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?

Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut

This was my first tentative step into the world of Kurt Vonnegut and despite many warnings on the net (observations by other readers) that this may not be the best book to start with, I enjoyed the book tremendously.
Highly satirical and incisive in nature, 'Breakfast of Champions' provides a striking picture of the bleakness, the purposelessness and self centered life that the American society is so deeply mired in. Although the book is quite old, the observations are still relevant in the current times.
What is good about the book -
A unique narrative style which allows you to breeze through the pages despite the heavy content.
Drawings interspersed through out the story: although they highlight what has already been said in the story, it does provide an interesting angle to the narration.
And of course, brilliant writing.

The story is about two men, (no actually, three people - including the author, who makes an appearance in the book) a science fiction writer (Kilgore Trout) and a well-to-do car dealer (Dwayne Hoobler) who meet in an unlikely circumstances and the interaction leads to the dealer going completely insane. The emptiness of Dwayne's rich but aimless life (a dead wife, a disowned homosexual son, a mistress who is not able to fulfill the lacuna of his life) which sounds all too familiar even at this age. The mindless pollution and insensitiveness towards the environment so as to fill the corporations' already rich coffers seems to have continued from the time of industrialization.
Although pithy and humourous, it is quite bleak and leaves you with an unease that settles down on your sensibilities.
All in all a wonderful book and I am looking forward to the other books by the author.

I would rate this book 4.5/5 (why not 5? well, I don't know why, but I am just not able to do it)

Evening is the whole day - Preeta Samarasan

I am done with the job now. I am so relieved and relaxed. I feel free - probably this is how most prisoners would feel after getting out. I know this is not a permanent option; the realities of life would force me to look into the mirror soon and push me again towards another job, another drudgery.
Till then, let me enjoy.
I am done with J.D. Salinger's 'Franny and Zooey' but I have not really had the time to put my thoughts in order. Instead, I jumped on to Preeta Samarasan's 'Evening is the whole day'.

It is a story of an Indian family caught amidst changing times - occurring within the family relationships, within the society that the family has reluctantly embraced and in Malaysia post colonial departure (although not much of this). The story starts with sending away the maidservant Chellam for committing a sin in the 'Big House'. Each member of the family (Appa, Amma, Uma the oldest-eldest, Suresh and Aasha the little one who sees ghosts in the house and 'knows things somehow') has his/her own personal sorrows, agenda that somehow adds on to the emotional burden that the family bears. In the later chapters one gets to know the nature of relationship shared between Amma and Appa, the underlying tensions and the lack of intimacy. Appa, the ambitious lawyer who wanted to make it big in Malayan politics and make a difference to the society. His wealth, education or his ideals cannot really hide the selfishness lying underneath. Amma, the girl from the lower class who was grateful to Appa for rescuing her from the misery of her aimless life inflicted by the parents, enters the big house only to realize that the disappointments of life here are camouflaged in silk sarees, jewellery, and mindless tea parties. Paati (the grandmother) with her emotional games using her sons and grandchildren against the daughter-in-law. The oldest-eldest girl Uma who plans to leave for America for studies, harbouring anger at the family for having betrayed her trust. And additional ghost characters floating in and out of the story at various intervals.

I found the first half unnecessarily heavy, verbose. It was not very easy to go on with the book considering how slowly the plot moved - the details were too detailed, the descriptions too vivid. The character development of the 'ghost' - a little girl who died earlier in the house feels slightly overdone. It makes the novel a little too clever for comfort. The political unrest of Malaysia as depicted in the novel does little to hold the reader's interest since it seems like a small subplot thrown in as an after thought. However, in the second half the plot picks up pace and suddenly the writing is crisper as if the author suddenly decided to shed the descriptive narration. I enjoyed the plot build-up. The writing in most parts is powerful and holds one's attention - the simple hopes and fears of chellam the maidservant, the manipulativeness of Aasha, are wonderfully captured. One feels sorry for Amma, who struggles till the very end to attain the upper-classiness, in the process alienating her children and husband.

Overall, the book is a good read and I probably would pickup her second book if the author comes up with an other one.

Rating: 3.5/5

Estate of Mind: What a deceptively interesting name

It has been a real long time since I got on to the net and looked around. I can say too much of work and stress in the new job is the only reason. However, I had promised myself that I would continue updating this blog all the time. A failed promise.
Anyway, let me not mope around much. I have not been reading much of late. My orbis terrarum challenge has flown out of the window. 'A Handful of Rice' is still lying around somewhere.
Meanwhile, I went furniture shopping and on the way found this unbelievably great bargain book store. H and I went crazy and ended up buying seventeen books. Of course, it offered good and some downright bad books.
One such book was 'Estate of Mind' by Tamar Myers. The story on the cover seemed nice, so I picked it up. I have never read Tamar Myers before and I didnt know she was popular. It took me all my willpower to finish the book. It is so painful - flimsy storyline, highly irritating smart-alecy main character, and a very annoying style of writing. I read it only because I had to write about this book and warn others not to venture anywhere near the book. I found out later that this book was one of the 'Den of Antiquities' mysteries!! I mean, there is a whole lot more of such books. I cant imagine who would want to read such stories.
The story is about a woman called Abigail who is the owner of antique shop, who finds a priceless painting in a church auction and a bunch of idiots who want to steal it from her. The story is meandering, all the time losing its way in the overly stylized dialogues and the author suddenly realizes she has lost the thread and comes up with more muck.
Anyway, there isn't much to write about this. Please avoid this book if you are smart.
Rating: 1/5

I have started on J.D. Salinger's 'Franny and Zooey'. Will post about it soon.