As promised, if anyone
is keeping track, we will talk about the novels that you ‘can read’, or I’ll do
myself good to read.
The problem with me is
I am always on the move. Never on one thing for long enough to see it through.
Now, I am following the markets, next week, I am on some TV series, and the
week after, I am back on market, or doing something different altogether, like
brushing my technical subjects. Last week, I was thinking of reading up an epic
novel. If I spent as much time on reading some novel rather than on searching
the best there is, I would have completed one. There are too many things to do.
And hence, one thing is always at the opportunity cost of some other extracurricular
activity. In fact I firmly believe that if I can stick to one thing for long enough,
I’ll be good at it. The problem with me, as I said, is I am always on the move.
So coming back to
novels, you – must - read ‘Fathers and Sons’, it is epic, believe me. I read it
like a few months back and it moved me. No lessons, a story too good to pass
up.
Also, I was searching
the net for the list of best novels there are. As it turned up, I don’t even
know names of any of the top ten. What, Godfather and Fountainhead are not even
in the top hundred. And I thought I was a scholar having read them. Well, got
to do more, got to be more. And so, I made a resolution to read the best novel
ever as per the authority there is, the Times – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy .
The eBook version has, take a deep breath, one thousand seven hundred and fifty
nine pages. Without bothering you with my personal reasons, let me just say ‘This
novel will have to wait’. I humor-filtered the top hundred list and then sorted
it by the no. of pages column in ascending order. The result is ‘Three men in a
boat’ by Jerome Klapka. The eBook version has one hundred and sixty four pages
in total. Just the size my lethargic life style demands. The novel is funny as
hell. Only five-point someone brought made me laugh so much in the first 30
pages. Well, I can’t comment on the rest of the book having not read it but it
has promise.
The plan is, somehow
get a hard copy of Anna Karenina or War and Peace, read it up and pretend I am
a scholar, having now contributed to the world of literature by providing it
the audience it doesn’t need, but deserves.
This article has to
finish with a funny quote, I resolve. Search the internet – ahh, powers off (with
it, the modem) – Here’s a compromise, the first line of the best novel ever,
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
“Happy families
are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
That must get me going.
Wait, the powers up in
the last minute, let’s see if I can use my talents to pull the rabbit out of
the deep hole with ‘Google’ written above it –
“Happiness is having
a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” - George Burns