A Reticent Teller
“I...I...am a horrible man,” Upamanyu Chatterjee stuttered into the microphone, all alone on a vast stage, to a rapt audience. Then he added: “But horrible men are interesting, aren’t they?” Painfully shy and a known recluse, English August, as he was referred to for long, found the launch event—for his new book Fairy Tales at Fifty—the most difficult part, says an editor. But this may be Chatterjee’s best work since his trailblazing debut over 25 years ago (there have been four books in between) and it’s a wonder how he manages to write, still holding on to his day job as a bureaucrat (now posted in the sticky petroleum ministry).
Pop-Up Counter
Why do most big retail bookstore chains look like toy shops? Because it’s not literary classics, pulp fiction, newsy non-fiction (like books by Sanjaya Baru, Natwar Singh, Vinod Rai), thrillers, self-help, not even Chetan Bhagat, but children’s books that are all the rage. One publisher says it’s growing at about 30 per cent, above other genres. So, it helps to keep a few teddys, Barbies and video games around.
Magical Chopra
The Times of London has gone after self-help guru Deepak Chopra’s new book, The Future of God, where he takes on British biologist and author Richard Dawkins. Critic Philip Collins says Chopra has managed 22 New York Times bestsellers misunderstanding the reality of magic. “Chopra, who was once a proper endocrinologist, tells you to think yourself younger, which he calls quantum healing,” writes Collins. “There is a better word for it. Magic. Trickery. Or...bullshit.”
