``Who are your best loved writers?'' a teacher once asked her students. ``Barbara Cartland, ma'am, and Mills and Boons,'' was the answer.Well, it's a debatable question whether these novels are worth reading. Those who vouch on its exclusivity would probably disagree with me. I am not totally against these novels, but as a student of literature, I prefer not to read them. It would be quite true to say that, ``If you have read one, you have read all.''There was a time when I did read MBs, but I have outgrown it and certainly prefer a Jane Austen novel any day. Her language is so good that she is able to communicate her feelings and thoughts in a few well-chosen words.Irving Stone, in his famous book Lust For Life on the life of Vincent Van Gogh, shows the realities of life. His description of Vincent's deep love for Ursula is put across in a few, well-chosen understated words. The reader is made to feel those emotions, those acute undercurrents for himself. He is given space to perceive and interpret. Quite different from the frivolous language in a MB.Besides, the satisfaction of reading a good book is different. There is not even one scene from an MB that is even remotely memorable. Whereas, the scenes from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice remain vivid in the reader's mind for a long time. The novel has a class that makes it difficult to duplicate. MBs, on the other hand, give the readers a misleading idea of a romantic life.At a certain age most of us love to read MBs. But one should move ahead in life. Good reading helps a person to refine, to reconstruct one's thoughts, making him a better person.
