The Idle Thoughts Of An Ideal Fellow by Jerome K Jerome

Jerome K Jerome, the famed English humorist, jocularly yet philosophically brings into focus the plethora of emotions experienced by people of all ages and gender during their journey through life.In the form of essays more aptly called nuggets of wisdom(fourteen in all) like On Being Idle, On Being in Love etc he skilfully captures the seemingly nondescript moments of everyone's life and magically transforms them into precious pearls of wisdom to be cherished by us in our forward march through the stony paths and the dew kissed rose gardens that life leads us through.The beauty of this book lies in the relevance of his musings even today.Despite the book being written in the late nineteenth century, never once do we feel even an iota of antiquity in it.This is a book everyone can relate to for it talks not of a single man's view of life but the collective human race's.Reading through this book is like flipping through an old photo album on the mantle piece, where it lay undisturbed and free to gather dust only to be picked up on a lazy Saturday afternoon with little else to do, than browse through each photograph taken in some distant past, looking at which releases the dam of associative memories linked to it that evokes a little sigh or a grin or a mix of both , though not necessarily in equal measure .This book is a treasure not to be missed and will sure evoke laughter as well as introspection on the vagaries of life.

Some nuggets from the book:

"You have been in love, of course! If not you' ve got it to come.Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.Also like the measles, we take it only once. One never need be afraid of catching it a second time. The man who has had it can go into the most dangerous places and play the most foolhardy tricks with perfect safety."

Target Audience : Age 14 and above

Difficulty: Average

Rating: Excellent

My recommendation:To be read at the earliest

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

The novel is set in the New York of 1870s and traces the social milieu of the upper class society of that time, trapped in conventionalities and banalities so much so that even after the repeated attempts by the novel's protagonist, Newland Archer to break free from the set norms and lead a life governed by his heart, he miserably fails and meekly accepts and fits himself into the rigid cast set by society.He is thrown the challenge of either following his heart, finding happiness in the way and being ostracised by society in the due course or suppressing his desire, leading a mundane life bereft of joy and being confined to societal norms.The novel deals with the eventual choice he makes and the circumstances that aid him to make that choice and the course his life takes as a result of that choice. The plot revolves around the time when New York is on the threshold of transition to a cosmopolitan metropolis having a first brush with art, literature and other pursuits of intellect. Another noteworthy point is the novel's meticulous attention to detail right from what clothes the characters wore to what material furnished their houses.

All said about what the novel deals with, there comes the interesting question of whose fingers should flip through the pages of this novel.The following points are worth a mention:

1.Read the book only if you are a hard core literature fan and can stomach anything remotely dealing with literature.Put simply this is not for a casual reader who might be very easily put off by the novel's slow pace and elaborate description of the material environment peopled by its characters.
2.If your love for New York is of gargantuan proportions that, no matter what, you are keen to have a little peep into a past where life passed on untrammeled without something as colossal as electricity, the lack of which would at present bring this glitzy city to a screeching halt.

Some nuggets from the book:

"Newland Archer was a quiet and self-controlled young man. Conformity to the discipline of a small society had become almost his second nature. It was deeply distasteful to him to do anything melodramatic and conspicuous, anything Mr. van der Luyden would have deprecated and the club box condemned as bad form. But he had become suddenly unconscious of the clubbox, of Mr. van der Luyden, of all that had so long enclosed him in the warm shelter of habit. He walked along the semi-circular passage at the back of the house, and opened the door of Mrs. van der Luyden's box as if it had been a gate into the unknown."

"Something he knew he had missed: the flower of life. But he thought of it now as a thing so unattainable and improbable that to have repined would have been like despairing because one had not drawn the first prize in a lottery. There were a hundred million tickets in HIS lottery, and there was only one prize; the chances had been too decidedly against him."

Target Audience : Age 20 and above
Difficulty: Difficult
Rating: Excellent
My recommendation: To be read only by those who love either literature or New York

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Sometimes we all need a breather in life, something light-hearted , easy on our mental faculties yet entertaining to the hilt.If you plan to do some casual reading without compromising on the satisfaction of reading a book in its entirety then this book is just the right one.

Set in the 1870s, the book chronicles the boyhood adventures of the high spirited eponymous hero Tom Sawyer growing up on the banks of the Mississippi river in the fictional town of St.Petersburg, Missouri.Reading the book is akin to embarking on a bumpy ride with Tom Sawyer who along with his friends Huckleberry Finn and Joe Harper inadvertently pass through one adventure after another, throwing light on the specifics will however spoil the fun for the reader.On one hand we see him aspiring to do nefarious activities while on the other his inherent good nature makes him stand up to truth and justice in the wake of grave danger to him.There would never be parts where you cannot empathise with the character, for it would bring to mind some long last memories of our own childhood.

A flavor of the book:

A brown spotted lady-bug climbed the dizzy height of a glass-blade, and Tom bent close to it and said:

'Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, your children's alone,'

and she took wing and went off to see about it - which did not surprise the boy, for he knew of old that this insect was credulous about conflagrations, and he had practised upon its simplicity more than once.

Target Audience : Age 8 and above
Difficulty: Easy
Rating: Good
My recommendation: Must read

Inking The Page

This being the first post in this blog, the general reader merits an explanation of the blog's intent.Being true to the eponymous title this blog is all about books.This is more of a forum to share thoughts on the books that I have found either delectable or disgusting, in short books worth a mention.This blog does not discuss books from an academic point of view, but rather from those of an amateur taking joy in printed matter.I would request everyone who happens upon this blog to either share their comments on the books already mentioned in this site or to throw light on books that left you smitten.