Books? Ummm.. Lets see..

Wanted to get a book for a friend yesterday. The problem with not being very well read is that you feel absolutely lost when you enter a bookstore.. The people walking in and out looked so sure about what they were looking for and what they'd bought. How do they know they're going to like it unless they've read it? What if you've bought a book.. take it home and got bored to death after the first few pages? What then? So whats the solution? Buying books that you've already read and liked? Anyways I guess it probably helps to read reviews and know the authors and the awards and accolades and all.. But when you don't do any of those, and you're trying to get a book for someone who probably does all that, then you're lost... as I was.. and had to ruin the 'gift' by calling him up and asking him what he wanted.. I got the regular load of 'No.. forget it.. don't want anything.. don't celebrate birthdays' dialogue but finally got him to admit he liked humour and something contemporary.. which didn't really help much.. and finally heard him say the word 'Booker Prize'.. Ah! that should make it simple.. So I asked him which of the Booker Prize books he'd read and went back to looking around the store for a 'Booker Prize' section.. which there wasn't.. and abandoned the idea to go and ask someone .. (that would blow my 'intellectual-on-comfortable-territory' look).. and decided to locate 'The God of Small Things'.. (the only Booker Prize winner I've ever read).. and there it was on the cover.. 'Winner of the Booker Prize'.. Ok.. so that made it simpler.. All I had to do was look through all the books and they'd have it written on the cover that they'd won something.. another hour of feeling like an idiot goes by.... and finally I called up a quizzer friend and asked him to name a bunch of Booker Prize winners.. (Thank God for quizzer friends).. and out came a long list from God knows when... and finally he suggested 'The Moor's Last Sigh'... Sulman Rushdie.. and I found the book! I did turn around to make sure it'd won the Booker and then confirmed the word 'funny' was there on the review.. and paid up and felt like I'd just worked through some complicated algebraic sum or something.. And then for the slightest second.. I wondered if I should do something about this.. If I should pick up a good book with a good review and start reading.. to catch up on all the reading the well read of the world my age would have read by now.. But I've never been able to read the 'must-reads'.. I don't know why.. I've tried.. A friend of mine sent me the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.. I tried reading it.. It was funny I guess.. but I kept falling asleep.. (distasteful.. I know).. couldn't help it.. All the rave reviews and the zillions of people who'd read it didn't make a difference.. It can't be psychological.. maybe it is..

For as long as I can remember, whenever I've been asked about a hobby, the first thing that comes to me is 'reading'.. but I stopped saying that a long time back..
I don't remember when this was, but I think somewhere in first grade, I remember looking forward to the 'Library' period... all the kids queing up in a line according to height and being led by the teacher to the library.. What did I read there? 'Noddy!!'.. They had a lot of those and some of the pages had pictures.. I used to think the author was 'Gnid Blyton' coz of the unfamiliar way 'E' was printed... I can't remember a thing about it now except that I did read them all ... And so when we learnt the word 'hobby', mine was reading.. As school life progressed, I decided to ditch Hardy Boys and Secret Seven because everybody was reading them.. We then had a new rule about being allowed to issue only classics from the library.. I started and finished with Jane Eyre.. Took me two weeks.. liked it a lot and quit going to the library. And then there was a Danielle Steele now and then.. a Sydney Sheldon that classmates passed around.. and then finally somebody gave me a Historical Romance.. (yes.. now is when you roll your eyes).. Chivalry, castles, battles, dukes, earls, lords, knights.. totally swept away an entire class of girls who were by then the 'Science' girls ..We were the 'Science' stream.. the girls with good grades on their way to pursue Engineering or Medicine .. the girls who looked down their noses at the 'Commerce' girls who were by then experts on what exact shade of eyeshadow went with what exact shade of blue contact lenses.. what was in and what was out.. and had no qualms about walking through the forbidden Boys' section of our school.. So while the Commerce girls went out and had a gala time with the guys, we sat and read Historical romances.. And NO! A historical romance is not just an ordinary romance.. There's all the chivalry and the castles and the battles and the titled heroes and the balls and the ballgowns and fluttering fans.. It was basically the same thing all the time.. Handsome titled hero is betrothed to wild unruly female with gorgeous bod who can't stand the guy or the norms of society (then).. They meet.. hate each other and then are over come by the usual hot desire, ecstasy, wild passion.. blah blah.. and happily ever after.. And that was the end of my 'reading'.. By the time I came to college, people were reading and discussing authors I'd never heard of.. and then staring at me open mouthed when I asked them about the 'must-reads'.. I couldn't possibly catch up on all the reading they'd been doing by then.. so I gave up.. I quit reading all together.. and now.. I can't even pick a book for a friend..
Resolution time???