July-August 2012 For limited circulation A JustBooks Publication
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Volume 3 Issue 3 www.justbooksclc.com blog.justbooksclc.com
Genre Knowledge
Page 4 Book Review
Page 11 Author Profile
Page 14 Just Kids
Vaishali Shroff
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as it ever crossed your mind what genre a book you love belongs to? It may not matter to many of us. But sometimes exploring genres could help you understand a book better — its language, satire, moods, characters, plots, etc. While, as a subject, literature genres are a widely debated topic for centuries, the basic rules remain. Literature mainly falls into two main genres — fiction and non-fiction. It is from here on that they tumble and fall into other sub-genres. Fiction has seen a wide variety — romance, comedies, thrillers, erotica, mystery, adventure, humour, tragedies, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, realistic fiction, historical fiction and so on. Nonfiction, on the other hand, can be further classified into essays, autobiographies,
references, philosophy, self-help, etc. Many books cross over multiple genres. Like the classic War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, first published in the year 1869, transcended genres. While it can be generically classified as a remarkable piece of historical fiction, it certainly has elements of romance and realism. Move over to today. Genres have further spread out, like tentacles, to cater to a niche audience of readers. Here are some of the popular book genres that are making it to the bestselling charts on most book shelves in your neighbourhood. 1. Young adult fiction: Stephenie Meyer (Twilight series), Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games, Mockingjay), J.K. Rowling (The Harry Potter series) all cater to young adults. Yes, in our day and age we had The Hardy Boys and Nan-
cy Drew as the hot sellers for teenagers but they were more about school, hostels and encounters during one’s youth. Now there is mystery, fantasy, adventure, and much more written for young adults. 2. New age: This genre has definitely been a rage for a while because it transcends many genres. Earlier touted as spiritual, self-help or inspirational books, these books now talk about philosophy, life, religion, spirituality through a story. Like an allegory. Through symbolic characters and plots. Paulo Coelho became a cult hero after the launch of his book, The Alchemist, way back in 1988.
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From the Editor’s Desk
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ummer’s gone, schools are open, it’s July but where are the rains? All of us have the same question. We selected Chasing The Monsoon for reviewing with the thought of it coinciding with the arrival of monsoon. Alas. Let’s hope we get plenty of rain soon while you enjoy the book. To add to our grief, two major literary figures passed away recently. Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator of books for young readers. His most famous book Where The Wild Things Are changed the world of children’s literature. Before him we had pristine settings, well-behaved kids, evil was measured and limited and stories had happy ending. Sendak made his kid characters hard to like — not just dirty but obnoxious, too. Their world was the real world and they had to grow up fast. A trend that caught on and many bestsellers today can trace their inspiration to his work. The other famous person we will miss is Nora Ephron. Most of us will remember her as the director of romantic flicks “Sleepless in Seattle” or “You got Mail”, though she was also famous for her sharp wit and funny quips as seen in her essays I Feel Bad About My Neck or her novel Heartburn. A highly talented woman, a role model for women worldwide, she was successful in whatever she dabbled with — journalism, writing features, writing screenplays and even directing films. The loss of these two writers will be felt deeply by all readers. Coming to this edition, find out what genre that favourite book of yours belongs to as we look into the upcoming genres. We also take a look at the blurring line between the older genres. We received many creative pieces and poems from our young readers over this summer. We have tried our best to accommodate them along with some interesting JustBooks’ summer camp reports. Do check out the June-July edition of Books & More. It has a variety of articles for book lovers. And don’t forget to send your feedback and contributions for JustBooks Connect to editor@justbooksclc.com. Happy reading.
July-August 2012 Continued from page 1 And who can forget Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, one of the highest selling books in history. It is a good blend of fiction and non-fiction bundled with infinite optimism, science and mysticism. Now we have Robin Sharma, Vikas Malkani, Deepak Chopra, Priscilla Cogran, Hermen Hesse and many more making an impact with their works. 3. Romance: Mills & Boons was like every romantic’s love affair. But the romance genre, like romance itself, has been reincarnated in many avatars. From medieval to renaissance to modern day romance, romantic fiction has many stories to tell. From Jane Austen’s epic Pride & Prejudice, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, to Erich Segal’s Love Story, romantic works have evolved. And how! In the 1980s, Steampunk caught the fancy of readers. It’s about fantasy stories set in the Victorian era. A perfect combination of history, science fiction, fantasy, and adventure, steam-powered setting, airships, Victorian era characters, Steampunk has got it all. Throw in elements of romance and you have a perfect book. Steamed by Katie MacAlister, Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti and Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale are a few titles you could look for. 4. Urban fantasy: As the name suggests, urban fantasy is a sub-genre that talks about fantasy in an urban setting, say a big town or a city. What’s important in these books is the location and not the period (historic, modern, contemporary). It could have shades of the supernatural, paranormal or even historic such as Vic-
torian or Elizabethan. It is partly realistic and partly imaginative, something that the new generation can relate to. Wikipedia describes this genre as stories where the subject may involve the arrivals of alien races, the discovery of earthbound mythological creatures, co-existence between humans and paranormal beings, conflicts between humans and malicious paranormals, and subsequent changes in city management. It’s like watching a movie where you wish that reel life would be your real life. There are urban fantasy novels written for teens as well as adults. The Anita Blake series by Laurell Hamilton, Jaz Parks series by Jennifer Rardin, The Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong are some titles you could grab. 5. Chick lit: Slang for ‘woman’s literature’, this is a woman-driven genre and it deals with issues related to women in this modern era, albeit with light-hearted humour. It made its way to bookshelves in the 1990s and started gaining momentum in the 2000s. This genre was mainly targeted towards women who were fiercely independent and who wanted to be something in life, do something noteworthy. Sex and the City and Bridget Jones’s success encouraged publishing houses to look at this subject seriously. Something from Tiffany’s by Melissa Hill, The Making of Us by Lisa Jewell, To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell, Baby be Mine by Paige Toon are some chick lit book titles. We have only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to genres and subgenres. Bookshelves are exploding with new titles and new authors, making it a tough choice for readers. But that only means you have so much more to read!
July-August 2012
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Surviving Women
The Night Circus
Jerry Pinto
Erin Morgenstern
Penguin
Random House
Geetanjali Singh Chanda
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urviving Women purports to be a how-to book. The premise of the book is that if men need to interact with women, they better learn how to get along with them. Each chapter deals with the kind of women that need surviving — colleagues, wives, mothers, daughters — and also specific relationship with women like friendship, romance, etc. Pinto suggests that at this special moment in Indian modernity, the Average (read traditional) Indian Man needs to evolve from his cocoon of comfort and security because the urban Indian woman has evolved and the rules of the gender game have changed.
Hot Tea Across India Rishad Saam Mehta Tranqebar Press Itisha Peerbhoy
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he former editor of AutoCar India writes about his travels by road, rail, truck and every other inconvenient medium. The only prerequisite to his travels is that the trip has to leave him with a story to tell. His memoir takes you from the interiors of Punjab to the treacherous roads of Leh to the dusty streets of Kerala and more. He stops for a cup of tea, made the local way, at every destination. What he takes away is just not a feeling of refreshment, but a few stories — some told to him by locals, some out of utter hilarious twist of fate. This is an entertaining, quick read, written with profound love for India and her idiosyncrasies.
Reshmi Chakraborty
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he Night Circus is the story of Le Cirque De Reves, the circus that appears without warning or announcement and opens only in the night. In reality, ‘The Night Circus’ is a battleground created by magic. It’s the venue that hosts challenges between Celia Bowen, the daughter of Prospero aka Hector Brown and the pupil of his rival A H (a mysterious man in a grey suit), Marco Alisdair. As the battle strengthens and the challenges get complicated, Celia and Marco discover their love for each other and an end to the battle that may end everything forever. The strength of this book is the world created by the writer and the characters she peoples it with.
Across Many Mountains Yangzom Brauen Translated by Katy Derbyshire
Harvill Secker Pushpa Achanta
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his book provides simple, yet engaging, recollections from the lives of three Tibetan women along with interesting and important insights into the social and political history of Tibet. The author, Yangzom Brauen, grew up mainly in Berne and Zurich and is an actor based in Los Angeles. She was introduced to Tibet through the stories of her maternal grandmother and mother. She visits the place a few times and gets involved in campaigns to highlight the brutal Chinese occupation. This first-person account would be an intriguing yet moving read for anyone who enjoys writing associated with modern south Asian history, Buddhism and Tibet.
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July-August 2012
Dark humour
Saint of the Sewers Our Lady of Alice Bhatti By Mohammed Hanif Random House India Reshmi Chakraborty
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rutal, funny, vulgar, violent, tragic, honest and matter-of-fact. That’s Our Lady of Alice Bhatti for you. It starts with Alice Bhatti applying for Replacement Junior Nurse, Grade 4. Hanif builds up the complexities and cultural divide of contemporary urban Pakistani society in that chapter itself, as Alice gets interviewed by Dr. Pereira, a Catholic who also happens to have inherited the hospital, Ortho Sir and Sister Hina Alvi, both Muslims or Muslas as the slang goes. And while Dr. Pereira may have the inheritance, it’s the Muslas who have the upper hand. Alice comes from French Colony, where the Choohras or Christian cleaners live. She is the daughter of Joseph Bhatti, who is in the lowest of rungs even in French Colony. The drama takes a turn for the absurd when Alice meets Teddy (“some kind of pimp for the police”, is what she thinks of him) who saves her from the Charya
“Hanif is not preachy or analytical — he is simply a bystander telling you how things are in contemporary Pakistan, especially when it comes to the way women are treated here.”
Ward (Centre for Mental and Psychological Diseases) and woos her by firing his Mauser in the air. It leads to a chain
reaction of tragic accidents and sparks a riot that halts the city for three days. In his matter-of-fact but funny way, Hanif the journalist manages to convey how easily things can turn ugly in the city, making this one of the best sections in the book. Alice, who is capable of stitching cuts and slicing a molester in the same deadpan way, longs for a home. In Teddy, she sees an unlikely salvation: By studying seven books in four years and marrying a semi-employed Musla, she hopes to rise above the stench that is her daily bread. This matter-of-fact telling is one of the best aspects of this book. Hanif is not preachy or analytical; he is simply a bystander telling you how things are in contemporary Pakistan, especially when it comes to the way women are treated here.
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hen Alice Bhatti goes to French Colony’s resident tailor to get her wedding dress stitched, she asks him to make her “privileges look a bit flat”. Because, in her world, the same people who wouldn’t dream of drinking water from a tap that a Choohra like Alice has touched would not think twice about touching her. Women seem to be public property, to be used for settling scores as men see fit. Hanif writes how, in the six months that Alice worked in the Accidents and Emergency department, not a single day went by without a woman shot or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or buried alive. Even Teddy Butt, who has been dreaming of Alice and is nervous in front of her, is suddenly suspicious and behaves proprietarily on his wedding night. “Where’s that tea you promised me?” he asks her.
If you are looking for a cohesive story you are unlikely to find one here. What makes the book worth a read (maybe two in my case, just to savour it as a reader and not a reviewer) is for its cast of characters like Noor, Alice’s father Joseph Bhatti who brings home his collection from the sewers — from a peacock to a wooden beam — Sister Hina Alvi and Inspector Malangi. Each one’s story has ample background, giving you enough insights into the character. The best of them, of course, is Sister Alice. She is feisty enough to attack bad surgeons and rich brats and sympathetic enough to search for cancer cures for Noor’s fading mother. There is a twist at the end of this fateful love story. As you approach it, you will realise that Hanif had strewn clues over the story. Though it seems implausible, much like Alice’s wedding on board a submarine, it is in keeping with the absurd, black humour of the book. Overall, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti works better as a book about multiple characters and an absolute mockery of the situation in Pakistan. However, chances are that after a good beginning and a great middle, the end of the book could seem lame to some.
July-August 2012
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Colourful reflection
Stories of Women A Purple Sea By Ambai Translated by Lakshmi Holmstrom Manas Rajeshwari Ghose
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.S. Lakshmi, who writes under the pseudonym Ambai, is a well-known Tamil short story writer. This anthology of seventeen short stories, written over a period of twenty years and published in different Tamil literary journals, have been collated and translated into English by eminent translator Lakshmi Holmstrom. Ambai tells her stories in a calm, understated droll, punctuated by mild innuendos, but nonetheless disturbing in the manner in which she portrays the predicament of the woman protagonist, who has interiorised the values of the society around her and has moulded her actions, desires and aspirations to conform to the diktats of family and society at large. Her stories are classic examples of the Adorno-Gramscian notion of “false consciousness”. Her earliest writings were published in the 60s and early 70s, when very few people writing in Tamil dared address such issues, but it was also an age when several Tamil periodicals were published which covered controversial themes. There is a quiet, ironic humour pervading throughout her writing, coupled with an inner strength that makes her female characters not just helpless victims but composed, dignified individuals functioning within the very constricted space that is allotted to them. The author once wrote “suppression and oppression do not come in recognizable forms. Very often they come in the guise of love, protection and security”. This belief is echoed in many of her short stories. Though there is no specific villain or victim, there is sadness, loss, pain and tragedy. The first story, Gifts, simply records vivid details of a bus journey undertaken
by a woman from Delhi to a village in the south. All that we know is that she is writing reports on women. She meets a village woman, a sturdy survivor, who asks her bluntly, “What is there to write about women? We bore our children; we fed them”. It is a matterof-fact statement and yet, when pressed, the woman remembers the time when, as a young girl, she used to wistfully look at a book in a bookshop — it fascinated her. Their conversation is interrupted by the woman’s husband, who adds in, “She does not know much but she can make you a good fish curry”. It is this condescension, which appears in a completely different garb, when he sets about to make sure that the city reporter is protected on her onward journey. The narrative technique used in the next short story My Mother: Her Crime is very different. It deals with a pre-adolescent girl who is the apple of her mother’s eye, and she is unable to comprehend why the world around her has changed completely because she has reached what is mysteriously called ‘the stage of womanhood’, when her life changes in a flash.
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he last story in this collection, A Kitchen In The Corner Of The House, echoes some of the sentiments expressed in the first story — the definition of what constitutes a woman, what gives her status within the household. Her looks, her culinary skills are the two assets by which she can keep her husband happy and achievements in these two areas define her aspirations, her world view. One of the young brides of the family whispers into the ears of the old dying woman the potential she could have fully realized if she had not been defined so narrowly. It is polemic in its tone. The husband of
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the young bride is portrayed as being both sensitive and supportive. In most of Ambai’s stories, there is no male villain consciously perpetrating atrocities on the women — the unequal relationship is inherent in the cultural matrix. Ambai gently introduces the reader to multiple perspectives on life. Each of her characters has a completely different story to tell and tells it in a different manner. Trisanku is an indictment on academia and its benchmarks. The fact that the main character happens to be a woman is incidental. Similarly, Some Deaths deals with stark realities of death and violence and the human desire to aestheticise the crude inevitable. Feminist angst is palpable in her writing, but it is kept under strict control and there is no attempt to present the world in Manichean terms. The only exception is in Black Horse Square, which was based on real incidents of police atrocities. In Wheelchair is an intellectual questioning of posturing and real convictions. Ambai belongs to the generation of writers who mainly wrote about the middle class and her stories are thus in sharp contrast to the new dalit feminist writers who portray women oppressed by caste, class and gender stigmas.
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July-August 2012
Booking Mysore
Love for Books Sapana Rawat
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he second largest city in the state of Karnataka, Mysore, conjures up many images — Mysore Kings, Mysore Palace, Mysore Silk, Mysore Pak, etc. One can now add JustBooks to this list! JustBooks Mysore is run by a highly efficient and independent woman, Poornima V. Kumar. Here, she shares her thoughts about JustBooks and her love for books. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved with JustBooks? I am an ardent lover of books and I know the benefits of reading. I always wanted to reach out to others to encourage reading. And, one fine day, JustBooks happened to me! And life changed. Books and JustBooks, reading and getting others to read has become my passion now.
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How has the customer response been to JustBooks as a concept and
to your library? Just as you have a wide range of books in a library, you have a wide variety of members. So the responses vary from “Oh, wow!” to “Um... what’s so special?” — the happy sighs and the subdued moans. You see eyes lost in wonderment and admiration, and cynical looks of condemnation. When a member first enters JustBooks,
he is generally impressed by the ambience and the collection of books. And as he saunters around with searching eyes you can see the happiness in his eyes, a mild smile on his lips and at times a shriek from a child — “Hey Mom! Come here, I have found what I was looking for.” Some book lovers call me up to read out a passage from the book they are reading, others come over just to discuss a book review, while some call and ask me to recommend books for them! Schools call me to train their children in reading skills and companies call me to speak about the importance of reading. So it has been good overall. What do you think will be a great addition in terms of value to your existing members? I believe that it’s critical to develop reading, writing and communication skills in children right from their formative years. With its wide network of well-stocked libraries, JustBooks is well-placed to help in this regard by hosting book readings by
authors, creative writing workshops, having book clubs for children, etc. How much of your time do you spend at the JustBooks outlet personally? How rewarding is the experience of interacting with your members? I don’t spend time at JustBooks, I live
JustBooks! I promote it during my early morning walks in a park and during my visits to departmental stores and restaurants in the evening; in school fun-fairs, art exhibitions, clinics and in hospitals. I write book reviews and share them with members. I train children in speed reading. I interact with all our members — toddlers, students, housewives, professionals, senior citizens — and learn from each one of them, which is the most rewarding experience. What kind of books do you read? My reading interests range from fiction to biographies, from spiritual writings to travel, from classics to humour. At times, I even pick up children’s classics and comics. Based on your interaction with the members, what do you think about the reading preferences of your area? Though Mysore has been a center for education, I feel reading for pleasure is not one of the preferred activities of Mysoreans. Combine this with their spending patterns and you will find that a library membership ranks low on their priority list. However, as more and more Mysoreans are coming across JustBooks and the importance of reading is being realised, the trend is changing, albeit slowly. Hence, at this point it’s hard to state the current reading preferences in our area. Tell us about some unique feature of JustBooks Mysore? Our uniqueness lies in our promotional ventures. At JustBooks Mysore, we have conducted orientation workshops for both parents and children on the importance of reading and how the facilities that we offer at JustBooks can help them. During the summer, we organized a children’s summer camp with interactive sessions focusing primarily on developing reading skills. We have made presentations to over 30 schools about the importance of reading. We have conducted teacher’s training programs as well as programs in large companies about books and reading.
July-August 2012
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Journal of a traveller
India in the Rains Chasing The Monsoon By Alexander Frater Picador Aradhana Janga
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his combination of India and Alexander Frater is a joy to read. India for its unique situations, people, beliefs, customs and eccentricities and Frater for his incredible command over the language that is, at times, poignant with descriptions and hilarious with his sense of humour. Alexander Frater is a travel writer and journalist noted for three well-regarded travel books. His most recent, Tales for the Torrid Zone is, in part, an autobiography of his childhood in Vanuatu and a travelogue. In his other book, Beyond the Blue Horizon, the author visits
some of the old airfields used by the Imsame reason. Alexander Frater’s fertile perial Airways enroute to Australia in imagination often provides the humor 1935. The Times describes Chasing the succor, “…the stiffness in my neck and Monsoon as “A beautiful and remarkhands had been replaced by a faint tinable book... Mr Frater writes with infecgling sensation. It was pleasant, even extious and enchanting enthusiasm... hishilarating, providing the kind of lift you tory, autobiography might get from tiny and ethnographic cardiac implants “The misery that the details are gently indispensing cold terwoven.” gin.” Or his tonguerains bring for a huge Starting his journey in-cheek jab at Indisection of the populafrom Trivandrum, an tardiness: “I rang tion does not escape where he witnesses up Indian Airlines the onset of the monand, in the time it Frater...” soon, Frater tracks it took to get through, to Cochin, Goa, Mumate some breakfast, bai, Delhi, Calcutta and Shillong over a wrote a letter to my wife, and chatted to period of a month. While he witnesses the a chambermaid whose brainy nephew, celebrations accompanying the monsoon, that evening in Bombay, would receive such as the impromptu breakup of a conan award from the hand of the Postmasference to enable the attendees, albeit in ter General for his work in the promotion their formal attire, to participate in the of postal life insurance.” India’s red tape first rains of the season, the misery that and bureaucracy that can normally frusthe rains bring for a huge section of the trate the average human being, finds a population does not different audience in Frater, who not only escape Frater either — takes it all in his stride but also reports shack-dwellers and the with a straight face. homeless struggling to Then there are the charming bits and save their possessions, pieces of history, such as the fact that the mud, the slush, the Asia’s first observatory was built in Marats, and the floods dras by the British in 1792. Or that the that are all part and Portuguese began building a city in 1510 parcel of the monsoon, where modern-day Goa is. This city, with or the fact that 100 its lime plaster laid over laterite Cathemillion people would drals, churches, palaces and triumphal go hungry if the monarches, was intended to rival Lisbon itsoon failed any year. self. And if you didn’t already know, certain phenomena related to the monsoon espite the adare named after the men who discovered verse effects of them such as the Coriolis force, Walker the monsoon, its oncirculation, Troup index and the Ekman set is looked forward spiral. to by all of India. Even The book also has some interesting batin the 21st century, tle facts that one normally wouldn’t find Frater notes, the Inin school textbooks like the Calicut batdian customs (that tle of 1789 and how Tipu Sultan’s fastat times border on moving guerrilla forces outflanked the eccentric) form an British army that was commanded by integral part of Indull, conservative generals who ponderdian society. Whethously mounted the Ghats with each caner it’s young men non pushed by an elephant while scores of symbolically jumpmen and oxen hauled stupefying amounts ing into wells in of personal baggage, such as beds, chairs, Goa to appease the candle shades, wine bottles, hamper of rain gods, or a Shiva live poultry, and milch goats! Lingam made of 28kg There is, indeed, none like India in of mercury installed the rains and Frater makes a compelling in Rajkot for weekpoint of that. Enjoy the Indian monsoon long prayers for the with this book and a cup of tea.
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July-August 2012
Reader’s Contribution
Reader’s Voice
Meeting Ruskin Bond
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Poornima Kumar
had an opportunity to meet Ruskin Bond at Landmark, Chennai where he launched his new book of poems titled Hip Hop Nature Boy and Other Poems at an event held to celebrate 25 years of Penguin India and Landmark booksellers. He spoke about his penchant for writ-
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ing when he was 17 years old, his first novel was Room On The Roof, which was published when he was 21. He is 80 years old now and has written over 80 books! Though when he started, writing as a profession was not encouraged nor did it have much recognition and support. He would write to various publishers only to get rejected. He recalled, with a spark in his eye, that his work first got published by a Chennai based magazine named ‘My Magazine of India’. He shared his joy of writing poems and the proud moment when he realised that he had written for three generations of readers. When he mentioned that he likes children to give their opinion on his writing, a little girl in the audience asked
him why he does not make ghosts scary in his stories! He simply smiled and said his ghost characters are friendly creatures. Everyone was curious to know Ruskin’s view on Indian writers and their writing. Measuring his words, he said that writers today have become celebrities. Earlier, writers were treated differently, but today it is fashionable to write as writing has become glamorous. In this digital era of e-reading, blogging and social media, he still prefers to use a pen and paper to write. When I got a chance to talk to him I asked him about his favorite among the books he has written. He said that when he writes he enjoys it to the extent of getting immersed in the characters, hence every book he writes becomes his favorite. He liked his first book, Room On The Roof, and also felt highly emotional when he wrote Blue Umbrella. For me, it was a truly memorable moment to meet and interact with Ruskin Bond. The love and warmth readers have for him, and the love and warmth that he has for his readers, was palpable and I was happy to witness it at such close quarters.
Poornima is in love with books and talks to one and all about reading. She runs and manages JustBooks, Mysore.
just finished reading 200 books (excluding magazines) from JustBooks library at H.S.R. Layout in exactly two years. I am a retired Air Force officer and have been fond of reading right from my school days. After retirement, when I shifted to H.S.R. Layout, I was looking for a good library to further my old hobby. I joined JustBooks library when it opened in H.S.R. Layout. It is more than two years now. I find the library atmosphere very congenial, while the staff members are very helpful and cooperative. There are a variety of books on various topics — books on regional languages, separate children books section, etc. It’s easy to issue and return the books, and one can reserve books from any branch via advance intimation. Sqn. Ldr A.Balachandran H.S.R Layout, Bangalore
July-August 2012
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Reader’s contribution
Magically Motivational The Magic By Rhonda Byrne Atria Books Anup Sidharthan
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he Magic is the third, life-changing book by Rhonda Byrne. The first one was the hugely successful The Secret, followed by another sensation, The Power. Rhonda Byrne is a renowned author and an esteemed authority in the self-help sphere and is listed amongst the most influential people who help shape the world. Her philosophy is that believing will allow you to achieve your wishes and dreams. Every single mistake is a blessing in disguise. This is the first sentence on page 221 of The Magic. Nothing happens in this universe by chance. Everything has
a purpose, a reason, and only later do we come to realize the significance of any event. The Magic deals with gratitude and how a simple gesture of heartfelt gratitude goes a long way. We tend to take people, objects, and even life itself for granted. We live life callously ignoring the little miracles that happen every day. We long only for big miracles. We hope to make it big, win big, earn big pay cheques without being thankful for what we already have. When thinking big does not fetch us any rewards, we blame it on others.
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he Magic teaches us to be grateful for everything, even for the air we breathe. Being thankful to everyone and for everything in life will bring in a positive energy into one’s life and will change life for the better. All of us are interdependent on each other. We need each other and yet we hate each other in the name of religion, caste, language, political boundaries, and so on. The perfect way to explain the central theme of this book would be to take our own example. You would not be reading this article if not for JustBooks. If not for us, JustBooks would not exist. We need each other to survive. Henceforth, every member should be thankful to the person who conceived the idea of JustBooks, thankful to the people who put the idea into motion, thankful to the people (members) who accepted this idea and made it a success, thankful to Mr. Vittal Hegde (franchise owner of JustBooks, Vidyaranyapura) who brought this idea closer to our doorstep, and the numerous members who made the Vidyaranyapura Branch a success, thankful to the staff who are so helpful and obliging, thankful to the author of this book, thankful to the publisher, the list is endless. This chain of interdependency
is unending and continuous. For instance, the mobile phone that we
“The Magic teaches us to be grateful for everything, even for the air we breathe. Being thankful to everyone and for everything in life will bring in a positive energy into one’s life and will change life for the better.” now take for granted has an operating system and numerous components, originating from all over the world, that were put together in a factory to create what eventually made its way into our hands. We have to be thankful to every individual who has contributed to the final product. This is the gist of The Magic. This book helps us learn how to be thankful to the innumerable individuals who have made our life easy and thankful to our own body and every organ and cell in us that makes us what we are. The change has to come from within and you will notice the change around. As the author says, “Change the person in the mirror, and your world will change.”
Anup is a member of JustBooks, Vidyaranyapura. He has a very supportive and caring wife, and a beautiful, 3-year-old baby girl, who is following her papa’s footsteps. A digital artist by profession, who is on sabbatical to rest and rejuvenate his creative cells, Anup is currently working as an English language trainer. His professional hobby is photography, while his personal hobbies includes philately and numismatics. In his free time he reads a lot and listens to new age music.
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July-August 2012 3. When did the steampunk genre originate? a. 1980s b. 1880s c. 1950s 4. Name the famous historical romance novelist: a. Georgette Heyer b. Charlotte Bronte c. George Elliot
2. The book All is Said, is: a. An essay b. An autobiography c. A memoir
5. This novel is a political fiction: a. Gulliver's Travels b. The Wedding Wallah c. The Invisible Man
Answers - Both, A memoir, 1980s, Georgette Heyer, Gulliver's Travels
1. Name the speculative fiction writer: a. J.R.R. Tolkien b. Margaret Atwood c. Both
JustBooks Top 5
JustBooks Rajajinagar is now open Rajajinagar residents now have their own JustBooks library to choose/borrow their favourite books from! June 17th marked the opening day of our newest (and 40th store, by the way) in Bangalore.
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New Arrivals 1. 2. 3. 4.
The Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King Em And The Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto The Inexplicable Unhappiness Of Ramu Hajjam by Taj Hassan Flame: The Story Of My Mother Shahnaz Husain by Nelofar Currimbhoy 5. The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg Recommended 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann The Boy Who Met Jesus by Immaculee Ilibagiza with Steve Erwin Toba Tek Singh by Saadat Hasan Manto A Short History of Western Thought by Stephen Trombley London by Peter Ackroyd
Rentals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
From the JustBooks blog: blog.justbooksclc.com
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Book 6) by Jeff Kinney Revolution 2020 by Chetan Bhagat The Sins Of The Father by Jeffrey Archer Calico Joe by John Grisham The Hunger Games (PB) by Suzanne Collins
July-August 2012
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Author Profile
Salman Rushdie Anindita Sengupta
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he Booker of Bookers, a knighthood, a cameo appearance in Bridget Jones’ Diary, four wives and a fatwa — Salman Rushdie’s life has been as interesting as any novel. Growing up in Bombay in the 1950s, Rushdie had a privileged, silver-spooned upbringing. He attended Cathedral and John Connon School, one of the city’s best schools,
extraordinary protagonist, won a heap of awards: the 1981 Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the same year to begin with. It was later awarded the “Booker of Bookers” Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary. Peopled with vibrant characters and redolent of Rushdie’s great love for the city he grew up in, Midnight’s Children was termed “a new start for the late-twentieth-century novel” by critic Malcolm Bradbury.
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and went on to study history at King’s College, Cambridge. He worked in television and advertising (Ogilvy & Mather and Ayer Barker) before becoming a fulltime writer. His first novel, Grimus (1975) failed to excite but after that, the soar was stupendous. His second novel, Midnight’s Children (1981), which chronicles the confusion of post-independence India through the voice of Saleem Sinai, its
ushdie’s third novel, Shame (1983), was an allegory of the political situation in Pakistan and, according to a few, better than its much-hyped predecessor. But it was in 1988 that his life and writing career exploded with the publication of the immensely controversial The Satanic Verses. The book, which critiques certain verses in the Koran, enraged Islamist groups in many parts of the world and culminated in a fatwa (religious edict) issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran. The book won the Whitbread Novel Award in 1988 despite being banned in some countries, including India. Rushdie was put under police protection by the British government and he remained in a state of exile and fear for a decade before before emerging from hiding in 1998. Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990) saw Rushdie turning to a new, more innocent audience and it won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Children’s Book. The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995) was similar in style to Midnight’s Children but carried the more melancholy strains of exile and homelessness. The Ground
Beneath Her Feet, published in 1999, a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the context of modern popular music, met with mixed responses. Lauded for being inventive and fun, it was also criticized for sacrificing depth for cleverness. This was followed by Fury (2001) and Shalimar The Clown (2005). The Enchantress of Florence (2008) is a magnificent melding of history and fable and brings characters like Akbar and Machiavelli alive with Rushdie’s distinctive touch. His latest novel is Luka and the Fire of Life (2010), a novel for children.
Writing Salman Rushdie is widely considered the writer who propelled Indian English writing to prominence as a genre and made magic realism popular in the Indian context. The worlds he creates in his books are rich in imagination, lustrous in detail, glowing with description. At the same time, the plot is rarely subjugated to style and story reigns supreme. Plot twists are inventive, full of surprises, at times even alarming and his brand of magic realism is imbued with nostalgia and full of the power, mystery and excitement that only childhood tales have. His language is full of detail and rich with the colloquialisms of the places he grew up in, descriptions elegant as filigree work, dialogue crackling with the energy of Mumbai streets. A sparkling sense of humour illuminates his prose. It is no mean achievement then that, within this framework of enchanting prose, Rushdie also manages to weave in hugely relevant thematic concerns in nuanced ways, unraveling their complexities with a sure finger. Nationhood, identity, exile, alienation — these are common tropes in Rushdie’s work, but also religious fanaticism, art, pop culture and love. This wide range of preoccupations and a seemingly limitless power over the language have certainly contributed to Rushdie’s stature as one of the foremost writers of the 20th century. But in the end, what one takes away from his books is the sheer mastery of story-telling. For this is his greatest power. Rushdie is a story-teller in the old sense of the word. When he starts talking into your ear, the world falls away.
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July-August 2012
Just Kids Tales of Historic Delhi: A Walk Through Its Many Cities by Premola Ghose Young Zubaan Age : 8+ Geetanjali Singh Chanda
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he cover of Tales of Historic Delhi with Premola’s whimsical, colourful and vibrant paintings of birds and animals romping Delhi’s landscape of monuments and urban dwellings, complete with a clothesline stretching across a doorway, set the tone of something quaint and charming. Each page bursts with colour, animals, monuments and people. My favourite sections depict the Qutb Minar especially with the giraffe descending gracefully with a red and yellow parachute and Hauz Khas with its very postmodern, ghich-pich mélange of old and new. But actually the busy-ness of the paintings is illusory. Premola acknowledges the influence of miniature paintings on her work and a closer look reveals that each animal, bird or flower is beautifully detailed and can stand alone. It is the mix of all these elements together that make the picture appear crowded and busy.
This is a wonderful guide to Delhi’s monuments for younger readers. But it is unfair to classify this as only a tourist or guidebook. The short blurb at the top of each of the chapters devoted to the various monuments provides a capsule history of the site but the animals visiting the city provide a parallel narrative of their own reactions to what they are seeing. These tech-savvy animals have also done their research on the net and one or the other recounts the more interesting “inside” stories. At Siri Fort for example, TT enlightens the “Janwar Dosti” band of animals on Alauddin Khalji and his battles against Mongols from Central Asia and they also have an extraordinary encounter with the ghosts of the time.
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he illustrations are energetic and there is a fair amount of text, too (more than what would interest an 8-year-old, I suspect). And, although the prose is simple and direct, it lacks the lightness or fun element that makes the illustrations appealing. However, Premola says that the book has had great success in various schools that she presented it to the students. Readers have also told her that it makes a great gift - especially to a child visiting Delhi monuments. The jungle or animal inspiration in Premola’s artwork comes from ten years of weekend trips to Ranthambore. Her first
booklet that came out in 1998 recount how the particular animals of “Janwar Dosti” first met and Bodhisattva and the Gang followed immediately. Recently Premola also illustrated the Dastakar 2012 calendar — The Magical Ride of Juley, the Camel. But this book is the first major publication where, both, the text and the illustrations are hers. This enticing little book came out well before the celebrations commemorating Delhi’s 100th birthday. The occasion was probably not on Premola’s radar but this is a lovely book to add to the recent offerings of books on Delhi be they academic volumes, coffee table books or guidebooks. What better way to celebrate the city than to tell its stories?
JustBooks Picks for Young Readers The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown Meddling Mooli And The Blue-Legged Alien by Asha Nehemiah Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
Taklu And Shroom by Ranjit Lal
The Room Of Many Colours by Ruskin Bond
The Race For The Glo Rubies by Roopa Pai
Ramona And Her Father by Beverly Cleary
Jasmine Skies by Sita Brahmachari
July-August 2012
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Just Kids
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Kindle a Dream
dream, according to me, is a hope to reach great heights. Dreams may be different for different people. For example, a toddler would dream of being with his mother, a child would dream of a toy, a young person would dream of more friends, a prisoner for freedom, etc. But they all have one thing in common – yearning for happiness or a better tomorrow. Sometimes it may happen that our dreams might get shattered but that doesn’t mean we should stop dreaming. The hope must keep lingering in our heart. The day we stop dreaming, we stop
A Midsummer Afternoon
living. For dreams kindle the hope for better things in life and keep us going. When we dream, unintentionally or unknowingly we start working towards fulfilling that dream. Then, Nature also conspires with us to make our dreams come true. So remember — a dream is never too big to dream. My all-time favourite song goes like this:
I have a dream, A song to sing, To help me cope in everything I believe in angels... Manya Gera 7th Standard, Baldwin Girl’s High School Bangalore Manya Gera, is a 12-year-old member of JustBooks, Indiranagar. She loves to read and write.
curry. The empty streets and market place, the thirsting living kind, this speck of time seems doom, Yeah! A midsummer afternoon…
An alley adorned by brown, dusty leaves, shadowed by vast, dry maple trees that stand across the leaves strewn lane, their trunks tawny like a lion’s mane. The gibbering monkeys and twittering birds nest deeper in the dense foliage, fanning and sheltering themselves from the sun’s scorching outrage. The trees lie bare and cheerless, the cement burning like hot steam, and not a speck of mankind visible in the torrid dream! The road side market places and the miniscule vendor stalls, shut their business and scurry away like birds escaping a hurtling gun ball. The sun sends its shafts of heat exploding its wrath and fury, enveloping the city in a burning sheet that seems tawny and yellow like Indian
Books Enter a world of fantasy Travel on magic carpets and time machines Cherish the delight of reading books As they are your best friends so the proverb goes. Flit like a butterfly from place to place Unlocking new surprises in this chase Experience the thrill of reading books As they are your best friends so the proverb goes I am a traveller in this amazing world I have journeyed a long way from where I started before I know I am a long way off, some more miles to go In this never-ending journey of reading books! So I am on my way enjoying every moment Trying to take in every surprise going on in a relaxed manner may my best friends be with me forever.
Garima Kaushik 9th Standard, Bombay Scottish School (Powai), Mumbai
Garima, a budding 14-year-old writer from JustBooks, Mumbai, loves to write poems and short stories. She is currently trying to write a novel.
Rohini Bhattacharjya 7th Standard, La Martiniere for Girls Kolkata
Rohini enjoys reading and writing poetry, cycling, swimming and Art. One of her hobbies is collecting stamps. She is a member of JustBooks, Kolkata.
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Just Kids
My Reading Haven
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hen people across the globe were obsessed with the magical world of Harry Potter (so was I!), someone rightly said that the term ‘fantasy fiction’ seems to have lost its meaning. After reading this line and joining JustBooks, I pulled myself out of the world of ‘the boy who lived’ and cheesy vampire love stories, which my peers are still highly engrossed in. Being a member of a library pulled me into a whole new dimension along with many other people who are now leaning towards technological fantasy fiction. In other words, for starters, teens (that includes me) are now captivated by the thrilling series of the criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfer. Leaving those behind, the majority are immersed in the fascinating, actionpacked novels by Rick Riordan, who literally, gave a whole new meaning to stories of quests, magic and adventure, with his rib-tickling humour. His works include Percy Jackson and the Olympians (though the movie based on this book was a worldwide failure!), The Kane Chronicles (gripping), The Lost Hero (a highly popular series) and The 39 Clues (a not so popular series). His most recent book, The Son of Neptune won the Goodreads choice award and its sequel, The Mark of Athena is set to release in August 2012.
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July-August 2012
hile a majority of teens are mesmerized by the very predictable and ostentatious vampire romance novels (Vampire Academy, House of Night, Twilight, etc.), a few of us are more drawn towards novels like The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins who has combined adventure, science-fiction and thrill into three beautiful and electrifying books which keeps the reader gripping the book till the very end. This series hypnotizes us with its spell-
binding tales stuffed with fast action, humour and killing, After finishing this series, I was gloomy that it was all over, but then, I gradually moved on to The Amulet of Samarkand, an exciting series by Jonathan Stroud that involves humour and magic. All the books mentioned above are legendary, renowned books. Then again, there are numerous books, astounding yet remarkable, which rule the bookshelf. For instance, Time Riders by Alex Scarrow is yet another thrilling series about time travellers and cannibals which sends chills up your spine! Life As We Knew It is a science fiction novel by Susan Pfeffer which is gripping, heartbreaking and very realistic (in other words, it’s terrifying). It’s a breathtaking story of how an asteroid collides with the moon sending it dangerously close to the Earth. There is something about Susan Pfeffer’s novels which keeps me frantically turning the pages and then waking up in the middle of the night, drenched with sweat. Apart from these, let’s not forget to mention Agatha Christie, who with her chilling crime and suspense novels is an age-old favourite. Knowing that such incredible books exist, I consider myself very lucky, and so should you, now that I have told you of such sensational books!
Pooja Bahukhandi 8th Standard, National Public School Indiranagar
Pooja is a member of JustBooks, Indiranagar. She is a voracious reader who is interested in basketball, listening to music and creative writing.
Young Readers can send their contribution to editor@justbooksclc.com
July-August 2012
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Events
Dignity Foundation Summer Workshop
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ustBooks Vidyaranyapura in association with Vidyaranyapura Dignity Foundation Coffee Chavadi (VDFCC) organized a week-long workshop for children covering arts, quiz, games, knowledge series etc, during the summer holidays. Explaining the objective behind the summer workshop, Vittal Hegde of JustBooks Vidyaranyapura said, “As part of our community-connect initiative, we thought of taking help from our elderly residents, known for their knowledge, wisdom and experience, as role models and mentors for children. Dignity Foundation, has several resourceful and socially concerned senior citizens as its members, so we contacted them for help. When the idea was proposed, Dignitarians at VDFCC readily agreed to support the initiative and came up with an excellent programme for the age group of 8 to 14 years.” Mr. SR Nagaraj, the coordinator at VDFCC explained, “The main reason for our acceptance was that, here, we got an opportunity to talk about what we have
learnt and experienced all these years from the society and the country and it is the right time to share our thoughts with the young minds who are going to be the future of India”. The workshop was inaugurated by Lt. Gen (Retd.) Sampath Kumar, AVSM,PVSM, VSM with an inspiring talk. The workshop also included a simple, but informative, talk on how to keep ourselves healthy and fit by Prof. Ramanna, power point presentation on “Greatness of our country and Scientific Video Shows’ by Mr. SR Nagaraj, exSr. Scientist, ISRO, a quiz programme by Mr. DM Rao, ex-Sr. Scientist, ISRO. Following which, Mr. Panduranga Rao, an internationally reputed cartoonist who holds several Guinness world records, spoke about ‘How to draw cartoons’. ‘Fun Games’ was conducted by Mr. KSR
Murthy, exOfficer of BEL. Finally, we had a ‘Brain Storm’ session by Mr. Jayaprakash, ex-AGM, BEL. The activities and presentations were conducted in a very childfriendly manner by the presenters, who are all Dignitarians as well as residents of Vidyaranyapura. With over 35 active participants, the workshop was a great success.
Summer Fun
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his summer JustBooks, Electronic City planned a fun filled learning camp for kids of age 4 to 12 years. The camp was structured on activitybased understanding of current events
and general awareness. The whole idea behind the camp was to instill the impor-
tance of awareness in the minds of the younger generation. For kids of ages 4-7 years, initial classes were conducted to identify their skills, which helped them and their parents understand their interests better. By the end of the camp, kids had created “My Story Book” in which they painted their favourite activity and wrote a short note on each of their interests. Some of the interesting titles of “My Story Book” are: “Sparsh the G-ONE of Electronic City” in which the importance of goodness is emphasized, “Arfaz — The Curious Arthur” on the curiousity the kids should develop to learn more, “Manhattan through the lens of Ashwin” on the efforts to look
at the living condition we are blessed with and “Genesis of Friendship” about the budding friendship between two girls named Michelle and Adwiti. Kids in the age group of 7-12 years had a week-long introduction to newspaper reading and writing. They had an opportunity to understand different sections, explore news, headline hunt, debate and discuss various topics. It was then decided to create a magazine titled “The spirit of Elec-City” with articles on activities in Electronic City. Some interesting topics we covered were — how Bangalore can be called Silicon Valley of India, the growth of Electronic City, efforts of ELCIA on greener and cleaner Electronic City, the unity created by community living and how the kids want Electronic City to be transformed in the next five years. We had a debate on the topic “Does Electronic City support all our needs like any other area of Bangalore”. Our young members, Millind and Anirudh, are working on the magazine now. The fun and learning at the camp helped the kids to bond and understand each other better.
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July-August 2012
The Book Club
Our last week’s program was an exhilarating interactive session for the kids and for us. The kids were asked to create a new name for book lovers, and they came up with “Open Sesame”, “Abraca Dabra”, “Booky Booky”, “Book Worm”, “Silver Fish”, before finally selecting “Bibilo Sesame”, which
means an open book. There were vocabulary games during which the kids were given 20 minutes time in the library to pick up as many new words as possible and then recite them from memory. The kids were divided into teams and they were to be both — participant as well as the judge, to evaluate themselves and their performance. They were thrilled at this aspect and did an excellent and honest job of it. The team-spirit built up was amazing. For more details and to know about upcoming events in our Book Club, call Poornima at 99000 12611.
Bangalore
Whitefield: 41260396, 32999406
ustBooks, Mysore recently started a Book Club, an exclusive space for children to fall in love with books. Its aim is to encourage reading amongst kids by making it fun through a wide range of activities and programs such as: • • • • • • •
Story Reading Sessions Speaking about their favorite book Enacting their favorite character Speed-reading Showcasing their talent Writing short stories Donating books which they have outgrown to the needy • How to value and develop respect for books and handle them carefully
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AECS Layout: 65470141 Banashankari: 41637052, 9535854732 Basaveshwarnagar: 40951324, 9739988376 Bellandur: 25740710, 42118813 Brigade Metropolis: 22652217 Electronic City: 41105922, 9945421900 Frazer Town: 41644449 HSR Layout: 22587430, 7259974251 Indira Nagar: 65831547, 42044157 Jayanagar 5th Block: 9740894014, 42068676 JP Nagar-Dollar's Colony: 42228168 JP Nagar: 42106418 Kaggadaspura: 65474465
Kalyan Nagar: 42084394, 9986072204 Kanakapura: 8867501033 Koramangala: 40982460
Whitefield (Sat): 65970953, 28543405 Prestige Shantiniketan, Whitefield: 43364183
Koramangala 8th Block: 25702799
Yelahanka: 42138080
Langford Road: 22222375
Coimbatore
Malleshwaram: 41280649 Rajajinagar - 41126790, 9886203223 Rajarajeshwari Nagar: 28607751, 9535854732 RMV II Stage: 23410800 Sahakar Nagar: 41713941 Sarjapur Road: 42129279 Vidyaranyapura: 23644501, 8095854950
Mumbai Kandivali: 9769556165 Nerul: 02227729788, 9004819059 Powai: 02240158736/8408 Thane: 02241002061, 9987512059
9843009711
Mysore
Hyderabad
Kalidasa Road: 08214253237, 99000 12611
ECIL: 04030226209 Karkhana: 04040189957, 9849024415 Kondapur: 9032490978 Kukatpalli: 04040036387
Kochi Panampilly Nagar: 04844015949
Kolkata
Vijaya Bank Layout: 41645690
Salt Lake City: 03340012211
Vijaynagar: 42117539
Mangalore Bejai: 08242214040
For franchise inquiries contact: manager@justbooksclc.com
Kuvempu Nagar: 08214241181, 9900012611
Pune Aundh: 02025896016, 7385022201 Kothrud: 02041303676, 8605382202 Magarpatta City: 02067231020, 9561550003 Viman Nagar: 02026633134, 9561550002 Wanowarie: 02030116811, 7385022202