28 Read, Read and Read

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.  Excellent quote by Joseph Addison.  I am somewhat lazy and try to do exercise whenever the laziness allows me.  But I follow the first part of the quote diligently!!  Reading keeps your brain working and ensures that even though your body might not look young (due to not exercising), your brain definitely would be!!

I have been an avid reader since my childhood.  Gorging on Amar Chitra Kathas, Tintin, Asterix, Bahadur, Mandrake, Phantom, Chacha Choudhry, Motu-Patlu in comics.  Perry Mason, Agatha Christie’s works, Sherlock Holmes, James Hadley Chase, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton’s 5 in novels.  I even started reading Robert Ludlum when I was in my 8^th standard.  I remember it was The Bourne Identity.  That was the first 300+ page novel that I had ever read!  I completed it non-stop in about 7-8 hours.  That was the first real page-turner book for me.  Over the years, I have taken up one author at a time and read all his/her works.  John Grisham, Michael Crichton, James Patterson. Sidney Sheldon, Robert Ludlum, Judith Ann Jance and so on.

A couple of years back, I started my own collection of books for my personal library.  It now has the complete collection of Tintin, Asterix, and Amar Chitra Katha (with the exception of around 18 titles that are not available even with Amar Chitra Katha publishers). In novels, entire books of Perry Mason, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Satyajit Ray’s Feluda, all short stories of Jeffrey Archer, entire RK Narayan set, collection of Roald Dahl short stories and others.

Reading also helps you in understanding new words and help you improve your English.  It definitely helped me remarkably improving my English speaking.  I am happy to have instilled the same reading habit in my kids who too have become voracious readers now.  Initial pushing was required from my side to make them read.  Now my daughter brings a new book from school library every second day and finishes it very fast.  Half the book she finishes while going to and coming back from school in the school bus.  The other half, after finishing her homework and before going to bed.  And of course, both my kids' English is way ahead than what my English used to be at their age😊

Making the kids spend time in reading also reduces their time spent in electronic gadgets!!  Sometimes one does read some novels on Kindle or other devices.  But by reducing the frequency of reading in electronic devices will go a long way in delaying the wearing of spectacles😊. Feeling a book in your hands and reading it is a very special feeling that is to be experienced. 

People like to read some of the books again and again as it makes them relive the story again.  After reading the above books in my childhood, I find great pleasure in reading them again!!  Many of them end up teaching you how to look at life through different ways.

Make reading a part of your daily activity!!  Cheers!!

Today’s daffy definition

Conclusion – A place where you got tired of thinking!!