Not novel anymore?

Writer's block is one thing. Inability to create novelty is another.
Looks like this inability seems to plague the best of writers.
What can be the solution? At least, I didn't think the solution offered at the end of the article was quite effective. If we were to stop reading authors because they 'might' end up becoming repetitive, then we may not know what we missed!

One Indian author who has surprised me every time he wrote a book is Upamanyu Chatterjee.
I had written about 'Weight Loss', one of his novels, here.
I wish he would write more.

My partial list

As Bethany mentioned in the rules, I am not planning to post a complete list of books (they may change any time) but I am determined to complete the challenge this year! So, here are the first few books that I already have in my collection, that I am very sure of completing!

1. Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K Jerome (England)
2. The Almond – Nadjma (North Africa)
3. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert (France)
4. The Shipping News - E. Annie Proulx (USA)

The rest will follow... I will be almost done with Three Men in a Boat and be posting my thoughts on it soon!

On confidence and quality

I had always wondered how people manage to publish books even if it is sub-standard in quality (of writing). I recently saw saw a book in the book shop. It was a book written by an engineering student. The story seemed to be focused on cricket. Nothing unusual, probably little boring, but what put me off was the blurb on the back cover. There were at least three obvious mistakes and I wondered how the hell did it pass through editing?
On an informal platform like blogging, I can understand people not focusing on sentence construction/grammar (I am guilty of it, completely) and spellings (to certain extent), but how on earth in a 'published' book?
Beats me.

OT challenge 2009

Last time I had not completed the Orbis Terrarum Challenge. And this time too, I am kind of unsure how to go about it. It is not so easy to get hold of books of authors of different countries (bad time for buying brand new books and no library in this town masquerading as a city).



However, I still plan to take part - with the unfinished books that I already have in our collection.

On Writing – A memoir of the craft: Stephen King

It has been long time since I posted anything in this blog – contrary to the promise I made myself. Well, I cannot do much about breaking it, except, post something. And I do have lots this time – I have been reading books but not really writing much about them.
After I decided to get serious about polishing my writing skills, the first thing I did was to go looking for books on writing and I stumbled upon this wonderful book from the master craftsman, Stephen King himself.

While the book is superb in its style and narration, it is more a memoir of his life than that of the craft; the real part on writing gets sidelined a bit. But, as the author confesses in the book, he cannot really tell you how he gets those wonderful ideas. In addition, this is not exactly a how-to-do book, like an instruction manual, but King more than makes up for it with beautifully depicted childhood memories, his writing interests, the optimism so natural in youth, his success, and of course, his life-altering accident.

King says that writing is ‘telepathic’ – you, as the author, are invisible to the reader yet you connect to him effortlessly, transmitting the scenes, the characters, the emotions and the ending. I think that is a wonderful way of saying about the most important thing in a story – establishing and maintaining the connection with the reader. In his own unique manner he talks about the toolbox – the must haves for a writer: vocabulary, grammar, brevity, appropriate usage of adverbs, and more. But someone who would expect certain golden rules/maxims/thumb rules and tips on writing should be forewarned – he doesn’t do any of that like a conventional guide. The book also gives a comparison of King’s work before and after editing for our benefit. The book can be happily read by anybody – those who are not interested in writing as well. The sheer strength/beauty of narration takes you to another world altogether, just like his stories.

I recommend this to anyone who cares to have fun.

Ratings: 4.0/5.0

Brooklyn Follies - Paul Auster

This book was highly recommended by Sid. Usually I trust his choice, but this one didnt work for me the way it did for him.
The story criss-crosses many lives in Brooklyn and probably the author's intention was to ensure everyone finds a connection somewhere. If so, then I feel it backfired bigtime.
The storyline has Nathan Glass, a retired insurance sales guy, with lung cancer trying to spend his life, whatever is left of it, in a quiet place. So he moves to Brooklyn. He meets his nephew Tom, who is working in a bookshop and the two together have some good time. In comes his niece's daughter who refuses to speak and, as claimed by the blurb in the book, their lives change drastically after this.
If you ask me, that is where the book starts going downhill. Initially the book managed to hold my interest, I kept thinking, something bigger is just around the corner, but more than halfway I realized it isn't going to be anything like that. The plot is stretched unnecessarily and few parts are too tacky and unconvincing. Not even once, do we see the protagonist (who is supposed to be a cancer patient) having any trouble with his health. I am not saying he should be in bed or have some major scenes in hospital, but, it simply does not allow me to believe in this character. In addition, the father daughter (did I not mention the hero had a daughter? well, yes, he does) relationship is not depicted strongly, that we can feel empathy for him when he had a 'fight' with his daughter.
However, the writing is good - simple and easy to read so I didnt have to tax my brain too much. There were some parts that I enjoyed reading - the nephew Tom's infatuation, Tom meeting his future wife (i forget her name, though) and umm, some more (not so memorable, I guess).
Overall, a decent read, with few good parts thrown in between.
Rating: 3/5

The Days and Nights of Shorty Gomes - Ahmed Bunglowala

This one is an old and a low-key detective fiction by Ahmed Bunglowala, published in 1993. I am not sure if he wrote more, he probably did, but google doesn't show much (hence, no image to go with the post). The main reason for reading this book is that it is HD's 'comfort book'. I was curious to know more about it so, this time, I picked up this book.

The story line goes like this: Shorty Gomes is a detective who is tired of working for a bigger agency, and now is trying to work independently with few cases trickling in. This has three short stories (a case of a wealthy and beautiful client seeking protection from own husband and dying premature death, a shady lawyer outsourcing the job of shadowing a high class hooker, and finally an aging royalty requesting protection against a soothsayer).

The stories are not great by any stretch of imagination but the style is what one remembers after one puts down the book. It has tongue-in-cheeck dialogues almost every time Shorty Gomes speaks. There is a liberal dose of sarcasm, again slightly highhanded I must say...
But, the good part of the book is that you get the feeling that the author enjoyed himself thoroughly while writing this. It is as if he deliberately wanted to give those ludicrous twists and chases in the story, just to have some fun. Another thing I liked about the book was that it had no pretense of pleasing a wider audience whatsoever. The scenarios, the background setting (Bombay, it says) and the characters, they are all truely on the Indian soil which made it more endearing.
Definitely not for readers who want some classic moments and a great story line, but probably once a while when you really have lot of time to spend and light reading is what you require, you can peek into this book.
I checked in Amazon, they don't have this book in stock and apparently none of the bookshops have even listed them in their stock, so says HD.

But, I am glad I read it - not just for HD's sake, but mine too.
Rating: 2.5/5

Comfort Books

In your reading life, have you come across that one book that made you feel you could be all alone in this world yet stay content just by holding this book and browsing through, even randomly? There, you have your comfort book.

What is a comfort book? - well, according to me, it is something you can pick up anytime and any number of times to read and not be bored. It soothes you, makes you feel better and generally there is this peculiar attachment - more like affection, towards the book and the characters. And, it does not have to be the best book in the world or even in your library. Your heart/mind does not give as much importance on the story as it does on familiarity (that is, your familiarity with the characters, situations, twists or dialogues). You might have read the joke many a times, yet it brings a small smile on your face. Every time you listen to the hero speak, you root for him, you feel sorry for the old man in his bad times and you feel good about the heroine finding her true love.

Well, it many not necessarily be the same experience for every one, but one thing is for sure, at the end of day, you feel warm and cozy and content.
What more could you ask for?

My comfort book is called 'The Adventures of Sally' by P.G.Wodehouse.
(Will write about it in detail sometime later)

What's yours?