most importantly their style of writing.

There are books which might have a good and interesting plot but then not much to understand. (Faking it by Amrita Choudhary is one such book..) and then there are books which may not have a gripping plot but feel like heaven while going through it.

All of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's books fall in this category though some of them actually have a gripping plot. She's one Author who creates a magical world by her writing and words. She's my most favorite of all. So before zeroing in on something find out about the Author and if possible try to read first 5-6 pages of a book. If found interesting and readable...Buy.

6. Last but never the least...Go through Book Blogs.

The world is full of Book Lovers who express their love through Blogs where you can find Book Reviews, Books to pick from Bestsellers List,what are they reading, what is next on their mind and lots more.

One such Blog which is a favorite of mine is by Smita and also features in the Best Indian Blog.

Here's a link: Books, Life-n-More 

To make it easier for you here are some of the books that you can pick and would never regret having done so.

1. Twilight Saga - All four Books by Stephenie Meyer

2. Palace of Illusion by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

3. The lost Flamingoes of Bombay by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

4. The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga

5. Zero Percentile by Neeraj Chhibba

6. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

7. Ford County by John Grisham

8. The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan

9.Paths of Glory by Jeffery Archer

10. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

In the end ...Remember what you like may not go well with other's likings and that shouldn't matter much. I like myself but hardly liked by anyone else. So it's up to you to decide what you want to read and what not and pick only what you want and leave unwanted. That's an art as well. The sooner you acquire and understand, the better for you.

Enjoy Reading..!!

After a 20-day Hiatus

Last 20 days have been the busiest days of my life so far. I feel like as if I've been thrashed on the flogging stones, then tossed into huge vats of boiling starch and hung out to dry. And then neatly ironed and put back to my usual self.

Well, that's precisely what my life has been for last 20 days and one of the many reasons to "not-to-blog".

I was looking for something motivating to get back to blogging but I didn't get. I never get. And now I've decided to switch back to what I love doing most and would blog only about it unless I find anything as interesting as reading books.

But before I bore you with the books I read and their reviews here's a glimpse inside my life in last 20 days and insanities embedded therein.

List of events in chronological order:

1. My Birthday

2. My cousin's Marriage

3. Meeting a lost friend after a long time of 10-12 years

4. A Night-Out with friends for a  friend's B'Day

1. My Birthday

Well, It was the worst ever....I literally got muffed-up. Don't even wanna think about it forget blog in detail. I would rather not say much.

2. My Cousin's Marriage

I decided to attend her wedding a day prior to its schedule and tried to book my tickets but unsurprisingly didn't get it. So had to travel in non-AC class for 12 hours with my parents in AC class.

I tried to pass hours reading but could not as people around asked to switch off the lights and I did reluctantly.

I was battered and tattered by the time I reached my destination. Later that day I attended my sister's wedding, was thankfully awake throughout the whole ceremony for the very first time and nearly avoided a tiff with the Groom in our very first conversation.  I won't have spared him if it wasn't his own wedding. Though I almost lost my temper on some of the Girls from Groom's side but my mom rescued them seeing the warning in my eyes. 

Sis, I didn't like your "madrasi" looking husband and any of his family member for their weird, arrogant and exaggerated self-opinion and importance. They are nothing but a bunch of boneheaded, brainless, crazy fools.

All the best Sis..!!

3. Meeting a lost friend after a long time of 10-12 years

Met a friend of mine after a long time. I would have not recognized her ever if she wouldn't have told her name. Both of us were really more shocked than surprised to see each other. 

She was all howling, shouting to see me( I doubt...)...well, I didn't notice this unless my friends told me this. She complimented or insulted me saying I was more "handsome"( I've never been one...) then back in school than I'm now and I realized She was more blind then than she is now.

We took each other's no. and promised to catch up soon.

4. A Night-Out with friends for a  friend's B'Day

"I fell asleep and don't even remember if the cake was cut or not."

Conclusion: I'm the weirdest person with even more weird luck to act as magnet for troubles. I should be forbidden to set foot on anything auspicious.

Now the Books...

Here are the books and their ratings that I read in last 2-3 weeks and will post their reviews soon.

1. To kill a Mockingbird by Harper lee

My Rating : 4/5

2. Ladies Coupé -by Anita Nair

My Rating: 3/5

3. The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
My Rating: 2.5/5

4. The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
My Rating: 3.5/5