May Photo A Day : Day 21 : I Care About This…
If I say that I have a great liking for books, well that’s putting it mildly!
I was an early reader. I believe, I got this love for reading from my mother. No, she was not into reading novels, but she read the entire newspaper daily and 2-3 magazines that we used to subscribe to, every month. It was the school library where I discovered the magical world of books. The books at this place, like a time machine, transported me to far away places and dropped me in the lives of various characters and enchanting stories. With time, the love and passion for reading books has just increased.
Mark Twain had said, “Books! I dunno if I ever told you this, but books are the greatest gift one person can give another”. And I wholeheartedly agree with him. My first choice of gift for a child is a book. Have bought cloth books for toddlers too. It gives me immense pleasure to see a child immersed in the world of books.
I tried to inculcate the habit of reading in Aaryan from a very young age. I read stories to him, I listened to him, as he read and then sat with him as we both read our respective books.
I feel kind of sad to see that Aaryan has not inherited the love for reading books from me. He reads them but is yet to fall in love with them. I hope that day comes soon.
While I am very keen to give books as gifts, I hate sharing my books with anybody.
Reasons are many…
- Once you lend the books, they rarely come back in the same condition… a tear here or a dog ear there, the worn or shabby look as the book is kept face-down on its open pages and the most outrageous and obnoxious part is underlining of interesting / important part with a pen!!
- You may never get them back. Have lost so many good books that way!
- You may have to put in a lot of efforts to get them back…repeated calls…SMSs…subtle hints… These efforts could continue for months altogether.
My books have moved from a small cupboard to a big cupboard. Very soon, I may need another abode for my lovelies.
Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too that part of the pleasure of a library lies in its very existence. – Jan Morris 
This post is a part of May Photo A Day.
May 21, 2013 8:13 am|
You won’t believe this, but I actually saved this pic… just so I could zoom in and view the titles of your books! You should have posted a higher resolution na! 😛 😛 😛
Btw, when are we meeting again? I would love to have a closer look at those titles and swap books again with you.
Oh, I see a heel on one of the books behind that plate. Devil wears Prada?
May 21, 2013 8:17 am|
LOL 😀 You actually did that!!
Higher resolution pic… I have clicked this in the morning with a 1000 things pending. Both the maids bunked today, so I was in maid mode and then had to reach office too! A great learning… it is always better to schedule the post ahead of time than click and write it on the same day!
Yes, that’s Devil wears Prada 🙂
Come over anytime, Kadambari! Let’s meet soon 🙂
May 21, 2013 8:20 am|
I have a similar book rack
I was exhausted of all the ideas today and finally wrote some thing
Books I wrote even before hence skipped
Yep a book lover will understand you
I have many to be read books and rack is over flowing
I hope I make a time table and read and don’t worry about aryan . May b he has different passions but I know he has ur genes too 😉
By the way I too hate lending books. I had to lend as I was a part of book club in office and I was anxious till I got it back ! Specially some one returned my Anne frank and Harry potter after 6-8 months 🙁
After that I never lent books 🙂
May 21, 2013 9:19 am|
That’s the same with me too… have to read so many books. This AtoZ challenge and May Photo A Day has taken so much of my time that am not getting much time to read!
Aaryan’s passions are similar to his dad. KG is not much into reading books, he reads though once in a while!
Lending… don’t get me started on that… That yellow post it you see in the pic… below the first shelf… that says “Our Policy : No Lending and No Borrowing of Books”… still people don’t pay heed to it!! 🙁
May 21, 2013 10:26 am|
hehe even my husb is not much in to reading but slowly am rubbing the passion on him ! as long as they use brain and think am ok with it;)
May 21, 2013 8:22 am|
And I too wrote a post amidst a lot of hullabaloo today
Even if u wrote it in hurry its fab 🙂
Good day
May 21, 2013 9:09 am|
Thanks Afshan. A great day to you too 🙂
May 21, 2013 8:34 am|
You sound ditto like me minus the children part. I’m yet to have a kid and when they do pop out, I have plans of instilling reading into their system.
Here’s to the kindred soul, Shilpa!
Joy always,
Susan
May 21, 2013 9:11 am|
Glad to know that we have similar tastes, Susan.
May the kids enter your life sooon 🙂 Amen! 🙂
Cheers 🙂
May 21, 2013 8:53 am|
Lovely Shilpa. I loved your bookshelf too, kind of double the one I have 🙂
No matter how big the space, it is going to fill up soon. I too love gifting books as per the age and interests thinking that toys and clothes are anyways gifted by everyone. But many people do not understand the sentiment. I have even been tainted that I am pushing my interests on others 🙁
May 21, 2013 9:16 am|
It is an almirah… I have clicked it with the doors opened (You can see the glass door on the right!)
Oh yeah, the space is always a constraint for books… they just keep increasing!
I can so relate to you, Reema on this book gifting thing. Even I have heard such unsavory remarks for gifting books… I mean, that’s outrageous and they are way better than the toys which will give momentary pleasure… books opens up a new world for your child, helps you to spend quality time with your child, he learns so much… but they just dont get it! Their loss 😐
May 21, 2013 9:03 am|
That is one tall bookshelf! Phew! I shifted all my old books to my home in India two years ago. Now I just have the recent ones and my bookshelf is overflowing already! I can totally understand. 🙂
http://www.whatmycameracaptures.com/may-photo-a-day-21/
May 21, 2013 9:21 am|
This is the story of all book lovers. We never have enough and they just keep coming and then occupy space and then flood the place… We love this scenario though, dont we! 🙂
May 21, 2013 9:06 am|
That’s an amazing set of books there…quite some. I would love to have a small library like that for myself! Nice one…
May 21, 2013 9:22 am|
Amen to that, Kajal 🙂
May 21, 2013 9:06 am|
Absolutely love this Shilpa and I totally agree with not lending books. I hate dog eared bookmarks, stains, torn pages. My big book shelf is back in India but I have managed to grab books here as well. 🙂
May 21, 2013 9:28 am|
It is so funny, Maddie, that we book lovers understand and respect the policy about no book lending but the others just dont get it. There is no harm in sharing a book with a book lover, for he/she also values the book and would keep it safely and neatly… but what do we do with others!! I have lost so many good books to people who never read those books and still took them just because their urge to read (and borrow your book) was just a passing fancy! 🙁
May 21, 2013 9:31 am|
nothing warms my heart as uch as seeing these overfilled bookshelves 😉
May 21, 2013 9:42 am|
You said it!! 🙂
May 21, 2013 10:00 am|
That is an ailment , a pleasurable one , I share with you.
Like you mentioned the fiendish ones are those who borrow books and do not return or feign ignorance . I despise that lot.
Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to rearrange your book collection in the shelf ?
Many do not understand the value of books because they do not see the soul and thought of another that is in print and ensconced in a book.
May 21, 2013 6:41 pm|
A pleasurable ailment… I like that! 😀
You have said it so beautifully, Anil. True, those who do not know the value the magical powers of books can show such irreverence to them.
May 21, 2013 10:04 am|
Oh I love your bookshelf, its a treasure trove!! And I tend to love even more, those houses which are so rich with the books they own!
May 21, 2013 6:42 pm|
Thanks Deeps, you echo my sentiments on this one 🙂
May 21, 2013 10:24 am|
That is a nice book shelf!!! And like u even I resist lending my books for the very reasonsthat u have written here. You know I have even directly said this to some one that I do not share my books 😀
May 21, 2013 6:43 pm|
Yes, saying it directly is the best way… may offend them… but then that’s the only way to safeguard your treasure 🙂
May 21, 2013 10:48 am|
I love books too! Does lack of book space keep you from buying more? Never! 😉 I agree completely about the books-go-missing part. They are in fact the easiest things to go missing when lend.
May 21, 2013 6:44 pm|
True, they occupy a lot of space! 😐
Oh yeah, lend = repent!
May 21, 2013 11:38 am|
I actually had an entire library-card type system back in Kanpur, when my classmates used to borrow books frequently. The regular borrowers had an entire separate page to themselves – with columns for the date, name of book, author, sign etc. Even my books were all cataloged author-wise!
One time, I lent Sidney Sheldon’s If Tomorrow Comes to someone, and she lent it to someone else, who lent it to someone else… etc etc etc. When I finally, got the book back, it was in such horrible condition that I almost burst into tears. After that, I made this lending policy that whoever borrowed the book from me was responsible for returning it to me in the same condition I gave it to him/her. Luckily, my classmates were all so terrified of me that nobody messed with my books after that! 😛
(A catalog for books! Wow! I WAS an orderliness freak!)
May 21, 2013 6:46 pm|
God! Kadambari! Aren’t you too much!! 😀 😀
May 21, 2013 12:01 pm|
You read all of them? almost a library out there 🙂
May 21, 2013 6:47 pm|
I have read most of them and there are a few which are waiting to be read! 🙂
May 21, 2013 2:54 pm|
Wow! what a collection!
May 21, 2013 6:48 pm|
Thanks Janaki 🙂
May 21, 2013 3:42 pm|
Hi Shilpa
I love books too but I normally borrow from lending libraries . Unless its a book I know I will read many times over I don’t buy them . Lovely collection there . Imagine 100 yrs down the line someone comes across your collection and says ‘wow, these are rare gems ‘ 🙂
May 21, 2013 6:50 pm|
I was a part of a lending library twice and it was fab experience. I used to read almost 1 book a day then! Now, dont have any near by so buying is the only option and I love buying books 🙂
100 years… nice thought 🙂
May 21, 2013 4:57 pm|
I have a box full of books. I try to give away as many as possible. I am thinking of donating some to a library. I like to keep only some classics or really really dear books on a little cane bookshelf.
May 21, 2013 6:51 pm|
Giving to a library is such a noble thing to do. So many people would be benefited 🙂
May 21, 2013 5:33 pm|
Haa..me too me too 🙂 I love your book shelf. So very organized it looks 🙂 Wonderful collection there. I hate giving my books to people, they don’t treat them properly and worse, forget to return them.
Wonderful post 🙂
May 21, 2013 6:53 pm|
Thanks 🙂
I know the feeling, Nanadana 😐
May 21, 2013 6:00 pm|
Oh how I miss my books!! I boxed most of them and kept some in shelves back home in India… I too dont lend my books to people who dont appreciate its value having lost a few gems of mine…And don’t worry, books are delightful and Aaryan will surely stumble upon this treasure trove and fall in love with reading…I too wish that my children one day will take after me and not my hubby in this regard 😛
May 21, 2013 6:54 pm|
I hope so too that Aaryan starts enjoying books.
Amen to that, Reshma 🙂
May 21, 2013 7:59 pm|
I love your bookshelf 🙂 I need a new bookshelf soon since the current one is already full. Even I dont like lending books to people for the same reason. They hardly are returned in one piece.
May 26, 2013 1:05 pm|
I guess, lending/borrowing books from personal collections should be banned completely 😀
May 22, 2013 3:39 am|
Good collection of Books.
May 26, 2013 1:05 pm|
Thanks ma’am 🙂
May 22, 2013 7:32 am|
agree to every single point u’ve made here….i moved my bookshelf from the sitting room to my bedroom just to avoid people who asked me lend my books to them!! there are my prized possession..and i hate people who have disregard for the books they borrow and so conveniently forget to return!!
luckily my elder one shares my love for books, and is a voracious reader..im happy he started early on like me!
May 26, 2013 1:10 pm|
I agree to this… for this very reason, I am not keen to even show my books to the visitors.
That’s so very good that your sonny boy loves reading. Happy for you 🙂
May 22, 2013 11:28 pm|
I have a dream to have my own library one day. Staying in this country and not with a permanent home, it saddens me…already I piled up some by buying rummage sales at work..few I got them from India. You know I don’t mind giving books to trusted ones, but you are so very right…you have to put in lot of effort to get them back..same with Rushi..he didn’t inherit my love for books 🙁
May 26, 2013 1:11 pm|
Amen to your dream!
Hope our kids fall in love with books soon 🙂
May 23, 2013 2:23 am|
Shilpa, can I give you a hug? You have echoed my mind so perfectly, I was nodding throughout. I too love gifting and receiving books, I too read to my kids and hope they will love books as much as I do. I too hate lending books. I once lent Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie to someone. I never got the book back. In fact, the girl I lent it too denied ever having taken it. That friendship isn’t the same anymore.
I think your book almirah is fabulous. My books are all over the place.
May 26, 2013 1:16 pm|
Yes, you can, Cynthia and here’s a big hug to you! 🙂
Oh, losing such a classic… truly sad!
Once husband’s colleague borrowed 2 books, asked him to remind her after a month or 2 and when that failed, I started following up with her over emails/SMS and when she finally returned the books after 4 months, she acted as if she was doing me a favor by giving them back! 😐