MadMan has book-tagged me. I read a lot so this is a meme I like. Let’s see how best I can respond.

Total Number of Books I Own: Haven’t really counted but it should be close to 1000. I’ve adorned my shelf with about 200 books and the rest lie in assorted locations: in my wardrobe, under my pillow, on the bed, and in three huge cardboard cartons. Someday I’ll organize them neatly…

Last Book I Bought: Let me try to recollect. It was a biography of Sanjay Gandhi written in Kannada loosely based on Vinod Mehta’s Sanjay Story.

Last Book I Read: This should read “last book I read in its entirety.” In which case, the answer is: same as above. However, I have at least 5-6 books at various stages of completion. Here goes a partial list: Gods Sages and Kings (David Frawley), Governance (Arun Shourie), Doctor Zhivago (Boris Pasternak), and Conquest of Happiness (Bertrand Russell).

Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me: Let me see.

Mahabharata: Or the Fifth Veda. As to why it means a lot to me, this sloka says it all:

Loosely translated, this means,

The words of the Mahabharata pertain to all stages of life (Dharma, Artha, Kama & Moksha);
That which you can find here is found everywhere, that which you can’t find here cannot be found anywhere.

As a handy reference, I rely on Rajaji’s Mahabharata.

Emerson’s Essays: My first introduction to serious reading. Self-reliance and Compensation are my favourites. You can find almost all of Emerson’s works at this excellent site.

Walden: Thoreau’s classic. Changed my approach to life. I was in my late teens when I read this. I even contemplated finding a place as similarly secluded as Walden.

Thantu: Literally, Strand. A novel in Kannada by SL Bhyrappa, this is a monumental work spanning 900+ pages. The plot which is centered around 4-5 characters doesn’t let you go, and resonates long after you’ve finished reading it. The work traces the beginning of the decline of post-independence India through the lives of these characters. Read it in Kannada; no translation will in my opinion, do justice.

MacFlecknoe: A satire by John Dryden. For those looking for instruction in the fine art of lampooning, this shows the path to do it poetically. I learnt much of my sarcasm from this singular work, which you can read online. I couldn’t resist dropping a sample here:

(Thomas Shadwell was a contemporary of Dryden. I still wonder how Shadwell didn’t commit suicide after he read this.)

That’s it. According to the rules, I’m supposed to book-tag other bloggers but I’m too lazy for the task. So there.