Bienvenue Tristesse
Fifty Shades of Grey is showing no sign of climaxing. But the blockbuster three-volume ‘mommy porn’ publishing sensation—estimated to have outwanded Harry Potter—may still be headed for some post-coital tristesse in India. The redoubtable theatreperson Gopal Sharman (of The Ramayana fame with Jalabala Vaidya) has directed a dramatised book-reading of excerpts from the erotic global bestseller, which will be staged in Delhi’s Akshara theatre. Hand-cuffs and whips will have to be left at the reception.
Book-End Buys
Is it right for famous authors to charge not-so-well-known or first-time novelists to write prefaces and introductions or even back-flap blurbs of their books? It seems to be turning into a tidy side-business for award-winning and internationally known authors—some of them charge as much as Rs 8-10 lakh to write a two-page preface for a new book. Back-flap recommendations cost less but many of these are written by publicists, the credited author is just shown the final text.
Bridges Of Paris
The surprise non-fiction global hit is Kati Morton’s Paris: A Love Story, about her short marriage to American diplomat, Af-Pak man Richard Holbrooke, who suddenly died in 2010. Not for any great insights into US foreign policy or lethal secret missions in Af or Pak, but for a racy account of the restaurants they went to or the operas they saw. Morton even confesses to an affair she had while married to him and Holbrooke takes it, well, rather diplomatically.
