Confessions of a Book Lover

by Ruskin Bond

Exploring bookshelves in some of the most amazing places-Simla's Ripon Hospital, Hampstead General Hospital in London, and The Select Bookshop of Mr Rao and Ms Murthy in Bangalore among others-Ruskin Bond opens a window to his earliest encounters with incredible writers and their wonderful writings to introduce you to the stories that played a significant role in moulding his imagination as a full-time writer. Confessions of a Book Lover is a journey into Ruskin's life through the books he has loved and an introduction to some forgotten classics.

Genres: India, Fiction, Books About Books

348 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2017

About the author

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.

Reviews

[Asha Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a 4, not so much for the excerpts, but for the fantastic peek into the book-lover's life called Ruskin Bond.
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The sequel to 'Love among the Bookshelves', 'Confessions of a Book Lover' is again a journey into the author's life through the books he has loved and an introduction to some forgotten classics.
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Just like 'Love among the Bookshelves', in this volume too, Mr Bond shares some of his favorite authors and excerpts, delightful bits from stories that have stayed with him over his years of reading and writing. Coming from the heart of a true book-lover, this is worth a read if you want to know what inspired him to pursue his passion, spanning across decades..
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Ask me why not a 5? Well, because this reader's heart wasn't satiated, it asks for more.

[Nirav · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a sequel to his earlier book, "Love Among Other Bookshelves" which turned out to become a bestseller. This book explores the books Bond read during his growing up years and how it shaped his style of writing. It has excerpts of 10 books and has one to two page introduction about the book and where he read them and what part he liked about that book. Most of the excerpts are of British humour which I'm still getting a hang of. I chose to skip two stories from the book. But this book gives you a fair idea about the humor Bond has in his books. Maybe there is gonna be one more book exploring the books he loved. If not anything else, this book ends up increasing your to-be-reading list in a good way.

[Mansi Mudgal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confessions of a Book Lover by Ruskin Bond is the second part to his Love among the Bookshelves but you don’t necessarily need to read one to read the other.
Here, bond shares excerpts from his favourite books and short stories along with titbits from his life which as usual were a joy to read.
I really liked parts by William Saroyan, Stacey Aumonier, Josef Bard, Jack London and a couple more while some were a miss for me.
I’d highly recommend the book to fellow book lovers who want to add to their tbr and discover more authors and give this one a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. A typical book about books; Confessions of a Book Lover is just what I needed.

[Indresh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A maestro and his inspirations, what more can one ask

[Ashish Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what more i could possibly say except that it is an anthology of everything Ruskin Bond loved to read. It contains short stories, an essay, paragraphs from various books, descriptions etc. The best part of this book are not the excerpts taken from other books but a peek into his reading life.

[Vinay Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has Ruskin Bond's memories of how he found certain books during his life, and some excerpts from those books. I liked the former, because a love of books can grow from these experiences too. How one finds books is also a part of the reading love. And some parts of another's journey can feel familiar too. The latter, some of the stories were interesting.

[Zankhana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ruskin Bond needs no introduction. Almost every Indian child must have read at least one book written by him, which has been translated into almost all Indian languages. The title at first gives the impression that this might be Ruskin Bond's experiences as a bookworm and his favourite books. Well, the latter is true; the book does give us a list/idea about his favourite books.

Confessions of a Book Lover is a patchwork of a favourite chapter each from selected favourite novels that he has read since he was a child, to date. This book indicates what handsome collections of books he has possessed in so many years. Before each chapter/story, he has given a prologue which does include some memories related to the book or something about the author of that story.

Apart from Ruskin Bond fans, this book is definitely recommended for all those who do not have the patience to read fat volumes and would rather be amused with short stories. And for all the book dragons out there, this book will inspire you to help gather some new additions in your "already overloaded" library because there are many stories which will haunt you at night and you will: go ahead, search for the books and - if your pocket supports, buy them.
Go for it!!!

[Prashanthi Kadambi · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you ask a booklover to talk about any phase of their life, chances are that they'll talk about all the books they read in that phase, how they happened to find them, and how the books made them feel. Ruskin Bond is no different, and in this book, he takes us through glimpses of the books that shaped his younger years. But for me, most of the stories that Ruskin loved failed to make an impact. It was like meeting a bunch of strangers and hoping to make a friend. Sometime it works, sometimes it doesn't. This time, it didn't. I liked reading the parts where Ruskin talks about his life more than the stories themselves. Perhaps my expectations about this book weren't calibrated quite correctly.

[Pinaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked one short story in the collection, Myself upon the Earth by William Saroyan (read online). The sort of individuality portrayed here is more in line with Ruskin Bond's view on the subject, which is different from Howard Roark like characters. Others excerpts include writings by Virginia Woolf, Jack London, HG Wells. A good starting point to discover lesser-known authors and explore their works more. He at least introduces fifty authors along with their major writings between the excerpts.

[Saranya Dhandapani · Rating 3 out of 5]

#186
Book 27 of 2023-Confessions of a Book Lover
Author-Ruskin Bond

“Every life is a contradiction,a new truth,a new miracle and even frauds are interesting.”

This book shows the Reader’s side of Ruskin Bond,the book lover that he is! He showed his love for books through this book. Ten Authors! Ten Excerpts! Ten Essays by Ruskin Bond about how he found that particular book,what he loved about that particular book. Through this book,you could get to understand Bond as a Reader,what made him the writer that he is today and his exploration with books.

But..I would have enjoyed this whole thing as a simple Blog,where he could talk about the books and authors he loved. Because the excerpts didn’t make sense to me,those are his favourite chapters indeed..But I’m not someone who could enjoy a chapter from a novel without knowing the beginning.

I’d like to read from the beginning. He could’ve just mentioned the Book names and why he loved it. But the excerpts didn’t make much impact on me, a little curiosity!? Yes! I started this book on March and finished on May,that says a lot!

It’s upto the individuals I believe. Reading excerpts might work for some and might not work for some.I belong to the latter.I loved his essay at the beginning of each chapter.One day I’d also like to share my experiences about my favourite books and authors! You’ll end up having a lot of TBR in your list after reading this book. It’s indeed an interesting collection🌻

[sneha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the sequel "Love Among the bookshelves".
For me, the main highlight for these books has been Buskin Rond's stories about his literary adventures. The snippets he shares is often of secondary importance to me.

This is mostly because I pick this book to read Mr Bond's words and not necessarily the authors he wishes to share. The latter requires a certain mindset. It's hard to switch the reading mood from enjoying Ruskin Bond to Jack London to Joseph Conard. You need to be in a certain state of mind to read and appreciate William Saroyan or H.G.Wells. Personally, the switch from the tone of one author to another is hard for me to make.

Another quirky thing about this book is the lack of female or authors of colour. I understand that since these chapters often feature stories read by Ruskin Bond while he was growing up, they are focused around a certain "type" of a writer. But it would be nice if the third instalment (if he chose to write and I'd absolutely love that) would feature a more diverse range of authors.

I'd recommend reading this book but treat it more as a collection of short stories and not a book to devour in a road trip in one go.

[Aswathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Confessions of a Book Lover' by Ruskin Bond is a beautiful anthology of extracts from some of Ruskin Bond's favourite books. It's a collection of 10 interesting extracts from some books like The Diary of a Nobody (1892), The Secret Sharer (1910), Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty(1916), etc. Before each extract, Ruskin Bond has put a little essay explaining the importance of that particular book, how he happened to read that particular book and how much he liked it, etc.

I accidentally came across this book while going through the books in my library and tbh, I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try. It was fun to know and read extracts from some amazing classics which were totally unknown to me. Reading this book seemed like opening a door to a library full of some amazing classics. Because of this wonderful book, I came to know about a lot of famous authors and their intriguing works which were published in the 1900s and before that.

Overall it was a good and refreshing read. I would recommend this book to those who are a fan of Ruskin Bond's books as well a Classics.

[Suman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of excerpts from Ruskin's favourite books similar to Bookless in Baghdad by Shashi Tharoor. I did not read a couple of chapters because that was n't my kind of books. Plus excerpts also lack the context which makes it harder to dig in. I did also get The Life of Mr. Polly on my Kindle because I liked it.

I also ordered the first anthology he compiled before this one - Love among the bookshelves and intend to read it next. It was some classic short stories from writers like H G Wells and Somerset Maugham. Looking forward to it!

[Prangyavit Sahu · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have read classical books like Wuthering High by Emily Bonte, 20000 leagues under the sea by Jules Vorne and Moby Dick by Herman Melville. But if you want to read 10 different classical books or stories at the same time read this one.

The 10 stories are collected from 10 different classics by Legendary Ruskin Bond and each story has its prefix written by Ruskin Bond about his life. Take some time, sit on a "Desi Aram Chair", have a cup of tea and read this book with patience.

I would recommend to those readers who take some time to read.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sequel to the book "Love among the Bookshelves". In 10 chapters master story teller talks about various books that are not covered in the earlier book.

[A_Chirping_Aquarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a light read and I had a lot of fun while reading it.

[Nupur Pal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful amalgamation of excerpts from the famous works of masterminds which Bond has handpicked for his readers to enjoy along with little prefaces to each of them written by his own hand.

[Sudarshan Wagh (swish_ndflick) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just so much relatableness in a single book. Damn where were you all this time? Ruskin Bond as always making me dive deep in his writing style as profound as an ocean!

[Karuna Sinh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a collection of Excerpts shared by Ruskin Bond from his favourite writers.. It a mix of interesting and not very intriguing passages..One time read..

[Dr. Monidipa Dutta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet and lovely

[Chandana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s basically an anthology of Bond’s recommendation. I got through the short stories to get to the parts where Bond writes about his life. That was the best part of the book.

[Rucha Khalatkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me fall in love with reading all over again.

[Dr Kashmira Gohil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected to read author's views & reviews as reading experience journey in this book. Instead the book turned out to be collection of the excerpts from 10 of the most liked books by the author. Ruskin bond talks briefly with relish as to how he came across the book in just 2-3 pages & then follows some short chapter as excerpts of that book in about 20-25 pages. And thus starts the book & ends after ten such excerpts as some chapter copy from the book author liked to read.bI was really disappointed. I would rather read reviews of the books rather than excerpts. As a voracious and heavy reader I like to get my hands on full book to read the whole story & not the short snippets. Plus, I would not necessary like what the 'old rusty' loved to read. (The abridged name mentioned with affection for author as I like what he himself penned).The chapters presented in his book as excerpts were from very old books which Ruskin bond loved. I only liked to read 02 from these. One, is for it's innocence, The 5th one in index, 'A tale of a child' (1932) by Josef Bard & another following immediately as 6th as in index, for it's stark survival tale, named 'Love of life' (1905) by Jack London. (Again, I would have loved to read them full than just a short chapter). Other chapters, I tolerated wishing book to end. I don't know why this book was was published or what the author or publishers were thinking when they decided to publish this one as the book is other authors collective writing & not the Ruskin bond' Own, except his brief remarks in 2- 3 pages preceding each copy work of chapter of another author. May be the intention was to preserve & give taste of bond's most liked book which were antique pieces of earlier writings- to today's readers. But I would rather read author's own writing- which I love, in a book titled under his name. Sorry to give only 2 stars for this one!!

[Dhwani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The March pick for the @ruskinbondbookclub was Confessions of a Book Lover, a book published by @penguinindia .

Mr. Bond talks about all of the favorites that he discovered at different times in his life. He introduces the readers to works like Orlando, The Diary of a Nobody, The Good Companions, and many more.

This book was a set of stories/essays which were the personal recommendations of Mr. Bond dedicated to his dear readers specifically. He also tells us how he came upon each title and at which phase during his life. This was something I enjoyed reading the most and what made the book and reading very personal to me. ❣️

I had a good time adding new books to my TBR from Mr. Bond's recommendations and trying new authors even though some of the stories didn't work for me. It takes time to grasp what you are getting yourself into and get used to the writing style of numerous authors.

Penguin India also has a book similar to this title, Love Among The Bookshelves by Ruskin Bond.

My favourite part was from The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith. I really wish to pick up that book as soon as I can.