With the craze around the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and its South Asian adaption, the Rice Bucket Challenge, my fellow netizens including me got mired into a rather brain-challenging challenge- the ‘ #BookBucketChallenge ’ where one is required to list ten books that have had an influence in their life or remained close to one’s heart.
Suddenly, all those of us who were environmentally conscious enough to not dump water over our heads, and not as fascinated by the Rice Bucket Challenge (in our defence, this was not even trending in Delhi or on social media), had a new cause to live for on Facebook. We bravely accepted the challenge and nominated others to do the same.
Yes, I was excited, as were my book-loving friends. I finally had something to showcase other than the selfies that usually go wrong. But strangely, I felt like my list of books too had something ‘wrong’ associated with it. While most people around me certainly seemed to be ‘better-read’, I too had prepared my list after much caution but it was not at par with most of the lists on my newsfeed. Comparatively, others majorly had books that implied heavier reading with more or less standard Enid Blytons and Harry Potters dominating their lists.
At first, I began to question my taste and level of intellect, but later the decisions of those around me were put to thought. But I couldn’t find a conclusion for either. What I did find was a status update from a fellow confused person asking whether it was supposed to be ’10 books that made an impression on me’ or ’10 books that make an impression of me’. Therefore, I was not alone.
Book lovers and book clubs have thrived since forever; one does make strong bonds over the love for books, the bonds that last. Don’t misinterpret my words, but books do not always have to express one’s level of maturity and intellect. For those who find comfort in heavy tomes, it is your choice for the kind of reading. And for others who read not-so-heavy stuff, know this eventually, it is about the comfort found in the smell of the yellowed pages and least about these Facebook lists.
FB Folks are busy posting a pretentious list of 10 book titles, whereas the reality looks more like Goosebumps, Archies, Tinkle & Champak.
— Akshar (@AksharPathak) August 28, 2014
With no disrespect to the Nicholas Sparks’ fan and without any extra points to the Rushdie follower, keep reading, everyone!
Featured Image Credits: www.robkalescancer.com
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