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WE can share our reflections after responding our limited (a mere 22-Questions) questionnaire

http://ma-serendipity.blogspot.com.es/2016/11/a-reading-questionnaire-across-booking.html

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Reading 55 questions with 55 answers.  Would you dare a go?This is what internet people call a ‘meme’ and what I call an excuse to write self-indulgent drivel, but I venture to hope that it may pass the time (if not yours then at any rate mine). Thank you to Stuck in a Book where I found the template. If one follows the virtual paper trail, one can track down all sorts of interesting things about other people’s reading habits. by BOY somewhere  by Sarah Norfolk by Philip Pullman     by Stuck in a book  

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Reading 55 questions with 55 answers.  Would you dare a go?This is what internet people call a ‘meme’ and what I call an excuse to write self-indulgent drivel, but I venture to hope that it may pass the time (if not yours then at any rate mine). Thank you to Stuck in a Book where I found the template. If one follows the virtual paper trail, one can track down all sorts of interesting things about other people’s reading habits. by BOY somewhere  by Sarah Norfolk by Philip Pullman     by Stuck in a book  

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by Stuck in a book

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Brave New World    Author: Aldous HuxleyYear: 1932Famous for: Sex, drugs, sex, drugs, sex, drugs...Main character: No, you’re not seeing double. There are two protagonists in this book: Bernard Marx, a shrimp of a guy who tries (and fails) to rebel, and John the Savage, the one character born outside the creepy confines of the World State.The scoop:In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World there’s no pain or discomfort or anything remotely unpleasant. Everyone is content. Citizens of this perfect society are programmed from birth to accept their destiny, whether it be as a lowly Epsilon, or as a mentally and physically perfect Alpha Plus. They’re programmed to be uber-consumers, which of course means that the economy in their society is in perfect shape, too. And socially? Well, let’s just say that there’s enough sex and drugs to keep everything purring.Unfortunately, as in any “perfect” society, there are a few people who begin to question just what they’ve sacrificed to achieve this “Brave New World.” Questioning leads to action. Action leads to a blip in the perfect order of things. But don’t worry, the rulers of Brave New World‘s ultra-creepy World State have everything under control…

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Brave New World    Author: Aldous HuxleyYear: 1932Famous for: Sex, drugs, sex, drugs, sex, drugs...Main character: No, you’re not seeing double. There are two protagonists in this book: Bernard Marx, a shrimp of a guy who tries (and fails) to rebel, and John the Savage, the one character born outside the creepy confines of the World State.The scoop:In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World there’s no pain or discomfort or anything remotely unpleasant. Everyone is content. Citizens of this perfect society are programmed from birth to accept their destiny, whether it be as a lowly Epsilon, or as a mentally and physically perfect Alpha Plus. They’re programmed to be uber-consumers, which of course means that the economy in their society is in perfect shape, too. And socially? Well, let’s just say that there’s enough sex and drugs to keep everything purring.Unfortunately, as in any “perfect” society, there are a few people who begin to question just what they’ve sacrificed to achieve this “Brave New World.” Questioning leads to action. Action leads to a blip in the perfect order of things. But don’t worry, the rulers of Brave New World‘s ultra-creepy World State have everything under control…

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  Clouds and Flocks of Sheep in the Sky of Arabian Sea  

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  Clouds and Flocks of Sheep in the Sky of Arabian Sea  

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WR_05_ myself as a reader series
by Haritha Chalil Savithri

I lived in a fisherman´s village when I was a child. My parents were teaching in the one and only government school in that narrow ribbon-like strip of land squeezed between the Arabian sea and a back water. I saw the first TV in my life when I was twelve years old. To reach the nearest town, we had to cross the back water in a tiny canoe, to catch a bus which normally came two or three times in a day.

My classmates always kept a respectful distance to me as I was the daughter of their teachers. I just wanted to be like them. They could play in the sticky, shiny black beach sand and came to school without sandals. When they were enjoying and sharing sumptuous meals with varieties of fish items, I had to go home to eat the boring lunch prepared by my mother in a hurry.

I spent my childhood in our big land which was full of trees, grass, grasshoppers, butterflies… and books! According to Francis Bacon, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” I lived with books, chewed and digested them.

We had a small library in our school. Next to the nearest Devi temple, there was another one. I was getting books from both and when my father would go to the next village twice a week to buy provisions, I accompanied him to get more books from the library there too. Yes! We had libraries and still we have, like you have bars in every nook and corner of the smallest villages in Spain.

We had to walk two kilometres through a narrow kutcha road, surrounded by paddy fields, which was full of different coloured water lilies, pearl spot fishes, lousy green frogs and huge snails. On the way back home, my father would carry big bags of vegetables and groceries, I would carry a small cloth bag with three books in it and dripping long-stemmed water lilies in my hands.

When I was in primary school, I liked translations.  I was a fan of Bram Stocker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My mother was always complaining about my scary screams at night. She was afraid of the impacts that these kinds of books could cause on my tender brain. Nothing happened, as far as I can tell… I was absorbed in a soothing dreamlike world with the people, life and landscapes that I found in those beautifully translated books.

By that time, I fell in love with the books published from Moscow by publishers such as Raduga, Mir and Progress. Kerala is the first state in the world where a communist government came into power through democratic election. Naturally, the Soviet Union was interested in spreading communist ideals among the upcoming generation in such a place. It was a legendary process. They invited scholars from Kerala, taught them Russian language and translated books into Malayalam. These books were printed and published in Moscow and distributed in Kerala through Prabhath Book House.

We cannot consider it only as a propaganda. Their books included different genres from popular science to children’s literature to classics. Arkady Gaidar, Alexander Raskin, Yuri Olesha, Alexander Kuprin, Nikolai Dubov, Olga Perovstaya and Nikolai Nosov were only few among the favourites of Malayalees. Prabhath Book House had several mobile book vans to sell them in every nook and cranny of the state. Everybody could afford them as these books were the cheapest in the market. So, libraries collected them as much as they could.

Quality wise, these books were the best available in India. They were strongly bound and beautifully illustrated. Pages where off white in colour and had the most addictive smell I ever experienced. It was the smell of a faraway land and let us wander through vast Russian steppes, mountains filled with oaks and streams. They taught us not to fear the unknown, the value of team spirit, principles of honesty and ethics of integrity in the workplace.

The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and the flow of books from Moscow came to an end. We, the Russian heads in Kerala, felt abandoned. The Soviet Union played a great role in forming an international culture among our generation in Kerala. It helped a lonely girl, from a faraway village, to dream about snowy mountains and flocks of sheep when she looked at her white Indian clouds.

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   It all started at Clever and Smart - by CARLES DUEÑAS

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   It all started at Clever and Smart - by CARLES DUEÑAS

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WR_06_ myself as a reader series

When I was a child I used to read comics, and my favorite was Mort & Phil, which I enjoyed very much (it's English title: Clever and Smart). This comic series was written and drawn by Francisco Ibañez. It features the adventures of two secret agents, who constantly suffer mishaps, such as falls from heights, explosions, or being crushed by all kinds of heavy objects (pianos, safes, wardrobes, etc...), usually without the consequences lasting more than one panel.

Nevertheless, the first really meaningful book to me was Sinuhe the Egyptian. It really made an impression on me. I would go so far as to say I have acquired a taste for reading thanks to this book. I read it when I was 19, and it opened up my mind to a brand new world. It is a historical fiction novel written by Mika Waltari. The story consists of the biography of Sinuhe, a fictional character, based on a real person in the time of ancient Egypt. In the book, Sinuhe describes his entire life throughout the reign of six pharaohs. In addition, part of the plot is a moving romance between Sinuhe and Nefertiti.

After that, I started reading mainly historic novels and best sellers from authors such as Christian Jacq, Dan Brown, Ken Follet, Noah Gordon, or Katherine Neville, to name but a few. But, I also have enjoyed other genres, such as autobiographies, science-fiction books, classics, or thought-provoking novels. Moreover, I have to confess that I also like reading “self-help books”, and I have read plenty of them. I have read a lot about spirituality, religion, meditation, neuro-linguistic programming, psychology, conspiracy, ufology, mindfulness, Gestalt therapy, transpersonal psychology, Advaita, etc…

As far as language is concerned, I am used to reading English books, and I always try to read in English whenever I can. Furthermore, nowadays it is very easy to buy English written books online. At the moment, I am reading a book titled “How to understand the mind”, written by a Buddhist monk named Kelsang Gyatso.As for my favorite place to read, I usually read at home, on the couch, and preferably alone.  On the other hand, I usually read while travelling, or waiting, for instance at the doctor’s consultation.
By the way, I have the habit to write down in the margins of books. I like writing if I come up with an idea, or if I want to develop something I have learnt. Into the bargain, I like highlighting some phrases that I find valuable or rewarding.In the end, I would like to tell you, that I like recommending books I have enjoyed, and even sometimes I fancy giving them away to the people I love, basically, because “a book is a gift you can open again and again”