Telegram from the hills

It has been a while since I penned a poem. I am busy reading a couple of books. I realized that I need to read more books. As a writer, it would be foolhardy to strive to write more without reading more. In fact, it is by reading more that one writes better.

Recently, Paulo Coelho has been my favourite author. I read the Alchemist a while ago and I fell in love with his writing. Right now I am reading his other titled ‘By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept’. There are a couple of other titles in queue. Along with these, I am also reading 'The Law of Success' by Napoleon Hill.

There are also a collection of about four books of proverbs that I am reading quite slowly. One of them is a collection of Hausa proverbs. I love them.

The other day I was challenged by a book club which listed classic books and asked how many one had read. This got me thinking. I haven’t been reading. And I am not talking about those articles or newspapers or magazines that you count as your ‘books’. No. I am talking about 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire',   'Prose Every Child Should Know' edited by Mary E. Burt, or 'So Long, It’s Been Good To Know You' a memoir by Bert Brun, and so on. For your information, Prose Every Child Should Know is like a must-read for an adult. After reading it, you realize how much you never knew much of the basics. The Aesop’s Fables, written in their characteristic brevity, makes for an enjoyable read too.

I am in the reading room.

I thought I should have let you know.