Books for an Annoyed Mother

So, if you're here, you must be looking for how to get your child some 'early learning', some essential 'children books', the likes. I know times have changed, but I'm pretty sure we are some time away from the prospect of a 4-year old looking on Google for 'which books should children read'. Hopefully. Besides - wait a second. I just got a request for a reading list. From my 6-year old cousin.

Bad jokes aside, when in the vicinity of children nowadays, you must have noticed a type of 'intensive learning', with parents asking their kids to say ABCD, getting them to repeat spellings and recite tables. This while they are In the middle of the market, while they are crossing the road, and in between dinner. There are all sorts of classes for them, all sorts of activities they can get into. All in all, definitely a more aggressive approach than what our childhood witnessed.

Irrespective of the type of parent you see yourself becoming, it is something that keep nagging at you: what activities should my child do, at what age should they be done, and where can you, the parent, help? Let us help. In brief: when children are growing up, teaching them new things will be simply awesome for them. Parent beware though: rote learning is something that can be done at any age, but this time of their lives is a magical period. Think about it; if someone hears a fairytale at say, your age, will it have the same impact as it did when you heard it in your childhood? Will space create the same mystery, and sea, the same wonder, in middle age as it did in childhood?

There is no point putting up questions if we do not have the answers to them. Here we go.
Read out loud

The world has actually expanded far beyond Aesop and Panchatantra and Arabian Nights, and so should your library. What to pick up? Category-wise:

Nature
In a world where we are getting further and further away from nature, a glimpse of what the world was could leave an impression on your child, one that could make them cherish life, and maybe, even motivate them to save our blue-and-green world! How about introducing you child to the Earth ? The visuals can make for a picture book too!

Fantasy

 
Just because your ideal fantasy is Game of Thrones, doesn't mean that your kids should have the same taste; just like Sansa, they deserve to know a world where chivalry, honor and honesty exist. There are the usual suspects: Winnie the Pooh  and Cinderella  Apart from that? How about someone called Harry Potter. 

Space

Infinity! How on earth do you make space appealing? Again, literature to the rescue! The Little Prince  is about a space traveler who roams around the universe before coming to the universe and then visits the earth. There are some subtle meanings hidden, but this one is sure to fire up your little someone's imagination! 

Sea

 
The ocean is that part of our world which is still a mystery to most of us. Imagine what it would seem like to a child. The whales, the coral reefs, the massive ice sheets, and the innumerable variety of creatures living beneath those blue, blue waters. Your child would thank you for an introduction to the sea .

Diverse Voices

 
One of the best things about living in our times is that people demand representation of their communities in movies and stories and comics, and speak up against stereotypical versions of the same. Why don't you do the same? Seeing characters lead normal lives (or becoming the heroine / hero) who do not have the Fair-&-Lovely-skin color can be a subtle message that everyone is equal. And while we are here, how about including LGBT characters? One criticism I have heard is that it is too early for kids to know about sexuality, but doesn't every other story we have end up depicting a man with a woman? Knowledge can only enlighten, not make her/him into a fanatic homosexual.

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The Readers Starting Kit (Volume 2)

The concluding part on all the books you need to begin reading. Love/hate our suggestions? Let us know!
Religious & Spiritual
18 Days: Volume 1, by Grant Morrison

18 Days: The Mahabharata Volume -I

There has always been a belief (which has gained prominence in the last 3 years) that during Vedic times, we Indians were the masters of science; plastic surgery, nuclear sciences, aeroplanes, everything. Whether that idea should be ridiculed or considered, that is your personal opinion, but here, Grant Morrison takes the idea of advanced technology during the Mahabharata and runs away with it; it is like a hyper-stylized version of the epic, but hey, this is what we asked for. For all the others who wondered how Mahabharata would look in Baahubali-style, wonder no more.

Romance
Emma, by Jane Austen

Romance has always had some of the most enduring stories; after all, that language of finding the one, waiting for the time you get to spend with them, that feeling of longing when you cannot, and the elation of finally being together, this language can be understood by every living soul. Jane Austen’s works are famous enough, with her Pride & Prejudice’s hero being the last generation’s Christian Grey; however here, it is indisputably Emma who occupies centre stage. Even normal lives can be very interesting when narrated by the right voice, and Emma & Jane Austen are perfectly matched.
HorrorThe Dark Tower series, by Stephen King

Dark Towers Boxed Set

Horror doesn’t have to be limited to creaking doors and dangerous monsters. It can also be more subtle, like a world dying because of what its people did; it could be unconventional, like a supersonic train which promises to take you to your death unless you come up with an unanswerable riddle. The entire series is filled with horrors like that, and more. It can be a bit morbid at times, but the payoff when you complete it and turn to the (hopefully awesome) coming-soon movie adaptation is just way too good. Plus, this is written by STEPHEN KING!

(again, OUT OF STOCK. But a movie based on it is coming soon, and two other movies based on the author’s works are also coming in this year. Do stock them)

Action & Adventure
Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum
Action & Adventure
Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum

 

 

Before the glut of recent action movies, there was Bourne, Jason Bourne. In many ways, the stories are the predecessors of today’s action movies; the breakneck pace, moving from one country to the other, shadow organizations, and incredible action set pieces. And hey, Jason Bourne has jumped, kicked and outsmarted people on the big screen too!

Suspense & Thriller
The Complete Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes,  by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

 

From the frenetic pace of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock to Elementary’s female Watson, everything around Sherlock Holmes (and the man himself) has been tinkered with, and still people are willing to watch. The timelessness of the detective and his companion, as they labor to solve unexplainable cases, does not require explanation. Reading the original work, however, can only make you appreciate it more.

Travel Writing
Barcelona, Lonely Planet
 

When it comes to most of us, travelling to our dream destinations is only possible through second hand experiences. But before Facebook albums and Snapchat filters, there was (and still is) one travel guidebook which could tell you everything you needed to know about the city/country you wanted to visit and virtually transport you there; the detailed descriptions, the rich images, the maps…this is among the best in modern travel writing.  It doesn’t hurt either that Lonely Planet can find all of the awe-striking destinations in the world. 

Essays
Broken Republic, by Arundhati Roy

For someone who won the Booker Prize with her debut fiction attempt, Arundhati Roy doesn’t seem to have a lot of fans in her home country. Courtesy her opinions on the politics played with the poor in our country, she has often been the target of hate online. But what really are her opinions? Among the many non-fiction works she has penned, this is a good place to start; what is Arundhati Roy saying, and is it really relevant? You be the judge. But please, judge only after reading.
IMPORTANT: 

 

 
This book has got its author wrong. The author is Roland Smith/ Roly Smith, not Bill Bryson

National Parks of Britain

 

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The Readers Starting Kit (Volume 1)

So many things to read and so less time to…so where to begin with? Do we read by authors, or should we read by genres? And do we need to read plays and poetry? Do they even count in serious reading if-
Ok, ok. We have attempted to compile a list, each entry different  from the other, but all of them together being enough to induct you into the world of literature. Or are they? Read and let us know!

Literature & Fiction

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens  

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
Easily one of the most memorable openers for a novel. Set in a historical context, it does not have the ability to be translated into universal & local adaptations (as was for Fitoor vis-à-vis Great Expectations). But as with all works by Charles Dickens, this is literature that has to be read to be appreciated and understood. Besides, it is very rare that the last line of a fiction work is as memorable as its first:

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

Great Expectations  

Classic Fiction
The Tempest, by Shakespeare

Is Shakespeare overrated? Thing is, even if he was, for his stories to be adapted across various cultures and countries, and that too a wide number of stories, speaks a lot about what he has left behind. For a storyteller, when her/his stories can be told and retold  while they change characters, settings, even their time periods, and still retain the same weight as the original; that, my dear friends, is the mark of a brilliant and everlasting work. While any of the Bard’s works will do, this one is regarded as his last work. All the more important, I say.

Science & Fiction
1984, by George Orwell

Never before was the promise of a worse world than today lapped up with so much enthusiasm. Written by George Orwell, this work imagined a world set in the then-future of 1984, where society was no place for independent thinking; it was also the first to predict a world where ‘Big Brother’ would be watching us everywhere (Aadhar cards, anyone?). In the times we live in now, it is important to read works like these; when someone’s imagination of the worst version of our future shows even a little similarity to our present, it is time to get off our bottoms and do something.

Fantasy
Game Of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin 

Ya, ya, ya. We and our parents and our extended family, all of us know about this. BUT, if all that you know about GOT is from the TV series, then I beg you, I plead you to read the books. The character development, the different settings, and the sheer brilliance of seeing a world be created through words… in making readers lose themselves in fantasy worlds, there are not many better than George R R Martin.

Poetry
A Collection of Indian Poems: Gitanjali, by Rabindranath Tagore

Poetry has often been found to succeed where prose has failed. While the West has all its esteemed poets, we in India suffer from ignorance of the gems we have. We will appreciate Rumi, talk about Gibran and gush about W B Yeats, but are mostly at a loss when it comes to Indian poets. These poems, if I may remind you, where the ones which brought Tagore to the world’s attention and got him the Nobel Prize in Literature. What do they need to do to get your attention?

Short Stories
Best of O’ Henry,  by O’ Henry 

My first experience with serious literature was through O’ Henry’s short stories, and as first times go, I could not have asked for better. His endings, it will be fair to say, are Christopher Nolan-ish and the stories themselves can be found in B. A. textbooks throughout India. Should be good enough reason to read them!

Drama & Plays
Plays , by Anton Chekhov

Apart from Shakespeare, there are other colossuses in English literature as well; one of them is Anton Chekhov. One of his famous quotes (and one which will give you an idea of his style) is:

If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.

All of his works follow this philosophy, which is the best education for any budding playwright. Even if you aren’t, and are interested purely in the drama, Chekhov’s Russia and his sketches of the people there are amazing. You simply have to read his works, at least once.

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