FIFTEEN FAVOURITE AUTHORS :)

I have been asked who my fifteen favourite authors are. The names have to come thick and fast. They will but in random order. Here's the list.

1) Charles Dickens: For me no one can spin a yarn as he does. Picking up a Dickens means that I don't have to worry about how to spend my free hours. It has been this way for years now, ever since I read 'David Copperfield' when I was fourteen. He tops my list. 'Great Expectations' is an all-time favourite.

2) Jane Austen: She improves my English almost instantly, like one of those wonder-make-up products that beauty gurus rave about. After reading an Austen, I speak 'propah' English for daaaays! I have enacted Elizabeth Bennet countless times in my head. Unfortunately, no Darcy has come my way for me to try out my acting skills :(

3) Enid Blyton: For the love of adventure, no matter how juvenile they seem now to the 34-year old in me, for the fun that cousins can have during holidays...something quite unknown to me, and for the love of food! Even as I type this I can smell farm-fresh butter melting on hot scones...ummm...pure bliss :)

4) L.M. Montgomery: She gave me a kindred spirit in Anne. I'll never feel friendless again. In my darkest days, 'Anne of Green Gables' is my go-to book. The innocence, tender human relationships, hope and optimism that Montgomery gives life to in the series are absent in the world I live in. Anne shines like a beacon.

5)Satyajit Ray: For his unputdownable 'Feluda' series. Such a hero! However, Jatayu remains my favourite.

6) Tagore: He could have written his short stories and stopped just there. I would have still been a happy reader.

7) David Lodge: For I am still a student at heart and there is no place more appropriate for human drama than a university. I love his campus novels and love Lodge even more for the 'chyangra' Englishman he hides behind his gentlemanly demeanour. He never fails to put a smile on my face.

8) Nick Hornby: Speaking of writers of comedy, how can I not include Hornby? He speaks the truth, no matter how ugly or unpalatable it may be. I think about life, my life...deeply and honestly when I read Hornby. And while I read him, he makes sure that I have an asisnine smile pasted on my face!

9) P.G. Wodehouse: The old boy is so much fun. I have a profound relationship with his books, probably because I firmly believe I was a decadent, Victorian aristocrat in my last life.

10) Neruda: His love poems...Ah, to be loved like that!

11) Amitav Ghosh: I can't believe I haven't mentioned him yet. Once again for his yarns and for the fact that he takes his job as a writer very seriously. That's bound to pay off, isn't it?

12) Harold Pinter: I had to include a playwright. His plays scare me. The absurdity spooks me. I have not quite recovered ever since I read 'The Room'.

13) Ian McEwan: I hope he is not finished as a writer. I am so fond of him. 'Saturday' and 'Atonement' remain my favourites. Reading about distorted thinking and twisted minds can be quite a pleasure.

14) Zoë Heller: I have only read her 'Notes on a Scandal' and have loved it. I told you, I love reading about twisted people. Here's a writer I am very excited about.

15) Mario Vargas Llosa: My new favourite. There couldn't be two more different books than 'Conversation in the Cathedral' and 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter' and yet, I've loved them both. Speaks volumes about the author, doesn't it?