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I am just finishing one of the most intriguing pieces of writing I have had the good fortune to read – The Novel by James A. Michener.
It is somewhat disconcerting to realize this is the first book by Michener that I’m reading. It certainly wasn’t that I lacked the chances – I’d come across his books before, both at libraries and my bookshop haunt – but always deferred the choice. Why? Because most of his other books are massive in size! This one is a modest 435 pages long, so I thought I’d give it a shot – I wasn’t disappointed, though it did keep me up until 2:00 a.m.!
Essentially about the publishing world, the book is divided into four – from the viewpoints of a writer, an editor, a critic, and a reader.
I liked the part by the editor best – is it perhaps because I am one? Here is an excerpt with which I was especially taken:
“The editor had several points on which she was adamant: ’Sentences must have grammatical structure. They must preserve parallelism. Once the tense is established, it must be maintained to the bitter end. Pronouns must have antecedents that can be instantly recognized, even by the careless reader.’ She taught me that a well-constructed paragraph, with sentences in place and each word within the sentence properly used, was a creation of beauty: ‘It’s the basic unit of human thought, a format unto which can be poured your most exalted conclusions, and also your most impassioned depictions of human relationships.’”
And here is another excerpt from the book – what a minor character, Evan Cater, says specifically about the French film, Les Enfants du Paradis – and about widening one’s horizons in general:
‘Remember that I said I thought it perhaps the best ever made. It blew my mind. You may not agree. But your job as would-be writers is to see the movies and plays and operas that blow your minds. Try to associate with people who are more intelligent than yourself and seek out work that explodes your sensitivities.’
© Sosha Srinivasan
Yes!!! Picked up some more books at Indira Book Center:
- Malice Domestic 3 – An anthology of original traditional mystery stories presented by Nancy Pickard (which I am reading now – and it’s good! This is Laura de Leon’s review of the same).
- Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith – the sequel to Gorky Park which I picked up last time!
- Carl Hiaasen’s Basket Case – (a new author to me though I’ve read favorable reviews)
and three novels by Anne Rivers Siddons:
- Up Island
- King’s Oak
- Downtown
I got them for just IRs 100 (approx. USD 2.06) because I returned about a dozen books and threw in a bunch of magazines as well – they give you back half the rate you originally paid. So this place functions as a de facto library of sorts – only you get to keep the books as long as you like!
© Sosha Srinivasan
Sorry to disappoint you once again, but I’m not talking about old flames!
These are a couple of books that slipped out of my grasp at Mr. Manimaran’s Indira Book Centre.
One was a book on haiku that my son pointed out to me, but which I somehow failed to pick up – mentally tagged it but failed to follow through… It happens to the best of us.
The other was a hard bound copy of Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. I’d seen the movie and liked it, so I was pulled to the book. Unfortunately I had already chosen an armful of books and had run out of cash. So I left it behind, hoping against hope it would still be there next time…
Oh well, you lose some, you gain some!
© Sosha Srinivasan
It’s not what you’re thinking – I can promise you that!
Here goes – it’s the second-hand bookshop outside the Nungambakkam suburban railway station (at #5 Nelson Manickam Road, Choolaimedu) – a regular haunt of mine called Indira Book Centre.
The owner, Mr. Manimaran (mobile # 9444249899), has a unique collection going for a song and gets fresh stocks quite frequently – either library surpluses or discards from North America or old (but often untouched) stock from book stores in the UK and USA. How do I know? The evidence speaks – library pockets and cards and price stickers…
Last month I picked up about a dozen paperbacks for IRs 350 (approx. USD 7.20). These included
Anna Quindlen’s Black and Blue
Martin Cruz Smith’s Gorky Park
and pristine copies of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and
Tamarind Mem by Anita Rau Badami
- the latter of which I thought utterly delightful – really well written, capturing the essence of the Indian ethos and an absolute hoot in parts!
I’d already read Paretsky (Fire Sale) and Qundlen’s Blessings and One True Thing, but all the others were new to me, though I’d read about them…
© Sosha Srinivasan
I have this “list” that I live by. Here goes…
1. THE SIMPLE LIFE:
NO: Television, mobile phone, air conditioning at home, car, credit card, cola, candy, keeping up with the Joneses.
MINIMUM: Jewellery, eating out, processed and non-veg food.
YES: Cotton handloom clothes, oats, fruit, water, early to bed and early to rise.
3. READING: Prefer hard bound second hand books. Not just fiction – I read on diverse topics (except real technical stuff) from architecture to philosophy, world history (especially 20th century) to developing economies (keenly watching the BRIC countries).
4. MUSIC MANIA: An eclectic mix. Genre wise, The Blues. Also Soft Rock, Country, Zydeco, Cajun, Latina, Soft Pop; Hindi film music of the 1960s and 1970s; semi-classical Tamil and Malayalam film music.
5. MOTHER EARTH: I have been passionate about the environment and reducing my carbon footprint long before the terms became fashionable.
6. MY PUBLIC PERSONA: Calm, reserved, very different from my inner self – racing thoughts and bubbling laughter. I don’t particularly enjoy crowds. More of a loner and observer.
Reading back I think I sound pretty eccentric – but I’m comfy with myself and I sleep well at night!
© Sosha Srinivasan
The last one is out – finally the Potter series, and hopefully the hype and mania surrounding it, comes to an end. My son, like many of his generation, is on tenterhooks, but let me be honest – I, the avid reader, couldn’t get past about a quarter of the third book. No, Azbakan (sorry, Azkaban – I always get it wrong, much to my son’s chagrin) wasn’t boring – it was just too depressing. Life has this tendency to suck the happiness out of us – I don’t need the Dementors adding to the effect…
Maybe I’m too sensitive. I was watching the movie “Anjali” many years ago in a theater. The denouement was a suspenseful one – was the child protagonist really dead or would she revive? Everyone waited with baited breath. As it began to look hopeless, silent tears slid down my face. My kid sister, who was around eight at the time, noticed me surreptitiously trying to dab at my eyes. She shook my elbow and demanded in a loud, carrying voice, “Why are you crying?”. There were loud titters all around, turning what was essentially a tragedy into a comedy of sorts.
So you see, I’m a real sucker for sob stories in books and on film. (Not in real life, though. Somehow it’s very difficult to pull wool over my eyes, probably because most people are such lousy actors – their body language is a dead give-away).
But I digress. Harry Potter is not a children’s book series. They are too dark and somber even for an adult like me. I’d much rather have a good laugh.
© Sosha Srinivasan
I just remembered that “Lamb to the Slaughter” ( a phrase I used in my previous post) is the name of a short story by Roald Dahl – a master of the twisted tale, much like Jeffrey Archer. It’s about the adventures a leg of lamb has to endure before it is truly appreciated, and has a murder, a pregnant housewife and a couple of clueless policemen thrown in. (I’m at my flippant best here, aren’t I?) Another superlative story by Dahl is “Taste”. Hmmm… the women and wine combination can cause rather interesting situations, don’t you think?
© Sosha Srinivasan
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