Reading for Christmas

First of all, my sincerest apologies to all.

For the past few weeks, I haven't been able to put this newsletter out on time as scheduled due to some pressing matters.

It's a little late again this week, but better late than never I tell myself. I hope that you will bear with me for a little while more.

And now, a confession.

I got caught by my wife the other day.

Reading this book 😀 

“Why are you reading this Christmas book?” were her passing words as she twirled by while I was lounging out on the sofa, book in hand.

“Well, it’s the 8th of December, and I do this every year - if you remember”, said I, but she had disappeared from view.

The storm had passed and I retreated to my book.

For a few years now, I’ve been re-reading Jostein Gaarder’s full-of-surprises story within a story in the weeks leading up to Christmas as part of my Advent ritual.

It has to do with the fact that I find Advent calendars fascinating.

I suppose a part of it has to do with how I first picked up reading.

Life is an adventure. Or so I would like to think.

So is delving into a book.

You get to discover people, things, and places, imaginary and real that otherwise you would not have known at all.

Ideas - both nonsensical as well as mind-blowing ones.

Experiences - albeit through the eyes of a third person.

In a big way, I owe it to the environment that I grew up in - this was the 1970’s.

First, at home - there was my father who inadvertently instilled in me the reading habit.

I watched him read and became intrigued by what was so interesting in those pages that I started reading the daily newspaper after he had put it down.

Then there was my good uncle John who would supply me with various magazines - beginning with the humble Readers’ Digest and later advancing to NME, Time, Newsweek, Far Eastern Economic Review, etc etc.

Unknowingly, I was getting an informal education through all these publications.

Then there were my god-brothers in Bagan Serai - I couldn’t draw to save my life but I learned to appreciate their supreme talent in good art. They were on another level.

One taught me the beauty of poetry, another the art of making a personal journal. All of which was an eye-opener to a young chiku like me.

In school, for some reason, by the time we were reading literature, the syllabus had changed - it was no longer the English classics, but Treasure Island, Animal Farm, Robinson Crusoe, and the sort. For a brief 2 years. Then they changed the system again, I believe for the worse.

Nevertheless, it was those books and teachers who cultivated the art of understanding metaphorical language.

Suddenly, all of us wanted to be writers.

But to write, you first had to read.

That started a short but frenetic spurt of library visits.

I managed to devour most of Alistair MacLean’s series of thrillers within 3 years.

We wrote - all sorts of stuff ranging from the banal to the nonsensical; one guy went ballistically poetic but for the most part, it was silly adventures and the funnies. I suppose being boys, our minds were automatically tuned to those crazy ideas.

I realized too that it’s easier to write soppy stories than funny ones. Comedy is a serious business - no joke. 😃 

Once, I stumbled upon an abandoned library of science fiction books left behind by my mother’s former neighbor who had moved out. Although Sci-Fi wasn't exactly my cup of tea, curiosity got the best of me, and I ended up snagging a few of Isaac Asimov’s classics from that collection.

Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics may be considered overly simplistic by some, but I believe their inherent simplicity is what makes them sensible.

Perhaps that is why I find Artificial Intelligence (AI) an intriguing subject today.

But, more on that later on.

In the meantime, some links at the bottom of this page may just pique your interest.

Wrapping Up

Later, I was introduced to various authors and genres by different people. These included the styles of Thomas Hardy, Richard Bach, Kahlil Gibran, Philip Yancey, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, and many others on an ever-expanding list.

So, what am I reading today?

I was once told that reading books on different topics simultaneously is a good way to break up thinking patterns and helps in clarifying thoughts and ideas.

And so, for the better part of this year, I have been grappling with the humongous ideas of Haruki Murakami, the self-development strategies of James Clear, and Elaine Kasket’s research on how social media reshapes our experiences of death and loss.

Fret not - I just do a 10-minute read on each of the books at any one time. 😅 

Granted, this will take me a little longer than usual to complete them but it affords me the space and time to accomplish it.

Now, please excuse me while I get back to my sofa and indulge myself with the continuing saga of the Christmas Mystery.

Thinking Of A Christmas Gift?

How about a book or two?

Check out my My Reading List for some ideas:

Atomic Habits - James Clear

All The Ghosts In The Machine - Elaine Kasket

Kafka On The Shore - Haruki Murakami

I Robot - Isaac Asimov

Before I Go: Letters To Our Children About What Really Matters - Peter Kreeft

Till next time.

Jude

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