November-December 2012 For limited circulation A JustBooks Publication
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Volume 3 Issue 5 www.justbooksclc.com blog.justbooksclc.com
Happily Ever After Page 5 Book Review
Page 6 Author Profile
Page 12 Just Kids Payal Dhar
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ust because Harry Potter and company have walked off into the sunset, doesn’t mean that dark, gloomy days have descended upon us readers. Voldemort may be dead but fiction has this way of coming up with new evil to fight and new heroes for us to support. It would be ridiculous to claim that I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of all the wonderful reading material out there for children. But since JK Rowling has given us a delicious taste of fantasy, we’ll concentrate on that genre. Some of these may be new, some have been around for a while. It just goes to show that stories never get old as long the hunger to devour them remains. Rick Riordan Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians takes us on a rip-roaring, thrill-a-minute adventure spanning five books while simultaneously giving us an unlikely and amusing take on Greek mythology. The premise of the series is that various Greek gods have spawned a
number of half-god and half-human offspring. Percy Jackson is the son of a human woman and Poseidon, the god of thunder. He attends Camp Half-Blood, a camp for all such demigods, and is friends with the sons and daughters of Athena, Zeus, Hades, Hermes, Ares, Kronos and more. Thanks to such powerful family connections, it is little wonder that they are all the targets of monsters common to Greek mythology and come face-to-face with mythical characters like centaurs, cyclopes, empousi and medusas. As the story unfolds, Percy and his friends find themselves in the thick of a prophecy that could decide the fate of the gods. The Olympians series is followed by Heroes of Olympus, also based on Greek mythology, where seven demigods must keep the world from ending. Rick Riordan is also working his way through the Kane Chronicles, a series based on Egyptian mythology.
of magical beings. Enter fairies, nymphs, sprites, satyrs, trolls, goblins, imps and ogres in the five-book Fablehaven series. Mull might lack Riordan’s edge-of-the-seat writing style, but more than makes up for it with the wonderful, vivid world he has created in Fablehaven. That’s the name of Kendra and Seth Sorenson’s grandparents’ estate, where they are doomed to spend the holidays while their parents are off on a Scandinavian cruise. Talk about unfair. However, the siblings discover — to their delight — that Fablehaven is actually a magical reserve and their grandparents its caretakers. A sip of magic milk reveals the secrets of this mystical world to them and propels them into a thrilling adventure.
Brandon Mull From mythical creatures like gods and monsters, we take a leap into the world
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From the Editor’s Desk
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hat a year 2012 turned out to be. It started with an ominous sign for print books, as e-books threatened to take them over, and now with the merger of two big publishing houses — Penguin and Random House — whispers start again on how the print world is in grave danger in this digital era. Another sign? The American weekly magazine Newsweek will only be availabe through a digital format from 2013. On the other hand, publishing houses in India seems to be optimistic. Penguin’s Metro Reads, meant for casual and quick reading, has been doing fine. The arrival of Aleph Book Company, which is positioning itself as a premium publishing brand, and Duckbill, a publishing house focusing only on children and young adults, bodes well for Indian writers and readers. We believe that readers will find an equilibrium in this print vs. digital tugof-war sooner or later. The good news is that reading is on upswing, and as long as that remains, books will be valued and writing will be nurtured. At JustBooks, we have been trying to do our bit. We have more than 60 outlets now where we organise reading events, book launches and discussions with upcoming and established writers. Read our Events pages or visit our blog to find out more. We have also been publishing a bimonthly magazine for book lovers, called Books & More, where we provide interesting reviews, author profiles, feature articles, interviews with authors and publishers, recommended titles to read and a section for children and young adults. The magazine is available in all JustBooks outlets, so do pick up a copy when you visit your library next. In this edition of JustBooks Connect, we talk about some interesting fantasy writers and titles for the young who miss Harry Potter’s wizardry! You can also send us your list of writers and titles and share it with other book lovers. Send your contributions and feedback to editor@justbooksclc.com. Let’s hope 2013 will usher in more interesting books and writers. Wishing you a very happy New Year and happy reading!
November-December 2012 Continued from page 1 Cressida Cowell Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon series comprises nine books about, well, yes, you guessed it — how to train your dragon. Set in a Viking world, the books are about Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of a Viking chief. Hiccup has the unusual ability to understand Dragonese, the language of the dragons, and also stands out in other ways including his tendency to think before acting, a rather contrary trait for Vikings apparently! Tamora Pierce Readers who like a dash of heroic adventure with their fantasy will love Tamora Pierce. Especially because she delves into an area woefully neglected by writers of children and young adult fiction: books and worlds with women as central characters. Which is not to say that Pierce shies away from difficult subjects. Using her fictitious universe of Tortall, she takes on issues that plague our real world including stereotypes and the restrictions imposed by them, the destructive power of war and how a soldier’s death is never glorious, the balance of the ecosystem and the intricacies of human relationships. The Song of the Lioness quartet is the story of Alanna of Trebond, a girl who wants to be a knight and therefore disguises herself as a boy and changes places with her brother to enter training for knighthood. The series traces Alanna’s journey and, written almost three decades ago, still inspires young and old alike. The Protector of the Small quartet is Keladry of Mindelan’s journey to knighthood and the discovery of her true self. Between these two series lies the Immortals, four books set in the same world, following the story of Daine Sarrasri, a girl with “wild magic”, which lets
her talk to animals and take their form. Jonathan Stroud How does a 5,000-year-old djinni with a penchant for getting into trouble, a sharp wit and the tendency to talk in footnotes sound? Insane? Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy is anything but that. When the eponymous djinni is summoned by budding magician Nathaniel, there begins an adventure that is as fantastic as it is believable. The characters’ personal journeys are woven into the story alongside the larger social issues of the day. This series is, without a doubt, Stroud’s best work yet as he mixes a lucid narration with cheeky humour. Roopa Pai Finally, to round off, here’s something from our own backyard: Bangalore-based Roopa Pai’s Taranauts series. Zarpa, Zvala and Tufan are three children who live in Mithya, a universe made up of eight worlds called Shyn, Dazl, Lustr, Glo, Syntilla, Shimr, Sparkl and Glytr, aglow in the rainbow light of their 32 stars. But Shaap Azur, the evil brother of the ruler of Mithya has captured the stars, plunging the worlds into darkness. Only the trio — known as the Taranauts — can get the light back into their world. Taranauts is a roller coaster ride of danger and adventure as the Taranauts negotiate their way through puzzles that even the reader can have a crack at. Someone once said that there is no such thing as an original story. Be that as it may, there is still something compelling about reading and rereading tales about the tussle between good and evil, prophecies that doom the existence of the world and imaginations of what our future might be like. And no matter how many happily-everafters there are, we’ll just keep going back for more.
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November-December 2012
Black Ice
Paths of Glory
Mahmudul Haque
Jeffrey Archer
Harper Collins
St. Martin’s Press
Monideepa Sahu
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his novel, by one of Bangladesh’s leading writers, exemplifies the littlepublicised-but-striking writing being produced on the other side of our nation’s borders. First published in 1977 in Bengali, Black Ice draws upon Haque’s personal experience of Partition to deeply probe the invisible scars bequeathed to the inheritors of the great political divide. The book is filled with protagonist Abdul Khaleq’s childhood pain and distress of leaving his country. His relentless nostalgia upsets his young wife. On their doctor’s advice the couple embarks on a boat ride that forces them to confront their discord and desires, and probe the depths of Khaleq’s alienation.
Anindita Sengupta
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aths of Glory poses as a semihistorical novel, the story of George Mallory, who many historians believe was actually the first man to climb Mount Everest. Mallory’s 1924 expedition, his second attempt to climb the highest mountain in the world, ended in disaster and death. But many believe that he and his companion Sandy Irvine may have died on their way down rather than up, thus being the first people to climb Everest. As a thriller thinly masquerading as biographical novel, the book suffices. Just about. It would do for a train journey, I suppose, if one has nothing better to read. But it does pique interest in Mallory and one is tempted to get hold of his biography.
A Clear Blue Sky: Stories and Poems on Conflict and Hope Various writers
The Monk, the Moor and Moses Ben Jalloun Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Puffin Books
Fourth Estate
Pushpa Achanta
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leven short stories and three poems make up A Clear Blue Sky, an anthology of heart warming and stirring pieces authored by fourteen different writers from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India. Set in various villages and cities of these countries during periods of civilian and political strife, they bring out multiple sides of people belonging to different religious, linguistic, occupational and ethnic backgrounds. While some of the tales end on a positive note, others leave the conclusion to the imagination of the reader. However, all of them convey important messages about the fallout and futility of discrimination and hate. And they do it in a simple and often realistic manner.
Rajeshwari Ghose
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his book is wellworth a read on many accounts. It questions our education system, which creates barriers between civilizations by not only presenting a one sided view of the present but also warped perception of the past. It tells us the story of some of the greatest achievements in the realm of Philosophy, Science, Mathematics and Poetry made by people professing the Islamic faith in the Golden Age of Islam between the 8th and 13th century or thereabouts. It traces not only the highlights of this civilization but also its tolerance, especially when compared with the rather closed mind of the then Christian world as personified in this book by a Cistercian monk.
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November-December 2012
Gentle Storytelling
Predictable Predicaments A Conspiracy of Friends — A Corduroy Mansions novel By Alexander McCall Smith Hachette
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Reshmi Chakraborty
t the risk of sounding slightly discourteous, I must say that reading a book by Alexander McCall Smith is somewhat like having a cup of tea. It may not be perfectly brewed but it is tea. How bad could it be, really? As it turns out with this book, it isn’t all that bad but it isn’t up there with his best works either. In fact, there isn’t much of a plot to speak of, unless you count literary agent Berthea Snark contemplating an unpleasant biography of her son Oedipus Snark. Even as Barbara Ragg, his former lover, plots her revenge, young and singly Caroline tumbles into a relationship almost overnight with Ronald and William ponders over his life as his dog, Freddie De La Hay, goes missing down a rabbit hole. If you haven’t read the previous two installments of the Corduroy Mansions series, it’s easy to follow the goings on in this book as nothing is too complicated (except nasty Oedipus Snark’s change of heart in a nuclear accident). I’d suggest you read it uninterrupted, if not in one go, as you could get a little lost in picking up where you left off, as I did. The story begins with Berthea still working on her book ‘My Son Oedipus’, which, at 210 pages, has just about reached his schooldays. Aside from being a leading psychoanalyst, Berthea is also probably the only mother in the world who does not love her son. Oedipus is a truly nasty Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, not above asking his mother to provide wine at a party for volunteers from his own constituency. And if Berthea was being terrorized by her unpleasant son, William French, the polite and charming gentleman who had failed his Master of Wine exams because of the simple mistake of
getting intoxicated during the practicals, was finally getting rid of his son Eddie, who was moving on to a rich girlfriend. One of the highlights of McCall Smith’s works is his ability to make an effortless social commentary while his characters are carrying on seemingly innocuous conversations. For instance, when Eddie and his girlfriend Merle visit the celebrity designer Cosmo Bartonette to transform a house inherited by her, Cosmo, tagged by magazines as ‘London’s sharpest design eye’ thinks the house should bring in a literary touch with influences of Graham Greene and Hemingway, while Eddie, not to be kept out of depth suggests Wilbur Smith. Meanwhile, Barbara Ragg and her partner in the Ragg & Porter Literary Agency are still battling it out over the possession of a flat and the Autobiography of the Yeti by an American author who claims to have been dictated the book by a Yeti. All this while Barbara plots revenge against her former lover Oedipus and opens up her heart and soul to her fiancé, Hugh, with not the best of consequences. The book really comes on its own when McCall writes about Freddie De La Hay, William’s intelligent dog who is polite, obedient and can buckle his own seatbelt. McCall Smith is at his best when observing the world from Freddie’s point of view. Regrettably, there’s very little of Freddie in the earlier chapters of this book. As I mentioned earlier, the plot is not more than a series of personal stories coming together in the end, though it leaves you with some unanswered questions about Barbara Ragg’s plans to pursue her revenge and Berthea’s biography
of her son. While humour has a strong undercurrent through the entire book, surfacing here and there in bursts, it is McCall Smith’s gentle storytelling that stays with you. The inner monologues of his characters, another hallmark of the author, don’t work to the book’s advantage at all times and can sometimes drag it down to levels of tediousness. You sometimes do wonder if McCall Smith is stretching it too far as several of his characters from different books are beginning to sound like each other. The humour, the sudden stabs of sarcasm, the commentary on human society and behavior — standard McCall Smithisms — are all there but lack their previous punch. You know nothing is going to go drastically wrong for the characters and some of the endings are almost predictable. To that effect, A Conspiracy of Friends is a decent read that comes with well-etched, if quirky, characters, gentle and thoughtful storytelling and all the trappings of a McCall Smith novel. But it is like a cup of tea gone wrong — tepid and flat. Drinkable, if you must.
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November-December 2012 Odd Coloured
Artistically Unimpressive The Swan Thieves By Elizabeth Kostova Hachette India Anindita Sengupta
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ndrew Marlow is asked to take on an unusual case. A disturbed artist, Robert Oliver, has slashed a painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Nobody knows why the painting, ‘Leda’, by a 19th century Impressionist painter called Beatrice De Clerval, has roused his ire. He refuses to speak. It falls to Marlowe to decode his silences and the cause of his misery. The only clues are the incessant and obsessive pictures of a woman that he paints repeatedly and a bunch of letters he clasps to his chest. The premise is interesting but it goes downhill soon. The book meanders on and there isn’t enough movement, enough pathos or enough passion to justify the length. A good, hard edit might have rescued this sprawl of a novel. The central suspense lacks tension; it is built too slowly. By the time I was half-
Kostova’s descriptions are too detailed and superfluous. way through the book, still not close to discovering anything about the enigmatic painting, the pace started to grate. Artistic whodunnits can be hard to pull off because the motives behind the crime are less mainstream, more esoteric. Instead of penetrating the heart of this crime, the book launches off in various other directions, especially Oliver’s troubled relations with the women in his life. Oliver has given Marlow carte blanche to talk to anyone in his life and Marlow uses this permission to track down first his ex-wife, Kate, and later, his girlfriend Mary. The book has first person accounts by all three and this is where one of its major flaws
becomes painfully obvious. There is little distinction between the voices and with nothing to distinguish the characters except superficial descriptions offered by Marlow. This is a problem I also noticed in her earlier, more acclaimed book, The Historian. There are other, equally glaring — or boring — factors. It’s tough to feel much interest or empathy for Oliver himself. He doesn’t have the genuine intrigue of the great artist, the quality that made Van Gogh sleep in a bug-infested room, for instance, or cut off his own ear. His ‘madness’ is garden variety, his fixations pedestrian. His refusal to speak seems taciturn rather than disturbed. This may be the problem of the central narrative by Marlow, whose voice is unconvincing and personality confusing. Apart from a cursory chapter at the beginning of the book, we’re told little about him. Modern and progressive parents are mentioned and forgotten. A wife is mentioned and forgotten. He’s a painter who chose to pursue psychiatry because it was the worldly thing to do. The defining thing about him, then, is his preoccupation with this one patient, presumably because he’s also an artist. He feels some kind of kindred spirit which drives him across continents and backwards through time. How he manages to maintain a thriving practice while haring off in all these directions is baffling. His obsession with Oliver takes on creepy overtones when he first lingers over Kate’s looks and then falls for Mary. There is a thematic parallel that Kostova is probably trying to draw here — that of obsession and how nobody is safe from it but this is half-baked. Equally undeveloped is the historical sub-plot of De Clerval (1851-1910), an impressionist painter
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whose paintings are held in a Paris museum and in some private collections. De Clerval stopped painting at 29. The letters in Oliver’s possession are between De Clerval and an elderly man, the uncle of her husband. These letters are so monotonous that the characters remain entirely impervious. There’s little reason to wonder why De Clerval is so fascinated with her “cher oncle”. Kostova also spends far too much time on De Clerval’s early years and not enough on her later ones. Why she falls for her husband’s uncle is not worth the heavy breathing. Why she gives up painting altogether is a question worth exploring. Beyond a point, between De Clerval’s letters and Mary’s weep fest, the thread of why a painter attacked a particular painting ceases to matter. The problem is not lack of detail. If anything, Kostova’s descriptions are too detailed and superfluous. There is a sense of someone who’s taken the directives of a creative writing course too seriously. ‘Add sensory details! Be specific!’ I can imagine someone barking these orders in her head. Her language is competent but never transporting. For a book with few other qualities, stylistic flare may have been redemptive.
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Philip Roth
R Krishnakumar
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November-December 2012
t’s tempting to appraise the fiction of Philip Roth as a seething, funny-grim assortment of personal chronicles set to monotone. The signature on essentials — the Newark/New Jersey setting, Jewish identity, characters’ ethical conflicts and their politics – defines Roth’s most important novels so decidedly that any critical analysis could stray into the gripe over limited range. “He goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book,” Carmen Callil, member of the Man Booker International Prize judging panel, said after withdrawing from the panel over its decision to honour Roth with the award, in 2011. The snub is fodder for Roth-baiters as it is blasphemous for readers who have tried to figure Roth’s most interesting protagonists — Mickey Sabbath, Ira Rinn, Seymour ‘Swede’ Levov and Alexander Portnoy — and their stealthy, mangled other-lives out. The tendency to bracket it as monotone, therefore, could also mean a failure in sticking with these flawed, fascinating men: tragic heroes with perpetual, raging inner conflicts. The grain of the essential Roth is etched in Goodbye, Columbus (1959) that set the self-loathing Jew protagonist in motion. Neil Klugman is a composite Roth character with problems that stalk some of his later heroes. The book, a compilation of five short stories and a novella, also traces the assimilation of Jews into a society of ‘The Gentiles’, another recurring Roth theme. The conflict is fierce in Roth’s breakthrough novel Portnoy’s Complaint (1969). Here, the protagonist — sitting on his analyst’s couch — lets us into the discord between his ethical impulses and sexual cravings tuned into the libidinal excesses of 1960s’ America. The guilt and pressure to hopelessly hang on to his Jewish identity are devastating in impact. In his Pulitzer-winning American Pastoral (1997), Roth follows the conflict and the near-obsessive need for guilt with greater control and at times, a stoic fatalism. Seymour Levov or ‘The Swede’ is a poster boy from the Good Times, an American hero trapped in his pursuit of ethical stability. In the face of tragedy, he looks within. How could this happen to him? Does he deserve this? Is his brief, incestuous moment with a daughter the
bringer of his downfall? The Swede marks the immigrant Jew’s upward trajectory in Americana: a third generation workhorse who plays by the rules; a good, liberal American who can’t comprehend the rebellion of his young daughter as she embraces communism and, later, the intense
overlap. I Married a Communist (1998) is Zuckerman’s account of another pin-up boy from his childhood pantheon: Ira Rinn, an ‘angrier than thou’ Communist who tries to discover himself in everything — from ideology to marriage to adultery
asceticism of religion. Sabbath’s Theater (1995) led the emergence of a new Roth: older and angrier. The novel about Mickey Sabbath, an old “whoremonger” who awaits his own demise but has to live his obscene, loathsome life, followed Roth’s failed marriage to British actress Claire Bloom. Winner of National Book Award, Sabbath’s Theater, is arguably the definitive Roth work in terms of sheer integration of parts that, till then, had made starts toward the whole. He sticks to the standard terrain of identity issues and life as stripped down to the fundamental realities of worldly — in this case, carnal — pleasures. It is perhaps the first novel that also has the writer constructing a front man outside of his own persona. The departure that Sabbath signaled also accentuated Roth’s shift from pseudo-autobiographical lead players into a focused revival of his own alter-ego: Nathan Zuckerman, a writer who doubles up as narrator/observer in the three novels that followed. Zuckerman imagines the life of The Swede, a hero from his childhood, in American Pastoral, in true Roth tradition that lets fact and fiction
— and ends up a tragic hero. The politics and class war dynamics of this novel also prepare readers for two later works: Human Stain (2000), where a professor is hounded over an alleged racist remark, and The Plot Against America (2004), where Roth imagines the alternate history of an anti-Semitic America. At 78, the Roth is still warming up (between 2006 and 2010, he produced five books, one every year) and while some of his recent work has panned over the effect-over-essence stylistics like Humbling (2009), Nemesis (2010), a tale of war-time Newark grappling with polio, seems to have brought the raves back. There have been other disappointments — like The Breast (1972) and The Professor of Desire (1977) — but beyond the trappings these chronicles are set within individually. The sense of urgency that marks Roth’s prolificacy has been viewed against the missing Nobel, the big one that has eluded a spectacularly-celebrated career. The greatest living American writer says he tries not to be aware of announcement day. He has, reportedly, moved on to his next book. His thirty-second.
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November-December 2012 Read Between the Lines
Spotting the difference Liespotting Pamela Meyer St. Martin’s Press Dr Rajagopalan
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t is quite a shock to learn the truth that we are lied to about 200 times a day! That means perhaps we ourselves lie as often. But the bulk of these are white lies — those harmless ones we tell each other on how good we look, how nice our dress is or how cute our neighbour’s kids are. They simply help make our social interactions pleasant. These are not consequential. Can we train ourselves to spot those lies which matter — say, in a business negotiation, job interviews, or while haggling over price? How do we build a trusting group around ourselves at work and at
home? This book offers a way by drawing from the practices of the intelligence community, police interrogation methods and academic research. The author has synthesized an approach with an acronym BASIC, on how to use facial expressions, body language and words to detect lies in real time. Deception is part of the natural survival strategy of humans as well as animals. Liespotting involves asking why people lie rather than focusing just on when. As our dominant communication technology has moved from face-to-face to telephone to e-mails to instant messaging, we are being increasingly starved of visual and other clues for spotting lies. The first insight from this book is that liespotting is often a co-operative act. We encourage and accept lies, for example, when others praise us or say something to save our face. The real benefit from developing our liespotting skills is to gain more time to build trusting relationships. For better success at liespotting, understanding the context and motive is very important. The author lists nine motives for lying: obtaining a reward not otherwise available, to gain an advantage over others, to make a positive impression or gain admiration, to exercise control over others by controlling information, to avoid punishment or embarrassment, to protect another person, to protect oneself, to get out of an awkward situation and to protect privacy. In summary, a lie must involve a falsehood, intent to deceive, a recipient and a context of truth. Our body and mind are hardwired. When we speak the truth (as we know it), our facial expressions and body movements are naturally symmetric. When we lie, there is
a disconnect between what we say and our expressions. We are not completely successful in faking our expressions. The trick is to catch such slips — raised eyebrows, increased blink rates, hands covering our mouth, winking, etc. Asymmetry is the key indicator of lying. Such symptoms are linked to our uncomfortable emotions while lying. One role of culture is creating acceptable masks, however imperfect, to almost universal facial expressions. Genuine expressions are very short lived. Faked ones last longer. The other reason why actions speak louder than words is that liars can rehearse words but it is not so easy to rehearse gestures. Interestingly, if we want to be good at liespotting, we must resist our temptation to say ‘gotcha’. Instead we must gather more information by asking open-ended questions and noting what is said and what is not said. Though a bit more difficult, words may also signal lies. Phrases like ‘to be totally honest’, ‘to be very precise’, etc. Similarly, when we lie, we tend to ‘distance’ ourselves — for example, ‘that woman’ (rather than my wife); ‘Mr XYZ’ (rather than my friend/colleague etc). The most famous is the so-called Freudian slip, an example of slips of the tongue. Too much of detail is often an indicator of lying. While answering a question, if the respondent repeats the entire question as if asking for clarification, he is perhaps formulating a suitable lie in his mind. From Chapter 6 onwards, the book slackens quite a bit, becoming more like a sales pitch for the training programs in liespotting offered by the author to business clients. Of course there are useful tips — how to lie-proof high stakes negotiations, how to conduct job interviews, etc. One fundamental assumption seems to be that the liespotter is in a more powerful position in an interaction. Options like video graphing, controlling the physical context of the interaction, time available, ‘questioning’, etc. may not be available to the weaker party. How should a weaker party spot lies spoken by the more powerful party? Except for observing facial and other gestures, there is hardly anything useful in the book. Secondly, social interactions are inadequately dealt with, compared to ‘managerial’ interactions. For example, how can parents liespot? How can a market researcher liespot while conducting a survey?
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November-December 2012
Reader’s Contribution
Thinking Without Thinking
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Anup Sidharthan
link: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm T. Gladwell is an exemplary work for which Gladwell has done extensive research. In my opinion, this is an impeccably well-written book and a mustread for anyone even remotely interested in unlocking the inner realms of mind and the way it works. The mind is one of the most paradoxical and inexplicable things. The more we learn about it, the less we can comprehend its workings. When I picked up Blink, I was “thinslicing”. Gladwell explains thin-slicing as our ability to decide on things in a split second. Our mind is processing information faster than we can comprehend. As the saying goes, less is more, sometimes that is all our brain needs to make veracious decisions. Quite often, we decide on something impulsively, without any forethought, and this is called thin-slicing. Some call it intuition. The legendary French photographer Henri CartierBresson called it the “decisive moment”. Einstein said, “The only real valuable thing is intuition.” Some call it a gut feeling and relate it to the state of being sensitive to the Nabi Chakra, which emanates positive energy. The more we try to know about this gut feeling, intuition, or instinct, the more elusive it becomes. The more we try to explain it, the more inexplicable it becomes. The fabled genius Tesla rightly said, “Instinct is something which transcends knowledge.” The subject matter of Blink transcends knowledge, and this is the reason why many mainstream scientists and academicians refute Gladwell’s theory. Everything has to be proven and scientifically explained. If ideas come from God or a unified field of consciousness then these ideas will be refuted by the grandmasters of the scientific order. Tesla was aware of the fact that we pos-
sess certain fine fibres that enable us to perceive truths when logical reasoning and wilful effort of the mental faculty is futile. Tesla was describing thin-slicing. Many people, at least once in their lifetime have experienced the gut feeling or moment of intuition, but cannot describe it in a way that makes sense, it is this very inexplicable nature that makes the issue quite complex and enigmatic. The idea comes like a flash of lightning, instantaneous and once we learn to tune into it and trust it we will make better decisions.
Anup is a member of JustBooks, Vidyaranyapura. A digital artist by profession, he is currently working as an English language trainer. His hobbies include photography, philately and numismatics. In his free time, he reads a lot and listens to new age music.
Reader’s Voice
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y love for reading brought me to JustBooks (which I discovered while surfing the internet) and I became a member on April 26, 2012. Since then it has been a journey. “So many books, what to read and what not is the question,” was my silent reaction the day I stepped into JustBooks. Once in, I found that it is completely different from the conventional libraries. The staff of JustBooks Kuvempunagar, Mysore is very courteous and helpful. So far, I have devoured quite some books which began with Ruskin Bond, taking me along with Handful of Nuts through the rivers, mountains, hills, and down the dusty roads. On the way, I got introduced to Rohinton Mistry, got insight into the Parsi community, culture, and lifestyle in A Fine Balance. While joining the Alchemist in his quest, along came Rabindranath Tagore calling out to join him in his Boyhood Days and Reminiscences so off I went with Jo, Zette and Jocko on an adventure and now I am back to my favorite author Ruskin Bond’s The Lamp Is Lit. May this lamp be lit and glow to eternity! With ever growing appetite for reading, the journey continues.... Purnima Subbarao Ramakrishna Nagar, Mysore
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November-December 2012 Reader’s contribution
Drama on the hills Wish You Well By David Baldacci Warner Books Preethi Gundavajhyala
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n his author’s note, David Baldacci says that this is an offshoot from his usual genre of suspense novels. And one must say the result is as rewarding for the reader as it was for the writer. Based in the 1940s, Wish You Well is a story of two kids — Lou and Oz — aged twelve and eight from New York who, due to unfortunate circumstances, come to live with their great grandmother in Virginia. The story beautifully describes the simple life of the people in the Appalachian Mountains while subtly outlining the emotional changes in Lou. She resents her mom for the accident, which occurs over an argument between her parents. Her father dies in that accident while her mother is left in a coma She comes to realise that what matters is what you have at the moment. Lou and her brother Oscar, called Oz, go to live with their great grandmother whom they have never met. Life in the mountains is new for them with coal mines, farms, livestock and a mountain lion. They get to meet new people who they get close to, but seem to lose as time passes. But Lou takes care of Oz and they stick together throughout. Both of them, in their own way, take care of mom: Lou with the cleaning and massaging and Oz praying for her and simply not giving up hope. Baldacci incorporates several colourful characters in his novel. Diamond Skinner, for instance, is an orphan who lives on his own with his dog in the mountains and finds no reason to see civilization or a “picher show” as he claims, but is quickly charmed by the Land of Oz. He shares many mountain tales and adventures with his new friends. George Davis is their great grandmother’s neighbour who earns a lot but refuses to feed his wife and children. Eugene is the farm hand and Cotton Longfellow is the friendly lawyer who takes care of their grandmother’s matters. Finally, there is
their formidable great grandmother herself who, even at the ripe age of eighty, is as efficient as ever. Lou’s feelings form a background to the story. Lou simply adored her dad, James Cardinal, an acclaimed writer. She dreams of being a writer one day. Suddenly facing the loss of her parents, she feels that she should be there for her brother. She looks forward to a life in the mountains where her father’s novels are based. She treats the house as a remnant of her father’s childhood days and quickly concludes that she has been given the same room that was used by him. She slowly connects with her mom through letters given to her by her grandmother. She tries her best to know more about the Cardinal family as the opportunity presents itself. The story comes to a grand conclusion when she finally forgives her mother and reaps unexpected results. Oscar Cardinal is very close to his mom and, though saddened by the accident, does not lose hope. He looks up to his big sister. Oz always accompanies his sister on all her adventures and matures from a shaky boy to a preteenager who can offer support to his older sister. Life takes a twist when the Southern
Natural Gas Company starts scouting the mountains for natural gas and promises great rewards for the inhabitants if they sell their land. Their illegal exploration claims the life of Diamond Skinner and their promises turn the neighbours against the children and their grandmother who refuse to sell out. The children and Longfellow fight against the big company, even though their great grandmother suffers a stroke. Descriptions of life in the mountains reminded me of life in our villages. As the story is set in the 1940s, it surprisingly is similar to life in our villages, with no electricity or post or news. The feeling of an inclusive community, where everyone unites to repair a broken farmyard or neighbours pitch in a helping hand to bring children home, strikes a familiar chord. Wish You Well is definitely a feel-good book.
Preethi is a member of JustBooks JP Nagar. A former software engineer from TCS, she is now a full-time mom. Reading is her passion and she is looking to start writing too.
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November-December 2012 a. Greek mythology b. Egyptian mythology c. Indian mythology 3. Name the third book in the Bartimaeus trilogy: a. Ptolemy’s Gate b. The Golem’s Eye c. The Amulet of Samarkand
1. Who is considered to be the father of modern fantasy? a. CS Lewis b. George MacDonald c. JRR Tolkien 2. Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan is based on:
4. Name the fantasy novel by Brandon Mull: a. The Candy Shop War b. Riddle of the Seventh Stone c. Wild Things 5. Name the ruler Mithya: a. Shaap Azur b. Shoon Ya c. Zarpa
Answers - JRR Tolkien, Egyptian mythology, Ptolemy’s Gate, The Candy Shop War, Shoon Ya
JustBooks Top 5 New Arrivals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling Winter Of The World by Ken Follett Another Man’s Wife by Manjul Bajaj Jospeh Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie Why I Am Not A Hindu by Kancha Iiaiah
Recommended 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Em And The Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto Artist, Undone by Sanjay Kumar V. Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith Born On A Blue Day by Daniel Tammet The Business Of Words by Andre’ Schiffrin
Rentals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
JustBooks meets Chetan Bhagat Live! in Chennai One of the Top 100 influential people in the world. One million followers on Twitter. Two million fans on FB. The biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history. Encomiums about Chetan Bhagat which many of his fans would agree on. Madras West Round Table had recently invited Chetan Bhagat to Chennai for a discussion titled “And this is how you succeed” at the Lady Andal School Auditorium. Our Adyar franchisee — Vinay Grandhi — was in his element getting JustBooks showcased at this event.
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling Tinkle Single Digest Tinkle Double Digest Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Book 6) by Jeff Kinney What Young India Wants by Chetan Bhagat
From the JustBooks blog: blog.justbooksclc.com
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November-December 2012 Reader’s Contribution
Surreal Sometimes Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer Random House Geetanjali Joshi
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ome books make a small, but permanent, place in your heart. Different books can capture our hearts in the way they touch us or make an impression, which lasts forever. One such book I fell in love with is Charlotte Sometimes. I read it for the first time in 1993 and even more than a decade later the love remains strong. It is the story of Charlotte Makepeace who enrolls in a boarding school. Since she is one of the first to arrive, she gets the first choice of beds in the dormitory. The room is called Cedar, though she can’t see any cedar trees around. Like most of us would, she chooses an ornate old bed with wheels, next to the window, and her magi-
cal journey begins! She sleeps in that bed and wakes up next morning around 50 years back in time. The school is the same. The bed is the same. But this time around, there is a cedar tree outside the window and it is a different year! What happened to the person who is supposed to be in that bed in the current year? That bed is now occupied by another girl who (as you would have guessed) is from the year where Charlotte is in now. Sounds pretty muddled up, doesn’t it? But then, that is the beauty of this book. Every alternate day the girls find themselves in each other’s place. They never meet. They only communicate through a notebook which they hide in one of the bed posts. Even then, the friendship they form, the ups and downs they experience, apart yet together, touch your heart. In the book reality, dreams, faces, people, feelings… everything just blurs into this vague surreal beautiful series of happenings. The pages are full of funny, beautiful incidents. The journey, while fun, has an underlying feeling, which haunts and stays with you. The séance, the monkey-puzzle tree and the girl in Charlotte’s school who she feels she has some connection to. It is not just a story. Penelope Farmer has beautifully portrayed how, sometimes, we are unsure of our identities, how we lose and how we struggle to keep it even in some other time (literally) and how sometimes, in a weird way, we get it back. Experiences like these can transform us into slightly different persons. We are not just one person but many in one body. The soul has many facets, many identities. Different situations make us different individuals in different moments. The girls struggle to maintain their identities in different settings while still trying to be playmates across time.
It is an insight into the different, disconnected-yet-connected selves that we can have. Don’t we all go through this? Feeling like we are different people at different times, sometimes even many people at one time. And we find solace in the fact that someone else recognizes us and in their acquiescence we find comfort. We are all Charlotte… sometimes. Charlotte Sometimes is the third book of the series featuring Charlotte and Emma Makepeace as protagonists. The first two books are The Summer Birds and Emma in Winter. But even as an individual book, it is a complete story which leaves you with a satisfied sigh. A wonderful book, which will take you on a dream-like journey to the past and the present, with two totally different, yet alike, little girls. I am sure you will recognize a little bit of you in these characters. Go ahead and get lost in this book, which has an ending that will stay with you forever. I was inspired to write this poem after reading the book: Sometimes I am Charlotte Sometimes Sometimes I am Charlotte Sometimes And I know my own face and hair Sometimes I don’t know who I am And how I managed to get here When I am here I think I know That I am the same old me That I was yesterday The same me in the mirror I see But then again I end up there In another place and time And I can’t make out If the fingers and hair are mine As I go in and out of my dreams which are not really dreams I am two people and sometimes just one Is it me who changes or those around? Or does everything keep shifting under the sun?
Geetanjali Joshi, a member of JustBooks, Powai, works as a Creative Manager at VAS. She loves reading. She writes blogs, short stories and poems.
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November-December 2012
Just Kids The Smile of Vanuvati by Harini Gopalswami Srinivasan Tulika
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Monideepa Sahu
ove over Secret Seven and Famous Five. Make way for Malavika, Chikka and Vittal, whose adventures take them to exotic locations right in the heart of India. The story of their exciting discovery spans thousands of years, and goes back to the very beginning of the Indus Valley civilisation. Lost in a flood four and a half thousand years ago, Vanuvati is a doll with a mysterious smile which can be interpreted in myriad ways. She is discovered in 715 AD only to disappear again for many centuries. Malavika, Vittal and Chikka’s grand adventure begins when they arrive in Bhagodaro, an Indus Valley civilisation archaeological excavation site in Gujarat. Their uncle, Krish, is an archaeologist here, and the children get busy exploring the buildings and docks from ages long gone, and learning about the exciting discoveries made by the archaeologists. History comes to life in this exciting tale, as the trio unearth Vanuvati again after 1286 years. Is Vanuvati an ancient goddess, or simply a child’s doll? This is the most interesting find at the site so far. The Smile of Vanuvati weaves in
much about archaeology and history into an exciting adventure. It is made lively and vivid because of its lifelike characters, each of whom has distinct individual traits that set them apart. Malavika, Vittal and Chikka are lively and convincing. The excavated ruins of Bhagodaro hold many mysteries. The children hear far away noises; the sound of hard soil being attacked with a spade. The mystery deepens as the archaeologists’ shed is found raided in the dead of night. Someone seems to be after the treasure believed to be buried there. Can the children stop the crooks, protect the archaeological site and its treasures, and save the day? What inspired this unusual setting and story? Did the author draw upon particular incidents in her life or people close to her? “The Smile of Vanuvati was inspired by an archaeological site I visited – Lothal,” Harini Srinivasan says. “The place is so atmospheric, so redolent with history and mystery, it really grabs you. It stayed in my mind for a long time, and then slowly things began to stir, and I had a book to write! A germ of an idea comes out of the blue. And you can’t get it out of your head. Over time, it grows into a book. Some ideas drop by the wayside. They look ridiculous the morning after, or you tire of them after a while. It has to be a grand passion! And those
come rarely. Of course, bits and pieces of the characters and incidents are based on real life people and happenings, but never entirely. For instance, when I wrote about Vanuvati’s love for her own home and stubborn refusal to be moved, I was thinking of my grandmother.” Gind, Harini Srinivasan’s other novel for young people, is a fantasy-adventure set in the times of the Ramayana.
JustBooks’ Picks for Young Readers Itchy Itchy Chicken Pox by Grace MacCarone
The Elephant’s Friend and Other Tales from Ancient India by Marcia Williams
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
Baby’s First Christmas by Tomie dePaola
The 10 PM Question by Kate De Goldi
The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
The Rabbit In The Moon by Indrani Krishnaier
The Room Of Many Colors by Ruskin Bond
The Rhythm of Riddles by Saradindu Bandyopadhyay
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November-December 2012
Just Kids
Mysterious Treasure Hunt
Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler
before he knows it, he’s on his way to Mongolia. A wealthy businessman in Mongolia has a lot to do with the disappearance of
Penguin
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t is not uncommon for Dirk Pitt, the marine engineer and Head of the National Underwater and Marine Agency to witness strange things while on his voyages abroad but it is truly unusual to encounter a giant killer wave in Russia’s Lake Baikal. Adding to the crisis, an oil survey team which is directly in the path of the killer wave does not pay any heed to the warning sent out by Pitt’s ship. Pitt manages to push the oil survey team out of harm’s way. But this is not all; there is more to their problems. Pitt’s ship is sabotaged and the oil survey team is kidnapped. The crew is clueless about how it happened. Pitt feels that it cannot be the work of ordinary terrorists and there is a big mystery behind it. While Pitt digs for answers to the mystery, a series of earthquakes start striking oil reservoirs therefore destroying the oil supply of all major oil suppliers of the world. The consumers and the industries that depend on oil suffer badly as the prices of oil rocket up to unbelievable magnitude. The world is on the verge of economic depression. Pitt starts uncovering the mystery and,
Upside Down or Rightside Up If the world was upside down, All our smiles would be frowns. If books were to be bread, There would be many loaves to be read. If chairs were to be very small, We would certainly have a good fall. If our bodies were to be green, We would certainly look like a bean. If we never went to school, Wouldn’t it be so cool? But giving it a second thought, Would it make us all fools?
a secret about Genghis Khan, one of the greatest conquerors of the world. It is now in Pitt’s hand to save the world from an economic crisis and if he does so, his reward will be the lost treasures of Genghis Khan. With the impending danger hovering above him, read to find out how Pitt manages it all. Clive Cussler is an amazing author who knows how to hook readers to his book. He has described every character and incident in such a brilliant way that it transports the reader to the scene of action. This book is an adventure thriller. The mystery keeps you from putting the book down. Dirk Pitt is truly an amazing character who is used to accomplishing the impossible and is not scared to challenge the unknown.
Rahul Rajpal 9th Standard St. Joseph’s Central School, Mysore
the oil survey team and the mysterious yet terrifying earthquakes. The wealthy businessman is not afraid of killing anyone who comes in his way. Not only this, the businessman also holds a secret, a secret that archaeologists would die for. This is
Rahul is a member of JustBooks KD Road, Mysore. He is a voracious reader and loves mimicry. He also likes to swim and play badminton. He wants to become an actor when he grows up.
Deeksha S 7th Standard, Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore Deeksha is a member of JustBooks Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore. She loves reading and singing. She is also interested in watching cricket and listening to music. English is her favourite subject, though she wants to become a scientist.
Young Readers can send their contribution to editor@justbooksclc.com
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November-December 2012
Interview with a Franchisee
A Happening Place
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wapna Ponakampalli is the franchisee owner of JustBooks Gachibowli, Hyderabad. After having studied and worked in the USA for some years, she returned to India with her husband and two young daughters and settled in Hyderabad. Her passion towards re-kindling and sustaining creative interest among kids of her community led her to JustBooks. We talked to her to find out more.
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inception. But Strata’s great support and willingness to address issues in every aspect along with our fantastic, hardworking front office team helped us overcome most of the start-up blues.
How has the customer response been to Tell us about yourself and your family. your library? I have a master’s degree in Computer SciThe area where we stay ence Engineering and I worked in the corpois an IT corridor, dense rate sector in the US for 4 years before movwith expat population ing back to India. After moving back, I took and multi-culturalism. a break from work to be with my daughters We had an overwhelming now aged six and three. My husband, a meresponse from day 1 and chanical engineer, is an entrepreneur and most of our members Swapna with her staff members Satish works in Industrial Automation industry. were very happy with the and Kiran availability of the library Why and how did this franchise option happen? in their neighbourhood. We started getting enquiries from proWhen we were in the US, we used to buy quite a lot of books spective members immediately after the ‘Opening Shortly’ banfor my older daughter who thoroughly enjoyed flipping through ner was put up. Members could not wait for the store to open up books. She has been reading right from when she was 3 months and the enquiries continued while the interior works continued. old. We also used to frequent public libraries in the US for books Over 75% of our members so far have been through word of mouth. and DVD’s. After moving back to India, I was searching for a good place to rent books. At the same time, I was looking to start What do you think will be a great value addition service something on my own that would give me the satisfaction of to your existing members? being productive as well as the flexibility to spend most of my We have already added the Door Delivery Service. That is a time with the kids. I did not want to get back to a full-time job. great value addition. Apart from this, organising regular book I stumbled upon JustBooks over an internet search for libraries related events like reading sessions, promoting book clubs for in Hyderabad. I emailed them and once I understood their USP, kids and adults would sustain the interest of the members as decided to be a franchisee. well as make JustBooks the required platform to fulfil reading needs in all aspects. How much of your time do you spend at the JustBooks outlet personally? How rewarding is the experience of interacting with your members? I spend about 10 hours every week at the library. But I enjoy and love getting involved in every aspect of operations, so I attend to it 24X7 from home. It’s heartening when members congratulate me on taking up this venture. I get to meet a lot of interesting people and it’s overwhelming when they compliment me about the franchise’s value additiotn to the community.
Gachibowli library Tell us about your experience on starting and taking care of this franchise. Finding the right location proved to be a bit of a challenge in my neighbourhood especially with the steep real estate prices. Once this was finalized, the rest fell in place. We had a steep learning curve during the initial months because of the sudden process changes that Strata adopted every month since our
What kind of books do you read? Who are your favourite authors? Mystery and self-motivational books are my favourite. Sherlock Holmes collection by Arthur Conan Doyle and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin are my favourite classics. What is your advice to book lovers who would like to turn entrepreneurs through JustBooks? Owning a JustBooks franchisee has been a very rewarding experience but it comes with its own challenges. I would highly recommend it, especially to someone who would take it up as a passion rather than as a business.
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November-December 2012 Events
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Shakespearean times at JustBooks
s a run up to the Theatre Fest ’12 starting from 27th November, Ranga Shankara had a month long of outreach programmes to get Bangaloreans geared up for theme of the year, Bard of Avon — Shakespeare. It included play readings for children at multiple JustBooks outlets.
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Here is what Mrs Lakshmi R, a member of JustBooks Vidyaranyapura who attended the event, had to share: It was a cloudy Sunday morning, when I took my son to the Shakespeare reading event by Vasanthi Hariprakash, an ex-RJ of Radio City, organized at Justbooks Vidyaranyapura. After a quick introduction, Vasanthi elaborated the idea behind the event, which was to discover, appreciate and enjoy the beauty of drama in Shakespeare’s works, which are commonly perceived as ‘difficult to comprehend’, more so by the children. As Vasanthi read out A Midsummer Night’s Dream in dramatic tones, the
Budding Writers
r Niranjan Vanalli, Head of Journalism Department, Mysore University, addressed a gathering of JustBooks members recently at JustBooks, Kalidasa Road. He recommended that budding writ-
ers ensure their published books get registered with the ISBN issuance authorities. This would ensure that their books would get a much wider audience. Dr Vanalli also touched upon the importance of observation and the role of using one’s imagination to write. He mentioned that in his ex-
perience, he has come across many writers who are self-motivated. Dr Vanalli referred to a book written by him on creative writing which he urged the attendees to read and gain confidence to write. The gathering was also addressed by JustBooks Manager-in-charge, Ms Poornima V Kumar, who spoke about the importance of reading and developing writing skills. Jothsana who has written a thriller for young readers — An Egyptian Code — shared her experience of writing her book. This was followed by a book signing session, after which attendees present interacted with this young author. Some JustBooks members — Rahul, in particular — spoke of finding a new motivation to write soon. All in all, the interactive event was a wonderful experience and acknowledged by all JustBooks members and other attendees.
audience got absorbed and transported to the scenes. She portrayed characteristics of the characters, such as over confidence and greed, and made it easier for the children to relate to the details by explaining through examples. All the children were kept involved. One child was asked to point out the characters from a poster on the wall, and mention their ages and looks. Another child enacted bowing and curtseying, while other children were asked to comment or ask questions or answer them. This was followed by the much-awaited quiz and the crowning ceremony with an imaginary crown designed by the children. Mr Vittal Hegde, franchise owner of JustBooks Vidyaranyapura, asked the children what they would like to do next. Not surprisingly, most of them said they would pick up more of Shakespeare books. After the accolades and a round of chocolates, we all walked back home happily. Congratulations, JustBooks, on successfully organizing not just this one, but a variety of such educative and entertaining events.
Reading & Storytelling
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ulika Publishers hosted a reading and storytelling session from two books drawn from their popular series, Our Myths. JustBooks Adyar members joined writers Sandhya Rao and Chitra as the latter recounted the story of Vyasa’s Mahabharata and In Bon Bibi’s Forest.
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November-December 2012
Events
Book Launch
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he Taj Conspiracy by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar revolves around India’s most famous historical monument — the Taj Mahal. The book is Manreet’s third novel after the critically-acclaimed Earning the Laundry Stripes and the bestseller The Long Walk Home. JustBooks Pimple Saudagar, Pune branch recently hosted the author at the library.
Launch of a Book Club
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ustBooks Nerul, Navi Mumbai recently started a children’s book club. Children’s writer Shyamala Shanmugasundaram is the force behind starting this club along with the franchise owner of JustBooks Nerul, Ms Bhanumathi Ganesh. Roald Dahl was the chosen author of the month. Kids in the age group of 7-12 years attended the first session. A quiz and word search followed after the interactive discussion on Dahl’s books.
16 Bangalore AECS Layout: 65470141
Kanakapura: 22560130
Prestige Shantiniketan, Whitefield: 43364183
Mumbai Kandivali: 9769556165
Yelahanka: 42138080
Nerul: 02227729788, 9004819059
Chennai Adyar: 044-45501188, 9176078188
Powai: 02240158736/8408
Koramangala: 40982460 Banashankari: 41637052, 9535854732 Basaveshwarnagar: 40951324, 9739988376
Koramangala 8th Block: 25702799
Bellandur: 25740710, 42118813
Malleshwaram: 41280649
Brigade Metropolis: 22652217
Rajajinagar: 41126790, 9886203223
Electronic City: 41105922, 9945421900
Thane: 02221730784, 9987512059
Langford Road: 22222375
Rajarajeshwari Nagar: 28607751, 9535854732
Coimbatore Race Course Road: 9843009711 Hyderabad Aparna Cyber Commune: 9177474747
HSR Layout: 22587430, 7259974251
Karkhana: 04040189957, 9849024415
Sahakar Nagar: 41713941 Kondapur: 9032490978
Indira Nagar: 65831547, 42044157
Sarjapur Road: 42129279
Jayanagar 5th Block: 9740894014, 42068676
Vidyaranyapura: 23644501, 8095854950
JP Nagar - Dollar's Colony: 42228168
Vijaya Bank Layout: 41645690
Kukatpalli: 04040036387
Vijaynagar: 42117539
Miyapur 040402021 30, 9959690066 Kochi Panampilly Nagar: 04844015949
JP Nagar: 42106418 Whitefield: 41260396, 32999406 Kaggadaspura: 65474465 Kalyan Nagar: 42084394, 9986072204
Whitefield (Sat): 65970953, 28543405
Kuvempu Nagar: 08214241181, 9900012611
ECIL: 04030226209
Frazer Town: 41644449 RMV II Stage: 23410800
Mysore Kalidasa Road: 08214253237, 99000 12611
Kolkata Salt Lake City: 03340012211 Mangalore Bejai: 08242214040
For franchise inquiries contact: manager@justbooksclc.com
Pune Aundh: 02025896016, 7385022201 Kothrud: 02041303676, 8605382202 Magarpatta City: 02067231020, 9561550003 Viman Nagar: 02026633134, 9561550002 Wanowarie: 02030116811, 7385022202 Pimple Saudagar: 020-27206604, 9945551326