Book Review of The Bookshop Woman

 Can recommending books to read be a full-time occupation? For a fee, maybe? Or even a part time one?

That and other questions are answered in this book. The lady in question works at a bookshop she likes. Then she gets into a portal for dating strangers for 30 minutes at a time, based on profiles on a site called Perfect Strangers.

As she tries it out, her experiences of meeting various strangers, and discovering herself in the process of meeting with them and recommending books to them is the crux of the story. It is interesting, and the different characters who appear in her life and the twist later on, keep you engaged. Hundreds of books are also mentioned in the story, and there is a list at the end which one can refer to, if you want to read any of them.

I found it interesting. Maybe you will too..

Before The Coffee Gets Cold- Book Review

 A very interesting book of four short stories involving time travel. The author is Japanese. There are some tough rules that the time travellers must know and follow, while travelling back or forward. Does it still make sense to go for it, is the central theme.

Very emotional, it covers a wide range, from a Mother who is likely to lose her life while giving birth and wants to know what happened, to a story of two lovers, who may or may not re-unite after a break of three years away from one another.

Two other stories are equally interesting, about relationships-a husnabd who's getting Alzheimer's, and a girl who is estranged from her sister. Touching, and handled in a very empathetic manner towards all the characters. It's a surprising mix of high technology and basic humanity. A good blend.

Reminded me of a Marathi play about time travel- Amar Photo Studio- that I saw a couple of years ago at Pune. That was good too.

Malt Mania

There is this group called Malt Maniacs, and it has as its only Indian member, Krishna Nukala, my new guru. If you have to follow your passion, do so in style, is a lesson I learnt from him the other day, when he gave us a fascinating insight into the art of appreciating Single Malts from around the world (Taiwanese and Japanese included!). Starting with lighter-flavoured sherry-cask ones (Glenfarclas 21 year-old), we moved towards some known and some unknown (to me, not him) names that went towards the peaty, topping off with some Ardbeg that he got in an auction. A rare version of Amrut and a Paul John, both Indian, were represented, and made me proud. Some glimpses into the tasting - heady stuff!

I won't forget this evening in  a hurry!

 He launches into the fascinating stories, and a taste of the best.

For more on Single Malts, you can go read https://www.maltmadness.com/index.html

A Man Vanishes- Japanese Film

One lives and learns. I happened to see the listing for this free show of a classic from a Japanese director I had never heard of. And what a movie it turned out to be!

To get the time in perspective, this was the year Vijay Anand was directing Teesri Manzil in India-1967, in which RD Burman made a rocking contribution.

But back to Imamura, the director who made this film.This is both fiction and non-fiction. It is about a man who goes missing, and theories abound over why he went -missing. He had embezzled money from his company, nobody knows why. But paid most of it back, so it's not a strong reason to vanish. He had a girlfriend, or two, and a few friends who he went out with.

A director goes around filming the search with his former girlfriend Yoshie, and in the process, Yoshie discovers her hatred/distrust for her sister who she suspects was having an affair with her missing boyfriend. A "medium" even suggests he was murdered by her sister because she loved him, and couldn't have him!

At the end, there is a twist in which the director basically thumbs his nose at the audience, and says, "this is how life is. We never know what the truth is," and leaves you to cross the 't's and dot the 'i' s. It is also a kind of prediction of TV genres like 'blended reality' shows that have now descended upon us. No one knows what is real and what is fake.

This was screened at Bhau Daji Lad museum in Byculla, and I discovered the place due to this screening. Not bad at all!

Sputnik Sweetheart- Another Murakami

I think my discovery of Murakami must rank as the high point of my reading adventures, whenever it happened - not more than a couple of years ago, at a random airport bookstore, as it usually does. Till then, he was a complete stranger I had not even heard of. Now I don't tire of waxing eloquent about his books and the only film I think that has been attempted on one of his books- Norwegian Wood.

Everyone can write (some) fiction, I think, but the quality of writing is another matter altogether. Like, anyone can write humour, but to write it like PG Wodehouse did, would be very, very difficult. So let me wax eloquent about the latest I have read, and get it out of my system. Sputnik was the first satellite sent up by Russia, BEFORE the U.S. in the early 60s. But here, the title comes from a confusion in the mind of a key character between the word Beatnik and Sputnik, two entirely different things.

Anyway, a twenty-something guy is in love with Sumire (meaning Violet), a twenty-something girl who is like a soulmate, an aspiring writer, though she has not completed any novel or piece of writing yet. The trouble is, she does not love him. She also starts feeling an attraction for an older woman, but does not know if and how to express it.

This broad storyline does not seem very original if narrated in two dimensions like I have done here, but Murakami adds many more dimensions, with an effect that is hard to describe. You end up feeling/caring for each of the three main characters, as if you are living their lives. And each one of these has an identity crisis, and feels that they are living a double life- a here and a there, sometimes contradictory personalities. The ending is also unique for a story that starts out as a regular love triangle. I think the author is intelligent enough to leave the reader to interpret this at a level of his own choosing. I think that is his greatness.

Of Sushi and Hot Pots

Had a couple of great foodie experiences yesterday and today with the conference group at Bangkok. Last evening, for dinner, some of us went to a seafood specialty restaurant on Soi (Street ) 24, Sukhumvit, Bangkok. We sat around a u-shaped table, and had a pot of boiling water in front. Then we ordered some seafood- a variety of fish, mussels, prawn, etc. Some veggies and tofu too. Then we put one or two things in the pot, and pulled them out after cooking- a couple of minutes is all it takes. Then adding whatever sauces we liked, and spicy mixes to it, we had it in another bowl. Excellent idea, learnt it's called Hot Pot and is popular this side of the globe. Thorougly enjoyable way to dine when in a group.

Another first for me today was a sushi roll with some green mustard that "clears your nose" with its fire and zest, as someone put it- and it did! You have to douse it with some sweet ginger slices or something which reduces its intensity! Something like eating an Andhra chilli. But great, and good fun to try. I always thought sushi was bland stuff, but I have changed my views substantially after this whack on the side of my head (metaphorical). One lives and learns!