I will no longer be blogging in the foreseeable future. Will not be doing my monthly reviews or book reviews. I am continuing to write and publish, but my Portfolio page will not be updated with new publications. It is up-to-date as of 24th February, 2024. Thank you for having been with me on my […]
An ode to the leisurely life.
My year was off to an excellent start as I began working at Transitions Research, an organisation that works on field research to help the transition to a low-carbon, net-zero economy for India. This was precisely the kind of work I’d been searching for. I’m using my training as a cognitive scientist/behavioural economist to help […]
A month of reflection, defined by my rereading of the masterpiece Middlemarch.
The Metaworker magazine just notified me that they’ve nominated my short story “Retreat” for a Pushcart prize. Many thanks to the editors and readers for believing in this story.
Reading: Graham Greene; George Eliot; Jack London; Aeschylus. Film reviews: Lincoln (2012) and Oppenheimer (2023).
(All images courtesy: the Friday the Thirteenth series, via jonmintonbooks.com) I’m proud to present an interview with my friend Mr. Jonathan M. Minton, author of the novella “Feast or Famine” (13,000 words), part of Vol. III of the annual Friday the Thirteenth series. I met Jon via the Internet Writing Workshop a few years ago; […]
A slow month, plagued by problems. Still got a bit done.
A fairly average month, Read two excellent novels. Got some writing done.
Read a wonderfully focussed Kundera, my first Jerry Pinto, and Graham Greene’s short stories, very varied in tone and subject matter. He writes children of different ages well, which is something I need to learn. A crap month otherwise.
A busy month.
Read Shakespeare, Alice Munro, Grahram Greene, etc. Wrote quite a bit. A good month,
Read my first John Banville and Alice Munro, and my first Jhumpa Lahiri novel.
[Image credit] This 100-word story was originally published in Fairfield Scribes Issue #27. *** Up and down the condo tower mid-desert, pipes dripped, taps leaked, and toilets dribbled. The residents, paying a flat-rate water bill, whistled about their days. The background watermusic trickled gently on. The activist/artist watched, then began a performance piece at the […]
This 100-word story was originally published in Fairfield Scribes Issue #28. *** Chanchal’s always complaining about her university. The class sizes are unmanageable, the dress code ridiculous for a professor, and administrative duties leave no time for research. She applies everywhere. She can’t wait to tell her colleagues she’s got another job. She won’t flaunt […]
[Image credit] This story was originally published in Proem Vol. 2 (2020), available in print only. At dusk, the old man jogs slowly to a halt. He’s been jogging an hour. Three laps around the park. He’s slow. Many young walkers overtake him. But those young ’uns tire after one lap. Then they climb on […]
What if you could store, and buy, and sell time, as you can money? Is youth really wasted on the young — and could we use our time better if we got more of it later?
A month of endings and beginnings.
An eventful month. Also got a bit of reading and writing done.
Flash story set in Company Garden, Allahabad
A slowish month. Problems to fix. But got a couple of new experiences.
NOTE: This is mostly a summary, not a review.. I’m trying to resume reading nonfiction occasionally to keep sharp. *** Major theorists mentioned, besides Kant: John Balliie, a physician who wrote an essay about aesthetics; Alexander Baumgarten; Edmunde Burke; Joseph Addison; Seneca; Longinus. The sublime is a perspective of nature whose contemplation inspires the human mind […]
When you get what you want…
An exciting premise, with clear and detailed accounts of (what was then) cutting-edge science, but the action lags, and ultimately everything in the novel feels pointless.
Image credit Bottomless masala chai with flaked almonds kept the grownups warm. We ran around playing Lock-and-Key. Dinner was at twilight: slow-cooked mustard greens, butter chicken, paranthas swimming in ghee, and daal so thick the ladle chopped it up like a mountainside. In winter in Ropar, we dined in our coats. The steam from the […]
What I read and wrote and published and how I fared
Alternative history. If the political-historical relations of two nations were reversed, would the characters of the nation’s peoples be reversed too?
Read a lot, but not enough. Several unfinished WIPs. A fair number of publications, including in four good magazines . Attended my first writing workshop online; it was fruitful. Joined the volunteer staff of two lit mags. Grew my circle of critique partners. Spent most of the year working on short fiction, a new experience for me. Discovered several authors I plan to read more of, and revisited some old favourites.
Visually resplendent, and laudable for its environmental messaging, this film suffers from an underdeveloped story, incoherent editing, flat characters, and a resolution that resolves nothing. “Humans = bad, greed = bad, and living with nature = good.” I guess that’s a message we can all stand to be reminded of, but I do wish the packaging were more artful.
An entertaining and neatly-fitting little puzzlebox, much like the one in the opening sequence.
A slow month for reading and writing. Stocktaking underway. Working on revisions of a few longer stories.
Or: What is it Like to be a Housewife?
A slowish month.
Short essay on craft.
100-word story.
An English Hollywood actor’s autobiography, my first Cormac McCarthy and J. M. Coetzee, a study of my favourite novelist, and some Bertie & Wooster to round things off.
Answer a simple question for a chance to win a hard copy of *Sandman.*
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Last Sunday I reviewed Berner’s 2022 novella *Sandman,* a novella that uses golf as a metaphor. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with David about the book, his experience with the sport, and the writing life.
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“The Hours” explores deracination via the protagonist’s skewed time perception. How do you tell time when you’re insulated in a climate-and-lighting-controlled environment, doing the same desk work day after day, isolated from the weather, the changing seasons, and the life rhythms of the people on the street? Having realised you’re alienated, which way do you go — back to life, or deeper into the belly of the beast?
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Full of humour and vivid natural scenes, colourful characters and introspective passages, Sandman is many things: a coming-of-age tale, a mystery, and a meditation on golf as a metaphor for life.
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Full-length book reviews: Lydia Davis’s short story collection *Almost No Memory*; Faulker’s *The Sound & the Fury*; began reading *godel Escher Bach* and abandoned it; short reviews of some films I watched in recent months including *American Beauty* and *Sleepy Hollow.* Wrote a fair bit, including rewrites and microstories.
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Over the last few weeks I’ve rewatched *Breaking Bad* and *The Lord of the Rings* trilogy. Here’s what I thought of them.
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What I Read: Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of DH Lawrence (Geoff Dyer, 1997): The narrator is trying to write a book about DH Lawrence, but keeps getting sidetracked: by trips to Greek islands where everything is dull but the traffic, the unpredictable unavailability of cornetti at his favourite café in Rome, his […]
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Amita Basu 