My #book #thewildheartofindia is now out in #paperback! A revised edition, with some new #essays and a lovely new cover by Sartaj Ghuman. Do take a look! Available in a number of #indiebookstores like #Higginbothams (photo) and #Champaca (link)
https://champaca.in/products/the-wild-heart-of-india-nature-and-conservation-in-the-city-the-country-and-the-wild

#nature #wildlife #conservation #naturewriting #ecology #NaturalHistory #india #Books #WestlandBooks

How audiobooks rekindled my love for reading

After listening to a lot of grandma stories when I was very young, I started reading story books, in English and Tamil, during my school days. I always looked forward to long train journeys because I could request my father to buy me some books and Tinkle comics from Higginbothams to read during the travel. In a few years, I moved on to reading books from authors like J. K. Rowling, Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson etc. and enjoyed that a lot. This continued through my college days and then somehow after I got my first job, I lost that habit. ☹️

Perhaps, my love for computers, gadgets, and gaming distracted me, or I spent all my spare time wooing the love of my life, I do not know. While I have read a book or two once in a while, mostly non-fiction ones that interested me, I couldn’t get back into my habit of reading books regularly.

A few years ago, I had read good reviews about Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn saga and started reading the first book a couple of times but lost interest very quickly. This wasn’t because of the book’s content, but more due to getting distracted by other, “more interesting” things.

Around 2015, I started listening to podcasts during my long commute to and from work and loved that experience so much that I have continued to do so till now even though I don’t have any daily commutes anymore. So I decided to channel that into listening to audiobooks to see if that sticks as a habit.

I started listening to the Mistborn saga audiobooks and surprisingly, it stuck! I kept coming back to it regularly enough to be able to finish listening to the trilogy in 2 months or so. Listening to podcasts during dinner time was often replaced with long audiobook sessions during the same time. Even when there were some gaps, I came back to it within the next day or two. On a few days, I even ended up listening for long hours because I was interested in seeing the stories progress. I have to thank Michael Kramer, who narrated all the books, for keeping things lively throughout.

As for the Mistborn trilogy itself, it had a decent plot and the execution was decent, considering that these were some of Brandon Sanderson’s earliest books. While there were enough plot points that kept the listener hooked through parts of the books, I couldn’t help noticing how most of what happened in each book barely mattered at the book’s/trilogy’s ending.

Even though I noticed and realized that audiobooks are a very inefficient way to consume content at a glacial pace (relative to reading), it was still better than not reading books at all.

Here’s to reading and listening to more books in the coming years! 🤞

#audiobooks #books #Higginbothams #Mistborn

Ok. That customary Maris hotel breakfast with extra sambar ticked off the list. On the way back also picked up the one book that I could not find last week. And of course you can’t go into a south Indian restaurant and eat only dosa. It’s the same with a book store. You go in to buy one book and come out with 6 which is what happened today too ;-)

The trip is now complete. Ready to go back home now :)

#chennai #higginBothams #bookstore @mastodonindians

Second visit to #higginBothams #chennai. Went to return one book worth 100 Rs and ended up buying more books worth 6000 Rs 🤦🏾‍♂️

Spotted this book! Really?? For a second I was tempted to buy it to see if they divulge the secret algorithm that encrypts your face on the card but decided it was not worth paying money to know!

I guess if you succeed you write a book about it… if you fail you write a book about it too…

@mastodonindians

We went to #barnesAndNoble to buy the brat some Enid Blyton for the flight and was surprised no one had heard of her 🤦🏾‍♂️ cannot imagine a childhood without her books.

Now we are in good old #HigginBothams , #chennai where she enjoys her own huge section. The Americans live, read and play in their own world except for global politics!! 🙃

#bookstodon @mastodonindians