Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

05 April 2015

My Scrapbook - Features Digest - 1

I often post articles and features that I like on Twitter and Facebook.  But these places are so overcrowded that it is sometimes difficult to extract and even remember what I posted a while back.  Hence, I have decided to create a blog post with tags that will make it easy to refer to a good article that I read.

My father read extensively and wrote extensively as well.  In his heyday he ordered a number of newspapers and periodicals.  In his bid to categorize his readings, and also for easy recall, he had built up a system of saving newspaper cuttings of the articles he read. He would then put them in file folders meticulously.

It was quite common for us to open a newspaper and find windows cut into it.  Magazines met the same fate.  There was a time when my father would cut out the advertisements from the magazines because he felt they were unnecessary.  Visitors to our house would stop short when they saw the entire house covered with books, magazines and newspapers.  The floors were laid out with newspaper cuttings that awaited being categorized and put away.

When we were young, my father sent us a scrapbook with pictures and captions.  They were clippings of pictures from various magazines that were stuck in a scrapbook.  Thinking back, I am not sure that my father made those himself.  Maybe he got help from some student of his. I remember being charmed by them.  Once of twice, I made similar picture scrapbooks and gifted them to friends.

Now, I realize the importance of those saved articles, when I rack my brains to remember something I had read but cannot recall the specifics.  With all these tools on internet available to us, it is easy to store stuff electronically.  So here goes my first digest.

Today's Literary Review by The Hindu had some good articles.  I loved the few books of Krishna Sobti that I read recently.  There was a nice article on her in this pullout. Here is a link to article, "A strong voice".  I liked this review of Geeta Hariharan's book, "Almost Home", in the same magazine.

In today's Indian Express, I came across this profile of a man who is in charge of the meteorological department of J&K, and found it quite interesting. "The Rainspotter", a day in the life of Sonum Lotus. The article was laudatory to him. When I checked him out on twitter, he was being flooded with bad press, accused of making false predictions.  It is so hard to know what is correct and what is not correct, in these days of information overload.

Finally, a humorous piece in Eye Magazine of Indian Express from my favorite author, Ranjit Lal.  It is titled "The Indian Driver's Handbook" and is accompanied by a delightful, Mario-esque illustration.







23 December 2009

Dateline Saturday - 19.12.2009

I usually like to go out on Saturdays, run some errands, meet a friend, pick up a few things, and often watch an early early movie show. This last has two advantages, one - the early show tickets are cheap, two - more importantly, catching an early movie leaves the rest of the day free for other errands/visits etc.

This Saturday I went out on my errands first and then reached a favorite mall/multiplex to catch a movie - New Moon. Alas, I had muddled up and the time for the show was already past. This is what happens if you schedule the movie for later in the day. There were huge lines in front of the box office thanks to Avatar. I abandoned the idea of watching any movie and decided to hit the bookshop on the first floor of the mall (which is actually the fourth floor if you account for the two parking basements).

I stepped into the bookshop and stopped short. It looked like hurricane Katrina had been through it. Books were strewn in random places, furnishings were stripped down. Just then, a helpful salesman came over to me, the books were all at 50% off he said. They were renovating and were clearing the books. The books were stacked in random order and it was hard to find anything worthwhile at the first look. Gradually I picked out some books. At half rate, they were a steal.



The Pregnant King - Devdutt Pattanaik: This I picked up because I read about it on Jai Arjun's blog. It was everybit awesome as it was said to be. I have written about it on my book blog.



Escape, Manjula Padmanabhan : I loved Manjula Padmanabhan's cartoon series Suki and have liked several short stories by her that I have read here and there. I had long wanted this book, and here it is !



The Black Moth, Georgette Heyer: This is a tribute to the compulsive romance/vampire-romance reader Couchpapaya ! I know I will love it.




My Revolutions, Hari Kunzru : I have read Transmissions by Hari Kunzru more than once. It is amazing. Here is a sample of his writing. Although he is an Indian, he does not let the diaspora overshadow his writing. Book lovers really have to read Transmisions. I will write on him once I am through with his book.



Amit Chaudhuri's New World I picked up because I was impressed by whatever I read on the back. More after I am finished with it.

Thus went a satisfying Saturday.

09 July 2008

Was yesterday Sucky

I have to change my son's school. There are no two ways about it. His current school isnt all that great anyway. Sure, the only thing that holds me back is the fact that my son is comfortable in this school, having been here for all his education. But.... I cannot help it. I do feel the new school will be an improvement.

God help me.

The weather is alternatively hot and humid or wet and humid. I am not able to decide which is better. As long as the wet and dry keep happening in short spells, it is tolerable.

I am not able to get back to my book, or watch my TV, which makes me feel disoriented after a while. I am so used to my routine, it is hard to fathom how to get along without it. It will take me a week to settle down to my ways once again.

Remember Remember, exercise exercise !

PS: If you click on the title you will get an image :) I am trying to put in links in my blogs so remember to CLICK ON THE TITLE

Shimla's Indian Coffee House

For those who live in the Tricity (Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali), Shimla is a weekend destination. For the daring ones, who have the sta...