Introduction

Do you love the smell of new books? Do you love the smell of very old books? Well, I do love both. They bring back lots of good old memories. Memories of the first days of school, of the joy of getting a new comic book, of days scanning through and organising my dad's collection of books and comics, of whispering and giggling with friends at college library. Then there are some recent ones like going to book shops with my hubby, visiting library every week with my hubby and kid and cuddling up with my kiddo and reading her stories. As kids, me and my siblings were always surrounded by books. Being avid readers themselves, my parents always got us books. Four to five times a year, my dad used to go to bookshop and he will be back only late at night. How much ever late he comes, we kids used to wait for him or even if we sleep, mom used to wake us up when he is back. Scanning through the new collection with those sleepy eyes is one of my favourite childhood memories. So is reading books under the shade of our mango tree during the school vacations. I may not be able to give my kid the same kind of memories, but, she will definitely have her own. With the limited space in our apartment, I may not be able to give her a dedicated library or shade of tree to read. But she definitely has her own book corner in our bedroom and a mom who loves to read books to her everyday. She loves our weekend trips to book shops and library and the occassional surprise of new books being delivered by courier by the time she is back from school. She also is excited about the weekly magazines that come through mail with her name written on the address. So what you have to read the same story again and again, it is totally worth it and I enjoy every moment of it. After all what else can take you from the land of fairies to monsters with the turn of a page?