I've been reading - Georgette Heyer. I've always loved her books. I remember one of my grandfather's friends once telling me 'I hope you read worthwhile books and don't waste your time reading some frothy, frivolous Georgette Heyer". The only georgette I knew at this point was the very pretty lavender-smoke saree that my mom used to wear. I thought my mom very pretty and the saree truly gorgeous. Probably thought that's why it was called a georgette. But, since I was about 8yrs old and a voracious reader who read every newspaper, Enid Blyton, William, Biggles and medicine bottle label I came across I decided to find out more about this Georgette - the Heyer, not the fabric. Suffice to say I was too young. My poor mom, while not totally scandalised at me wanting to read a grown-up romance novel, was shocked enough to sit me down and make me learn the Nicene Creed or the 23rd Psalm or one of those holy passages.
I learnt the passage but the desire to become acquainted with Georgette Heyer never really went away. I finally got to read one when I was about 12 and that was arguably one of the most hilarious books ever written - The Grand Sophy. And who did I pick it up from? My Uncle. My very very own maternal uncle who was serious most of the time except when he let down his guard and joined in with us kids to play scrabble. Well, if he read a frothy, frivolous book and laughed his head off while doing it - I was going to get my hands on that book. And I did. And climbed up on to the roof to read it too. Finished it ultra fast too. Laughed my head off too. And adored my uncle for life!!
I don't know what it was, whether it was the old man describing it as frothy and frivolous - hello, the best way to entice an 8 yr old girl into anything is to use words like that in a tone fraught with disapproval - or whether it was finding the most unlikeliest of champions in this quest of mine to read a Georgette Heyer, but somehow she became and remained my favourite romance novelist.
Amma's lovely georgette became a dress for my sister and around the time I read the Grand Sophy, it became mine.
I learnt the passage but the desire to become acquainted with Georgette Heyer never really went away. I finally got to read one when I was about 12 and that was arguably one of the most hilarious books ever written - The Grand Sophy. And who did I pick it up from? My Uncle. My very very own maternal uncle who was serious most of the time except when he let down his guard and joined in with us kids to play scrabble. Well, if he read a frothy, frivolous book and laughed his head off while doing it - I was going to get my hands on that book. And I did. And climbed up on to the roof to read it too. Finished it ultra fast too. Laughed my head off too. And adored my uncle for life!!
I don't know what it was, whether it was the old man describing it as frothy and frivolous - hello, the best way to entice an 8 yr old girl into anything is to use words like that in a tone fraught with disapproval - or whether it was finding the most unlikeliest of champions in this quest of mine to read a Georgette Heyer, but somehow she became and remained my favourite romance novelist.
Amma's lovely georgette became a dress for my sister and around the time I read the Grand Sophy, it became mine.
No comments:
Post a Comment