Monday, May 11, 2009

Updates, plugs

Apologies again for the copious amounts of non-blogging I've been doing lately (ya, I know, who even notices or cares in this age of Twitter and Facebook). It'll probably continue like this for a while - as mentioned earlier there hasn't been much reading and movie-watching time recently, which in turn means that there isn't much to blog about (yes, my life is that interesting). Plus I took a minor break from writing and in the process discovered that non-blogging is nearly as addictive as blogging and requires less energy, so there.

The to-read list is being conscientiously dug into, or at least cautiously prodded. Two of my favourite bloggers, Amit and Falstaff, have books out: My Friend Sancho and études respectively. Amit and I became friends a few years ago, shortly after we both started blogging, but I had been a fan of his nuanced yet clear-sighted feature writing (as encountered mainly in Cricinfo and Gentleman magazine) long before that. And Falstaff's short prose - which you'll find scattered through his blog archives - is as delightful as his erudition is daunting. ("I can't help it, everything interests me" is one of the epigraphs on his book, and I can see why.)

To balance things out, one must occasionally read books by people whom one doesn't personally know. I discovered a lovely-looking Vintage Books edition of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train at The Book Shop in Jorbagh. (Here's an old post on Hitchcock's superb film of the book, and another one on Highsmith's writing.) Also, Alan Moore/Brian Bolland's Batman: The Killing Joke, which I picked up from Landmark in Mumbai, and a couple of Henning Mankells. And I'm eagerly awaiting my copy of Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro, one of my favourite contemporary writers.

Most of these are slim books, which makes them good traveling companions, and they should come in handy next week. I'm going to Germany for a few days from May 17 - the trip is part of an initiative by the German Book Office to facilitate interactions and tie-ups between publishers of children's books in India and Germany, and I'm playing the role of the bastard hack in the group. Will be visiting a few publishing houses, meeting illustrators, going to a small book fair in Berlin. Should be interesting.

Anything I write about that trip will of course find its way onto this orphan site at some point. And other blogging will happen as it happens.

25 comments:

  1. why don't you start a Twitter for Jabberwock and post your German Trip update LIVE . That will be good . think abt it SRUSLY

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  2. Talking of Book as Travel companion I should have followed your advice of choosing slim books. I started "Auto Biography of a Yogi" last week while traveling . its a gripping story of a Sage but I am unable to find time to finish it now . HAve you read it ? you should ..you would surely like it .

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  3. "why don't you start a Twitter for Jabberwock and post your German Trip update LIVE."

    Prashant: No! If I put up anything it'll be in blog form, not 140 characters or whatever this devious thing is. Anyway, no updating will happen while the trip is on - I'll be mercifully offline for most of that time.

    I think I have Autobiography of a Yogi lying about somewhere, will keep the reco in mind. Thanks.

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  4. DesktopFixture9:59 PM, May 11, 2009

    Yes, you might start "tweeting" or not, but many of us readers like reading the full length contents of your blogs instead of brain shrinking 140 characters.

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  5. Danke Schon.

    Would love to hear what you thought of the book.

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  6. About "Strangers On A Train" ... loved the book.. but was slightly put-off by the movie.. as a fellow Hitchcock-maniac, I'm sure you would agree that he wasn't quite at the top of his game there...

    "The Killing Joke" remains one of my favourite Batman yarns... although of late, I've read a couple of great ones like Grant Morrison/Dave McKean's "Arkham Asylum" and "Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader" by the inimitable Neil Gaiman..

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  7. "non-blogging is nearly as addictive as blogging and requires less energy"
    Oh, aye.

    And do.not.Twitter.
    Pretty please with chocolate swirls.

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  8. "I'm sure you would agree that he wasn't quite at the top of his game there..."

    Aditya: actually, it's one of my 10 favourite Hitchcock films (though the list changes from one day to the next). What about it put you off? I'd be interested in knowing.

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  9. Etudes is a joke of horrendous proportions, something anyone with access to wikipedia could have put together in the desperate need to show off. This may be why no serious publisher considered picking up the book :) Kaul is a student of management apparently, and it shows. The "prose" is clunky, cliched and often very very trite. And anyone who says he's interested in everything is obviously a fool. PLEASE AVOID WASTING YOUR MONEY. pick up something by a talented writer instead. Jai, avoid the review, seriously. No point wasting time on this rubbish.

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  10. Anon: I respectfully disagree on most counts. And if it were possible to put together something like this merely through access to Wikipedia, I would have written five such books by now.

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  11. anyone who says he's interested in everything is obviously a foolthat would be Paul Valery

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  12. Falstaff: heh. Yes, I just realised I forgot to mention that it was Valery in the epigraph. Mustn't suggest that was your line!

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  13. Falsie, you're attracting the trolls again. You're like the flame they love to get burned by.

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  14. I was blogging and ran across you site. I love the name Falstaff. That was the name of the first beer I learned to drink. That's in my new book, "Beth:Love Along The Way...by B.G. Sanford," and just released by Eloquent Books. It's the amazing and entertaining story of this one woman who overcomes all odds and obstacles that life has thrown at her,along with a couple of bitter divorces, to find real Love....... Along the Way. For those so inclined, my book can be purchased on line or you can have your favorite bookstore order it for you. Either way, the reader is in for a real treat.
    Good reading my friends,
    B.G.Sanford
    http://www.eloquentbooks.com/BethLoveAlongTheWay.html
    By the way fellas, Hitchcock didn't know how to make a bad movie..............

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  15. At last, a post!
    Relief and Joy (btw, that's how Bengalis would pronounce your name!)

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  16. The worrying thing is people like Kaul and Verma (Varma? Worma?) are finding publishers. Are there no qualified editors at these publishing firms to see through these jokers? The good thing is the serious publishers stayed away. The bad news is some people (admittedly 2-3 at best) may buy these books. Kaul isn't worth mentioning at all, so few people will botehr reviewing the trash he's put out. And think of Verma!!! This is a blogger who makes a living simply by COMMENTING on what other people have actually written. How low do you have to go? The guy has NO original thought of his own, which means readers should scan his novel VERRRRRRRRY carefully. It could simply be a piece of fiction COMMENTING on an original work. Hehe :)

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  17. The mystery of posting comments. solved..

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  18. Jai,
    Who's publishing Herman Mankells in India? Would like to read them, read one on the net couple of years back.
    All the best for your trip to Berlin, hope you'll get to buy some European comics.

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  19. Daeboo: thanks. The Mankells I bought are published by Vintage Books - these aren't Indian editions.

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  20. @ anonymous after Sumana:

    You’ve obviously not read the Op-Ed section on India Uncut to make a statement like “This is a blogger who makes a living simply by COMMENTING on what other people have actually written”.

    Next time, try doing a little homework before trollery. It helps.

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  21. Shivani: but the whole point (and I imagine, joy) of trollery is that one never has to do any actual homework on anything! You can just keep commenting from your private little fantasy universe without worrying about what's happening in the real world.

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  22. Quite a coincidence - I just finished reading the Vintage edition of Strangers on a Train. Was quite surprised by how different it was from the Hitchcock movie - can't say more without spoiling the book's plot, but it would be interesting to get your reaction.

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  23. Om: I knew about the differences between the book and the film long before I read the book, so it wasn't a surprise. If I'm not mistaken, the decision to make Guy innocent (or rather, not explicitly a murderer) in the film was partly dictated by the studio. But even so, Hitchcock did more than enough visually to suggest the deep, inexplicable connection between Guy and Bruno, and how the latter is an instrument for the playing out of the former's desires (the Super-ego and Id theme). Also, the film's ending isn't as conventional and Happy Hollywood as it might initially seem. I think Highsmith herself was quite happy with the film (she even briefly appeared in it, in the record-store scene).

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  24. (Off-topic)
    Good to see your piece on Chaudhuri's The Immortals in The Hindu today. :)

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  25. Dear B.G. Sanford,

    I am a writer too and I know we like to have more readers than we do, but with all respect, I don't think it isa very good idea to promote our work here.

    Dear Jabberwock,

    Why, why, why did you give away stuff about 'Strangers on a Train', both the book and the film without so much as a spoiler alert. I was planning on reading it. Love to Foxie.

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