Being a young reader of my age, there are some books which really enthralled me. My resolution for the previous year (2018), which continued this year too, was to read as much of books as possible. So, I begin writing, about the really, really mind-blowing books of the list.
1.) Harappa- the curse of the blood river, (Vineet Bajpai): This historically based bestseller gives the reader a breath-taking experience. The plot of the book occurs in two eras, one part of the story goes on in 1700 BCE, and the other in 2017. Though there is not much to do about the “Religion” part of it, there are mentions of the Goddess Saraswathi and the seven sages (Saptarishi). The part of the story which occurs in 1700 BCE, happens in the city of Harappa, and in 2017, the main place is Banaras. The hero of the book-sorry, the “ heroes” of the book are two devtas. According to the book, devtas are half god and half human. The names are Vidyut (2017) and Vivasvan Pujari (1700). The captions given for the titles of the chapters are really catchy. The main characters of the book are: The two heroes, Naina, Nayantara, Sanjna, Priyamvada, Dwarka Shastri, Somdutt, Manu, the seven sages, Romi Pereira, Ranga, Chandradhar (referred to as Pundit Chandradhar), one of the villains of the 1700 BCE -Gun, Sha and Ap. Overall, the book is just fantastic, with its strong plot. This book can make you cry, laugh, simply stare, and also make you angry. The last few parts are emotional, and you might think the book had a bad ending but it is followed by- “Pralay the great deluge”, and there is more you explore about the first book in the second one. But the second one is too boring even for history lovers, I mean it’s all about history, mostly foreign ones. Believe me.
2.) The Enchanted Wood, (Enid Blyton): This is probably the best book I’ve ever read, and I swear, this was the first book i read in 2018, I still love it. This book is the first one in the “Magical Faraway Tree” series, and it’s just awesome. It’s about a magical tree, which is called the Faraway Tree, because the top of the tree might take you anywhere, sometimes beautiful countries, and sometimes peculiar places you would have never heard of. There are also mentions of mythological creatures like “the six elves”, “the speaking rabbits”, and lands at the top of the tree which change each day. Some of the places are- The Roundabout Land, which always goes around and about, The Land of Ice and Snow, which has creatures like the “Magic snowman” and “The White Bears”. The book is full of enchantment and wonder. A few characters from the story are- Beth, Joe and Frannie- who are three children who lived in a town, and since their father had got a job in the city, they move there. Moving on, Moon-Face and Silky- who live in the faraway tree. And also, the famous Goldilocks and the three bears, come true in this story- the three bears are depicted as the cousins of the White Bears, who live in the land of Ice and Snow. I highly recommend this fantastic novel for the young readers out there, as I really, really enjoyed this book.
3.) Treasure Island, (Robert Luis Stevenson): A large number of people who are reading this post will know about the book. So, I actually read this last year, and it gave me a good idea of how to improve my writing of stories, by using the phrases given in this book. It’s about an island which has treasure in it, and the hero, who is a small boy, goes with the team of the treasure finders too. The story is a flashback of what happened before they found the treasure, and is written from the boy’s perspective. It’s quite a different experience to read this book, and has a very posh and old-fashioned touch to it. The main characters of the classic are- young Jim Hawkins (the hero), Captain Flint, Long John Silver, Doctor Livesey, Billy Bones, Ben Gunn, etc… there are quite a lot, I can’t list them all, at least for an excuse, I’ll admit I forgot them. And if your planning to by it, by the “Classic Starts” edition (abridged).
4.) Peter-Pan, (J.M Barrie): This book is also very famous that don’t even need to tell you the plot. But let me just give you a brief. So its about three children, who are called Darling children, and they get carried away by the hero, Peter Pan, and fly with him to Neverland- the land where nobody grows. And the very famous captain Hook, is the villain. The unabridged version (which I had bought) was too advance, so I recommend you the abridged version. The main characters of this classic are- Peter Pan, Michael, John and Wendy, who are siblings, Mr. and Mrs. Darling, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook and the Lost Brothers.
5.) The Man-Eaters of Kumaon, (Jim Corbett): This is an autobiography of Jim Corbett, who is a British hunter-naturalist and colonel in the British Indian army. He is known for tracking down man-eating tigers and leopards in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of the Indian Himalayas in the early twentieth century. This book contains 10 first-hand accounts of his jungle encounters. It describes Corbett’s thrilling campaigns against the Champawat man-eater, who’s attacks have been listed out in the Guinness book of world records as the highest number of fatalities from a tiger. And also against the Chowgarh tiger- who had preyed on 64 people. When you heard the term auto-biography, you must have felt bored, but as per me, this book is way better than fiction too, and has a very good combination of British-English literature, which adds to the bulk. I recommend this book for anyone who is reading this article.
And those are the books which i think every book lover must surely read, even the young writers, as these books really helped me in my writing too. Happy new year and happy reading, for the year 2020!
