Top Ten Authors I've Read The Most Books From

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted at The Broke and the Bookish

Today we discuss the authors we have read the most books from, this exercise would help me realise how much of a fan am I.
Here we go!

1. Dan Brown

I bet if you've read either of his books, you end up reading ALL of his books. Something like that happened to me as well, and I have read both his Robert Langdon Novels, and non-Robert Langdon novels!

2. John Green

Regular readers of my blog, and my friends know how much of Paper towns i live every day, swearing by its quotes. John Green has always been love, and asdfghjkl.

Here's proof: The Fault in our stars discussion and Why Paper Towns is a special book

3. Rainbow Rowell

If it weren't for Rowell, I wouldn't have had the confidence I have. She is credited with etching the most near-to-life character in Fangirl, and the most raw and real people, full of flaws and yet worthy of love, in Eleanor and Park.

4. Jane Austen

Yes, the love for classics is a rare gift and I am proud to have it. haven't we all memorized Pride and Prejudice by now? others that I have read include Emma, Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility, although I'll admit I remember nothing from the latter.

5. Charles Dickens

Here comes the author who made me fall in love with reading with his masterpieces like A tale of two cities, David Copperfield, Hard Times and A Christmas carol.

6. Arthur Conan Doyle

Oh yes- He occupies a special position because I've read all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

7. Robin Sharma

I am also a big self-help fanatic, and of the contemporary coaches, Robin Sharma makes the most sense. Which explains why I have read The monk who sold his ferrari and all the books that succeeded it. 

8. Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist was my first ever proper novel I read back in 8th grade. This was followed by The Winner stands alone, Brida and Aleph.

9. Ruskin Bond

I read so many books by him, including Susannah's seven Husbands, I've forgotten the names of most.

10. Enid Blyton

The faraway Tree, the famous five, The Secret Seven anyone?

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Why Paper Towns isn't just another book for me

I've heard people rant about how Paper Towns is just another one of the John Green books, and how strikingly similar it is to Looking for Alaska, or how it is starkly analogous to the plot: boy is obsessed with the girl, and the girl disappears. I will not refute or approve this theory, but for reasons of my own, I beg to differ.

To me, Paper Towns is the book that was made for me, the book that feels me, if you know what I mean. I live by every word of it. And here is my reason: the quotes, the words and the dialogues, not just for what they represent in the plot, but for the deeper meaning they entail. Here's exemplifying a handful of them:

1. What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person

This quote is a case of been there, done that : I have been one of those people who amaze you with their creative prowess and genius, and I have seen how people viewed me as some deity, who always had magical solutions to all problems, when in reality it took me just as much pains and troubles as it did to them. Now that I look back, I can't figure where it started, but I do realize that it is treacherous to believe that a person is more than a person. Everyone loved the idea of me: the studious nerd who also coupled as a smart quizzer, writer, poet and whatnot. And I kind of hated it.

Update: People will call you superwoman and there will always be a flip side to it. You probably will never be able to explain this to people.

2. May be all the strings inside him broke

If you have ever been shattered or depressed beyond what words can describe, then you might know the feeling of something snapping inside of you. Some shred of hope dying inside, taking you a step apart from your definition of success. From experience I can tell you, that loss of hope is a fate equal to death.

3. “It is so hard to leave—until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.” 

Who are we kidding? Goodbyes are always the hardest. They are the worst. But letting go is a great lesson in life. We all do that- leaving high school, leaving hometown, leaving college, leaving workplace. But, there is a certain form of liberation we experience when we detach ourselves. I know it may sound like one of those verses from holy scriptures, but let go of your High school, and you'll know how relieving and easy it is to have something to look forward to- even if it isn't a planned path!

4. Forever is composed of nows.

And this has got to be the lesson of our times. We are all busy planning, laying down a path to follow, worrying about the future, taking less risks. And where does that land us? We are stranded in a complacent place with no regard whatsoever to the gift of present. Plans fail, times change and
the future s uncertain, so, yeah- accept it.

5.  That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.

Isn't that the truth in it's unaltered and bare form? This is how human beings function. We give a lot of importance to looks, we love/hate depending upon looks. We are hypocrites. Okay, enough said.

6. If you don't imagine, nothing ever happens at all

Here's our very own John Green emphasizing the importance of imagination. The same reason we love fairies, believe in unicorns and love to delve into fiction. Because, if we never believe in something, it might never happen. Belief can make wonders happen, but then undermining the importance of imagination in our life is something we might regret for a long, long time in future.

 7. As much as life can suck, it always beats the alternative.

We may curse life in the bad times, we may hate it all we want: but nothing can compare to the roller-coaster that life is. The ups and downs, the elation and agony, the sorrows and joys- death couldn't be this varied.

I could go on and on, but after this dose of Paper Town-talk, I need to re-read the book. I take leave.

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Book Discussion: The Fault in our Stars By John Green

“Sometimes you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put together unless and until all living humans read the book.”

 

This quote from the book itself pretty much sums up everything that I feel for the book, yet I venture into writing more about it.

This is a quintessential book for a fangirl. Augustus-waters fetish. Cancer perks. An Imperial Affliction. Van Houten. Support group.

These words and phrases hover in the reader's minds long after the reading has been finished. In a market brimming with books of mediocre quality, (and although I am positive that there are as many brilliant masterpieces to make up for that), reading a book which would be cherished and relished forever is a proud feeling.

And although it remains inexplicable what this book has done to me, I dare to try give words to its magical effect.

A smorgasbord of emotions: what else can one expect from a novel which is a tale of two cancer-afflicted teenagers, waiting to fall n love with each other? The novel is so high on its emotional meter that the measuring gauge just burst, okay? Maybe, Okay will be our always. Okay?

A honeycomb of overwhelming thoughts: The marks humans leave are most often scars. I just died with choking from a deluge of sweetly-saddening emotions.

Crying on the verge of Choking: Oh, yeah. If nothing else could ever make you cry, Augustus' eulogy in the end will do. And by nothing else, I mean anything else. Ever.

Undying poignancy: Right from the beginning when people in the Support group narrate their tales of misfortune, to the various cancer perks. And remember that instance when Augustus asks Hazel her story, and she reminds him how she got cancer, to which Augustus retorts, “No, not your cancer story. YOUR story. Interests, hobbies, passions, weird fetishes et cetera. ”

Love and Companionship: Telling a friend in the manner of consolation, “Thats the thing about pain. It demands to be felt”. Communicating with your girlfriend's favourite author to know what happens next in her favourite novel, and managing to elicit a response. Going to meet the author with her. Its the little big things, you know?

Unconditional love: Sorry, can't define it. Because that would mean conditions, right?

Endearing characters: The guy compares the girl to Natalie Portman. He loves metaphors. And he writes a eulogy no one ever could. And the girl thought he was a tenured professor in the Department of slightly crooked smiles with a dual appointment in the Department of having a voice that made her skin feel more like skin. Isaac, whom you can feel nothing but a weird sympathy for.

Aesthetically exotic practices: Hazel's thirty-third half birthday, or encouragements at Gus' house.

The unfaltering, yet convincingly spontaneous chemistry and harmless flirting: and you say we don't know each other” And they discussed books with each other. So, it just keeps getting better and awesome. Hazel could hear his crooked smile!

 

A Pandora's

box of heart-rending quotes: 

Sometimes people don't understand the promises they are making when they are making them. But love is keeping the promise anyway.

I don't believe I have a crush on a girl with such cliche wishes.

The writer's efforts: He saw it from the perspective of opposite sex. He just did it! 

Damn! John Green is a genius, man!

This book just made the best part of my teenage. Go grab your copy NOW, like right NOW!!!