Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading. 

This week's question has everything to do with last week's Frankenstorm - that big bad monster that ripped off power (and trees and other things besides) in so many parts of the States. Let's get straight into it:

1. How do storms affect your reading? Do you go for comfort reading?
2. How do you deal with power outages? Do you read by candlelight? Flashlights? Use a self-lit e-reader or tablet? Skip reading altogether for the duration and instead play games with the family?

I live in Karachi, the biggest metropolis of Pakistan. Mostly, we don't have a storm situation around here in fall/winter - more of a cool-morning, scorching-afternoon, cool-night situation, and little or no rain. Leave alone storms. But sometimes in summers, we do have some really mean thunderstorms that play havoc with the trees and billboards and shanty towns - not to forget the power. And those are times when many, many people actually go outdoors to fool around in the rain, because it's sort of a blue moon thing. 

Do storms affect my reading? Not really. If I were reading a novel before the storm, I wouldn't switch books to match the atmosphere. Reading during heavy rain is actually a great experience - atleast for me. I love curling up with a novel when there's a storm - the weather's cool (that's rare where I live), the sound of the rain and the wind is soothing, and the plate of pakoras sitting next to me turns my stomach into a puppy dog begging on its hind legs. For those who aren't aware, pakoras (puh-KO-rahs) are one of the most fantastic deep-fried snacks ever. My advice - try them before you cross the River Styx.


Focus, Erfa. So like I was saying, storm or no storm, my reading habits and choice of books don't change. Nah-uh.

Moving on to the second part of the question, I frankly don't read novels during power outages. I do value my eyesight and subjecting it to reading under a battery-operated lantern or reading an LCD screen is me being a meanie to my eyes. What I mostly do instead is chat with my family, play some football (the British one), listen to some great music. Or eat yummy pakoras with chutney. :)

Send in your feedback on this week's Booking Through Thursday! Have a great day! :D