When my mind doesnt want to go through the TBR I have in my Kindle, I look for my comfort read. I have a few books in all genres, including mystery (I know how can I re-read a mystery book, but I do!). So, today I will speak about the classics. These I have read books I have read and reread them, whenever I found myself in a reading slump, or when the life wasn’t smooth enough.
I read most of these books when I was in my early teens, and now sometimes I go back to my armchair to cuddle with one of these books. They are not just books, but they hold memory for me.
Dubbed as Home and the World in the english translation, the book deals about the internal struggle one faces while the climate around you is volatile and changing. Originally published in 1916, the book gives reader fair idea about the National Independence Movement. With this backdrop, readers are introsuced to three main characters, Nikhilesh, Bimala and Sandip.
Nikhilesh and Sandip were friends with diagonally opposite mindset, especially when it comes to the political movement that has taken momentum right outside their doorstep. But in the midst of this is Bimala. She is Nikhil’s wife and is devoted to her husband.
” Since then, I have been educated, and introduced to the modern age in its own language, and therefore these words that I write seem to blush with shame in their prose setting. Except for my acquaintance with this modern standard of life, I should know, quite naturally, that just as my being born a woman was not in my own hands, so the element of devotion in woman’s love is not like a hackneyed passage quoted from a romantic poem to be piously written down in round hand in a school-girl’s copy-book.”
Rabindranath Tagore. The Home and the World (p. 6). Kindle Edition.
The book showcases the events of the world penetrates into the household and into inner sanctum of Bimala& Nikhil. Thus, the title Home and the World.
It’s a must read for historical fiction fans.
2. Menagerie & other Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries – Saradindu Bandyopadhyay
As the title suggests, Byomkesh Bakshi solves four mysteries (The Menagerie, The Jewel Thief, The Vanished Will and The Quills of Porcupine) in this book. All the stories are from 1930s, thus portraying India before Independence.
It is a light read compared to the previous book, but it still depicts a lot about that era. Byomkesh Bakshi, also has a sidekick, Ajit, who writes the stories (quite like Watson to Sherlock Holmes). The stories are fun, and yet complex to solve, and not all of them are murder mystery; some are simply burglary.
3. Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
Now, who doesn’t know about Pride and Prejudice. So, I will go into summary, but provide a stark contrast between this book and Pride and Prejudice. Both books are set during tumultuous times, however, in one author brought in external events into the lives, and the other one created a bubble where the external events did not disrupt their lives. And that’s why the title is apt for Pride and Prejudice. I think this contrast makes me admire both the books and the authors.
4. Jane Eyre- Charlotte Brontë
Again, a book a lot of people might have read. Jane Eyre, orphaned at a young age, grows up to become an independent woman. The novel deals with her life and how she dealt with all the difficulties life threw at her. It is also a love story between Rochester and Jane, how their lives change at every step, especially with Jane who has an innate sense of fighting against injustice.
It is a good read and gives so much of insight into the society and times Charlotte Brontë lived in, and the woman portrayed is quite an uncoventional women, which is the major attraction for me.
5. The Hobbit- J. R. R. Tolkien
This one is my all time favourite, and there will be any hardly any person who has not either read it or at least watched the movie. The description and the entire village scene transport you to a fantasy land. My mood elevates every time I read this book.
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