As a bookworm who has read over two thousand books already in my life, as well as having written my own I have discovered that I was uneducated in the ways of the world, and of how other cultures have lived, wrote, just overall understood the world the way they saw it. And as I checked through all of the books I've read, at least the ones that I have remembered at the top of my head I noticed something, I hadn't really read books by anyone who hadn't made mainstream in the western countries. Sure, I read Jane Austen, Niccolo Machiavelli, EM Forster, Steinbeck, Gertrude Stein; they are known as instant classics in the eyes of the public school system and for the most part they don't have a whole lot of books written by those who are considered "unknown".
So, for me to stretch my mind and book list I took it upon myself to find books by authors who were not well known and was immediately introduced to Elif Shafak, Reyna Grande, Nadia Hashimi, Igor Stiks, and Indu Sundaresan. And after I had read many of their books I fell for them, not just as authors, but for the characters they bring to life, because I have found pieces of myself in the characters. This jump started my passion for books even further, and made me want to discover other authors from not only my culture, but as well as others.
As we continue to have our book club, I will be doing my own book challenge to not only heighten my mind, but also to find other authors to read. If you are interested in my journey through the book world, let me know, and I can share the books and authors that I've encountered.
Photo Credit:
Baraat - The Wedding Procession