What happens when a bunch of Kolkata based authors decide to meet at Peter Cat on a Sunday afternoon? Food, fun and adda. That’s what yesterday was about as I met up with some familiar and some new faces over chelo kebabs and cups of coffee.
Food and coffee
A quick trip to Oxford Bookstores to surprise Kolkata Bookworms where they were celebrating their third anniversary followed. This group is close to my heart for the role it played in my journey as an author until now. All my good wishes to this vibrant group of young readers.
It was a thrilling experience at the Book launch of Bhaskar Som’s book ‘The Raja of Jongol Badi’ represented by Suhail’s literary agency, The Book Bakers and published by Om Books International at the Storyteller Bookstore on 17th May.. The panel discussion moderated by Souvik was engrossing as Anushila, Amritendu and I shared our journey as authors and book details while getting to delve deeper into Bhaskar Da’s book.
The book launch
It was equally wonderful to see so many Kolkata TBB authors attending the event. Thank you for the warm welcome,Mayura and Cox Studios for the memento.
The acceptance of a first pitch is quite special. Blogchatter selected my pitch on four life-altering books that I feel every creator/artist/writer must read to nurture their creative streak. I wrote this post straight from the heart while recovering from a ligament tear in my left knee. The past three weeks were difficult as I struggled at every small step (literally and metaphorically). I’m grateful for the company of books by Anne Lamott, Elizabeth Gilbert, Natalie Goldberg, and Julia Cameron. I hope creators/writers find value in these words.
I’m sharing a snippet from the post and the original link.
Four life-altering books
“2020 was my year of ‘unlearning.’ As I wrapped up an MFA-creative writing course by the end of the year, I understood how unlearning facilitates making space for new learnings. Books by Lisa Cron taught me how to write a compelling story, Robert McKee honed my dialog writing skills, and Charles Baxter enlightened me on the ‘show, don’t tell’ aspect of storytelling as I aced one topic after the other. Hola! I got my certificate and was ready to introduce my honed craft to the world.
Or so I thought! No one told me that the craft of writing or any form or creativity crumbled if the creator wasn’t aware of the necessary skills for survival. During this period, I discovered four books that taught me ways to nurture my creativity and conquer my fears and insecurities as a writer.“
Months ago, I had decided to stop writing detailed book reviews because it took away the happiness of reading. The critic in me could take a backseat while my bibliophilic entity could savor the world of written words. That is why it is essential, to begin with, a disclaimer first – this post is not a book review in the strictest sense but more on the lines of sharing my experience of reading Richa S. Mukherjee’s latest release ‘Kanpur Khoofiya Pvt. Ltd’.
Anyone who has ever lived in a small town would know how every small town holds a flavor unique to its people, traditions, and culture. That is why I would want to first mention the strongest aspect of this book which is the setting of its plot in the town of Kanpur. The author manages to take the reader on a ride through the lanes of Kanpur into Awadh Nivas, the residence of the Tripathi clan. Every character, scenario, festival, and even their food choices feel amazingly real and relatable. Kudos to the author for her sharp observation skills in creating this fictitious world by drawing inspiration from the real world.
Kanpur Khoofiya Pvt. Ltd. in my possession
Enter Prachaand Tripathi aka Prachiand his partner in the real and professional life, Vidya Tripathi aka Viddu. Together, they run Kanpur Khoofiya Pvt. Ltd, a Detective agency that survives on mundane cases but aspires to be much more. Often they find themselves spending more on keeping friends and acquaintances entertained (unwillingly, though) than earning through prospective clients.
The Tripathi’s (other than the detective couple) consisting of Ammaji Rampyari, mother Rachna, father Dinbandhu, uncle Dinanath and brother Bhushan (the Kanpuriya Justin Bieber) are a hilarious bunch. As their daily life unfolds through the pages of the story, I often found myself laughing my heart out. If there is one quotient that the book excels in, it is humor. Richa’s sense of humor keeps the plot from never becoming too grim.
As part of the Blogchatter E-book carnival, 55 authors (including me) launched their books on May 22nd, 2018 on the Blogchatter platform. As a fellow author, it gets difficult to assess or critically analyze books by the other amazing writers on this platform. However, I personally believe in the power of constructive feedback. It has helped me improve my craft and thus I am going to adhere to the same intention of helping another author scale up his/her work, if possible.
The details of the second book that I have chosen to review (or rather analyze) is as follows –
Book – That year I found me
Author – Dr. Ruchi Chopra Nasa
Publication – Blogchatter
Pages – 126
Price – Free
Genre – Fiction
Plot –
Neha and Akash, sweethearts from medical school get married and soon become the parents of a baby boy Pihu. They have a near-perfect marriage. A chance discovery of a hidden message sets Neha on a path of figuring out the bitter truth about Akash’s extramarital affair with Sophie. While Akash had already accepted his mistake and moved away from the affair much before Neha discovered it, facing her biggest fear of losing the man she loves, leaves Neha hollow and depressed. Whether Neha decides to part ways or forgive Akash is unraveled during the course of the book.
Analysis –
At the onset, let me acknowledge the fact that I don’t read many books in romance genre anymore. This book was written as blog posts during the Blogchatter-A2Z challenge in April and I had found the theme quite interesting. The entire book is written in the form of letters (it might make the reader recollect the writing style of author Nikita Singh in her book ‘Letters to my Ex’). There are just four characters in the story Neha, Akash, Pihu and Sophie, so it is easy for the reader to keep a track of the happenings easily. The plot is quite simple but layered with bundle of emotions.
As part of the Blogchatter E-book carnival, 55 authors (including me) launched their books on May 22nd, 2018 on the Blogchatter platform. As a fellow author, it gets a little difficult to assess or critically analyze books by the other amazing writers on this platform. However, I personally believe in the power of constructive feedback. It has helped me improve my craft and thus I am going to adhere to the same intention of helping another author scale up his work, if applicable.
The details of the first book that I have chosen to review (or rather analyze) is as follows –
Book – Tales with a Twist
Author – Varadharajan Ramesh
Publication – Blogchatter
Pages – 228
Price – Free
Genre – Fiction
Plot –
Tales with a Twist is a collection of 23 short stories and one long story described through multiple episodes. Each story belong to a different genre of fiction but what unites them is the unexpected climax in each case. While the reader finds an unusual scoop of humor in the story ‘Finished’, pain and helplessness in the story of Park Joo-Won and Park Ji -Woo in ‘Innocence’ fast paced science fiction in “The troubles of time travel’ and hope and love in ‘Mariposa’ , the best combination of emotions is found in ‘The Malolan Chronicles’. Each story has a unique plot, setting, characters and ending.
” For a moment that anger rose again, inky dark, from the pit of her stomach , dredging up bits and pieces of the past,like unabsorbed pills,their cheery candy-colored coating long gone, just the bitterness now, still there after all these years,little pills of bitterness.”
“The next day, I looked, fearfully for our picture on Page 3, worried it would be captioned ‘Chacha from Uttar Pradesh Does The Cha Cha’ but thankfully, it was not there.”
soniasmusings 