Her favourite books are Kichakwadh by V S Khandekar, Perils of Democracy by P C Alexander, Cloisters Pale by Arun Tikekar and Geetamrutam by Pandurang Shastri Athavale. Shanta Shelke is her favourite poetess, and Kusumagraj (V V Shirwadkar) her favourite poet. Language (simple) and message (responsible and authoritative) are the two things she looks for in a book. A voracious reader of Sanskrit and Marathi literature, her disapproval of Salman Rushdie's comment on vernacular literature (`It's not as good as Indian writing in English') is strong. She's also disappointed to find thereading habits of the MTV generation dwindling, despite the fact that some bookstores in the city regularly organise book-reading sessions by celebrity authors. Her favourite slogan, which she raises in all her speeches, is `gift a book.'And she implements it religiously by always gifting books to her grand-children.