First Read of 2023: The Puffin Book of Funny Stories (2005)

After the rather tepid last read of 2022, Frank Baker's The Twisted Tree, which ended on a disturbing note, I wanted to start 2023 with something much more cheerful. LO had borrowed this book from the library and I read it today. The book features some of the most well-known and loved authors of India: …

Ghost Story on Christmas Eve

If like me, you like to snuggle up in a razai with a hot cup of cha or coffee and a book of spooky stories during the dark, mysterious, wintry nights of Christmas, than here is something for you. There will be a festive reading of the lesser-known M R James ghost story 'There Was a Man …

Friday’s Forgotten Books: Best Crime Stories Vol.3 (Ed.) John Welcome

Best Crime Stories Vol. 3, edited by John Welcome, is an anthology of 11 stories which I enjoyed a lot.The volume begins with a masterly study of terror: Max Hensing by Algernon Blackwood.  Williams, a reporter interviewing Dr. Hensing, standing trial for having poisoned his wife, is so much repulsed by the man that the …

Short Notes: TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED by ROALD DAHL

For a long time, I thought of Roald Dahl only as the author of stories for children like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and so when my colleague exclaimed one day that she was fond of Dahl, I couldn't quite agree. It was only when Prashant reviewed a story called Lamb to the Slaughter at his …

Short Notes: The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

Though I am sure that I must have read (at least one of) his works, sometime or the other, the first time, H.P. Lovecraft's name really registered with me was when I saw a review of a book  called The Call of Cthulhu @ Manybooks. The reviewer was all praise for the book and made me …

First Read of 2015: The Individual and Society

I have started 2015 with an anthology The Individual and Society. Divided into five parts: Caste/ Class; Gender; Race; Violence and War; and Living in a Globalized World, this has some wonderful pieces on all these important issues. While many of the writers were familiar to me, I have also discovered new voices like Maya …

Pulp

Want to write a commercially successful novel? Here are certain guidelines to help you achieve your goal:1. The title of the book should carry a woman's name - and it should be a sexy one, like 'Miss Leela Mohini' or 'Mosdhar Vallibai'.2. Don't worry about the storyline.(!) All you have to do is creatively adapt (love …

Forgotten Book: The Third Bullet and Other Stories by J.D. Carr

Since my new-found admiration for John Dickson Carr, I have been trying to read as many of his books as possible. Unfortunately, the library that I frequent has only a few of his books. Recently, I borrowed Carr's short story collection The Third Bullet and Other Stories.The title story is actually a novella. Justice Mortlake …

Forgotten Book: The Spider by Hanns Heinz Ewers

Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871-1943 ) was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. His 1915 story, The Spider, begins explosively:When the student of medicine, Richard Bracquemont, decided to move into room #7 of the small Hotel Stevens, Rue Alfred Stevens (Paris 6), three persons had already hanged themselves from the …

Short Notes: Great Detective Stories

While I love reading mystery novels, the short-story in the same genre doesn't excite me that much. However, I did like this Watermill Classic which has five stories in which either a burglary or murder is investigated by a detective (and his faithful side-kick).In Arthur Conan Doyle' s The Boscombe Valley Mystery, Sherlock Holmes and …