Released off the book’s clutches

I managed to complete a book by Jeffery Archer called Kane & Abel within 4-5 days which is quiet an achievement as I usually take an average of 1-2 weeks to complete a novel. The book was engaging enough keep me hooked throughout the weekend. I even sneaked the book into my office to complete as much as possible and read the last page by late evening yesterday.

Though a little sad that the story had come to an end, I was very much relieved that I was finally out of the clutches of the book. The novel had completely taken over my time with little time left for anything else. Though I had gone to Chetan’s place for the weekend to spend some time with my nephew, I spent far less time than I intended too. The guitar sessions too had to take a back seat. In fact I didn’t realize that it’s been about 2 days since I called up my folks.

Though Mr. Archer had done a commendable job with the novel, I always had this problem with most of the novels I read. The moment I start reading I get so lost in it that nothing else matters any more. The second I open the book, I imagine myself living as a silent witness to the sequence of events narrated in the novel. Much to the displeasure of everybody surrounding me, I become oblivious to their presence and squeeze in as much time as possible with the novel. My pathetic reading speed doesn’t help either. I always thought that was mainly because of the way I attempt to visualize the novel. As I read each line, I try to imagine every piece of detail and more as narrated in the book and try and make a mental movie of it. But then, I came to realize that that’s what most of the people do and its just that I tend to take too many mental retakes by reading the same lines over and over again. Unfortunately I didn’t seem to show the same interest with any of my academic books, but then they weren’t authored by Stephen King or Archer either.

I have a Sidney Sheldon in a cupboard but I dare not open it now. Need to survive the real world first and may be give in to the realm of imagination during the coming weekend and pray it shouldn’t spill over to the next Monday.