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indian literature

Where to find good book recommendations?

April 18, 2016
Just finished yet another book by an Indian author and I am wondering what it was actually! Calling it a book or story would be such a slur as it was nothing but nonsense after nonsense printed  in black & white. And I also wonder why do I even waste my time in completing such shit pieces of work, damn this very irritating habit of mine that doesn’t let me leave things half way. But what’s worse is to realize that this book came highly recommended in most of the reading sites and I wonder how? Well, book marketing has surely picked up in India, isn’t it? Incentivize few reviewers, spend some marketing money and voila you have words after words spread across media in favor of some crap piece of work. Being a marketer as well as blogger, I am also aware of the dynamics of how it works. There is no harm in marketing any good product, anything new needs a bit of push but unfortunately I think in case of something as precious as books, going this far is really irking me a lot now.
My words might be sounding rude but I am actually quite disappointed with my last 5 reads. If you all remember, I have been a big supporter of Indian fiction and have always proudly mentioned my preferences for Indian stories and authors but I think it’s time for me to change my preferences now. Whether you believe it or not, last few of my reads have all been centered around either of the two themes – a 30 something career oriented girl desperately trying to get hooked on to a man, takes all possible measures to woo any / all kind of men and finally settles down with the one who has money and all. In the last book that I read, the main character slept with 7 men in a period of 6 months, lost her job, but is perfectly fine to lose her job as long as she finds a good catch (read man). Now in which city / culture in India, unmarried women date & sleep with 7 men in 6 months? After few pages, I was feeling sick of reading that book and being a woman felt pathetic to realize that the book was written by a woman only! All of it look such desperate, forced projection of so called “modern”, “new-generation” Indian women. And the second theme, wait… do I need to tell you about the second theme? It’s the same – a boy at IIT meets a girl and it’s love at first sight, blah blah & some more blah. Uffff, I know I am picking up wrong books but then all these have been picked after recommendations on Twitter, Goodreads etc. I definitely was looking for some light reads or romantic fiction but in the name of comedy or romance, all I could get my hands on was racy sex, almost porn content and comedies which were disgusting to the core.
What happened to the good writers and stories? What happened to healthy comedies? And what happened to pleasant love stories? With a heavy heart I think I have decided to not read any Indian author book for next few months except the mythology ones. I agree, mythological stories these days are quite well written and engaging for sure. But for other genre, I am going to stick to non-Indian writers for now . I am also thinking of trying my luck with Hindi Classics. I have really not read much of Hindi literature and I think it’s time for me to delve into some old gems.
If I find something really good, I will get back to you with my review of the same. Until then, if you have any recommendation for good  fiction, do let me know of the same. By the way, which site do you refer to for book recommendations these days? Any pointers please? Any site which is not heavily influenced by paid media yet? Look forward to your suggestions please 🙂

I’m in: 2011 South Asian Challenge

December 6, 2010
Thanks Smita for informing me about the forthcoming “South Asian 2011” challenge, wanted to participate in it last year also but read it late and then only had thought to participate in it next year. This is one reading challenge which I am very happy to participate in as I just love Indian writing and South Asian literature. I have read some very good books in last few years on India, Indian contemporary writing, Pakistan and Bangladeshi themes. Will be happy to expand my reading horizon to literary work from other South Asian countries as part of this challenge.
As per the rule of this reading challenge, with this post I’m now formally announcing my sign-up & participation in “2011 South Asian Challenge”. In case you’re interested to know more about it, you can check out the FAQs here and those interested to join in this challenge can sign up for it here.

I have not yet made a list of all the books which I’m planning to cover, have started working on it and will be putting it up soon. Look forward to this reading fun in 2011!

Campfire Graphic Novels: A must try for book lovers

December 5, 2010
Me & my love for comics…ahhhhh just so difficult to put it in words (pssst: oh yes, I do read comic books till date 🙂)! Now how do I justify my comic book buying or reading habit till this age is a different story all together but the joy of reading a visually rich and graphically interesting book is something totally unparalleled. So, when I got a chance to have a look at this new series of graphical books by a relatively new Indian publication Campfire, my first reaction was a ‘yayyy’ of excitement.
Read three books by them recently – ‘Conquering Everest’, ‘The Dusk Society’ & ‘The Three Musketeers’; and loved all the three. First of all I must say that quality of presentation was just so good that for a moment I could not believe that these are from some Indian publication. I mean I have been reading Indian as well as international comics, novels & graphical books for long now, though always loved the Indian characters like Billoo, Pinky, Chacha Chowdhary or the stories of Champak, Nandan, Balhans etc. but book presentation wise somehow they could never match up to say a Tintin or Asterix or Calvin and Hobbes. Next thing which I find lacking in Indian graphical-book segment is the content, since they are targeted towards mainly kids in India, so most of the books revolve around kiddie themes unlike say a matured audience targeted Persepolis or Embroideries or a teenager targeted Archie. And both these issues get perfectly addressed by Camfire’s books now. Not only the content is great but the illustration of content is also equally interesting. Though the books are targeted towards mainly kids and teenagers but they offer variety of other options in form of graphical novels which can tantalize the reading appetite of adults as well. Their graphical books are categorized in four segments – Classics, Biography, Mythology, and Originals. Each of these categories covers a unique dimension of literature and offers exciting and educational stories to its audience. I was so impressed with their books that I took special effort to know about the team behind it, their whole catalogue and availability in different book stores.

A little bit more about the books which I read – 1.) Conquering Everest (Written by Lewis Helfand; Illustrated by: Amit Tayal) is a book on the lives of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norway and their adventure of conquering Everest. You know, the visual representation of the book is so just so breathtaking that at times when they have demonstrated the mountaineers slipping down the steep slopes of Everest, you can actually feel it as if you are watching some motion movie. And guess what, next day on KBC one of the questions was related to Everest and I was able to guess the correct answer, thanks to the minute details which this book has covered in an interesting story format. 2.) The Dusk Society (Written by: Sidney Wiliams and Mark Jones; Illustrated by: Naresh Kumar) is a story of Dracula, Doctor Frankenstein and the whole thrill around whether The Dusk Society will be able to stop Pierceblood’s evil plan? A totally engrossing thriller from start to end; just loved it! 3.) The Three Musketeers (Written by: Alexander Dumas; Illustrated by: Amit Tayal) is the same good old story which we had read in schools earlier but presented though appealing graphics.

As per me these books are must try for all those who like reading books and get specially excited by illustrated ones. Do check out their website for more details about them or their complete catalogue. What else, apart from printed versions, they also offer digital content which can be downloaded for PC/Mac, Blackberry, Android, iPod/iPads, etc. I loved their collection and definitely looking forward to reading more by them.