books books books-- bahbahluhbahlah-- books!

i generally dont know what makes me buy a certain book.. and to say that i love buying books would be a definite understatement.. i devour them..
and never before did i think of this.. i mean, i never really gave it a thorough thought process, as to when and which and how, regarding the buying of books..
this 'thinking' took roots a few weeks back.. and continuing since then.. i happened to receive a mail from Crossword notifying me about my Book Rewards Points and urging me to redeem those off, before they lapse.. so, i jumped to action.. and made a bee-line to my Haven.. and of course, a Sale is always a boon! and this is what kinda got me thinking in the first place, as to, what makes me buy a book..

umm, well, it may be the author.. coz, i believe i have a collector's mindset.. if i have a particular author, i need to have the entire collection of it.. so that, i can be the proud owner of the works.. and this thing is probably innate.. coz as far as i can remember, this first started with me being real diligent in completing my Adventures Of Tintin even before i could reach double digit in my 'years'.. and speaking of which, i realise now, that Tintin had nothing to do with the author.. it was the series, per se.. right, so maybe, if i own some in the series, i need to complete the entire series in my collection.. yeah.. that might be it.. at least that explains Adventures Of Tintin, Asterix..

going back to the 'author' string, that holds true for the rest of the books.. Paulo Coelho (though, i got so sick of it later on, that now, i dun even look at the name, and so, it doesnt bother me anymore that the 'collection' is incomplete), Aravind Adiga, Khaleed Hosseini, Enid Blyton (oh, the best memories of pre-teens), and many more.. the recent being Dan Brown.. and i thought that at least i have one author's works up-to-date.. but no.. he goes and releases one more! *agony!

my Japanese fixation continuing with Haruki Murakami.. and i dun even have half the books! coming back on the desi shores, Amitav Ghosh has caught my fancy.. and needless to say again, that i still have a long way to go..

so yeah, by this, its safe to judge that, i usually go by the 'author', when it comes to "collection" or even "buying"..

but, there's an exception to it.. a major exception..
before i go to the 'exception' part, i have to say, that i generally dun like 'romantic' novels.. especially those of the Indian authors.. somehow, i find it all like a rut.. same storyline, same way of writing.. bottomline, i dun like it.. and here comes the Exception..
"Hold Me Will You Once" has hit the shelves.. today.. speaking of which, this is another supposed 'love story' (pardon me if i sound or come across to be as cynical.. nothing against the author or the book.. me being cynical right now is entirely because of a completely personal reason) penned by Ashutosh Bose.. first novel.. and i know that i will buy this.. no, not because of the author.. i don't even know him.. and definitely not because of the 'novel'.. i probably wont even get around to read that for a good period of time.. my apathy towards love stories notwithstanding.. yet, i have never been so sure of buying a particular book as im in this case..

and that is solely because of one person.. one person, who is featured in the credits.. just a small mention, but a mention, nevertheless..

so, this book finds a place on my shelf, because M features in it.. i dunno, if at all i'll end up reading it, but its definitely gonna stay there.. and it makes me proud..

so much for the author! (chuckle!)