Where are the books? Celebrating National Book Week

The nation celebrates National Book Week from November 14-20 each year. In all the years that I lived in Mumbai, I've never seen any events commemorating the week - maybe I wasn't looking in the right places.

In Goa this year, we have an exhibition of rare books at the Archives and a series of events organised by Institute Menezes Braganza.

Google informs me that the National Book Trust is doing a little more. A week-long story telling festival in Delhi, an exhibition/sale of children's books and a list of events across the country for students will mark the Week.

Here's something else I didn't know: The week is celebrated every year by the NBT to commemorate Nehru's birthday on Nov. 14. Nehru started the NBT in 1957 to "create a reading culture in India". At least someone thought about the idea...

My question: If the week is about promoting reading, where are the books? I was expecting to see at least token 'sales' at every book-shop, programs in schools, a membership drive at the library... How does one encourage reading when access to books is poor?

Given Goa's image as a literate state, I'd love to see more bookshops lining the street. Panjim has a dismal three or four stores, a far cry from what it should have. The Library, while huge, does not really invite or encourage reading on a large scale. You can borrow just one book at a time (or pay Rs.250/- for an additional card, upto a max of 3 cards). Which means that you can't take more than 3 books at a time. Compare this with the UK (I know, I know) where, at the council library, we could take out 13 books at a time, each valid for 6 weeks and renewable online.

I'd love to know what's happening in school libraries. If you have kids, do they get to bring books from school? Let me know how that works.

Maybe I should just set up a Room to Read chapter in Goa... or my own bookshop...

Maximum City

'Maximum City' by Suketu Mehta has been on my bedside table for some time now. I've looked forward to reading this acclaimed account of my city. I've made a few attempts to read it. Mehta is a wonderful writer. Every time I pick up the book I end up feeling depressed. I've gone back to it time and again, hoping that something in the pages will renew my affection for the city.

But it's gone. I can see it in my anger and irritation that the stories generate in me. I can feel it when my stomach churns at the thought of leaping into a packed, running train again. I feel myself recoil at the possibility of being groped, touched without my permission by passers-by, complete strangers who believe they have the liberty and access to my body.

Mehta talks about being an 'exile'. I heard that thought echo when we were at friends in England and one of them said that she didn't feel at home anywhere.

I don't feel at home in Mumbai. I don't think I ever did. That's a different statement from having a home there, though. The city is a place where my family lives and works. But that's the extent of my affection for it.

Every time I go back 'home', I echo Mehta's words. I feel as if I'm in a movie - surely, in the 21st century, things should be better?

The best book I've read this year

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Childrenby John Wood is a fantastic example of what an inspirational book should be like. Inspired on a hiking trip in the Himalayas, Wood, a former Microsoft exec, left his job and founded Room to Read. This charity builds schools, libraries and funds the education of girls throughout the Third World.

If reading about education and projects in remote mountain villages is not your thing, pick up the book just for the writing. Who knew that a MS official could write so beautifully?!

I've read 40+ books this year; this one beats everyone of them hollow. I couldn't put it down. Even in the midst of worrying about our luggage which has finally touched Indian shores, I wanted to know what happened next.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World inspires me to get on with my own plans to do something innovative. Remember my quest for public libraries in India? Reminds me of that quote from Om Shanti Om - "अगर किसी चीज़ को तुम पुरे दिल से चाहते हो तो पुरा कायनात उसे जुटाने में लग जाता है।" (If you wish for something from the bottom of your heart, the universe conspires to fulfil your desire)

Could this be the universe telling me something?
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Learn more about Room to Read
More about the book

Watch John Wood speaking about distributing books in Nepal

Nancy Drew fans, anybody?

A lovely lady in Southampton (UK) has 54 paperback Nancy Drew books in good condition to sell.

Anybody interested, just let me know.

More books than clothes

This trip to India was remarkable for the things we brought back with us. Unlike previous expeditions, clothes (who needs cotton in England, now?) were left back and we came back instead with kilos of paper - books, newspaper cuttings, magazines, mastheads, thin canvas boards (haven't seen them in art shops here) and so on.

With the global publishing industry descending on India, this was an opportune time to buy copies of Vogue India, Marie Claire, Elle and other magazines. In between wedding preparations, I studied the magazines as taught to, keeping the masthead for contact information. The paucity of guidelines and 'proper' contact information means that one has to rely on the goodwill of other writers to get an editor's email address or payment details.

A visit to the Crossword store in the shiny new domestic airport at Mumbai led to a welcome discovery - two new books from Richard Bach. After a long drought, Curious lives and the Messiah's Handbook have fallen like manna and I can't wait to read them. I also picked up Shashi Tharoor's 'Bookless in Baghdad', a compilation of essays on reading. I loved Tharoor's Riot and Bookless is an interesting glimpse into the reading (and writing) of this accomplished man.

I also picked up some lovely handmade stationery from a shop in Panjim called 'Paperworks'.

More Pride and Prejudice

If Austen's Pride and Prejudice left you wanting for more, take a look at the flurry of books that are spin-offs of this wonderful Regency tale.


I've just finished reading two : Me and Mr.Darcy by Alexandra Potter and The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston. Read a review here.

Accio, Book!

I've finished the latest Harry Potter book. Liked it a lot, but not as much as Book 6.

A review of Book 7 is here.

Books, Books, Books

It's not my fault this time.

We added two more books to our groaning bookshelves today. We were on our way out of the local hospital when Mr.R drifted towards the 'Friends of the hospital' bookshop to 'browse'. Five minutes later, he picked up one book and I couldn't resist another. It's all for a good cause, after all, we consoled ourselves.

It's a disease, I tell you.

The library fortunately, did not have anything new and exciting on sale, so we ended up borrowing a few books that will (phew!) be returned soon.

We gave away eight books yesterday for the May Fayre organised by the Church. I guess we need six more to make up the loss...

Dangerous libraries

Our council library is turning out to be a dangerous place. Not just for my arms and wallet, but also for the rapidly-running-out-of-space in what I thought was a spacious house.

Mr R and I went to the 'Big Non-fiction Sale' two weekends ago. Each book was 50p or 3 books for a pound. Fiction books were £1 for a bag (fill as many as you can).

Between the two of us, we ended up with fifteen books. Not a lot you might say, but more than we already have space for. The treasures we picked up: books on painting (oils and pastels), sheet music (four hard bound books which would otherwise have cost a small fortune to buy) and other stuff. I picked up 3 fiction books with the intention of reading then Bookcrossing.

That was 2 weeks ago.

Yesterday I went back to the library to pick up a book for Mr R. There were new books on sale in the foyer. The temptation was just too much. Space problems be dammed, I thought. We'll buy a bigger house (yeah, right.) Or give away some of our older books (ha!). Or use the garage as storage (hmmm.)

All books were on offer for a £1 a bag this time. Rather, a basket. One of those plastic ones that you get in some supermarkets. Those hold more books than a bag for sure.

I ended up with:

1. A book on Barcelona (on our To-do list)
2. A book on Paris (definitely on our To-do list)
3. Photoshop in easy steps
4. Stephen King's 'On Writing' - Love this book; it's the only one of King's that I've managed to ever finish. Very good book for writers.
5. A book on Walks in the Chiltern Hills (in our backyard).
6-8. Three beautiful hard bound books (Beyond the horizon / The heartland of Asia / God, Gold and Glory)
- And a couple of magazines (2 interiors and one women's magazines that I could use to study and submit articles to.)

I'll stay away from the library for some time now, I think.

A Question for Indian readers

This is for anybody who has ever lived in India or has family there. Please take a moment to read this post!

I'm trying to find information on public libraries in India. What has been your experience? Have you ever visited one and borrowed books?

In my own experience, I have stepped into one public library. That has been in Panaji, Goa.

I remember a library (or so it seemed) at the back of a municipal school near the big fish market in Chembur, Mumbai. The state of the building and the location in general did not encourage visitors. Are there many such libraries in Mumbai (and elsewhere)?

I wonder if we (India) have a government minister/department responsible for libraries etc.

Please leave a comment on the subject. If you have never seen a (public) library during your stay in India, please say so.

Eats, Shoots and Leaves

You loved the book. Now take the quiz and find out how much attention you really paid while reading Wren and Martin.

Another best-seller in the making...

British teacher becomes a literary sensation in the US
From The Independent

Diane Setterfield, a former French teacher from Yorkshire whose first novel - a book that she spent five years writing - has just been published, is embarking this week on a promotional tour of the United States buoyed by the remarkable news that The Thirteenth Tale has gone straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

She is the first British author to hit the number one spot with her debut since Nicholas Evans triumphed with The Horse Whisperer, a novel which was subsequently turned into a film starring Robert Redford and Scarlett Johansson.

And although sales so far have been more modest in the UK than the US, the buzz among British booksellers is that the book is set to rival last year's blockbuster, Labyrinth, by Kate Mosse and the surprise hit of 2004, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

"It's kind of curious. I'm quite bemused really. I'm delighted but it also makes going over to America a little daunting," Setterfield said just before departure.

"You don't spend five years writing a book unless you love it to bits and think it's the best book ever written. But at the same time, you take it for granted that you'll be the only one who feels that strongly about it. You don't believe that other people are going to go for it in a big way."

Her first clue that her decision to give up her university post to concentrate on writing was a wise move came when after a 10-day bidding war, her agent secured a UK and US publishing deal worth £1.3m.

Even so, it is a coup to beat established names such as James Patterson, Frederick Forsyth and Mark Haddon to the top of the American charts with sales of about 70,000 since it was released in America last week.

Barnes and Noble, a large American chain of bookshops, described it as "an urgently readable novel that's nearly impossible to put down" and invited the author to open her American tour at its giant annual sales conference in Orlando this weekend.

Rodney Troubridge, Waterstone's fiction expert, said The Thirteenth Tale had a similar mix of ingredients to other popular hits of recent years including Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark and The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber.

"They are novels that have this strange mix of the gothic, the slightly implausible and something to do with the past impinging on the present. They are rather quirky, almost strange. This seems to be what people want to read about at the moment."

The Thirteenth Tale is the story of Margaret Lea, a bookseller's daughter, commissioned to write the biography of a dying writer, Vida Winter, who has spent a lifetime creating outlandish life histories for herself while hiding the truth of her tragic past.

Orion paid a "whopping" £800,000 to secure the book, but clearly knew what it was doing, Mr Troubridge said. The publisher also picked up The Shadow of the Wind for translation from the original Spanish despite publishing wisdom that books in translation rarely do well.

As for Diane Setterfield, she is content that she produced the novel she wanted to write. "I wanted it to be a book that people would love and I think it is and I couldn't be happier. All I actually want now is to be on a bus somewhere and look around and see someone lost in my book."

Her second novel, however, is languishing somewhat. She explained: "If you can imagine a woman who's got a rather precocious first-born child and a baby at home and she knows she ought to be nurturing the new-born but the precocious child is demanding. I'm a bit like a harried mother, running after number one and neglecting number two."

Kiran Desai wins Booker Prize

From The Independent

The Indian writer Kiran Desai last night became the youngest woman ever to take the £50,000 Man Booker Prize, proving victorious in the prestigious award for which her mother, Anita, has previously been shortlisted three times without success.

The Indian writer Kiran Desai last night became the youngest woman ever to take the £50,000 Man Booker Prize, proving victorious in the prestigious award for which her mother, Anita, has previously been shortlisted three times without success.

The 35-year-old author, who was a complete outsider when the shortlist was announced, beat the bookies' favourite, Sarah Waters, and the former Orange Prize winner Kate Grenville to win the award with The Inheritance of Loss, an ambitious novel of interwoven lives in the foothills of the Himalayas and among illegal immigrants in New York.

Taking the stage at the ceremony in London, Desai said she had not expected to win. As the only awards she had ever seen on television were the Oscars, she embarked on rounds of thanks including her parents, especially her mother who was visiting an uncle in a Tibetan refugee settlement with no telephone or television to hear the news. Anita Desai had originally advised her daughter against writing as a career.

"To my mother, I owe a debt so profound and so great that this book feels as much hers as it does mine," she said. "It was written... in her wisdom and kindness, in cold winters in her house when I was in pieces. I really owe her this book so enormously. A minute isn't enough to convey it."

But with extraordinary composure, she thanked all the other writers saying: " I know the best book does not win. The compromise wins."

Yet, any suggestion that it was a compromise choice was dismissed by Hermione Lee, the chair of the judges, who said there was "no ambiguity" ­ unlike when she was a judge in 1981 when the comparatively unknown Salman Rushdie controversially beat DM Thomas's The White Hotel with Midnight's Children.

Professor Lee said of the winning novel: "It is a magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political acuteness. " The judges, who included The Independent critic Anthony Quinn and the actor Fiona Shaw, reached their decision in just under two hours "after a long, passionate and generous debate", Professor Lee said.

Kiran Desai was born in India, but came to Britain with her mother, Anita Desai, in her teens and then to America. She now lives mainly in New York but partly in New Delhi and admitted: "Given what the political climate has been in the States, I feel more and more Indian in so many ways."

Her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, was well-received by critics, but she struggled to produce its successor. The Inheritance of Loss, which is dedicated to her mother, took eight years to write. "For all those years, nobody calls you," she said in an interview recently. That is certain to change. John Banville's poetic story, The Sea, last year's winner, has sold more than 250,000 copies and his publisher has reported a dramatic rise in sales of his published works. Desai admitted she had not started a third novel yet.

Rodney Troubridge of the booksellers Waterstone's compared Desai's novel to Booker-winning predecessors such as Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things and Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. "This continues the fine tradition of Booker winners set in India," he said.

The other shortlisted novels were The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, a story set in war-time London; The Secret River by Kate Grenville, about a convict's new life in Australia; Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland, about a boy in a troubled family in Ireland who believes he can detect lies; In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, a tale of life under Colonel Gaddafi in Libya; and Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn, a comedy of a dysfunctional wealthy family.

Ben Okri remains the youngest victor, winning in 1991 with The Famished Road.

What a Catch!

Funnily enough for a Saturday afternoon in August, the tube wasn't that crowded.

Getting on at Marylebone, we got a place to sit immediately. Mr R thumbed through a magazine he found a few seats away - specifically for Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans. Strange combination, I said to Mr R. He had something smart and witty to say about that - if only I could remember it now.

I had a book in my bag that I was itching to leave behind. This bookcrossing thing is crazy. You carry a book with you for days - eyes peeled for a suitable location to leave it. You hope you can leave it and elegantly walk away, without a hassled tourist or a punk running behind you trying to tell you that you forgot your book. It's happened before, you know.

Anyway, this time, the tube held hope. As usual, everybody got off at Oxford Circus, the prospect of shopping bags rapidly filling reflecting in the sunglasses perched on various colored heads. Mr R and I stayed on. We had one more stop to go.

A couple got on - tourists, you could tell. I didn't want them to 'catch' my book - it would be ages before they reported it, if at all. Oh, please, please, I prayed, why can't you send me a Londoner?

At Picadilly Circus, amid reminders to Mind The Gap, Mr R and I disembarked. The tourist couple got off before us. It was a chance I could not miss. Like lightning, the book was out and deposited on the seat. Hah!

The trick to a succesful deposit is to walk away nonchalantly. Not doing so will cause people to be suspicious. These days, you've just gotta be careful.

And so as I walked away (nonchalantly), my heart was going thump-thump. I hoped somebody would pick up my book and take it home. And even better, tell me that he/she had found it.

Having released quite a few books, I wasn't expecting a miracle. But this just goes to show, perseverance pays.

Mr R and I returned home post the afternoon Prom. And there, waiting for me in my inbox, was an email telling me my book had been found and the finder had made an entry on the website.

My first catch! Fabulous! Thank you, Brix of London! You made my day! Happy reading!
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If you have books that you no longer want, give them to me! Or release them yourself. Go on, sharing is good!

http://bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/wordsworth1612

Children's books wanted in Mumbai

Can you help?

From the Mumbai freecycle group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mumbaifreecycle/) :

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan School's library at Nadiad has been destroyed by the floods. To rebuild its library, we require children's books like story books, essay books, quiz & puzzle books, encyclopedias etc. Anybody wishing to donate the same may pl. contact our Mumbai office :

Hitesh Joshi
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Gora Gandhi Compound
505, Sane Guruji Marg
Tardeo
Mumbai - 400 034

Tel.9969 113 441 / 2494 6025

When I have some money...

We are drowning in books. Really.

In the past week alone, we have picked up (umm,bought) books from , let's see...

- the library was having a stock sale. Picked up 13 books to give away through bookcrossing.com (Not my fault they were having a 'As-many-books-you-can-put-in-a-bag-for-£1-sale). I put as many books as I could.

I couldn't bear to think of those poor unwanted books being put into a skip. Besides, where else can you pick up 13 books for a pound? (13 because that's what I could carry - the bag could possibly hold a few more...)

- Visited the Turville books sale over the weekend. Between the two of us, bought 14 (Mr R) and a measly 4 (me).

- Accompanied Mr R to the library yesterday evening (cancelled bank appt threw up a free hour!). Went in for the purpose of 'browsing'. Ended up looking at new stock of business books on sale. Eight more have ended up in our library.

- Mr R picked up a new copy of 'Dr Faust' in the WH Smith sale before going to the library!

Total books procured in the last seven days or so : 40 or so.

Library books/magazines to be read and returned : 18

I have a feeling I'm leaving out some...


“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” - Desiderius Erasmus


Maybe we need to rent another house - just for the books.

Looking for a book in India?

...then this is for you.

India's first online bookstore for used and hard to find books is now online. Please visit http://www.dogearsetc.com/ and sign up. It's still early days, but they hope to build up a good stock and soon that may be the only place you go to look for books.

If you like what you see, pass the word along.

No joy on this page

Right.

The first day of Spring was officially here yesterday, but you can tell by this news report that we are yet to feel the joy that usually comes with this announcement.

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I have just finished the HP & the HBP book with great reluctance. Now I'm upset at the way things have come to pass. This was most unexpected. It shouldn't be like this! Something tells me things will have to get better in Book 7 (due for release on July 7, 2007). Oh, why did things have to be so bad?!

I loved this one. I think this was my favorite of the series so far. There were twists and turns so unexpected at some places that I often gasped! Silently, of course, so as to not alarm Mr R!
Some revelations caught me off-guard - not what I had imagined or predicted.

I began the second last chapter as soon as I woke this morning, took the book with me to the loo, shared my breakfast with some pages and managed to tear myself away around 9.35 because I was surely going to miss my once-in-an-hour bus up the other hill. Wish I was able to apparate instead.

I almost wish I had taken my time to come back home, so I could have postponed reading the final chapter. Not what I expected. Not at all.

JKR should have been kinder to her readers. If I'm feeling so bad, what about the (much) younger ones?!

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Picked up this one from mumbaigirl about the Jessica Lall case, and the usual miscarriage of justice. If it bothers you, then sign up for this petition by NDTV (see right hand corner of the NDTV page), to be taken to the President. I have no doubt though, that justice will not prevail. Call me cynical. Or agree with me. When politicians, policemen and lawyers are involved together, money is more likely to talk than Liberty's scales. Add to that witnesses who should know better, but turn 'hostile' anyway and you have a hotch-potch that is reflected throughout the system. So what's new?

Sign up anyway. Maybe a million signatures will help tilt the scales. Who knows?

This may be a good time to use Legilimens. Maybe one should tell the Delhi police that. Ppfft.

A P.S

Mr.R's cousin wrote in after reading my post about our Swiss trip and I thought I should include his comments here.

"As an fyi, some of your die hard swiss readers may be puzzled by your title, as Heidiland is the name of an actual place in GRAUBÜNDEN, a southern region of the country"

Thanks, M. I should have explained that in my post :)

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I loved reading Joanne Spyri's classic tale of this little mountain girl. I still have it tucked among other well worn books at home, covered in brown paper :) Funnily, although we were not in Heidiland proper on our trip, every church steeple reminded me of the story (as I mentioned to Mr R when we were out there). For readers of the book, you will know what I mean. Heidi's longing for the mountains of her home and grief when all she can see is other tall buildings, even from the highest point in the city (the church steeple), is heartbreaking. I remember watching an animated Japanese version of the story with my mum many years ago on telly. It was wonderful!

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And cousin M, the Rolex's were not to our taste (too flashy!), the chocolates and cheese yummy and the teddy bears simply funny! We had a good time even though the 'banks' of Zurich were overflowing - with water and not money unfortunately. He, he that was a good pun ;-)

MRF rain day anyone?

Looks like the monsoon decided to swerve off the coast of Mumbai and head west instead.

One look out of my window this morning and I could have been fooled into thinking that it's a mid-July morning in Mumbai. The rain is pelting down and you'd laugh at the fact that they call this 'summer'. (Today's forecast is max 20 deg C and min 11 deg C, with rain.) The red roof tiles of the houses glisten and gleam in the cloudy light, as do the roads. Though unlike Maximum City, the roads don't flood (unless there's a tornado or a typhoon), there are no clogged gutters and the pavements stay clean because there are no makeshift stalls or houses to cause an obstruction. Traffic moves steadily, sometimes piling on the hill, but the signals work, drivers stick to their lanes and yes, nobody honks, even though they get impatient.

ENGLAND'S ROADS
Irrespective of the shortcomings of the people here, there's a lot to be said for the systems that are in place. The attention to detail are amazing. Just take roads for instance - a pet topic with me, so I can't help being fascinated by them. In England, as in most of Europe, they pay a great deal of attention to their roads and motorways. Every road has a name/number and color scheme that figures in the larger scheme of things and is invaluable for mapping. The Motorways, A and B roads, local roads all follow the same code for driving. The lanes are clearly painted (99% of the time) with white lines dividing the lanes. Varying lengths of lines differentiate between changing roads, as on motorways when a turn off or junction is coming up. There are (mostly) clear signs indicating roads, exits, services, again color coded. Pedestrian-safe zones are clearly indicated. Single or double yellow lines clearly tell drivers whether it is ok to park or not. There is no scope for misunderstanding or confusion if you know the rules correctly. And except for inner country roads, where mostly horses still trample, I haven't seen potholes on the major roads yet.

IMAGINE..
I know Mumbai, and India as a whole has a much larger population than England or probably all of Europe put together, but surely that can't be an excuse for not having decent roads? I don't know what they use to make the roads here, but most of the roads are tarred, not concrete. And yet they remain in pristine condition. Somehow, one doesn't imagine contractors and municipal officers taking a cut out of the contract and supplying inferior materials instead. I'm sure there's corruption here too, but somehow it doesn't affect the 'quality' of the roadworks. The attention to detail is impressive and I can only hope that we can emulate it someday.

Imagine a Mumbai with roads that are not dug up, no pot-holes, signals that work automatically and are not manually changed by traffic policemen waiting for their day's cut. Imagine your stress levels plummeting when you step into your vehicle and not hear rabid honking all around you - honking won't get you a foot ahead anyway, but it's an end to boredom. Perhaps it is a cultural thing. Indians don't honk when they come to England; the rules and road etiquette are picked up effortlessly. When in Rome...

It's hard not to wish for an easier life. We all work so hard, whether here or in India and we deserve to have something in return for the billions we pay in taxes each year. Maybe we'll see it happen in my lifetime yet...

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MAXIMUM CITY
Suketu Mehta's acclaimed book on Mumbai was shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2005. Watched the awards ceremony on telly last night. The prize went to Jonathan Coe, for his biography of once famous, now obscure British writer B.S.Johnson.