Many writers agree that ‘tis harder to write a short story compared to a novel. It’s a relatively easy task to set the mood, develop character nuances and conclude satisfyingly when one has pages and pages at their disposal. Short stories, however, face the daunting task of making an impact while catering to increasingly short attention spans. Here are five stories that succeed spectacularly and, what’s more, you can read them right now! 1. The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James This is a spot of cheating on my part because The Beast in the Jungle is a novella, not a short story but being the author of this article imbues me with a power I fully intend on misusing. James is most famous for The Turn of the Screw but my personal favourite of his oeuvre is this 1903 novella. The story of John Marcher, this narrative deals poignantly with the eternal themes of love, loneliness, destiny and death. It is very highly recommended to all existential angst-ridden readers out there. Link- http://www.online-literature.com/henry_james/beast_in_jungle/1/ 2. ‘Ligeia’ by Edgar Allen Poe Almost universally recognised as the master of horror fiction, Poe has some absolutely fantastic poems and stories to his…
One of the creeds that bookworms everywhere live by is that the book is always better. Your imagination is not limited by pesky problems like budget constraints, primitive technology, casting issues or bossy studio executives. However, once every few years, stars align and woodland creatures sing and lo and behold, a perfect adaptation is made. The most recent piece of cinematic perfection to grace our television screens is BBC’s Sherlock.
Bhagat’s women characters are pathetic spectres, forever circumscribed within their gender and sexuality, less than human in their one-dimensional personalities, and trophies to be awarded to the central male figure. Here are a few choice quotes so the gentle reader can judge for herself/himself:
Is there a gender bias in publishing? Why do so many women writers have to change their names or take up a more masculine-sounding version? Or are we just making a mountain out of a molehill? A debate between two of our writers.
When my grumpy librarian handed down a book called ‘A Caribbean Mystery’ by a then-unknown author called Agatha Christie to a 5th Grade me, I had to reluctantly accept it as it was the only one available (All the good ones like Hardy Boys, Goosebumps series and Nancy Drew were taken!), Little did I know then that it was the start of a life-long love affair with murder mysteries by Agatha Christie.
No place can offer a better script than our good old library filled with so many stories and so many lives. With Oscar season upon us, let’s have a look at a few books that were adapted as movies and went on to become worldwide hits and fascination.
“Everybody wants to be Tintin: generation after generation. In a world of Rastapopouloses,Tricklers and Carreidases—or, more prosaically,Jolyon Waggs and Bolt-the-builders—Tintin represents an unattainable ideal of goodness, cleanness, authenticity.”
Tom McCarthy, Literary critic
A guest post written by Nandini Muralidharan of wayswetravel.com.
Hung out at the World Book Fair at Pragati Maidan, Delhi, for couple of hours on 15th Feb. Heavy rains just a day before the inauguration of the fair showed its affect in the morning, though crowd started showing up by noon. Going around the whole arena wasn’t possible in a day, so here I would like to share what caught my eye!! Penguin Random House Booth Comics / Graphic Novel Section @Penguin Random House Amazon India Booth : Kindle, books, Associate Corner Amazing book covers at Asian educational services stall Release of Coffee Table Book ‘Horn Please’ – 1st book on Trucking An interesting booth by Quixot Publications, Children books corner Raj Comics Display, don’t you want to grab them all !! We bought 30 of those !!!!!! A view of Hindi Books Publications Booths How about reading Fifty Shades of Gray, in hindi And what about this one A click from a biography on Mr. Arvind Kejriwal What a pose Mr. Vishwas Reminded me of those dramatic titles
Someday we might have ‘Reading Books: An Alternate History’, writes Richa Singh, arguing against banning books. Whereas Mugdha Wagle wonders whether there is more to the current furor, than just the idea of a threat to the freedom of speech.