Paperback ISBN 978-81-250-5174-9 Hard cover ISBN 978-81-250-5175-6 Author: Dr. Radhika Seshan (Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pune) Publisher: Orient BlackSwan … [Read more...]
The Harry Potter Phenomenon
"You must read Harry Potter," a friend of mine told me when I was in the eighth standard. I glanced at the book lying on her desk and nodded. The book she was so impressed by was not yet available easily in India. A relative had given it to her and she was passing it on.I postponed reading - for an incomprehensible reason that I wonder if anyone would understand. I thought Harry Potter was the name of the writer and I had a deep-rooted prejudice against writers who put their own names in font that is far larger than the name of the book. Who was this Harry Potter who used one-fourth of the book cover for his own name? A lot of writers did that, I knew. I did not like the idea of it at all. I did not want to read this new author, this Harry Potter.So another friend read it before I did and said to me, "You must read Harry Potter!"I was curious now, so we spoke a … [Read more...]
The Great Gatsby
Is it fair to compare a book with a movie? Especially a book with such a strong narrative voice? I was a little put-off by the idea of Nick talking to the doctor. But then, that was one way of getting the narrative voice loud and clear, I guess. It was exactly like the book and nothing like it. Long, rambling sections where I was bored. While reading a book, I can just skim, skip and flip. At a cinema hall, I couldn't fast-forward, so I took of my 3-D glasses and yawned. But there were parts that I thought were perfect. Gatsby's beautiful, flawed dream. The green light. And above all, hope.Daisy... Ah, Daisy, Daisy. With her voice full of money. What a description that was, and how well done! The carelessness, callousness, shallowness - all of that came through.It was long and overdone in so many parts, but it left that bitter-sad, yet fragile-hopeful taste in the mouth. … [Read more...]
The Life of Pi
I like to get involved when I watch a movie. I like to feel with the character, hold my breath during moments of anticipation and cry during moments of sadness and joy.That did not happen with The Life of Pi. Not because of the movie itself but because of the cinema hall.First of all, we were in row H. I thought, "Hmm! Not bad." We were in the third row from the screen. There were only ten rows in all.A couple that came late, walking in when the movie had already begun. They had seats at either end of row H. In the true spirit of adjustment, the usher asked all of us to move one seat. I felt as if we were in a bus. The whole row got up and moved, next seat, next seat, next seat. So that the couple could sit together.Children squabbled, laughed and shouted in the rows behind us. Even then, I tried to get engrossed. I tried to enjoy the beautiful 3-D graphics. I tried to get into … [Read more...]
Faerie Heart
Incredible. As a child, I did not like novels that were not divided into chapters. I have no idea why. The only exception was Mary Poppins. I somehow think this one would have been an exception too.What a visual treat! The imagination just blew me over. A coverlet and a bed made of insects' wings. Weaving ropes out of spider threads. Threading cobwebs together to sew the insects' wings. Curtains parting noiselessly - like clouds. Droplets of water hanging from grass - and whole shimmering worlds within.Livi Michael. I'll look out for the name. … [Read more...]
Désirée
Have you read Désirée by Anne-Marie Selinko?I read it when I was in school; I think it was the first really thick book I read.Yes, it came even before Gone with the Wind.I loved it so much that I read it again. And, I think, again.And then, I found an old, old copy of it at my grandparents' place, and how could I not read it again?It's the story of Napoleon's first love - the daughter of a silk merchant, Désirée Clary. When I read the book, all those things were just names to me. Marseilles, Stockholm, the Tuileries ...And then I went to Marseilles.There I was, thinking only about Alexandre Dumas and how close we were to the Chateau d'If. We went, of course, by metro. And guess what we found?It isn't easy to tell, but the second station on the line is Désirée Clary! … [Read more...]
Oranges in No Man’s Land
I find that so may writers seem to have a compulsion to write long, complex, layered work. So many new books are thick paperbacks, full of things happening on every page.Oranges in No Man's Land is not like that. Not at all.Elizabeth Laird manages to write a beautiful, heart-warming story in the course of just about a hundred pages of large print. The setting and characters are just so powerful that the story becomes not a book, but a moment in time. It's an eternal, timeless moment, captured by language.I know nothing about the history of Lebanon. I know nothing about the 'Green Line' or what that meant, but I agree with the critic who says that Laird's Oranges in No Man's Land is 'A tribute to the human spirit'.Ten-year-old Ayesha lives in Beirut, ravaged by civil war. Between the two parts of the city is no man's land, and only military men dare go there. But Ayesha's … [Read more...]
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Blue Shoes and Happiness
A colleague of mine saw me reading the book and commented on how it looked like a children's book.Many people don't know yet that I spend more time reading children's books than anything else - and am not ashamed of it.This one was delightful, as Alexander McCall Smith usually is. It's the kind of book you can read slowly, knowing that it will not run away. You know that you won't forget crucial details that contribute to the plot. You know that the focus of the story is not the plot, but life itself. You know that ideas and thoughts will un-self-consciously find their way into description and dialogue. The name itself brings that sweet smile and says, "Hey, that's a book I want to read!"I took my own time to read it, chuckling at traditionally-built women, women who dream about shoes and men who dream about cars and garages. I remembered, once again, the fact that cliches are … [Read more...]
A Doll’s House
I cannot believe that Ibsen changed the end of the end of A Doll's House for its production in Germany! What happened to [t]hat slammed door [that] reverberated across the roof of the world? Ibsen agreed to make Nora go back to her children? Shocking!Almost as bad as Shaw making Eliza go to Mr. Higgins at the end of My Fair Lady, thereby changing the end of Pygmalion. But then, Shaw did not believe that he was giving the movie-watching public a happy ending. What kind of happy conclusion had a young girl going back to a cynical, selfish, middle-aged man?I remember how much of an impact A Doll's House made on me the first time I read it. For me, it was far more potent than An Enemy of the People, the text we had to study. It made me think about women, family, mother, role-playing.... I later read a beautiful tongue-in-cheek piece about how linking the woman … [Read more...]