A 25-Books Month

This month I picked up twenty five books, something which I haven’t done in the past. The year’s total book count stands at roughly 193 which means I have many books to read in the new year not counting the books from the previous years many of which still remain unread. But it is a different feeling to know that at hand are several good books to read whenever there is time.

I picked up two books today and one yesterday. A friend had asked for a book by Dave Barry and I picked up ‘Dave Barry Turns 40’ at the MR sale in Begumpet yesterday evening. Today I had been to Best Book Centre at Abids in the afternoon and found ‘Write with Style’ by Sue Young by Scholastic. It is a book meant for school kids but I picked it up because I cannot resist books on writing. I got it for forty rupees and the book is in good condition and virtually clean without any writing in it.

Later in the evening I got into some money unexpectedly and since I had not celebrated the completion of my NaNo novel, I thought I’d reward myself with a book. I went to the MR Books sale at Liberty and found a book I was looking for. I was thrilled to find it and I guess the book crowns the picks of this month. I will write about the book in tomorrow’s post!

Some of the best picks of the month have been the two books of Elmore Leonard- Mr. Paradise and 52 Pickup; God’s Pocket by Pete Dexter and Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.

Next month, the 22nd Hyderabad Book Fair begins and I am eagerly waiting for the 7th of December. I am also eagerly waiting for the Sunday because it is the first Sunday of the month and ‘The Hindu’ would be carrying ‘Literary Supplement’.

Dave Barry is King of Humor

One writer who I think is the funniest writer alive is my favorite writer- Dave Barry. Last month I had found a new book of his, “Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway”. I couldn’t resist not reading the book which I had originally planned to read later. Yesterday evening I finished reading it and I found it absolutely hilarious. Each and every line in it evokes uncontrollable laughter. This book is about the US Government and is very, very funny. I am glad I found the book.

I had discovered Dave Barry about ten years back when Deccan Chronicle used to carry his columns every Monday. I was hooked to his writing from then. I found my first Dave Barry book at Gangarams which had a store near the Clock Tower in Secunderabad. The book was ‘Dave Barry Does Japan’ and I was rolling in laughter while reading it. Since then I have had an eye out for his books and I have almost all the books he has written. One of my friends also likes his writing and keep picking up extra copies for him and also for others.

Another humor writer I like is Bill Bryson who is also funny, but to me Dave Barry is king. His is the first on my list of favorite writers. One of my dreams is to meet Dave Barry and also Elmore Leonard. Another dream is to write like them but it is an impossible dream though I might, if I am lucky, get to meet the two someday.

Irani Chai vs Barista/CCD Coffee

Being a true blue Hyderabadi who can’t walk straight unless at least a cup of Irani courses through my blood vessels, Iget my daily dose of Irani chai at a local Irani. I either go to ADarsh near MLA quarters for the morning's cup or to Bombay Bakery and Restaurant at Gunfoundry for the afternoon cup. So far I haven’t had an oppurtinity or an inclination to get my caffeine dose at joints like Barista and Café Coffee Day. But a couple of Sundays ago, I had to meet friends (new ones, I meet all my old ones in Irani’s only) who might not have seen the inside of an Irani in their lives.

Anyway, I found there wasn't much difference between my local Irani and these new joints. The waiters at the Irani wear uniforms and those at the coffee joints too wear them. (Okay, they wear caps at CCD/Barista.) There’s a variety of fare at the Irani (chota samosa, bada samosa, mirchi, dil pasand, dil kusha, egg puffs…) and in these coffee joints too there is a variety of stuff to eat, only with fancy names. Of course, here they don’t shout the order to the kitchen. They politely write it down and go away. Maybe, when they are in the kitchen they shout it. But I didn't hear any shouting at the Barista I was in.

Then, there’s the crowd. Here there is a difference. You won’t find many autowallahs drinking one by two chai at the coffee joints. (I’ve no idea if they serve one by two.) Also, you won’t find many people over thirty at Barista and CCD. The day I was at Barista at Jubilee Hills, I guess I was the only customer they had since a long time who was over forty. (They were staring at me the way we stare at people who are wheeled on a stretcher into emergency rooms in hospitals.) Every one is young and trendy. So trendy that even the girls smoked.

People actually bring their laptops here and the joints even provide facilities for browsing the net and recharging your laptop. Sometimes I take my notebook (the paper variety) to the Irani to scribble.

The only difference was the price. In the Irani a cup costs just four bucks whereas you have to pay ten times or more for a cup of the plainest coffee in Barista/CCD. Another difference is that Irani hotels in Hyderabad are ‘men-only’ places where as girls seem to outnumber guys in Barista/CCD.

However, it was an enjoyable afternoon that I had at Barista that Sunday with friends who were doing the NaNoWriMo. We had a long talk about writing, books and favorite authors.

Also, you don’t have to go searching for an Irani hotel in Hyderabad; every lane has one. Or else, Hyderabad wouldn’t be Hyderabad.

The Sunday Book Haul

Exactly three months later, the book sellers were allowed back in the Metro Estate this Sunday. Now the Abids book bazaar is back to its old avatar. After the bomb blasts in August 07 that took place in Hyderabad the lane was off limits to the book sellers. Three of the biggies have their places in that lane and this Sunday they were back with hundreds of books.

I had a good find this Sunday though I did not find anything new to be excited about. The first find was Ken Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ that I picked up for just five rupees. IN another heap I found Kirk Douglas’ ‘The Ragman’s Son’. This is my second copy of this book and I couldn’t resist buying it as it was for only ten rupees.

I have read the first part of Kirk Douglas’ memoirs title 'Climbing the Mountain' and was very impressed by his writing. He is one of the limited number of actors who write well. The other actor-writers whose books I have are Dirk Bogarde, David Niven, Errol Flynn, and Sammy Davis Jr. Dirk Bogarde is my favorite though. He has also a book of the book reviews he had done and I don’t remember the title but it was very good.

Later I found a good hardcover edition of Elmore Leonard’s ‘Bandits’ that I got for only thirty rupees. Only a few weeks earlier I had picked up a paperback of this book. I have three copies of this book but haven’t come across a fan of his writing yet to swap it with

I picked up two magazines- September 07 issue of ‘Man’s World’ that had an article on fountain pens, and the other magazine was the October 07 issue of ‘Men’s Journal’. It was the latest issue so I picked it up. Both these magazines I got for only ten rupees each.

With the three books I bought this Sunday the total number of books I bought this year comes to 190. I guess I will easily cross 200. Last year I had bought around 175 books but have managed to read only a few of them. With a regular job, a few writing projects on hand plus this blog I am not finding much time to read all the books I am buying.

An Accidental Lesson to the Kid

On Saturday we had been to Dholar-ri-Dhani on the outskirts. Though the resort was started more than a decade ago this was my first visit. There was nothing much to see or do there. That day the place was overrun with screaming schook kids trying out the camel rides, the swings and every thing that was free.

There was a stall where one could shoot at balloons with an air rifle and my ten year old son wanted to try it out. It was three shots for twenty rupees. I hadn't held a gun for long and I wanted to try it out first. I blew out all the three balloons. My son had this look of awe on his face when the guy told the other kids gathered that this was how real shooters did it. I was more amazed at my own marksmanship than my son. But that moment, I was a hero to my son. I realized it was a moment to teach him something.

I was in the NCC when I was in high school and knew a bit about rifle shooting. Then a friend had an air rifle which I borrowed and practiced for a couple of days. When my friend saw that I was getting better he took back the gun and that was the end of my shooting spree. I wasn't what you call a marksman or a sharpshooter but I was kind of okay, getting in a few bulleyes' now and then. It is all about concentration which is what I wanted to teach my son on Saturday.

I taught him how to hold the gun. ( It was too heavy for him). I showed him the sights and how to aim at the target. I showed him how to hold the breath when you squeeze the trigger. He listened and did it all perfectly. He blew out two balloons out of three shots. Not bad, I thought.

But then he wanted to do it again and again. At twenty rupees for three shots it was quite expensive. He tried two more rounds. He missed all shots in the second round but in the final round he got two shots at the ballons out of the three. Now he is hooked to shooting though there is no way I am going to buy him a gun.

VIN WINS THE NANO

Yesterday night I crossed the 50,000-words mark which officially makes me a winner in the National Novel Writing Month thing. However, I am yet to finish the story but I still have another week to do it. It was an incredible experience writing the novel that was lurking in my mind for the better part of a decade. At last I’ve got it down somewhere! Right now I feel a considerable lightness of the mental kind. It wasn’t fun writing it though. I had a hard time herding the multitude of ideas screaming to be let out. More difficult was the actual writing hammering out at least two thousand words a day. But it had its own moments of fun. At a few places, here and there I was surprised at some of the lines that came spontaneously.

I suggest that entering into such a contest should be mandatory for all writers. It reveals a lot about the self. You will know your limits and how far you can stretch them. Yesterday morning I had thought of writing 5000 words in a single day. My previous high was 4500 words in a day that I wrote sometime last week and I thought it would be easy. It wasn’t easy though but it wasn’t impossible. When I crossed the 5000 words mark I felt pleased with my own determination which is non-existent on most days. A little bit of my self-confidence has grown and I hope to do the rewriting, revising on the book in the coming days.

The surprising part was that I decided to write this novel though I was at work on my first book which I had begun two years back. I was working on it on and off but sometime during June of this year I decided that I must finish the book this year come what may. I will be turning forty five next Feb and I wanted to finish a book at any cost. With the NaNo book I now have two books under my belt. That feels great.

The books I have written may not get published and right now I am not even thinking of sending them to publishers. They need a lot of work and that would keep me busy for another year at least. This will be a great learning experience and I hope to learn many new things about writing, myself and life while rewriting and revising my books. In future posts I will write more about my books. For now, that is all I have to say

National Book Week and Hyderabad Book Fair

NATIONAL BOOK WEEK

The National Book Week ( Nov 14-20) ended yesterday and quietly. Not many knew about it and even I too was not aware of it until three days ago. None of the newspapers carried much news about the event and only in the Deccan Chronicle was there some kind of a list of celebrities and others regarding the books they had read or were reading. This was carried daily and that was the only Book Week related news I had read. There used to be a book exhibition by National Book Trust during the week but this year they seem to have forgotten about it or maybe, haven’t publicized much about it.

HYDERABAD BOOK FAIR

But the good news is that the Hyderabad Book Fair is beginning from December 7th at People’s Plaza on Necklace Road. It is usually a ten-day event and last year too it was held at the same place but it began from December 1st.

I have been attending this event regularly since the past twenty -two years. I remember the earliest of the events was in the open place where the Big Bazar now stands at the RTC Crossroads. It moved to several places over the years, including the City Central Library at Ashoknagar, Exhibition Grounds at Nampally, Keshav Memorial School in Narayanguda and also was held at the Nizam College Grounds.

I don’t pick many books here since I prefer buying my books second hand. But of late there are a few second hand book stalls in the Fair. Best Book Centre and MR Books have their stalls every year along with a couple of Mumbai based sellers. I remember the famous Select of Bangalore had their stall one year when the Fair was held in the Nizam College Grounds.

One thing I never fail to buy at the Book Fair is the ‘Sportstar’ cap that ‘The Hindu’ sells in its stall at the Fair. I love the quality of the cap but never get around to wearing it.

Elmore Leonard Again at Abids

In the previous post I had listed out all the Elmore Leonard books I don’t have. I don’t have about 16 of his books. The day before yesterday, at Abids, I found Elmore Leonard's 52 Pickup- and I got it for only twenty rupees. It was in good condition though the book was published in 1974! I was glad about the find though since I was slowly acquiring all the books written by Elmore Leonard. This month seemed especially lucky for I found three books by him so far- Mr.Paradise, 52 Pickup and second copies of Maximum Bob and Bandits

A little earlier, I had found another book on writing. It was ‘Teaching Your Children to Write’ by Cheri Fuller. I got this 200 + pages book for only fifty rupees. I bought it more to learn from it myself than to teach my son to write though the book might come in handy when he begins to show interest in writing. He reads a lot of books and does a bit of drawing but hasn’t, so far, shown much interest in writing.

One line I read in the introductory chapter said; A Good Writer is a Good Thinker, which says it all.

I saw in the heap of books selling for five and ten rupees several books by Phyllis A Whitney, Russel Baker’s ‘Growing up’ and also Kirk Douglas’ ‘Ragman’s Son’ both which I have. The last book I picked up yesterday was a second copy of Carson McCullers’ ‘Ballad of the Sad Café and other Stories’. I have this book I had found sometime last month. A friend had asked for it and I picked it up to give it away. I got the book for only ten rupees.

Sometimes I feel terribly sad that really good books are selling for so cheap a rate- five rupees and ten rupees! It wouldn't have imaginable a few years earlier that good books would be available for throway prices. Also, the way the sellers heap the books like they are vegetables pains me a little. These guys show little regard for books. That's one grouse I have against the Abids booksellers.

Finding another new Elmore Leonard book

One of the most exciting finds in recent times was the book I found yesterday at the MR sale at Begumpet. I found a new book by Elmore Leonard –Mr. Paradise. I was excited to see this new title which I had not seen in any list. I picked it up instantly. It was a hardcover copy and was in brand new condition with the jacket intact. I was excited with the find and was eager to go home and check it out in detail. But I lingered on and browsed the thousands of books in the sale.

I saw ‘Dave Barry Turns 50’, ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ by Frances Mayes, Joe Queenan’s ‘My Goodness; A Cynic's Shortlived Search for Sainthood', and also two other Elmore Leonard books- Killshot and Out of Sight which I have at home. I wanted to buy the Dave Barry book but I have one copy at home. I might pick up all these books sometime next week and give them to friends who might appreciate them.

After I got home I was pleasantly surprised to find that the William Morrow edition of ‘Mr.Paradise’ published in 2004 was a First Edition. I’ve read about how coveted First Editions are and here I was with one. I have to check out more about it on the net. There was a list of 39 books by Elmore Leonard and realized I don’t have these titles-

-When the Women Come Out to Dance
-The Tonto Woman and Other Western Stories
-Stick
-Cat Chaser
-Gunsights
-The Switch
-The Hunted
-Unknown Man No.89
-Swag
-Fifty Two Pickup
-Mr.Majestyk
-Forty Lashes Less One
-Valdez is Coming
-The Big Bounce
-Hombre
-The Bounty Hunters

On the flap it was mentioned that the first two books were collections of short stories of his. I had read only one short story of Elmore Leonard, Three Ten to Yuma, in the collection of classic western short stories that I found a few weeks ago.

On the back of the book, like most of his books, there’s a picture of Elmore Leonard wearing a dazzling white full sleeved shirt tucked into a pair of jeans. I was glad to notice I have one thing in common with the great writer. I too don’t wear a belt with my jeans.

Halfway Through My NaNo Novel

Today, I sailed past the halfway mark of the 50,000 words of my NaNo novel. I wrote 25,006 words so far. I am pleased no end with my progress because I have only another 25,000 words to hammer out in the next fifteen days though at the rate at which the book is moving my word count is likely to be around 60,000 words. Now that I’ve managed to cross 25,000 words I am confident I can do it.

It has been a crazy month so far with the mind focused on only the writing of the novel and the day’s word count. On some days I was able to write two thousand words (the limit I set myself for each day) and on a few days I was not able to write even five hundred words. One day I managed to write 4500 words though I had actually planned to write five thousand words that day. In the next fifteen days I plan to write five thousand words on some day.

But writing the NaNo novel has been a learning experience. It is certainly insane to attempt to write a novel in thirty days but I feel there are advantages to this method. First, you get the novel down from your mind to paper (or screen). Then next, you begin to think of actually finishing it. If you persist then you can finish the novel and I am determined to finish it come what may.

Writing the novel, I am feeling some of the lessons on writing I read about, begin to sink in. The basic rule is to have a beginning, a middle and an end. Then the other rules about having characters, dialogue, etc are also beginning to sink in. But what has permeated more deeply is the advice I read somewhere that a writer should think of his book in terms of scenes. Writing my NaNo novel I am trying to follow this advice and am actually thinking of the next scene and how many words it will take to write it. I hope to actually practice all the bits of advice that I’ve read so far.

What is helping me is that my novel is a satirical magic realism novel in which I am able to write literally anything that comes to my mind. Much of it is pure drivel and utter nonsense but I feel that once I finish it, it will begin to make sense (at least to me!). I cannot say I am having fun writing the book since it is making me edgy and impatient to finish it as soon as possible. But it is one wonderful learning experience that I hope to repeat every year from now onwards.