Goodreads Giveaway: Lone Fox Dancing

It was some time ago that I enrolled myself in the Goodreads giveaway for the autobiography of one of India’s most famous and loved author Ruskin Bond, Lone Fox Dancing. And I won.

As a kid, I had once had the opportunity to meet him. He paid a visit to our school. And just like the idea that our grandparents could have been young at a point in time seems comical, so does the idea of the author having a childhood. He looked old when he came to visit, about ten years ago. He looks the same ten years later. He seems to have stopped aging. Just like most of his stories. His most famous character Rusty has stayed with most kids of 90s.

I am so excited to read what he has to write. Here’s a line from the book that’s going to make you wanna know what the author’s all about. And how a person who remembers this can write such amazing short stories. And not one or two, but about 500 stories. Enough for the entire childhood.

If we are lucky, we love with both heart and body, and I like to think that my parents were lucky. Neither of them spoke of it as a courtship, however, and when I consider the short time they spent together before I was conceived, I wouldn’t call it a courtship, either. The season demanded passion, and they happened to find each other; so chance had a greater role to play in my birth than it does in others…
…
Granny’s discomfort with me may be due to the fact that she wasn’t sure if I was legitimate or not. She’d have been horrified at the thought.

Review coming soon.

Read with me, I’m Avantika

I am trying to become a book blogger. My love for reading & writing is what got me here. This isn’t my first blog, but unlike my previous blog – that is now struggling to survive because I stopped updating it, I hope to really put in my time and effort into this one.

This blog isn’t just about my love for reading. No, it isn’t. It is about the whole art of blogging and becoming aware and responsible for something I’ve started. I have often left things unfinished, books unread, blogs dying. Yes, I know its too much negative, but well, I think the first step to overcome ones faults is to accept them.

Before beginning this blog, I read a lot of other blogs. Blogs about posting regularly; book blogs; review blogs; time management blogs and a lot more book blogs. And man was I intimidated! There are so many wonderful people out there, reading such beautiful stuff and then finding the time to write about those things, equally beautifully. I saw people who read about five books a week! A WEEK! That’s right. There were people sharing their book list for the month, which had a mad 16 books! Who reads so much?! I want to. But pfft… can I? After all the ‘giving up’ feeling, I logged on to my Goodreads and checked the number of books I’ve read this year. And I was ashamed. So I am not going to share the number here. I am so ashamed.

But nevertheless, I remembered that not everyone is the same, and I am not in a competition. So I am just going to begin, one book at a time. Even though I’ve only read 10 books this year (yeah f** it! I told you!), there’s always scope of improvement. Ain’t there?

I make my time to read in the very busy schedule that I have. And that’s what’s important. But I am going to try better. I am going to try better to read more, to write more and to talk to all the wonderful people coming to my blog more.

What you can expect from this blog are some reviews, of course. And mostly, I would want to cater Indian readers. I know books have no boundaries, but I really wish people and kids in India read more often. So this will be a platform that can help them. Be it through lists, or essays on the wonder of Indian language writing.

But mostly, anyone who loves to read, however more or less, wherever in the whole wide world, will find something here for their liking. And you can always tell me what you feel, even if it is something you disagree with. Do encourage me with your kind comments!