The Weirdest Way To Build A Great Reading List!

I am obsessed with books and lately I have begun to act weirdly in presence of those whom I spot reading on the train (and it gets weirder by the day!) It’s like a dog smelling food on a hungry stomach; I spot anyone holding a book and all my concentration is hooked onto them. What must they be reading hmmm..? I need to know, and NOW!

First, I check their position. If the person is standing close enough I try to take a peek at the book cover in all ways possible. I adjust myself in the crowd, move my bag, turn around; in short do anything that would move the reader’s hand holding the book to help get a look.

Sometimes, I zoom in my phone camera and click a picture discreetly if the person is standing in front (as I sit right under their nose) or crazy enough to put it on the selfie mode to get the name if they stand behind me. Yeah, I know, I know, it’s stupid right.

If I can’t get through the first step, I try to check if the author’s name or book title is written on the leaves. If successful, browse the internet, bookmark! Me happy!

If not, then I can be marked guilty of going a stupid step further — memorize a complete line from the book or any character’s name (information gathered by either peeping through the shoulder or oblique glances into the book) and browse the internet using quote marks! Works beautifully! In rare cases does not, but mostly! Added to the list of must-reads. Yay!

Sometimes I judge the readers, actually mostly; on what they read and with what intent. While some are classic nerds, with black-rimmed glasses totally lost in the world of their books, most are wannabes grabbing on to cheap-metro reads trying to appear intellectual with a compulsive fixation towards their mobiles and everyone else’s business. I feel so bad for the book in their hands, how must it feel.. sigh!

By the way, the efforts are always worth it, as it helps gather some great recommendations for my next reads. I seldom trust the top reads touted by media, but I believe, what’s better than a word of mouth eh?

— © Sanjhi Agarwal