New Year means a lot of new books to keep you charmed

Apart from jotting down new resolutions in the beginning of a New Year, the temptation to write about books that you read in the year just gone by and what kind of books you would like to read in the next 12 months is too great to be ignored. After all, in my own words that I love to repeat unfailingly, “there is nothing like books that can carry you far and wide at no cost.” 

Actually, books make you feel that you are the “most travelled person” even though you have not stepped out of the comfort of your bedroom for quite a long time now. Books, as we say and acknowledge, are the best friends one can have. You can use this “friend” the way you like, any time, any occasion, without fail. The fact that it will stand by you, come what may, is the guarantee of its being the best friend, philosopher and guide in the true sense of the word. 

I will be shocked if anybody comes forward to dispute this “truth”. Recently, I had the occasion to meet Ruskin Bond, Indian author of British origin, at a book-launch function. The tone and tenor of his talk was that books can book you for a lifetime, to make you not only richer knowledge-wise but also make your long journey of life on this planet smoother and more enjoyable. A wise man need not necessarily be a rich man, but a rich man needs to be wise to be happy. 

And, as American author Elizabeth Strout says, “I do reread, kind of obsessively, partly for the surprise of how the same book reads at a different point in life, and partly to have the sense of returning to an old friend.” 

Source | Hindustan Times | 10 January 2017

Courtesy to:  http://pralhad-fyilibrarian.blogspot.in/