Books! I dunno if I ever told you this, but books are the greatest gift one person can give another.

Each moment that you are happy is a gift to the rest of the world. And books make me happy.

Back in school, I had access to the library at school and to read the books recommended by teachers and thus they gifted me another new world. Thanks to my wonderful dad as well who gifted me a membership at a private lending library to read all the books that caught my mind and a subscription to RD magazine for more than a decade now. Wish I had the sense to retain all those books, since back then.

Completed school days… lending library closed out… and my reading spree reduced to a great extent until I knew some girls in my college class read books too… but I ended up reading all those the stupid M&B and Silhouette books and very few good publishes. Reading all those M&Bs made me think that all handsome doctors fell in love with the nurse and all CEOs with their secretaries, got married and lived happily ever after. I used to feel sad that having taken up Math as my major in college, I would never become a nurse or a secretary in this life :(. Then there was this Sidney Sheldon’s fan image you have got to have. If you have not read them as a being from Venus, then you are not worth calling yourself a literature fanatic.

Having friends with similar interests is a boon… at least when it comes to reading a lot of books… just so that you could share the books and save a lot of money ;)

Sasi was one such person who liked books… not exactly the kind I was used to, but then I am really glad she introduced me to Om Sri Hari Puthar (my way of pampering Harry Potter).

Then comes Sansu* (name changed to protect privacy :D) with all the qualities of a prefect (courtesy HP) who could suggest, lend and later gift very good books too. I read books to remind myself that books are fun and of course, to keep my imaginations alive.

My love for books got revived in Pune when I got to live with Anjum for 5 long months, for a project. Every minute of my time outside work was devoted to the VAST collection of books she had. Thanks to her… I never realized until then about how much I missed the divine moments alone with the books.

Now, most of my friends with a flare for books are not very near to me physically. But, the fires that they helped rekindle keeps me reading everyday… rain or shine.

This month’s books craze shopping got me 4 books and got all of them as gifts from our favourite book store Blossom Book House in Brigade Road, Bengaluru (Sansu introduced me to this place). To me, its the only good place in that zone, next only to nothing. I would recommend any book lover to try this rocking place.

The books that I got by luring my friend were...

1. The Name is Rajini Kanth – Dr. Gayathri Srikanth

2. Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris

3. Message in a Bottle – Nicholas Sparks

4. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus – John Gray - (Borrower is yet to return it).

I know this month is going to be fun with all the reading... Shree is all set to enjoy her days with her best friends.