Some pacy books are formulaic, and this one is one of them.Prince must marry Princess – it’s a political alliance. Prince and Princess hate each other; they have all kinds of adventures; then they love each other; then they get married.This fits in exactly. Yet, Dragonfly warmed me. There are some books that, like Disney movies, touch […]
The Moneylender’s Daughter
I often shy away from thick books. I’m not quite sure why because I have read (more than once) and enjoyed (tremendously) books like Gone with the Wind, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Maybe, somehow, classics escape my prejudices. But books like The Moneylender’s Daughter ought to as well. As I began the book and got […]
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 […]
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 […]
Book-Reading at Crossword, Mulund!
The Dictionary at School
The portion for the exams has been completed; students are fed up with revision. So, a colleague of mine decided to do something different – she read out a story from The Story-Catcher. I was thrilled! This reading went one step further than ‘I loved your story’ and ‘nice story’ and ‘I like the story […]
Book-Reading – A Different One
An acquaintance who is part of the Teach for India programme asked whether I would be willing to come to a small government school in Chandannagar and talk about my book, about writing and about dance. I was tremendously excited by the prospect, and agreed immediately. When I got there, though, I realised how different […]
Apricots at Midnight
Many would say that Apricots at Midnight is an outdated book: old-fashioned and preachy. Yet, the simple childlike stories made it altogether loveable. Imagine a patchwork quilt, in which each little bit of cloth has a story to tell. I wish I had one! Apricots at Midnight has the sense of a collection of stories, united by this […]
Reflex
If I don’t read, I can’t write. It’s as simple as that. My mother introduced me to Dick Francis years ago, and I never imagined I would like more than one odd book about jockeys. I’m not horse-mad, and I don’t like the idea of horse races. It’s a lifestyle about which I know nothing. […]
The Ant Colony
Books that I’ve loved and re-read time and time again have nearly always emphasised character over plot. Take, for example, Anne, Emily, Little Lord Fauntleroy and the little princess. There’s something about character that just warms me, perhaps because it’s like discovering a friend, rather than having an experience. Stories with exciting plots are certainly […]
My Name is Rose
I could say that Smarties Gold Medal winning author Sally Grindley’s book is about a Romanian gypsy being integrated into a dysfunctional recomposed English family. Orphaned during a road accident, she has to find her way into the affections of a money-hungry man, an attention-seeking girl and a guilt-ridden woman. She has to surmount the […]