The way to my heart is books.
Someone I know did this a while ago, and it worked really well for her, so I will shamelessly do the same.
I will scream from rooftops, through my blogposts, status updates etc., that my birthday is on 6th January.
Yes, yes. My 18th birthday.
And, I will make a big huge enormous mammoth gigantic deal about it, just because I want a lot of books!!!
1.Beyond Good and Evil- Friedrich Nietzsche
2.Enduring Love-Ian Mcewan
3.The Comfort of Strangers-Ian Mcewan
4.Black Dogs-Ian Mcewan
5.Vanishing Point- David Markson
6.Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
7.The Wind-up bird Chronicle- Haruki Murakami
8.Summertime-J.M.Coetzee
9.Youth-J.M.Coetzee
10.Leviathan-Paul Auster
13.The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
14.The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams.
16. Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec
17.The Silence of the Lambs-Thomas Harris.
18.Wall and Piece- Bansky.
19.Death is not an option:Stories-Suzanne Rivecca
20. Invisible-Paul Aster
21.The New York Trilogy-Paul Aster
22.Jonathon Livingston Seagull-Richard Bach
23.On Beauty-Zadie Smith
24.The End of Innocence-Moni Mohsin
25. Disgrace- J.M.Coetzee
These are the ones off the top of my head.
So, if anyone's listening, please buy at least one of these for me!! :) :)
18 comments:
lol... jan 6th is another 6 months away.....
i will buy two of those books for your next b'day......... :D
keep blogging!!!
hi bunny!!:) :)
i am sana!!remember me?
i read your blog and i was very impressed!
you write very well!!:) :)
from the one and the only
sana
hey nitisha,
watched the brazil vs netherlands match???finally the mighty brazilians are out!!!
tomoro's the big day....messi n co are gonna mess up the germans.....
keep praying for argentina....
if you get all the books...that would one heavy gift..
12,14, are only ones i have read
and 17 was made into a movie...
gr8 shortlist tho!
Tarrrrrrrrrun! I cannot believe Brazil lost! :( :(
But argentina is still very much in, and I cant wait to watch the match!
@Sankoobaba-The Reader was made into a movie too, btw. And I've seen Silence of the Lambs and loved it!
nits, u supporting argentina right?? then y feel bad sad that brazil lost???
i gonna be a gr8 weekend..... have fun
nits, u there on fb???
Argentina, Brazil, Germany were my top contenders for the World Cup title!
And no, i'm not!
What the ****! The other four-letter word, that you intended the readers to think in your newer post! Going through your profile I'd noticed that you were a capricornian, but the real WTF is my b'day too happens to be 6th January!
Sorry for commenting on such a frivolous subject when what you've written some rather 'more' serious issues to ponder over, but right now this is what excites me the most! :)
I could make out, reading is your passion (duh!), and am myself not a very well read person. The only things on your favorites list that I have read are the two Ayn Rand novels.
Just a small reminder (assuming you might be unaware of it). Whatever individual items you post in your Blogger profile, act as one keyword and are to be separated by comma/full stop (period). So if you simply post U2, this (click) is what you get. It allows other bloggers to search each other through common interests/favorites. But, if you post "My all time favourite band is U2. Their lyrics actually do make sense most of the time.", this (click) is what you get instead! Of course, that also sort of makes you unique. :)
Why I mention this is because, I'd found many wonderful blogs - directly or indirectly searching for Ayn Rand, her novels and for atheism.
Seeing the sort of pattern in what you like for reading I can't make too many suggestions (as I've not read much), but you might try 'Acts of Faith' by Erich Segal. It's not very insightful, but one of those stories that had got me saturated emotionally.
Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog!
Hey there, Ketan!
You're a 6th jan born guy too! This is so cool.
(Random fact-I share my birthday with my dad too!)
Btw, do you know the coolest person we share our birthday with? Mr. Bean!!!!! :D :D :D
And thank you so much for that piece of tech. information; I actually didnt know that at all. :O I would love to interact with all sorts of people, be their tastes similar or diverse.
And Ayn Rand is one of my favourites too. Her philosophy of objectivism was light years ahead of her time! Although as good as it sounds in theory,I dont see it's practical relevance today. Still, I've read 3 books of hers and I'm more than impressed. :)
Btw, if you really are interested in reading, I could recommend a whole list of books, if you'd like.
And thanks for that nice long comment up there!
I liked your blog and so I'm following it!
Read some more of my blog, and maybe you'll return the favour! :P
Wow, your dad and mom had such perfect timing! :P
Anyway, being an atheist I don't follow any god or godesses.
Other famous people born or 6th January:
1. Joan of Arc
2. A. R. Rahman
3. Kapil Dev
4. Rafael Vidal (sic). LOL!
You can read more on Wikipedia (click).
Regarding Ayn Rand, and in general, relevance of an idea depends on context and purpose. So, without specifying the two, we cannot talk of relevance or irrelevance. If you meant, it's difficult to put it to practice, then I'd tend to agree. It's not exactly difficult to put to practice what seems to have suggested, but facing the consequences might be. :) BTW, interpretations of her stories have been surprisingly varied despite the very plain language she'd used, and avoidance of unexplained metaphors. Which is her third book that you've read?
Weirdly, the last two novels that I completed were 'The Fountainhead' and 'Atlas shrugged' in that order. I found her novels so unpretentious and touching my core, that my threshold to judge (the honesty in) fiction rose significantly. After that the only book I took up on suggestion from someone I greatly respect was the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. It's interesting and intelligent, but I'd left in between and haven't completed it yet. :)
But sure, you can make some suggestions. Now I might get a bit free, and who knows, I might resume reading fiction.
I guess, you might be interested in going through other blogs.
You can find my suggestions here (click).
Though, I've already mentioned Rohith Ramdas there, his blog needs special mention for the superb stories he writes. Another in that list, Manu Sebastian writes incredibly well.
After I'd updated that list I'd found two other very good blogs. Psychology of selfishness (click) and Remains of the day (click). Ifat Glassman probably has been a student of objectivist philosophy; and Harmanjit Singh, I believe, is the most intelligent and wisest person I've ever interacted (to whatever little degree) with.
Srishti (click) is of comparable age (not much significance, just mentioning!) as you, who mostly blogs on lighthearted note, but is a very observant person. You might enjoy her blog. :)
Don't thank me for writing long comments, I must thank you for reading them! :D
And, you'd find many bloggers from Mumbai:
Why is everything four? (click)
A Little More Living (click)
Beta Female (click)
Blogus Inominata (click)
Hey there. Thanks for all those suggestions. One I really liked was Blogus Inominata. :)
I first read Fountainhead, when it was gifted to me on my 13th birthday. And yes, I got bored and put it away that first time. I finally got down to finishing it 2 years ago, and fell in love with the philosophy of Objectivism, idealism, the virtue of selfishness and meeeting a real-life Howard Roark. I followed that up by reading Atlas Shrugged and Anthem. Anthem is actually like a philosophical Brave New World, that sci-fi,futuristic classic. Worth a read.
Now there are two ways you can look at a philosophy. One way is the philosophy unto itself, in isolation. In that respect, Objectivism is brilliant. Original. An idealist's dream. A cynic's fall back option.
You also need to see its relevance. Not in a specific time period, or situation, but its universal applicability. And no, it's not viable. Not really, anyway.
You can't make your way in the world with no help from people,no matter how much you dislike them. There are hardly any true absolutes left in the world. There is a degree to which selfishness can be professed as a virtue. And we all know about the finiteness of things.
Hence, I find its relevance in today's world dubious to say the least.
Wow! A 17 yr old who aspires to read Murakami! You must be really something! :D Well, I've read just four on your list..12, 13, 14, and 17..but there's Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee which is lovely and its not on your list..you've read it?
I've already read The Elephant Vanishes by Murakami, his short-stories novella and didn't find it great. So I've decided to read his most critically acclaimed "Kafka on the Shore" to have a more informed opinion, coz I've heard he's brilliant.
And no, I haven't read Disgrace. It's nice? :)
If you've read anything by Coetzee you'll know that he has this lovely, spare, bare-bones style of writing and I must say, in Disgrace, it is really very effective.
The novel is very challenging, you know, as in difficult to digest becoz the characters you come to care about dont really make all the choices you want them to, but I think thats how it is in the real world. So, I really liked it. I hope you read it too. I'd love to know what you thought! :) Its very comforting always to meet a fellow bibliomaniac! :D
Okay, I've heard enough and this is my decision. :P
I'm adding this to my books-I-want-for-my-18th birthday-list. :)
I haven't read Coetzee yet, although I've been wanting to for the past year. Aaaaah, someone please buy me these books!
So now we know what to buy an 18 year old for her bday! :)
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