Joseph Heller

Apart from the Labour Day, 1^st May has some other significance, at least for the sake of English Lexicon. It was on this date that Joseph Heller the creator of the Word Catch-22 was born. His name is taken with immense respect in the American Literary circles. He has been always acknowledged as the leading American satirical novelist, short story writer and playwright.  Heller is widely regarded as one of the best post–World War II satirists. Catch-22 is widely regarded as the best example of modern day Satire. “Picture This” is also regarded as one of his distinguished works.

Heller also taught creative writing at City College of New York.

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Alistair Maclean

Alistair Maclean (28^th April 1922- 2^nd February 1987) is a Popular Scottish novelist. Thrillers and adventure stories were his forte. Two of his famous novels “The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare” have been made into successful Hollywood films. Having served in the Royal Navy during Second World War, Maclean used his firsthand experience and knowledge of warfare across seas with finesse. The captivating narration amidst breathtaking action sequences is too compelling to the readers. Moreover Maclean’s style of writing is clearly unique when compared with his peers of his genre. There was no scope for romantic sequences in Maclean’s novels as he remarked that it shatters the whole action and thriller elements nonchalantly.

The Partisans is also believed to be one of his notable works.

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Today is that day that William Shakespeare was baptised. His exact birth date remains shrouded in mystery. But nonetheless, since this is like the week of his birthday, we from the INDIAreads team invite you to participate in “Map your Shakespearean Characters contest”. You are required to mention your favourite character as well as the one whom you despise from your favourite play by Shakespeare. (along with the why of course.)

Michael Moore

Michael Moore (23 April, 1955) is a noted American author, Filmmaker and liberal Political commentator. Four of his documentaries are among the top ten grossing ones, with Fahrenheit 9/11 being the most acclaimed one.

Moore’s acclaimed works include Dude Where’s My Country, which includes a series of accusations on the then president George Bush and his family’s relations with the Saudi Royalty, the energy industry and host of other issues. He pleads to the liberals to rise up and act in this regard.

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Today happens to be the birthday of Chetan Bhagat: the best selling English novelist in India’s history. Bhagat’s four novels Five Point Someone, One Night at Call Center, Three Mistakes of My Life and 2 States have remained on the best selling charts since their release. Two of his novels have inspired and adapted into films by Bollywood. Bhagat an alumuni of IIT Delhi and IIM  Ahmedabad is also a popular columnist and eminent speaker,with his colums appearing frequently in Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar etc. Time Magazine has named Bhagat as one of the hundred most influential people in the world. He is one person who is credited in making India read like never before. He also give motivational speeches in Leading MNC’s and institutions. Such has been Bhagat’s quest for writing that he left his high profile investment banking job in Hong Kong and has settled in Mumbai, only to concentrate more on writing.

Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707- October 8, 1754) was an English Dramatist and Novelist. He is known for his rich earthly humour and satirical finesse. He wrote his books with the pen name “Captain Hercules Vinegar”. His preferred genre was that of Satire and Picaresque. He was the part of literary movements such as Enlightenment and Augustan Age. Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews are believed to be his most notable nobles.

Vladimir Nabokov ( April 22, 1899-2 July,1977) was a multilingual Russian novelist and short-story writer in the post modern era. Nabokov’s first nine novels were in Russian, then he rose to International fame as a master English short story teller. He spent his childhood and adolescent years in St Petersburg, Russia. Though it was his stay in Berlin, that he learnt the nuances of writing and became a recognized poet and writer. He made America his second home and worked as a professor in Wellesley College. It was the grand success of Lolita that Nabokov moved permanently to Montreaux, Switzerland, and completely devoted himself to writing. Lolita has been rated at No.4 in the modern library 100 best novels.

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Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte (April 21, 1816-March 31, 1855) is considered one of the leading figures in 19^th Century Victorian Literature. She was a renowned English novelist as well as poet. Born in Thornton, Yorkshire to an Irish Anglican clergyman, she was the third of six children . At an age of eight, Bronte went to clergy daughter’s school in Lancashire, whose inhuman condition had permanently taken its toll on her health and physical development. The school has a special mentioning in her novel Jane Eyre in the name of Lowood School.  In fact two of her elder sisters succumbed to tuberculosis while attending that school. Along with her surviving siblings, she began chronicling about the life and struggle of the inhabitants of their imaginary country, Angria. Bronte has also worked as governess for various families in Yorkshire till 1841. Her stay in Brussels as an English tutor did not last long because of her feeling lonely, homesick and her growing proximity to Constantine Ledger, the Belgian teacher in the same boarding school.

Bronte’s stay at the boarding school served as an inspiration behind her novel “The Professor and the Villette”. Politically she was a Tory, who believed in preaching tolerance rather than revolution. Lord Charles Albert Florian, Wellesley and Currer Bell are her pen names showcasing the patriarchal Victorian society as well as her inherent shy nature .It was only after the enormous  success of Jane Eyre that she revealed her true identity. The novel since long has been dubed as a semi autobiographical piece by critics.

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This time it’s the Pulitzer. Once again an author of Indian origin, Siddhartha Mukherjee, has taken the literary world by storm. A New York-based cancer physician and graduate of Stanford, Oxford and Harvard, Mukherjee won the prestigious Pulitzer prize in the general non fiction category for his book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A biography of Cancer.

Other finalists in the category were “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brain,” by Nicholas Carr (W.W. Norton & Company), “Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History,” by S.C. Gwynne (Scribner).

Mukherjee’s book has been described as an “astonishingly lucid and eloquent” chronicle of the deadly disease. It presents a “profoundly humane” biography of the malady, starting from its first documented appearance thousands of years ago.

The Pulitzer citation calls it, “an elegant inquiry, at once clinical and personal, into the long history of an insidious disease that, despite treatment breakthroughs, still bedevils medical science.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer Egan’s “A Visit from the Goon Squad” won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and Ron Chernow won the Pulitzer Prize in biography for “Washington: A Life.”

Congratulations Siddhartha Mukherjee!

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The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad

This  debut novel by a 79 year old retired civil servant from Pakistan is perhaps Penguin’s most interesting release slotted for the year. The Wandering Falcon traces the story of a Tor Baz, a young boy who journeys between tribes. The book is his story and the story of the many people he encounters – men and women who live in a society where honour is the foremost religion.

This collection of interlinked stories is set in the strife torn tribal areas where the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran meet.  It chronicles life before the advent of the Taliban. Stark and compelling, the book creates an intimate picture of the tribes- capturing both the hardship and desolation of their homeland and the paradoxes that govern their lives. It takes the reader to world of custom and cruelty, of love and gentleness, of hardship and survival;a fragile, unforgiving world that is changing as modern forces make themselves known. For long this region has been known only for the “terrorism” and “terrorism related” conflicts. For the first time, Jamil, who has served in these areas and travelled extensively through them, acquaints us with the inner dynamics of a society which has incited such fierce emotions the world over.

An excerpt from the book – the story of a Baluch couple who had defied the norms of the tribal society and were being pursued-was read out by Suhel Seth at the Spring Fest in New Delhi last month and the audience was riveted. Suhel, of course, is a greater orator and the perfect person for a book reading, but it was not his rendition alone that enthralled the audience. The excerpt revealed a well written book which was descriptive and yet not overly so; the pace was moderate – not racy like a thriller that gives the reader little opportunity to get acquainted with the characters and the settings and yet, it did not drag.

Definitely a book to look out for this month.

And just in case you are curious about the author: Jamil was born in Jalandhar in 1931 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law and Master’s degree in History, both from the University of the Punjab. As a member of the Civil Service of Pakistan beginning in 1954, he served mainly in the Frontier Province and in Baluchistan. He was posted as Minister in Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul at a critical time before and during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In an interview he admitted that when thought of writing, poetry had been his first choice. It was however, his wife who suggested that he focus on his association with the tribal areas instead. “It was she who  typed the first draft of the handwritten manuscript of The Wandering Falcon on an old typewriter with a German keyboard,” said Jamil.

CLICK, a result oriented action aimed at filtering complexities from our day to day life. We don’t even set a foot out and we get our groceries, apparels, consumer durables,books & stationaries, home appliances in no time. The online catalog insures that we get our preferred goods. Metros and other tier one and two cities are the major beneficiaries of the e-business boom. Lot of bucks which could have been otherwise spent on commuting, restaurants/food joints remain intact in our wallet. Still there is a phenomenal scope of growth for all these businesses provided internet accessibility spreads across length and breadth of our country.

The findings of an IMRB survey  that internet penetration in rural areas is set to double this year is a welcome news. The total number of active rural internet users is projected to touch 24 million, an increase of 98% over last year. The quantum leap can be attributed to increasing awareness, greater accessibility and the maturing of initiatives such as the government’s National e-Governance Plan that has led to the genesis of 90,000 rural IT kiosks across the country. Several IT sector projects like the ITC’s e-Choupal have done a commendable job in imparting computer literacy in rural areas.

For empowering people it is essential that the information network reaches every corner of India. Access to the internet could transform the rural economy. It would enable farmers to keep themselves updated about latest farming techniques, weather forecasts and the trading prices of various crops. Villagers could access information related to welfare schemes, education and employment opportunities in the cities. More so the aspect of e-retailing in rural areas will receive a major “shot in the arm”.

Moreover its India as an economy that will grow manifolds, the businesses will thrive on the added customer base. Internet also provides a brilliant avenue for advertisement and promotion, cyber Ads will account for a chunk of marketeer’s investment on Advertisement. When the whole of country side is there in the reckoning, no business will remain far behind. Enterprises like the Amazon.com, e-bay seems the order of the day provided the village infrastructure catches up with the Urban one.

Henry James

Henry James is considered as one of the key figure in trans- Atlantic literature. Having spent the last fifty three years of his life in England, his works had semblances of the confluence of the American and European cultures.

James (April 15, 1843 – February 28, 1916) was born in New York. He was A Harvard Regular. He contributed significantly to the 19^th century literary realism, stressing the need of freedom from the part of writers in showcasing his views, ideas to their audience. Apart from being an extraordinary productive writer, he also wrote innumerable fiction books, books on travel, autobiography, biography, criticism and Plays. His theatrical endeavour had its impact on his later novels and plays.

The popularity of his novel can be seen to the extent that Ismail Merchant teamed up with James Ivory to make films on his three novels, The Europeans (1978), The Bostonians (1984) and The Golden Bowl (2000).

The Portrait of a Lady is considered as one of his best book.

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