The Lost Flamingos of Bombay by Siddharth Dhanvant Sanghvi - Book Reading and Paperback Edition Launch Crossword, SB Road, Pune , 17th December Any event which has Sonja Chandrachud, a children’s author popularly known as the Desi Rowling, Anjali Joseph, author and journalist who’s featured by The Daily Telegraph (UK) as one of 2010’s Top 20 Novelists under 40 and the man of the moment Siddharth Dhanvant Sanghvi, hailed as India’s nex...
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni who has authored celebrated works of fiction, such as, The Mistress of Spices, The Palace of Illusions, Sister of My Heart and her latest, One Amazing Thing, is known for conjuring up a world of fantasy in her novels. Her works have been considered a welcome relief from what writers of pulp fiction come up with these days. Her subjects revolve around Indian migrants settled in the US and their immigrant experience. With these intere...
Book Launch - Indira Gandhi - The Final Chapter by Suraj 'Eskay' Sriram Friday, April 29, 2011 Pune. Crossword, at ICC Towers, saw a houseful of audience gathered for the book launch of Suraj 'Eskay' Sriram's latest book of illustrations - Indira Gandhi - The Final Chapter. A book of illustrations, Indira Gandhi - The Last Chapter, lampoons the political figure through witty cartoons. It draws a satirical portrait of the ...
Last week BookChums got the opportunity to moderate the launch of Suraj 'Eskay' Sriram's latest offering- Indira Gandhi – The Final Chapter. A book of illustrations, this, it lampoons the political figure through witty cartoons. It draws a satirical portrait of the Indian leader, while humorously depicting certain behind-the-scenes political and social affairs in our country. The book launch was a wonderful experience and so was the interactio...
What is it about fiction that attracts more readers as well as writers? Is it the whole idea of "making up" things or the liberty of "exaggerating" normal ideas/scenes of daily life to add more color, flavor and spice to it; or the limitless possibilities of creating a whole new world to explore with words and imagination? Why is it that not many new-age authors venture into the world of non-fiction with that ease? Does the presentation of actual fa...
A man is known by the company he keeps. And a book is any day good company. It reveals more about your character. It reflects your tastes, your desires, your perspectives, and a bit of the real you. Books have a deeper impact on your mind and heart. They become a characteristic trait. Research shows that most of the successful people, read. And read books that broaden their perspective and their knowledge and their thought process. They have more information; learn fr...
When a former police officer tells you that your book has the perfect blend of lucid writing, well dispersed clues, tension and intrigue you know you are on the right track with your first mystery novel. And I guess Salil Desai, self proclaimed pathologically terrified author, must have heaved a sigh of relief as he listened to Mr. Jayant Umranikar, retired IPS officer, talk about his first crime novel, The Body in the Back Seat at its launch at Landmark (Pune) on Friday...
Like most first-time-writers Shrenik Mutha’s novel Broken Hearts has a strong autobiographical influence. The novel talks about love, separation, loss, happiness and romance. Dressed in a white blazer and white trousers, this suave, attractive looking guy, spills the beans as he says, “This love story has originated from my own life,” and blushes just as he was seated between his friends and was being teased about his lady love. We seldom meet ...
I do not like chick-lits. Yes, you read that right (*looking at EvilDevil). I feel it is not really a genre, but simply the book description. And I do not like chick-lits. At all. Spattered with pink (eeuu!) and margaritas and martinis and cosmopolitans and lotions and stockings – rather than soaking in literary awards, or IQ for that matter, I’m surprised such books sell like hot cakes. The image that pops in my head (when a book is termed as chick-...
We hope you are enjoying the series of health books we are doing. In the last two weeks we spoke about the books that concentrate on healthy food and a healthy fitness regime. This week we shall chat up about the books that concentrate on mental health and well being. Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M Pirsig One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M Pirsig's &q...
Humor does rule the world. At least my world. Reading humorous pieces livens up our day. It breaks the monotone of work and life. Most problems can be fixed with a dose of laughter. But what I like most about humor pieces is the fact that the point under scrutiny is communicated with much effect and quite intelligently. It also reflects a bit of the writer’s character trait. A writer with a good sense of humor will make sure his/her pieces amuse people....
You-Know-Who is instrumental in changing the entire setting of the young-adult (YA) fiction world and upping the stakes, don’t you? Hagrid and his Baby Dragon, Hedwig, the chocolate frog, moving beans, Dumbledore, the muggles and the entire Hogwarts have transformed the YA literature genre and breathed in new life. Harry, Ron and Hermione have made Rowling’s dream come true and, along with that, the YA fiction world has reached new heights. ...
We have all fallen in love when we were 17. We have all experienced the happiness, positivity that first love brings in our lives. But when the same love fades away, we have all cried, felt extreme sorrow and vacuum. But when Pune-based teenager Shrenik Mutha, fell in love with ‘his angel’ and things did not work out for them, he choose to write a novel Broken Hearts based on his diary. The book was released a couple of months ago and has been praised liber...
While some authors are synonymous with comic-fantasy fiction, it is worthwhile to spend some time looking for books by lesser-known comic-fantasy authors too. One could stumble into a book that is equivalent to a Thursday Next or a Nursery Crime . Such a book could be a pleasure to begin with and open a reader’s mind to a new frontier of imagination. It thrills the senses and leaves the reader yearning for more of such literature. Comic fantasies bring humor i...
Tartan Noir’s Origin
The Tartan Noir genre can be traced to Scotland and Scottish authors: right from James Hogg’s book, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) and RL Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). While Hogg’s novel is an eccentric blend of the gothic, crime, horror, and psychology, Stevenson wrote about a split personality with a major twist-in-the-tale and metamorphosi...
“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” – Salvador Dali
Origin:
The 1920s experienced paradoxical times on different parts of the globe. Most importantly, it was a time of angst, creativity, confusion, irrationality, skirmishes, industrialization, and political upheaval. It was the ‘Roaring Twenties’ or the ‘Jazz Age’ for the US and Canada while other parts of ...
ASTON: More or less exactly what you...
DAVIES: That's it ... that's what I'm getting at is ... I mean, what sort of jobs ... (Pause.)
ASTON: Well, there's things like the stairs ... and the ... the bells...
DAVIES: But it'd be a matter ... wouldn't it ... it'd be a matter of a broom ... isn't it?
- Dialogue between Aston and Davies in The Caretaker, a talked-about Harold Pinter play.
The Theatre of the Absurd belongs to a genre of absurdist fiction, writ...
Not many authors choose to write for a cause. While most fiction writers are happy talking about relationships and other humdrum stuff, Saptarshi Basu, is a new author who is writing to make a difference.
Through his writings Basu is determined to make things better for people around. His latest book titled Autumn In My Heart, touches upon the sensitive issue of student suicide.
Bookchums chats up with the author of Love, Logic And The God's A...
Existentialism is synonymous with the futility of human existence, angst, ennui, alienation, uncertainty, and absurdity. These emotions in people were likened with the myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus, a cruel king from the Greek and Roman mythologies was punished for his crimes by the gods to carry a boulder up a hill and he miserably failed each time he tried to climb the hill with the boulder. In the 20th century, a lot of intellectuals identified man’s hard wor...
All it really takes to hook a person to a good book, is the opening line.
Though they are stand alone sentences, they lure and entice (sometimes quite literally) the readers to discover more.
I recently happened to glance at the opening passage of Gary Shteyngart’s forthcoming novel, Super Sad True Love Story and it read,
“Today I’ve made a major decision: I am never going to die. Others will die around me. They will be ...
“A country without a memory is a country of madmen.”
George Santayana
When Francis Fukuyama wrote The End of History and the Last Man, most people wondered about the phrase in itself: that with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, it literally brought socio-cultural evolution to a standstill. Most debate on the infamous time when the iron curtain was pulled down in the rest of Eastern Europe. Yes, the Eastern Bloc was disintegrated; however his...
Some books leave an everlasting impression. And they are enjoyed more every time you read them. I always find something new to admire in the books I read after a span of time. Sometimes I notice a different aspect of a character or sometimes I think about the story development from an entirely new perspective. Whatever the case, I enjoy the company of books the most.
Here are some books I find most intriguing.
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Pride and Prejud...
Not so long ago, Barbara Cartland wove history, fiction, and romance to set a stage of really popular romantic fiction. Although it carried a lot of mushy romance, to the keen reader or observer, it also shed light on the prevalent society and history. It set the ground for future writings on historical fiction. A largely noticeable chunk of Mills & Boon literature from the yesteryears also has settings of romance against an exotic milieu of historic locations and th...
Through our lives we all attempt selling in some form or the other – selling your tale to your mother after robbing your neighbour’s guava, or selling a proposal of a coffee date to that interesting girl, or selling your product to your client, or selling yourself to get that attractive salary package. There are a lot of marketing skills each one requires to use to get the very best in life.
BookChums looks at the top options you have with respect to boo...
Love’s Journey is the debut novel of Rashmi Singh, a freelance Personality Development and Soft Skills Trainer at Faridabad.
From talking about her personal and professional life to her take on love, Rashmi gives us an insight on present day society woes and much more. Read on.
Tell us a bit about your professional background. How did you steer towards becoming a Personality Development and Soft Skills Trainer?
I had been quite active during my school/colle...
From discussion on varied writing styles, hike in divorce rates and writing about sex, the Pune book launch of Preeti Shenoy’s third book Tea For Two and A Piece of Cake had it all. The blogger and writer, a Bangalore-based writer was in town to promote her third release, Tea For Two and A Piece of Cake. Preeti Shenoy was in conversation with Sonja Chandrachud.
The event began with Chandrachud complimenting Shenoy on her writing style. Chandrachud commented th...
“May your spirit live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, your eyes beholding happiness.” Epitaph on Howard Carter’s tomb
Howard Carter was the man who lived it up and he emerged as someone larger than life itself. Egyptologist and archaeologist, he discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb from the 14th century BC. He was characterized in literatur...
Kapil Sibal’s decision to direct NCERT and wholesalers to hold back textbooks featuring cartoons is a move that has stirred attention. The committee set up by the government is to submit its report on June 15, 2012. The discussion in Lok Sabha has touched the topic that impressionable minds of students may not be the best to interpret and understand political humor like cartoons.
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal found many of the cartoons in the textbooks offensive an...
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
By WH Auden (1921 – 1973)
Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes was synonymous with his widely acclaimed writings such as The Death of Artemio Cruz, Aura, The Old Gringo, and Christopher Unborn...
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