Reading habits and Wuthering Heights

As a teenager, I used to be an avid reader. My dad, myself and my brother always had our noses in one fiction book or the other. I remember being scolded by my mother when I tried to continue reading my story book at meal times. We used to make fun of my mother for not being able to finish any book that she took up. In fact, she would say that she found it hard to get beyond the first few pages, and I always wondered how she could let go of a book she started.

Fast forward about 15 years, and I found my reading habits to have become what my mother's had been. Thanks to being a young working mother, I found that I had no stamina left for reading books (for myself) and finishing them. Of course, I read loads of kiddie books to my kids. The desire to read for myself was there, but not the will power or the stamina. Occasionally, I would get tempted to pick up a book for myself from the library, but most of them were returned unfinished. Over the next 10 years or so, my reading primarily constituted first reading to Rani and then to Pari. I just did not have enough motivation to revive my own old reading habit.

In the meantime, Rani has become an avid reader herself. Her favorite genre is fantasy books. She literally devours books by the dozen these days, particularly during holidays. She reminds me of myself at her age, when I couldn't let go of a book that I'd started.

On the other hand, Pari cannot be convinced to read by herself. It's not that she can't read, she just does not want to. She'd rather draw or cut or glue something, or dress up in funny ways, or dance or jump. She just does not want to read. Amazing how two sisters who came from the same genetic material have such amazingly different tendencies.

Anyway, back to my own reading habit. In the last year or so, I've started getting a little of my me-time back, thanks to the girls becoming more and more independent. As a result, I have managed to start finishing books that I take up to read, and it's great to rediscover the old habit. I'm re-reading books that I had loved in my earlier years, as also trying to read new books. Of the new (i.e. new to me) books that I read recently, two that I loved:

*The man who knew infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan (by Robert Kanigel)- a biography of Ramanujan
*The Silent Raga (by Ameen Merchant)

Authors that I try to re-read include Arthur Hailey, Ayn Rand, Daphne Du Maurier, Desmond Bagley, Irving Stone, Jane Austen, etc. One author whose books I had liked, but I have not been able to lay my hands on those books again, is Lloyd C. Douglas. I would love to read "The Robe" and "Magnificent Obsession" again....

However, there are some books I had difficulty getting through in my younger years, and I am not able to sustain my interest in them even now. Wuthering Heights is one such. I've seen many people praise this book, but somehow I'm just not able to get through this book myself... Somehow, I'm not able to empathize or connect with the characters in the book at all. Perhaps I'll try reading it again after a few years.

Nevertheless, I'm happy that I'm back to being an active reader, and I hope to stay that way!