I do not exactly remember as to when I started serious reading, but off hand I can recollect many of the books and authors- meaning they had made some telling impact on me through their writings. Some of these are: Mahathma Gandhi, Dominic Lapierre & Larry Collins, Arthur Hailey, Irwing Wallace, Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer- to name some !
My earliest readings were those of Gandhiji from "My Experiments with Truth"- I read this in the summer of 1975, when I just finished my graduation. The writings were so impressive and worth repeated references that I made a note of the gist in my scrapbook of collections (I have written about this habit of mine in this blog separately).
Freedom at Midnight by Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins gave a brilliant insight into the Indian freedom struggle and thereafter. What was more admirable was that , it was a book written by two authors who were not Indians ! Some of the anecdotes given there like Vallabhai patel continuing his peroration despite being informed about his wife's demise, the last moments of Gandhiji, about Krishna Menon's personality, Mountbatton and Jinnah.... left a lasting impression and beckoned me for repeated references to this book.
Arthur Hailey- an author I stumbled upon on the recommendations of one of my learned friends Murugan, is a delight to read. He narrates a story around a chosen line of activity and when one finishes reading any of the books, the reader will be left with a definite addition of in depth knowledge of the same. Some of his great writings could be seen in Airport, Final Diagnosis, Hotel, Money Changers, Wheels, Overload and Flight into Danger (co-authored). The areas of focus in these books are Airlines, Hospital, Hotel , Banks, Automobile and Power sector. I learnt a lot about these industries after reading these books. In fact, I have read some of these books more than a dozen times !!
Irwing Wallace- another great author on the lines of Arthur Hailey. Some of his delights are Seven Minutes & Prize. Both are gems, in my opinion. The legal arguments in Seven Minutes are read to be believed- a great storyteller. Prize, a book on Nobel prize is a voluminous one and so intricately describes all minutest details of the Nobel prize activities that it took him 20 years to conceive and deliver the book !! This has been described in another book "Making of one novel" by Wallace himself !! This book explains the plans and pains in writing this novel and incidentally has captured the practices of other popular writers too !!
Sydney Sheldon- Most of his book demand the best attention of the reader- You will not leave the book until you have finished reading it. His Range of Angels is a brilliant story of a young lawyer driven by circumstances and his If Tomorrow comes is a crime fiction which has a gripping story.
Jeffrey Archer- An amazing author with a nose for details. Books such as Kane and Abel and Prodigal Daughter are a delight to read.
I have just recollected whatever that came into my mind- which means these impressed me a lot. Let me update , if I could recollect more !!!!
I have included only the English books and let me have a separate posting for Tamil books.
My earliest readings were those of Gandhiji from "My Experiments with Truth"- I read this in the summer of 1975, when I just finished my graduation. The writings were so impressive and worth repeated references that I made a note of the gist in my scrapbook of collections (I have written about this habit of mine in this blog separately).
Freedom at Midnight by Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins gave a brilliant insight into the Indian freedom struggle and thereafter. What was more admirable was that , it was a book written by two authors who were not Indians ! Some of the anecdotes given there like Vallabhai patel continuing his peroration despite being informed about his wife's demise, the last moments of Gandhiji, about Krishna Menon's personality, Mountbatton and Jinnah.... left a lasting impression and beckoned me for repeated references to this book.
Arthur Hailey- an author I stumbled upon on the recommendations of one of my learned friends Murugan, is a delight to read. He narrates a story around a chosen line of activity and when one finishes reading any of the books, the reader will be left with a definite addition of in depth knowledge of the same. Some of his great writings could be seen in Airport, Final Diagnosis, Hotel, Money Changers, Wheels, Overload and Flight into Danger (co-authored). The areas of focus in these books are Airlines, Hospital, Hotel , Banks, Automobile and Power sector. I learnt a lot about these industries after reading these books. In fact, I have read some of these books more than a dozen times !!
Irwing Wallace- another great author on the lines of Arthur Hailey. Some of his delights are Seven Minutes & Prize. Both are gems, in my opinion. The legal arguments in Seven Minutes are read to be believed- a great storyteller. Prize, a book on Nobel prize is a voluminous one and so intricately describes all minutest details of the Nobel prize activities that it took him 20 years to conceive and deliver the book !! This has been described in another book "Making of one novel" by Wallace himself !! This book explains the plans and pains in writing this novel and incidentally has captured the practices of other popular writers too !!
Sydney Sheldon- Most of his book demand the best attention of the reader- You will not leave the book until you have finished reading it. His Range of Angels is a brilliant story of a young lawyer driven by circumstances and his If Tomorrow comes is a crime fiction which has a gripping story.
Jeffrey Archer- An amazing author with a nose for details. Books such as Kane and Abel and Prodigal Daughter are a delight to read.
I have just recollected whatever that came into my mind- which means these impressed me a lot. Let me update , if I could recollect more !!!!
I have included only the English books and let me have a separate posting for Tamil books.
No comments:
Post a Comment