Drop in and say hi!

[Sharadha]

Hi Indrani, a very warm welcome to the group! :)

[Indrani]

Nitesh wrote: "Hey Buddies,

This is Nitesh. On the most used acronym asl from Yahoo chat days.. 28, M, Thane.
I have been seeing lot of action nd traction in this group. Thanks to new moderators. I love reading..."

I am really keen to know how the experiment of reading a book and listening to an audiobook simultaneously work for you. I don't think my brain can process two stories going on simultaneously. Still very interesting!!!

[Nitesh]

Welcome to the group

[Indrani]

Sharadha wrote: "Hi Indrani, a very warm welcome to the group! :)"

Thank you. :)

[Indrani]

Indrani wrote: "Nitesh wrote: "Hey Buddies,

This is Nitesh. On the most used acronym asl from Yahoo chat days.. 28, M, Thane.
I have been seeing lot of action nd traction in this group. Thanks to new moderators...."

Thank you. :)

[Nitesh]

Welcome aboard Piyush.

[Nitesh]

Indrani what are you currently reading. You can join our A thousand Splendid Suns BR. The book is amazing and given you like fiction plus a bit of nom fiction you will love it. A few politically true events are used as reference in the book.

[Sharadha]

Welcome to the group, Piyush! :)

[Indrani]

Nitesh wrote: "Indrani what are you currently reading. You can join our A thousand Splendid Suns BR. The book is amazing and given you like fiction plus a bit of nom fiction you will love it. A few politically tr..."

Nitesh, I have read this book a while back and I loved the book soo much.

Looking forward to joining the next BR.

[Doc.]

Oh my, I thought for sure that I'd introduced myself. *scratches head* Anyway, sorry about that!

I started reading when I was quite young, but then I took an extended break during my college years. The massive textbooks kind of put me off reading altogether, sadly. :( So now I have an out-of-control TBR to deal with. I finally joined the American Library in BKC about a year ago, so I've been trying to attack this TBR as best I can since then. The first book I ever fell head-over-heels in love with was The Lord of the Rings when I was ten, but I'm open to all genres!

Really looking forward to discovering new books with the help of this group, so hello, everyone!

[Piyush]

Sharadha wrote: "Welcome to the group, Piyush! :)"

Thanks for the warm welcome Sharadha :)

[Piyush]

Nitesh wrote: "Welcome aboard Piyush."

Thanks Nitesh!

[Piyush]

S. wrote: "Oh my, I thought for sure that I'd introduced myself. *scratches head*
Anyway, sorry about that! Thanks to the mod for being so welcoming, irrespective. I'll (try to) keep it short—

I started read..."

Hello S (how do you pronounce it anyway?),

Always a pleasure to meet another LOTR fan :)

I had a 1 year membership at the American Consulate Library as well, but sadly, I could not take advantage; the library being quite out of the way for me. I have applied for a lifetime membership at the Asiatic Library though, hopefully that will come through.

Growing TBRs are a happy problem; no true reader can ever catch up :)

Best,
P (I have a cooler first letter)

[Doc.]

Haha, it's pronounced as "secret". :D

The feeling is mutual!

Oh, that's too bad. But hopefully, Asiatic Library will have an even better collection. I love the collection at the Consulate's library; it's helped me bite into my TBR. But since it's limited to American authors and authors however tangentially connected to the US of A, my reading has lacked diversity over the past year.

I read your discussion with Smriti on Gaiman and decided to *try* to accommodate The Graveyard Book this year! I've read two of his fairytale retellings; one was a hit, the other a miss. So I was unsure about him, but maybe this is just the thing to make a fangirl of me.

Thanks, P!
(Game on.)

[Sharadha]

I didn't know about the American Consulate Library in BKC and it would be out of the way for me but I'll read up on it before giving it a go :) I took the British Council library membership for a year and it's a similar issue there that I'm facing - British authors dominate their collection (I'm not cribbing about it too much owing to the fact that that's were the rich source of English text comes from).

Piyush, please let me know how the Asiatic Library experience is, I'd love to hear of it from the source - I had a look at their website when I was hunting for libraries here but gathered that they were more into social sciences, history more so, than fiction (I may in the wrong website again). Thanks :)

[Nitesh]

*Enjoy reading on Kindle* Do libraries still exist :P Haven't been to one post my college days.

[Indrani]

I am enjoying librarywala.com here though. They don't have a highbrow collection but they do have a decent collection. They do doorstep pick-up/drop. I had almost entirely moved to reading electronically. Now back to physical books due to these guys.

I am reading a thick book now. missing both the backlight option of kindle and the easy weight of kindle. Still it is fun to hold a book in hand.

[Sharadha]

Yeah, like they say, there is no other pleasure for a reader than to hold a book in hand :)

Indrani, thanks for the librarywala.com suggestion, will need to look them up too :)

[Sharadha]

Nitesh wrote: "*Enjoy reading on Kindle* Do libraries still exist :P Haven't been to one post my college days."

Nitesh, if you ever go abroad, you'd be overwhelmed with the library culture there - free membership, great collection of eBooks, audiobooks and prints alike, workshops, shows, etc. (I guess that they are funded by either the government or patrons, former being more likely) - it's literally like Crosswords but free. Contrarily, the culture here dismays me given our reputation of being well read and hard-working - we couldn't erect good libraries for the interested. I remember how utterly ill-equipped my college library was.

[Indrani]

Sharadha wrote: "Nitesh wrote: "*Enjoy reading on Kindle* Do libraries still exist :P Haven't been to one post my college days."

Nitesh, if you ever go abroad, you'd be overwhelmed with the library culture there -..."

Yes. The libraries abroad are just too good. I saw Bengali books in the public library in a very small town of UK. Even otherwise the library was huge, all round well-equipped and a very cheerful welcoming place.

[Sharadha]

Yes, Indrani - some of them even have a great collection of CDs and DVDs that you can rent for free. Imagine if that happened in India and people were disciplined about it - wouldn't take much efforts to make reading an enjoyable hobby and sign up to libraries :)

[Indrani]

Sharadha wrote: "Yes, Indrani - some of them even have a great collection of CDs and DVDs that you can rent for free. Imagine if that happened in India and people were disciplined about it - wouldn't take much effo..."

I wish for that so much. I grew up in Jamshedpur. There I was lucky to have a neighborhood club library which was exceptionally well stocked. Then in Kolkata there used to be these neighborhood libraries run by trusts (I think) which were well stocked and maintained and run by volunteer enthusiasts. These places gave me so much joy.

I don't see anything like that in Mumbai. Even the few lending libraries I have visited were very sad. It's not just Mumbai, these libraries are vanishing everywhere.

On the other hand, access to internet and digital content is pretty open now. So that's good. Getting together with other book nerds is also much easier now thanks to these platforms.

[Sharadha]

Indrani, are you from Jamshedpur? Even I grew up there :D I don't remember much of it now though. As long as I was there, I met some great people, saw some great places nearby and, in short, life was good :)

[Indrani]

Sharadha wrote: "Indrani, are you from Jamshedpur? Even I grew up there :D I don't remember much of it now though. As long as I was there, I met some great people, saw some great places nearby and, in short, life w..."

Niiice.. do you remember where you lived? I was there till 10th standard. So have clearer memories of friends and places. Haven't been there for a long long time now. Hoping to do a nostalgia visit some time this winter.

[Sharadha]

I lived in Kadma and went to D.B.M.S. English School - what about you?

Even I haven't visited the place in forever - it apparently ranked last in Swaach Bharat Abhiyan (what?) so that's a distant memory for as long as I was there, I remember it to be decent.

[Doc.]

@Sharadha Oh, I didn't know that British Council's library isn't all-inclusive. I remember I'd checked and they had plenty of American authors, too. But I didn't join because it was too expensive for me. :(

@Indrani Thanks so much for letting us know about that site! Oh, and I'm the reverse. I can't read ebooks if the novel is more than a hundred pages. The screen light gives me a headache. :P

[Indrani]

Sharadha wrote: "I lived in Kadma and went to D.B.M.S. English School - what about you?

Even I haven't visited the place in forever - it apparently ranked last in Swaach Bharat Abhiyan (what?) so that's a distant..."

I stayed in Agrico and Sakchi.. studied in D M Madan.

I am also surprised by the swacch bharat ranking. I also remember the place to be very neat and clean. in fact had a shock and took time adjusting to calcutta afterwards. recently saw an article that some roads were made utilizing waste plastic there.

[Indrani]

S. wrote: "@Sharadha Oh, I didn't know that British Council's library wasn't all-inclusive. I remember I'd checked and they had plenty of American authors, too. But I didn't join because it was too expensive ..."

Happy reading S. The back light can be dimmed though. I found it quite soothing in my kindle. that is before I managed to leave my kindle in a rickshaw. :(

[Nitesh]

I remember visiting a public library when I was a kid.. Never been there post I joined college. My college library was amazing with digital content DVDs huge LED TV with wireless headphones and this was way back in 2005-09. I used to read books during lectures while I was pursuing my MBA on a tab*not kindle*. It was good but not great and then I saw kindle and it was love at first sight. Reading on Kindle is so much fun. you can adjust light, font, size, sync with GR and are always connected. The feeling is the same as reading a book with so much more to do. highlight notes review dictionary etc etc

[Indrani]

Nitesh wrote: "I remember visiting a public library when I was a kid.. Never been there post I joined college. My college library was amazing with digital content DVDs huge LED TV with wireless headphones and thi..."

where did you go to college? :)

[Sharadha]

Indrani wrote: I stayed in Agrico and Sakchi.. studied in D M Madan.

I am also surprised by the swacch bharat ranking. I also remember the place to be very neat and clean. in fact had a shock and took time adjusting to calcutta afterwards. recently saw an article that some roads were made utilizing waste plastic there. "

I have visited Kolkatta sometimes when I lived in Jsr and remember the stench from everywhere outside on the roads (and not just dingy nooks) - rotten eggs smell. And the water was undrinkable.

[Indrani]

@Sharadha yes, the water in Kolkata is the worst. It used to be good within city limits but awful in suburbs. We could hardly drink a glass for months. The city is pretty dirty to be honest and specially so during monsoons.

But Kolkata grows on one with time. The food is good. There is one whole street full of awesome book stores ie college street. the annual book fair is also very very good. Also most people have an awesome sense of humor. Though not sure about how the city is for folks who don't speak Bengali.

[Jenish]

Hello people,
My name is Jenish, and I'm a student. I like to read in my free time. I started reading when I was in high school. I mostly read all kinds of books except biographical. Looking forward for the monthly reads and recommendation.

Regards,
Jenish

[Indrani]

See you around Jenish.. Happy reading..

[Sharadha]

Welcome to the group, Jenish. Please find our July BOTM polls here. You can vote for the nominated books now but please do submit your nominations for August once we create a thread for the same :)

[Nitesh]

Welcome to the club Jenish! You will find a lot of activities happening in the group. Hop on to a GR or BR and push your limitations. Have fun reading!

[Piyush]

S. wrote: "Haha, it's pronounced as "secret". :D

The feeling is mutual!

Oh, that's too bad. But hopefully, Asiatic Library will have an even better collection. I love the collection at the Consulate's libra..."

Asiatic, probably, has the best collection in town. The "members' only" section is something of a treat. You pick any random book lying around and there is a high probability of it being atleast a 50 year old edition. They also have a vault with manuscripts and drawings dating 500 years or more.

Delighted to be able to tempt you into giving Gaiman one more chance, the world needs more Gaiman fans :D

Best,
(The guy with the cool initials)

[Piyush]

Sharadha wrote: "I didn't know about the American Consulate Library in BKC and it would be out of the way for me but I'll read up on it before giving it a go :) I took the British Council library membership for a y..."

Sharadha, Asiatic has a free-for-all section, which is not bad and a much awesomer members' only section, about which I have gushed enough in my post above to S. I am not yet a member, my application is yet to be approved by the all powerful committee.

[Siddarth]

Hello everyone. Sid here. I live in kandivali.

I started reading when I was 8 years old with champak and chacha chaudhary. Moved onto Famous Five, Hardy Boys, James Hadley Chase and Alister MacLean.

These days my reading revolves around authors such as seth godin, malcolm gladwell and peter thiel. Currently i'm reading the irrational bundle by dan ariely

[Indrani]

welcone Siddarth

[Jenish]

welcome to the group Siddharth...

[Sharadha]

Hi Siddharth, welcome to the group :)

Please let me know if you have any queries navigating through the contents, etc.

I have read 2 books by Malcolm Gladwell viz. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and enjoyed them both thoroughly. He is very realistic when trying to demonstrate a point. He also does a lot of research, backed by first-hand professionals' knowledge, before collating evidence for his claims. I maybe gushing about him because I haven't read many non-fiction books :P

Which books of his have you read?

[Nitesh]

Welcome Sid.. Every reader has a phase that only another reader can understand.. I hope you get a lot of reading phases in this group- by fiction, author, genre etc. Have fun.. See you around

[Ranveer]

Hello, I'm Ranveer and while I'm no longer in Mumbai (I was, until a couple of months ago; I used to live in Powai) this group sounded really interesting.

I'm a Computer Science graduate, and I work as an SDE.

I started reading early, starting of with Famous Fives and Find Outers. I went on to Harry Potter and Agatha Christies. I've been reading fiction all my life.

Some of my favorite recent reads are:

* The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
* Aarushi by Avirook Sen
* The Martian by Andy Weir
* A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
* Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer

[Jenish]

Hi Ranveer, Welcome to the group!! I love reading fiction as well! A thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini is one of my fav as well! Happy Reading!

[Sharadha]

Welcome to the group, Ranveer and thanks for your good words :)

A few members recently finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini and we loved it :D Please do join us for these activities to get yourself more involved.

Also, please do make sure that you have voted in our BOTM July polls as some great books have been nominated :) I hope that the group experience is fulfilling for you.

[Prakhar]

- Your good name: Prakhar Varma
- What do you do? College-dropout, taking a sabbatical/gap-year/whayever one wants to call it.
- How old are you? 23
- Which part of Mumbai are you from? Nepean Sea Road
- Since when did you start reading? Since I was 6-7 years old
- What genre(s) do you like to read? Fiction, but also a little bit if this and a little bit of that

[Nitesh]

Welcome to the group Prakhar.

[Indrani]

Welcome Prakhar. Do enjoy your gap year to the fullest.

[Sharadha]

Welcome to the group, Prakhar! We hope that your experience in the group will be a good one.