My virtual first blog

Read, read and read……..I tell myself

Like any history of the world, history of literature is full of anecdotes which might not have any or little significance in the mainstream. But these anecdotes are lively, more interesting and captures the true spirit which perhaps is beyond the capacity of dry leaves of history. For professional reasons I have to take care of endless dates and incidents and works of English literature. Sometimes, it appears to be very boring. It’s like studying a skeleton. Anecdotes and legends about any author appears to me a draft of fresh wind. I today recall the legendary friendship and endless stories that revolved around this friendship between Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the avant-garde exponent of Romantic literature and the prince of English essays, Charles Lamb. Charles Lamb in of his many refreshing essays opined that the populace of the human being can be divided into two categories:-(a) people who buy books but never or very little read it, (b) people who seldom buy book but always read innumerable number of books. Then Lamb goes on illustrating his point by sitting an example from his own life. He said that Coleridge was a very good friend of his. But for sometimes, he was noticing that whenever Coleridge calls on him, he was very eager to taste Lamb’s cooking ability. So he made conscious attempts to make Lamb disappear for a considerable time into the kitchen. When finally Coleridge left his house sometimes, it was discovered that some books were missing in the book shelf. But Lamb could not be sure of the correlation between the vanishing act of the books and Coleridge’s visit. Though this thought gnawed, he was never bothered about it. So soon, he forgot all about it and continued to welcome Coleridge warmly to his abode. One day, however Lamb pays back a visit to Coleridge’s little hut. When Coleridge was making tea for his guest Lamb was browsing through Coleridge’s impressive collection of books. Suddenly, Lamb put his hand on a book which bore his own name on the title page. It was a handwriting easily recognizable because it belonged to Charles Lamb himself. Without telling anything Lamb put the book in his pocket. He returned to his own place and opened the pages. A surprise was waiting for him. In the margins of the book, Lamb, to his surprise and joy, could locate handwritten notes by his friend, i.e. Coleridge which is the product of unfathomable scholarship. At the end of the essay, Lamb advises the readers that if they have such a friend, like that of Coleridge, they should give him ample opportunity to steal the books. And after some times, if possible, those books should be rescued after being enriched by the scholarship of those ‘thieves’. Charles Lamb told that he belonged to the first category people, the people who buy books but seldom read them. While Coleridge belonged to the second category, people who read books but seldom buy it. And naturally the second category is superior than the first one.
I too belonged to the first category. I love to buy books. I am a kind of bibliomaniac. The printed pages within the covers appeal me most. I could not resist the temptation to buy those books. But in queer incidents it happened that I bought two copies of same book after a long interval completely forgetting that the first copy was bought long ago. I could not keep track of the books which are already in my collection. So it is not only very distressing mentally but also it causes immense financial loss. I can safely say that I have not read a little more than fifty percent of collection of books yet.
However, this blog is not about my book collection or my habit of not reading sufficient books. This blog is intended to review of books. I wish to write articles about how a particular book impresses me or disappoints me.
I also request my beloved readers to contribute their opinions about the articles. Moreover I would be glad if they write articles about other books. Please, please enrich my blog with your well-thought articles. Wish you all very good and happy reading life.