Ranji Lal : 06.Dec.2008

The Word

RANJIT LAL
Author

A book that means a lot to you?
The Compact Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan by Salim Ali and S Dillon Ripley. It’s one of the best combinations of descriptive literature and precise science writing there is, combined with sprinklings of acid humour which make it unbeatable. Another was Susan Sontag’s On Photography.

Your favourite genre?
I don’t really have a favourite genre. What I pick up usually depends on the mood or requirement of the moment. Basically, I read what I feel like; the same title may appeal to me at one point of time, and leave me cold at another.

Your favourite character?
At the moment, Calvin and Hobbes! Can’t really explain why, though — it’s self-explanatory!

How many books do you own?
Haven’t counted, maybe 400-500?

An underrated book? And why?
The Titus Books by Mervyn Peake. They’re works of stupendous imagination, especially the first two of the three, Titus Groan and Gormenghast. Another one I greatly enjoyed was Family Bites by Lisa Williams — a hilarious take on werewolves.

An overrated book? And why?
I find that most self-help books are overrated; but I’m still waiting for ‘Chicken Soup for the Chicken’s Soul’!

The book you bought last?
The King and I by Prerna Singh Bindra.

Last book read?
Chocolat by Joanne Harris.

A book you wish you had written? And why?
Too many for a single lifetime...The Handbook of Birds and Midnight’s Children are two to begin with.

Amazon review of chocolate, is found here.

The Word : Karan Mahajan : 20.Dec.08

KARAN MAHAJAN
Author

A book that means a lot to you?
I loved The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick so much that it became my fate: like Ruth Puttermesser, I too work for the New York City bureaucracy and have lived among other people’s things in borough after borough. All I lack now is a wish-granting golem that’ll make me Mayor of New York, and a prosestyle so brilliant it glistens on the page like hell-frozen fire.

Your favourite genre?
ALL-CAPS EMAILS.

Your favourite character?
Gould, the eponymous character from Stephen Dixon’s Gould, for stupidly explaining himself at great length and speaking in run-on page-size sentences.

How many books do you own?
I’m going to ballpark it at 400+.

An underrated book? And why?
The Suffrage of Elvira by VS Naipaul. Brilliantly titled, written rapidly, and sandwiched chronologically between The Mystic Masseur and Miguel Street, this book has been nearly forgotten. But as a racial and political satire it is far riskier and biting than the other comedies; it carries within it a real sourness about the communal infighting that consumed Trinidadian politics.

An overrated book? And why?
Money by Martin Amis. We’re told to read him for the prose, but he seems like a ‘burra sahib’ trying to rap.

The book you bought last?
Remainder by Tom McCarthy.

Last book read?
Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel.

A book you wish you had written?
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust, because that would mean I’d have read it and led a largely olfactory life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amazon Edit review on Cynthia Ozick's ' The Puttermessers Papers' is here.

Amazon.com Review
Fans of Cynthia Ozick are likely already familiar with Ruth Puttermesser, whose highly educated, unlucky-in-love but rather mystical existence as a Jewish woman in New York City has been chronicled in previously published stories appearing occasionally through the years. The Puttermesser Papers collects the old stories, along with several new ones, combined to create a funny and surreal picaresque narrative, touching upon Puttermesser's job at a blueblood law firm, her creation and intellectual sparring with the golem she makes out of soil from her flowerpots, her term as mayor of New York, her own death by murder, and beyond. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Veteran novelist and essayist Ozick continues to impress with this episodic, highly imaginative, humorous exploration of the disappointed life of brilliant Jewish lawyer and scholar, Ruth Puttermesser. In her thirties, Ruth found her early success in law school quickly turning to failure as she descended through the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of New York City government. In her forties, she unwittingly creates a golem?an artificial human being derived from Hebrew folklore?who gets Ruth elected mayor of New York but soon destroys the Eden it helped create. In her fifties, Ruth finally finds a soul mate in flamboyant artist Rupert. But as soon as they get married, Rupert leaves. A master stylist with a powerful command of the English language, Ozick has created a revealing portrait of a complex woman, as well as a dark satire of government bureaucracy. Essential for literary collections and highly recommended for general collections.
-?Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L.,Ohio

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link for readers reviews is here :

http://www.amazon.com/Puttermesser-Papers-Novel-Cynthia-Ozick/dp/0679777393/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231608881&sr=1-1

The Word : Karan Mahajan : 20.Dec.08

KARAN MAHAJAN
Author

A book that means a lot to you?
I loved The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick so much that it became my fate: like Ruth Puttermesser, I too work for the New York City bureaucracy and have lived among other people’s things in borough after borough. All I lack now is a wish-granting golem that’ll make me Mayor of New York, and a prosestyle so brilliant it glistens on the page like hell-frozen fire.

Your favourite genre?
ALL-CAPS EMAILS.

Your favourite character?
Gould, the eponymous character from Stephen Dixon’s Gould, for stupidly explaining himself at great length and speaking in run-on page-size sentences.

How many books do you own?
I’m going to ballpark it at 400+.

An underrated book? And why?
The Suffrage of Elvira by VS Naipaul. Brilliantly titled, written rapidly, and sandwiched chronologically between The Mystic Masseur and Miguel Street, this book has been nearly forgotten. But as a racial and political satire it is far riskier and biting than the other comedies; it carries within it a real sourness about the communal infighting that consumed Trinidadian politics.

An overrated book? And why?
Money by Martin Amis. We’re told to read him for the prose, but he seems like a ‘burra sahib’ trying to rap.

The book you bought last?
Remainder by Tom McCarthy.

Last book read?
Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel.

A book you wish you had written?
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust, because that would mean I’d have read it and led a largely olfactory life.

Adil Jussawala on his fav books

ADIL JUSSAWALLA ON BOOKS

The Boatride and Other Poems is a very important addition to Arun Kolatkar’s work. It’s made up of all his uncollected work in English — the longish ‘Boatride’, translations of his own poems into English, and of the work of other poets who wrote in Marathi, like Tukaram. There’s an excellent introduction by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, who has really worked very hard on the annotations. This is a book for lovers of poetry. Because of the notes and the chronology, it is very valuable for students of Kolatkar’s poetry. I like the book very much and I’m glad it is out. It’s an important book and, as expected of Pras Prakashan, the production values are excellent.

Jussawalla is a poet who lives in Mumbai

Kalpana Swaminathan : 20.Dec.2008

The Word KALPANA SWAMINATHAN Writer A book that means a lot to you? The book I’m writing at the moment is the one that means most to me. It is what consumes me now, others simply cease to exist. Your favourite genre? I do not like the word ‘genre’ and the pigeonholing it entails. Any book that breaks away from term ‘genre’ is worth the paper it’s printed on. The objective of art is to colour outside the line. But, I’m a sucker for humour. A book without wit is wasted on me. Your favourite character? And why? Why, it’s Alice, of course! She’s unshockable. How many books do you own? I haven’t dared to count. An underrated book? Anita Loos’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the ur-chick-lit book that nobody seems to remember. It deserves to be resurrected now that this sort of writing is so revered. Everyone seems to be trying it out for size. An overrated book? Ann Enright’s The Gathering. Yes, yes, it got the Booker last year. It has been done endlessly before, and better. The book you bought last? Nadeem Aslam’s The Wasted Vigil. Last book read? Steve Toltz’s A Fraction of the Whole. It just bristles with energy even if it does stomp on welltrampled ground. A book you wish you had written? There are so many! But I’d pick an Alice book if I absolutely had to, and Through the Looking Glass, not the first one. It is without brakes. It is invention in free fall. Wonderful! Wonderful! What a breeze! JAI ARJUN SINGH