15 Favourite Writers in 15 (part III)

1.                             Mitali Saran

I met Mitali while we were on a travel assignment in the Caribbean and became friends during the 10-odd days we were together. Hence, the first name. I stumbled upon her blog where she stores her columns and instantly liked her style. She’s funny, subtle in her sarcasm, with a touch of self-deprecating humour. It’s the perfect mix. You can read her here: http://mitalisaran.blogspot.com/   

2.                             Charles Dickens

We’ve read him in school and possibly didn’t like him because we HAD to study him. But when I was given a choice, I did go back to reading him and found out that I enjoyed his books. I liked it not only because it took me back to my years as a pig-tailed school-going hobbit but also because most of his books are poignant stories about children – the greatest of underdogs – and how they survive. Famous first line from A Tale of Two Cities: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…’   

3.                             William Shakespeare

Fellow bloggers, lend me your …er… eyes. Okay, I’m not trying to make an impression here and neither do I claim to understand one of the greatest poets of our times. But Shakespeare is like the first love we can never forget no matter how painful it was. I had Julius Caesar in my tenth standard syllabus and our English teacher, Mrs Rao, made us learn most of the lines (from the unabridged version might I add) by rote. It was painful. But I did well in my board exams and that was all that mattered.

Surprisingly though, I found myself thinking of those many lines I had memorised and going back to my tattered JC textbook (yup, I kept all my English textbooks). I graduated to reading his sonnets and fell in love with them. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much (any) success with Romeo and Juliet. There are many controversies and unfounded accusations surrounding Shakespeare and his work but that doesn’t take anything away from the genius that he was. The fact that his plays still strike a chord goes to prove that.  

4.                             Bill Watterson

An absolute genius! To create such complex cartoon characters as Calvin and Hobbes (well probably not Hobbes, who was the direct result of an overactive imagination of Calvin) and give them a sense of humour and traces of wisdom mixed with dementia can only be the work of a genius.

I have loved Watterson’s comic strip ever since I was old enough to hold a newspaper. But it was only after I did some serious research on it for a public speaking assignment (we had to talk for 3 minutes on any topic of our choice) did I really get to know the characters and their creator. Did you know that Calvin’s parents have no name (they are referred only as ‘mom’ and ‘dad’) and that his dad really wanted a dog?      

5.                              Ermm...

Unfortunately, I ran out of names after the 14^th entry. But I would rather like to make some honourable mentions who didn’t make it to my list.

a) Mitch Albom, for Tuesdays with Morrie and For One More Day. Both very touching.

b) Matthew Gregory Lewis, for The Monk. Very Gothic. Very scary. Very good.

c) James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. For all the streams of consciousness.

d) Lynne Truss, for her Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Wonderfully funny.

e) Arthur Hailey, for all his page-turners.

f) Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. For obvious reasons.

g) Irving Wallace, for The Three Sirens. Well, obviously, for all the sex.

h) J. D. Sallinger for Holden Caulfield’s madness

i) Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. For Howard Roark.