Life does lead you to your passion, ultimately. Who better to vouch for it than Mr. Prem Rao himself? Turning to writing after 36 years of professional work as a Talent Management Specialist and Executive Coach, he is an avid blogger whose professional blog People at Work and Play has gathered a huge fan following. And his recent blog Writing To Be Read is soon catching up globally. Alumnus of The Lawrence School, Lovedale; Loyola College, Chennai and XLRI, Jamshe...
We’d been planning the interview for over a month, but time and other constraints kept coming up. It has been my experience that most authors prefer to do a “quick one” over email and sometimes take an awful long time to revert. It was thus a pleasant surprise when Faraaz expressed his wish to do a proper interview instead of answering an email questionnaire and what’s more, was easily accessible and quite accommodating. We finally met up on ...
Abha Dawesar, an internationally-acclaimed award-winning novelist, is amongst the finest contemporary writers of the country. I first saw her during the Jaipur Literature Festival 2011, during a session named “Migritude” (click here to see the session) where she was amongst the panelists. And when I heard her speak about the attitude of migrants, their thoughts, their creative balance, her demure appearance immediately took a back seat and she came acros...
We did not know much about this brilliant, “new-age” author, Aditya Sudarshan, apart from the fact that he has penned two books – A Nice Quiet Holiday and Show Me A Hero; written a play, Sensible People, and several short stories and television scripts. He also writes literary criticism for The Literary Review and other publications. Having reviewed his second novel - Show Me A Hero recently, we managed an interview with the tall, dark and handso...
We have all lived on classics. From Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to George Orwell's Animal Farm, we have cried, laughed, chuckled at the various episodes, not-to-be-forgotten scenes from these memorable novels. But have you ever thought about what keeps bringing us back to these timeless pieces of fiction? We tell you what makes the classic what it is today * The plots of most classic novels are lengthy, c...
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...
Last week we spoke about how the author's writing style and character sketches within any given novel enrich the book reading experience. This week we shall touch upon autobiographical traces and visuals, something that again adds greatly to the entire reading experience. Autobiographical traces Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence is a good example of semi autobiographical work. The setting, premise and characters of such novels borrow heavily from ...
In the past few weeks we spoke about how autobiographical traces, visuals, writing style and character sketches can enrich a book reading experience. In the final part of the series we shall tell you a little about how sub plots and choice of words bring a sea change in the book reading experience Sub plots Subplots are important to any novel since they weave dimension and complexity into stories. For instance in the novel There’s No Love On Wal...
We all love going through the small comic strips that appear in newspapers. There is something about them that always catches our attention. No, it not just about the instant smile that they bring, but the satire on certain socio-political or other critical issues that hooks us on to the graphical representation. The works of R.K. Laxman and Suraj ‘Eskay’ Sriram are cases in point. Come to think of it, amongst the first things a baby is taught or shown...
Walk into a book store and you are sure to find a heap of novels lined up meticulously. But how many are anthologies compared to the full length novels? Hardly a few! I really can’t say what I like reading more – short stories or a full length novel. Though both have equal, if not less, rewards, they suffer their downfalls too. My love for short stories began (and somewhat ended) during the school days, where in our “Gul Mohar Reader&rdq...
Having attended the book launch of Salil Desai's debut novel, The Body in the Back Seat in Pune recently, we were intrigued by his work and impressed with his background of film-making and having contirbuted to many anthologies. We got talking to the author and here's the unabridged version. You have been a filmmaker for a long time now. Why did you move to writing a mystery novel? Wouldn't a film have been a more effective medium of bringing your...
Corporate World seems like a parallel Universe. It is intriguing, fascinating and yes, shocking! And capturing a bit of the "shock" is Sumit Aggarwal's debut novel "Office Shocks". The novel encapsulates the protagonists' first day at work. Filled with humor, the shocking incidents make for a quick read. BookChums got talking to the author for his take on the book and the corporate world. What got you interes...
Many bloggers today have moved on to writing short stories and novels. Writers like Preeti Shenoy, Aseem Rastogi, Sneh Thakur, Naman Saraiya, Nikhil Rajagopalan, Rohini Kejriwal, Kunal Dhabalia, Rikin Khamar and many more have all been avid bloggers first and then moved on to writing novels and short stories. This week we should try to examine what is it that prompts bloggers to try their hand at publishing and do such authors have an upper hand over other first time wri...
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...
Amongst the very many habits, the one that I would certainly like my daughter to inherit is the habit of reading. Seeing her seated in her own private corner devouring good books, being able to use the most fitting words, discovering the importance of pronouncing words rightly and making use of the right punctuations and pauses as and when necessary, would make me a happy mother . But for kids to inculcate such a skill set, it is important for parents to step in and br...
Some authors write after calculating how commercially successful a subject would be, while some write for the pleasure of expressing and sharing their feelings/observations. For some, writing is as natural an activity as eating or sleeping. And one such contemporary writer is Sweta Srivastava Vikram.
Sweta began writing chapbooks titled Because All Is Not Lost, Kaleidoscope: An Asian Journey of Colors, and Beyond the Scent of Sorrow and has now released her...
Reviewers claim that Chitralekha Paul’s writings are similar to Jhumpa Lahiri and Anita Desai’s treatment and writing style. The dilemmas, issues and small pleasures of the protagonist of Delayed Monsoon, Abhilasha, has given critics and reviewers enough reason to applaud this lawyer-cum-writer’s debut venture. The way in which Abhilasha and Arvind fall in love, the anticipation of meeting her beloved for the first time (she fell in love with Arvind onl...
In the concluding part of the series on setting up a library at home, we shall now look at a comprehensive list of 10 must haves in your personal library.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The novel describes the wartime experiences of an Army Air Corps Captain John Yossarian. Captain John Yossarian, a bomber pilot is trying hard to make it through WWII alive. But the only excuse the Army accepts for refusing to fly a mission is insanity. So Yossarian constantly devises...
You know a book has lived up to its promise when it engulfs you in a world of its own and keeps you there till the very last page.
This is especially true for Mystery, Suspense, Thriller and Crime novels. If they keep you captivated for hours together and give you goose bumps, rest assured that your time was absolutely worth it.
The mesmerizing “who-dunnit” reads, or the old fashioned mysteries complete with red herrings, or the more contemporary puzzle ...
Continuing the list of top mystery / suspense novels, here are the remaining ones that make up for a thrilling read.
A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes makes his debut in the mystery of a corpse found in a run-down, abandoned house. He encounters a strange clue, the word RACHE written in blood on the wall near the body. Only the astute mind of Mr. Holmes can make sense of such a cryptic clue.
...
Debutant author Parinda Joshi is one talented lady. Armed with a Masters in Computer Science to an MBA in marketing and working in Analytics along with being a blogger for GQ and a professional photographer, she has entered the world of fiction by penning an urban, young romance set in two very vibrant cities. Needless to say that she has been able to play all these roles with élan.
BookChums caught up with this young author to know how Live From London ha...
Rajeev Ranjan, who has been serving as an Indian Coast Guard Officer for the last 15 years one fine morning began scribbling his thoughts and ideas in a secret little notebook that lay by his bedside. Slowly he started finding this activity de stressing and he continued to write. After a gap of some days when he opened the book, to his surprise he felt that the book had some potential. After his brother seconded his opinion, Rajeev developed his work and thus was born A ...
The first time I met author Manasi Vaidya was at a book launch event in Pune. She happened to tell me that Penguin was releasing her romantic comedy No Deadline For Love under the Metro Reads section. As soon as I got back to office, I read her blog, I fell in love with her writing style. Her topical subjects, situations and reactions were incredibly funny. From how she ran to the loo to key in her novel or how she came across a group of daughter-in-laws who faked linger...
Even if you are an avid reader, you are sure to come across some books that are extremely difficult to complete. The reasons can be many. You may find the books too descriptive or the subject may not interest you much. Also, at times the language or the word usage by the author can be very difficult to comprehend, or in some cases the plot could be too convoluted with too many elements introduced every now and then. But since you have begun, you should do all that you ca...
People know him as "a Chartered Accountant and Management Consultant by accident, a civil servant by day and a writer by night. A voracious reader and a lover of cinema. And of course the Managing Director, Grey Oak Publishers."
But this barely sums up the personality of author Ahmed Faiyaz.
Those familiar with his previous work will vouch for his insight to observe and meticulously jot human emotions and relationships. And with his latest offering Scammed: ...
One of the comments on the back cover of Kankana Basu’s books - “With Basu around, you don’t really need Jhumpa Lahiri” – is sure to raise the bar about what you expect from the work, but her writings definitely meet all the expectations.
Cappuccino Dusk (novel) and Vinegar Sunday (collection of short stories) offer a very interesting take on Bengali families, their lifestyle and culture, and the way they these people have adapte...
Dr. Vivek Banerjee, the author of ‘The Long Road’ is a self-confessed “full time pediatrician (by choice) and part time author (by chance)”. Also known by his pen name Ben, for his blogs earlier, Vivek shares snippets of his writing career with us. Read on.
Could you share with us your earliest memories of writing? What got you blogging and finally writing a fictional tale?
The earliest memories in writing are contributing to my sch...
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...
Love is an emotion of exultation, of extreme happiness, bordering on delirium and superficial onlookers may term it as insane, as many things of the heart are so readily termed. As far as books are concerned, the most popular of the love stories are the oft-repeated boy-girl romance sagas.
Look at the most downloaded book of love st...
Interview with Prionka Ray
We chatted up with debutant author Prionka Ray who has penned Sia, a novel that tells us about the different hues of the relationship shared by sisters. The book is also a departure from the kind of novels being released these days.
In the conversation, author Prionka Ray talks about being an educator, living in many cities and what kind of writing appeals to her.
You have written on your blog that biographies in general are r...
Nayana Currimbhoy’s first work of fiction, Miss Timmins School for Girls, elevated this non-fiction writer and journalist’s repertoire of work. In fact, her boarding school descriptions were compared to Enid Blyton’s writing style! Currimbhoy’s account of this all-girls British boarding school in Panchgani where rich Indian girls studied in the 1970s was applauded for the wonderful world that it created.
Nayana Currimbhoy talks to BookChums ...
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