The Almeida Family are a trio of bookworms. While my work revolves around scholarship and learning, my lifelong love affair with books and reading is rivaled only by my husband Llew’s and my daughter Chriselle’s. Though we’re all voracious readers, Llew is a confirmed bibliophile. His book collection, acquired carefully and painstakingly over decades, is his pride and joy. Together we have attended countless book readings and signing sessions in New York City and have struck up conversations with some of the world’s best-known writers such as Toni Morrison, Peter Carey, Amy Tan, Salman Rushdie and one of my favorite novelists, Ian McEwan.
Many years ago, when I was about thirteen and on a long train journey in India, I met a fellow-passenger with whom I entered into conversation. Both of us had our heads stuck in books for hours on end. When we did surface and started to chat, he said to me, “If you love books, you will never be lonely”. I have never forgotten his words. Through the many ups and downs of my life, books gave me immeasurable comfort.
There have been an assortment of books in the various phases of my life. As a child, I read “story books” and “picture books”. As a pre-teen, I devored the adventure stories of British writer Enid Blyton. As a teenager, I went through dozen of Mills & Boon romances. As a college undergrad, I finally graduated to mature literature, my horizons expanding rapidly through those marvelous peeks into unknown territory that lay virginal and waiting to be discovered. Books have given me some of the most pleasurable moments of my life. It is a passion I shared with my mother Edith, a passionate fan of Agatha Christie mysteries, and subsequently, with my husband Llew. Reading to my daughter Chriselle when she was a little girl turned her into a compulsive reader as well. Today, the two of us exchange books and recommendations for reading incessantly. As I have traveled through my life, books have guided me on a quiet personal journey. Through my scholarly work in Anglophone World Literature, I have read books from diverse parts of the world, all of which have taken me on fascinating armchair tavels when I have not been on foreign soil in the flesh.
Though I will read anything I can lay my hands on, I have a marked preference for Biography, Travel Writing and Cookbooks. Yes, I love reading cookbooks and I have taken many an exciting armchair journey by following the culinary tours of emminent chefs. Of course, I also love reading novels (who doesn’t?) Among biographers, one of my favorites is Antonia Fraser and among travel-writers, I have a particular fondness for Bill Bryson who has the remarkable ability of entertaining while educating.
My Favorite Books of all Time:
(Not necessarily in any order of preferecne)
1. Possession by A.S. Byatt
2. Atonement by Ian McEwan
3. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
4. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
5. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6. Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Hadden
8. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
9. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
10. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
11. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
12. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
13. The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble
14. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
15. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
16. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
17. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
18. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
19. Saturday by Ian McEwan
20. The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
21. Christ in Concrete by Pietro de Donato
22. Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska
23. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
24. The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth
25. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossaini
26. Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
27. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
28. The Nowhere Man by Kamala Markandaya
29. Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh
30. The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor
Books I have Read in 2007:
1. Love in the Time of Cholera–Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. Nature’s Sketchbook–Majolein Bastin
3. Shalimar The Clown–Salman Rushdie
4. Marginality and Identity–Noel P. Gist and Roy Dean Wright
5. Water for Elephants–Sara Gruen
6. Notes from a Small Island–Bill Bryson
7. Ultra-Prevention: Six Weeks to a Healthy Life–Mark Hyman and Mark Liponis.
8. The Inheritance of Loss–Kiran Desai
9. Poor Relations: The Making of the Eurasian Community in British India 1783-1833–Christopher Hawes
10. Bait and Switch–Barbara Ehrenreich
11.The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
12. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter
13. Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson
14. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
15. Vegemite Vindaloo by David McMahon
16. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
17. Ten Heritage Walks of Mumbai by Fiona Fernandez
18. Londonstani by Gautam Malkani
19. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
20. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
21. Emma by Jane Austen
22. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
23. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson
24. Favorite Dog Stories by James Herriot
25. What You Call Winter: Stories by Nalini Jones
26. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
27. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossaini
28. Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley
29. The Best Life Diet by Bob Greene
30. Snobs by Julian Fellowes
31. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
32. Get With The Program: Guide to Good Eating by Bob Greene
33. March by Geraldine Brooks
34. Evening by Susan Minot
35. The Handbook of Style: Expert Fashion and Beauty Advice.
36. London by Lonely Planet’s Editors
37. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
38. My Love Affair with England by Susan Allen Toth
Books I have Read in 2008:
1. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
2. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
3. England As You Like It by Susan Allen Toth
4. All About H. Hatterr by G.V. Desani
5. England For All Seasons by Susan Allen Toth
6. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and Relin
7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
8. The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux
9. Brunnelleschi’s Dome by Ross King
10. Cosmopolitanism by Kwame Anthony Appiah
11. What is Global History? by Pamela Kyle Crossley
12. Humanism and Democratic Criticism by Edward Said
13. Eat, Pray, Love by Elisabeth Gilbert
The Wine Mavens Book Club in Fairfield, Connecticut
My love of reading led me to bond almost immediately with fellow bibliophiles in the town of Fairfield, Connecticut, to which I moved ten years ago. Over a decade, I have met with this group, once a month, to select and discuss a title, over amazing food and wines. We do not call ourselves the Wine Mavens without good reason! Comprising women of diverse ages from all walks of life, our group enjoys reading and critiquing books.
Here is a list of books picked out by the Wine Mavens of Fairfield, Connecticut ,as being among the favorites we’ve read through our Book Club:
1. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
2. Cane River by Lalita Tademi
3. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
4. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
5. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
6. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
7. Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi
8. ACivil Action by Jonathan Haar
9. The Mapp and Lucia Series by E.F. Benson
10. Beach Music by Pat Conroy
11. The Hours by Michael Cummingham
12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
13. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
14. The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans
15. Nickel and Dimed by Barabar Ehrenreich
16. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Alblom
17. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Book Title for March 2007:
March by Geraldine Brooks
Book Title for April 2007
The Bone Setter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
Book Title for May 2007
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Book Title for June 2007
Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Raddish
Book Title for July 2007
No Book Selected. Beach Party at Southport Beach
Book Title for August 2007
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Book Title for September 2007
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossaini
The Southporters Book Club, Southport, Connecticut
Book Title for April 2007
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter