My Personal Library

By Paiham Navras (8-year-old)

14 January 2024

    I love books, which makes me a bibliophile. Over the years I have managed to build a personal library for myself. I have books in English, Hindi and Urdu. Once I learn Bangla (Bengali), I will get books in that language as well. Some books are from my father’s childhood, which I and my twin sister Chahkaar Navras inherited from him, while the others were chosen by either of us and the rest were chosen for us by our parents. I have books of both fiction and non-fiction. My non-fiction books can be broadly divided in the following categories – History, Science, Nature and Wildlife, Biographies, Travel, and Poetry. As for my fiction books, those can be divided in the following categories – Folklore, Religion and Mythology, Fairy Tales, Story Books, Drama,  Graphic Novels, Jokes, and Comics. I share my personal library with my sister, mentioned above.  

    My favourite book is A Mountain of Gems: Fairy Tales of the People of the Soviet Land (1975). It was published in the former USSR. It contains stories of 15 countries, which were part of the former Soviet Union, and six peoples. I like the story “Good and Evil” the most. I like this book because it has so many interesting stories. It is one of the books I inherited from my father, who got it as a gift from an aunt of his when he was of my age.  

    In Hindi my favourite book is Panchatantra ki Kahaniyan (Stories from the Panchatantra). It is a set of five volumes. Altogether they contain 38 stories. My parents purchased the set online for me. I like this collection a lot because all volumes in it are well illustrated with lovely pictures and each story gives a moral lesson. 

    Among my history books, I like D-Day (2015) and Bar Kokhba (1952) the most. Bar Kokhba is a hero from Jewish history who liberated his country Palestine, now called Israel, from the Roman rule in the ancient age. I am particularly fond of reading books on wars and battles. 

    In Urdu my favourite book is a biography of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. I like it so much not only because his story is interesting, but also because it is easy for me to read as the print is bold and it is not too long, though I wish it had more pictures. 

    I have 123 books in English, 62 books in Hindi, and 77 books in Urdu. So, altogether I have a collection of 262 books. I try to read daily for half an hour before I sleep. Thus, I have managed to read most of the books I have, except the Urdu books and those Hindi books that I got only recently. Among my Urdu books many are yet to be read because my parents purchased those books for me in bulk and I have not yet had enough time to read them all. Many of those books are also a little difficult for me to read at this stage. However, I am sure I will be able to read those books as well as I progress with my Urdu lessons which I receive from a private tutor at home. 

    I love visiting the Kolkata International Book Fair and book shops. I am also a member of the British Council Library. I borrow books from the school library every Friday. Often I find films to watch on Netflix on the things I read about, which makes it all even more fun.