WARNING: There be lists ahead!

Tomorrow I have a test. This is nothing new of course. My life has been more or less just a series of tests for the last 5 years or so. Unit tests, model tests, big tests, little tests-you name it, I've spent an hour in a stifling classroom writing it. When I look back at this time in my life 20 years from now (assuming Al Gore's got it all wrong and we don't all drown because of rising sea levels), I think I will remember it as a big blur of question papers, underlining, and gel pens.

At the very least, I will remember with great fondness the guy who sat next to me in the front row cheating with his cell phone. The nerve, you've got admire it.

Forging ahead, I have been reading some very "important" books as of late. Books that people tell you "must" read, books that all glossy magazines trumpet...books that typically make little impact on me.

So here for your perusal, I present Sowmya's list of:

Overly Hyped Up Books That I Had To Struggle To Finish:
(catchy title,right?)
1. The Alchemist:
I have been told, fervently, by many people that Paulo Coelho's life-changing novel is the most poetic and astounding book they've ever come across. So armed with this knowledge I decided I'd give it a go. After all it had a title that few fantasy-addicts can resist. And as I turned the pages getting steadily more frustrated, I still held on to the hope that maybe the big "astounding" bit lay ahead. A hope that died when I turned the last, final page and thought "That's it?".
I suppose my senses have been dulled by Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Maybe I've got to the point where a book is only entertaining if big, loud, exciting things happen. Maybe the subtle, quiet magic of The Alchemist escaped me. Admittedly, I am not the most perceptive of people.
So I'm going to be diplomatic and say that it wasn't the book, it was just me. But I still believe that it wouldn't have hurt to throw a few hobbits into the mix.
And for the record, Nicholas Flamel is the ONLY Alchemist.

2. Five Point Someone:
Chetan Bhagat, they said, was the coolest,freshest author to ever come out of this country. He was hip and in tune with the sensibilities of young,urban India I was told. And since I'd just been through the whole stressful process of filling out forms in triplicate and writing exams to get into a good college, I figured I could relate to the book. All I can say is that Five Point Someone is just one big demonstration about how misleading false advertising and misrepresentation can be. Because Mr.Bhagat? Neither cool nor fresh. Just disappointing.

3. Wuthering Heights:
I'd enjoyed reading Gone with the Wind. Scarlett was the most spoiled heroine I'd ever read, Rhett was most evil romantic lead the world has ever seen but it was a good( if lengthy) book. So I thought that Wuthering Heights,what with it being all about bratty girls, rough guys and estate-ownership struggles, would be fun too. So I read it. And as God as my Witness I never will again!
Without going too much in detail, I'd just like to point out that romance novels have little going for them if the girl croaks in the first half of the book.

There's more where that came from. Looking at how aggressively even the most unworthy of books get marketed these days, I'm sure I'm in store for more disappointment of the literary sort in the future. And whenever that happens I'll just get out one of my Harry Potters and be content in the knowledge that sometimes they do get it right.