smpurna chattarji's books

SAMPURNA CHATTARJI, Poet

Books that mean a lot to you?

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces for its incredible humour and its hero, Ignatius J. Reilly; Joseph Roth’s The Legend of the Holy Drinker and Rebellion; all of Coetzee for his unflinching examination of human cruelty; Ondaatje’s Coming through Slaughter; Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings; all of Saramago, particularly The History of the Siege of Lisbon…

A favourite character?

Two radically opposite characters — Raimundo Silva, the hero of The History of the Siege of Lisbon, for his awkwardness, reticence, and a small, astonishing act of subversion; and the above mentioned Ignatius J. Reilly!

Last book bought?

Vinod Kumar Shukla’s novel Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rehti Thi Last book read? (Re-read) Borges’ Doctor Brodie’s Report.

An overrated book?

Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones. Too cloying by far.

A book you wish you’d written?

Coetzee’s From The Heart of the Country, for the beauty, economy and psychological accuracy with which it deals with sexuality, hysteria and the derangement that
solitude can bring.

A book you’ve wanted to read but haven’t been able to?
Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. I keep meaning to read it at one go, but that hasn’t happened. Having read the first two volumes with interruptions, I have to either do the same for the next four volumes, or go on a read-Proust vacation.

How many books do you own?
My husband and I have accumulated a collection of 1,326 books.

TUSHA MITTAL