36 Questions

It was such a lazy, foodie, happy day. Now I am watching Kati Patang on Zee Classic and have decided to pick this note from Rimi and churn out a post. There were 50 questions in her post but I have decided to choose only 36 questions. I told you it is a lazy day...

1. Favourite childhood book:
The Rays. 

Gupi Gayin, Bagha Bayin. Haw-Jaw-Baw-Raw-Law. Pagla Dashu. Professor Shonku. And Feluda.

2. What are you reading right now?
Turbulence - Samit Basu. 

Dawshti Uponyash (Ten Novels) - Moti Nandy.

Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics - Jonathan Wilson.

3. Bad book habit?
Book habits are never bad. 

  

4. Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several at once? 

Usually, I am reading 2-3 books at once. So I guess that's what I prefer.

5.Favorite book you’ve read this year?

Jaya - Devdutt Patnaik. 

May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss - Arnab Ray. 

Mother Pious Lady - Santosh Desai.

6. Favorite place to read?
Anywhere. As long as the book is good. 

I have read books while driving (Using the phone is prohibited. Using a book is not.), in toilets, in bed, in lifts, in buses, on a Bihar highway (while a puncture was getting repaired).

7. What is your policy on book lending?
Please, please, please don't ask to borrow my books. I can't say no but inside, I am dying. 

8. What is your favorite language to read in?
English. No, Bengali. Um, actually English. On second thoughts, Bengali. Hell - both!

9. What makes you love a book?
If it makes me stop, put it aside and think for a moment. If it makes me go - "When will they make a film out of this?" If it makes me feel - "I wish I had written it."

10. Favorite genre?
Children's literature. Comics (not graphic novels). Cinema, screenplays. Trivia. 

11. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Science fiction. Graphic novels. You are not cool unless you read them a lot! 

12. Favorite biography?
Portrait of a Director - Marie Seton. 

The Inner Eye - Andrew Robinson. 

13. Have you ever read a self-help book? 
No. Should I?

14. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Brainiac - Ken Jennings. 

15. Favorite reading snack?
Hershey's Kisses. 

16. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Harry Potter VII. I started expecting way too much.

17. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?  
Spanish or French, I suppose.

18. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Problems in Physics by I.E. Irodov. I was scarred beyond belief by this book during +2. 

19. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Ulysses. The Clockwork Orange. 

20. Favorite Poet?
Sukumar Ray. Rabindranath Tagore. The only two poets I have read in reasonable quantities. 

21. Favorite fictional character?  
Andrew Eliot - The Class (Erich Segal). 

Pradosh C Mitter 

Florentyna Kane - The Prodigal Daughter (Jeffrey Archer).

22. Favorite fictional villain?
Maganlal Meghraj. 

Is Karna a villain? Is Indrajeet a villain?


23. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? 
Books that  have been bought the previous week. There is no 'vacation' genre that I can think of.

24. The longest I’ve gone without reading:
Unlikely to be longer than 12-odd hours. 

25. Name a book that you could/would not finish?
Several.  Some of the famous ones are listed here.

26. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Usually my son manages to distract me quite easily.

27. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?  
Apur Sansar.

Aranyer Dinratri.

The Name of the Rose.

The Namesake.

Umm, errr... 3 Idiots?

28. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Devdas.
Bombai-er Bombetey.

29. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Absolutely. Different shelves for different languages. Books arranged in decreasing order of height, from left to right. 

30. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? 
Could you repeat the question please? 

Actually, don't - my wife and mother might get strange ideas!

31. Name a book that made you angry.
White Tiger - Arvind Adiga. Because it pandered to the stereotypes rather shamelessly.
India After Gandhi - Ramachandra Guha. Because it made me realise we Indians don't solve anything. We wait for it to fester away, peter away.

32. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Five Point Someone. 

33. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
The Big Sleep.

Many classics - most notably Saratchandra and Bankimchandra, Dickens among other.

34. Do you ever write in the margins of a book while you were reading?
Not counting textbooks (which had more of my scribbles than printed matter), the only books I have written in margins are some Satyajit Ray screenplays to make notes that were not there in the sceanrio description.

35. What's the most you have spent in a bookstore?
A couple of grand, I guess? If you count one year of the Calcutta Book Fair as one store and adjust for inflation, then 2000/2001 years would be quite a biggie!

36. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? 
Why should reading ever be guilty? Oh - you mean that sometimes you sneakily read books before exams and that's guilty? But then, everything else is guilt-free, no? Or am I missing the point?