The Bookworm’s Haven

Riddle me this, Batman….

What kind of worm feeds on pages and emerges with a new personality post meal?

-10 if you say woodworms(Why?)

+1000……∞ if you say bookworms:)

Hehe….

As the saying goes, the world belongs to those who read and in order to grasp the world(or even millions of them because of the multiverse) one needs to simply grab a box and stuff it with bookworm fodder, or as the earthlings call it books, find a cosy place, put on yer fav reading light, keep your cat close and keep calm and read.

It’s that simple.

When I found out that the Pune Book Fair was in town, I simply had to go because I was in desperate need of new books to read and the fair meant getting all my bookworm fodder on a Silver Platter™. Now, I’m the sort of person who loves to keep the books that I’ve read cause I get emotionally attached to them and buying books at the store means there’s a pretty narrow limit so the book fair was a complete win for me.

This year’s book fair was sponsored by a second-hand online bookstore called 99bookscart.com and it was held in the city from 26th to 29th May. I visited the fair on the last day so I could beat the crowds and had a lovely collection to myself because the number of books was totally unfathomable.

Without further ado, let’s look at glimpses of my favourite fair in the city….

This is the entrance of the fair. I absolutely love the ambience of the place cause it is so conducive to the art of reading. Yellow lighting fits my reading style perfectly. Even when I read at home, I switch off all the lights save for my overhead bed lights which are this same tinge of yellow and that makes my escapades even more comforting. When I entered the book fair, I felt like I had reached the pinnacles of freedom. It was just me, completely losing all sense of control, faced with a sea of books just waiting to be read. The feeling was so exhilarating that I believe I stood frozen for a long time before casually dropping in the first book into my box which was ‘Come to Grief’ by Dick Francis.

Hehe….

A little beyond the entrance, there was a Book Throne with a background of open books and fairy lights. I loved the idea, maybe even better than the Iron Throne cause the Book Throne was comfy. Now that’s what I call a Game of Thrones.

hehe….

Also, fairy lights are a boon to the world.

Just thought I might make that clear.

This is the hidden platter of books, right behind the entry poster. It’s got multiple copies of some of the mor popular books. I see Steig Larsson’s ‘The Girl Who Played With Fire’ among some of Jodi Picoult and then there’s the nostalgic little insurgent taking me back to the time when fandoms were not toxic, hehe. I’m not the biggest ‘Divergent’ fan but I do admire the craftsmanship that went in writing those books. Besides, I do have a soft corner for Four cause it just so happens to be my lucky number:)

Here’s the double ‘Mystery’ section of the book fair. The entire fair was divided over two levels. The upper level had the popular books and the selected collection while the lower level had a more vast collection and explored many authors from all generations. ‘Mystery’ is my favourite genre to read and I was so thrilled with the fantastic collection that the book fair had. I bought a lot of mystery books, right from Sue Grafton to Val McDermid to Colin Dexter and a lot more. I didn’t find too many Agatha Christie books at the fair but I like exploring new authors so no biggie on that point:) I’ve actually finished two of the books that I bought from this section, namely ‘C is for Corpse‘ by Sue Grafton and ‘Northanger Abbey‘ by Val McDermid.

‘Northanger Abbey’ is more Romance than Mystery but I guess it was in the mystery section because of the author. You can find my Goodreads reviews for both the books by clicking on the respective titles above.

Also, love both the book covers, hehe….

Here we have the Thriller sections, another place where I had a big fill. The books that I found here were ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’, one that I’ve been wanting to read for years and ‘The Murder Guide to Great Britain’ which had its place in my box the moment I set my eyes on it. There’s something about thrillers and crime fiction that draws me like a moth to a flame. I can’t get enough of them and no other genre appeals to me as much. I really respect authors of mystery and thrillers cause they are such tough genres to write and all of them do a fabulous job. My favourite is of course, Agatha Christie cause there can be no one better than the Queen of Crime but I also like Sue Grafton and Danielle Steele. J.K Rowling does quite a good job with her Cormoran Strike series too. Of course, no mystery fan-girling is complete without ‘The Famous Five’ cause Enid Blyton truly has my heart.

I absolutely love how the Mystery and Thriller genre is so female dominated. Loving the Girl Power here:)

Giving some love to the men out there, I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and Arthur Conan Doyle is absolutely impressive:) There’s also Robert Ludlum who’s dropped absolute bombs when it comes to the Jason Bourne Series.

I figured we had enough of blood-thirst above so I decided to move to a lighter topic called ‘Heartbreak’.

hehe….

Romance for me is what I like to call a ‘Popcorn Read’. I don’t read it all the time but when I do, I can’t stop.

I bought the most romantic thing ever from this stall. It’s a little gem called ‘Hardy’s Love Poems’. I haven’t gotten around to reading it but I am so looking forward to it.

My fave romances include Pride and Prejudice, The Notebook, P.S. I Love You and Me Before You.

I know it’s all very Hollywood romance but like I said, this genre is a Popcorn Read:)

The ‘Classics’ and ‘History’ section was there for the side of me that is all things vintage and geeky. I love a good old classic cause it serves as an escape to a time where things were so different and imagination ran free. My favourite classics are ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, both of which had a profound effect on me. I bought a book called ‘The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ by James Joyce and I am curious to know how it is when I get to reading it.

History has always been my favourite subject and period dramas have me spellbound. I bought a book on the Tudors and one called ‘Dad’s War’ and ‘An Infamous Army’ by Chris Tarrant and Georgette Heyer respectively. I also bought a book on Scottish Murders which I am currently reading and loving.

Here’s the ‘Fantasy’, YA and the ‘Biography’ aisles. I didn’t get any books from here because I didn’t have any Fantasy or YA on my reading list and I’m not a huge fan of biographies. I like autobiographies of people who’ve actually made an impact but biographies strike me as coffee table books and I don’t remember enjoying any of the ones that I’ve read. As for Fantasy and YA, Harry Potter is the absolute pinnacle and it’s been tough trying to get so involved with another book in these genres ever since. Harry Potter has left me utterly Stupefied and the effect cannot be killed or worse expelled.

See what I did there!

hehe….

Here’s a genre that I decided to explore while at the book fair. I picked up a book called ‘The House at Riverton’ from here and while I did think of picking up ‘The Slap’ as well, my box was full so that one has to wait.

The highlight of this book fair was that I got an author-signed copy of a newly launched book. The fair does promote new authors and I was thrilled to have gotten my first ever author-signed copy of anything. The book is called ‘Culpable: The Bygone Acquaintance’ by Srishti M. Jain. It is a thriller novel, right up my alley and I will add a review once I’ve read it, which will be very soon.

This is the author’s debut novel, which is so impressive! I love when people finally get their work published cause it is hard, hard work and a huge achievement. Besides, I am curious to read a thriller completely set in India. It’s gonna be fun, I’m sure of it.

Finally, here’s a table filled with posters, which added a splash of colour to the literary world:)