Readiscovery

What I've read and discovered

  • Fowler’s English

    Today is the birthday of Henry Watson Fowler (March 10, 1858 – December 26, 1933). Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style may be the most popular English writing style guide in America, but when it comes to British English, Fowler’s A Dictionary of Modern English Usage remains the favourite.…

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  • Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland: The lowdown on Bengal

    I just finished reading The Lowland in Kolkata, where I visited some of the places mentioned by the author, Jhumpa Lahiri. Recently I attended two weddings at the Tolly Club, which is described in the novel. Kolkata, formerly called Calcutta, features prominently in some recent novels such as Paul Theroux’s…

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  • Typewriter poems

    Pressrun.net has a new look today. The typeface is different. It reminds me of typewriters. I love smartphones, tablets, laptops, but typewriters were my first love. Not smooth, electric typewriters but the manual variety. Such as the one George Orwell is working on in this photo. With a cigarette in…

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  • Raymond Chandler: I live for syntax

    I love Raymond Chandler and PG Wodehouse. Both attended Dulwich College in London. Both are great writers. Like Wodehouse, Chandler is famous for his similes. I mentioned in my previous post how the writer Michael Connelly loves chapter 13 of Chandler’s 1949 novel, The Little Sister. Here is a passage…

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  • Michael Connelly, Raymond Chandler and The Little Sister

    I love the crime fiction of Michael Connelly. And his favourite writer also happens to be a favourite of mine: Raymond Chandler. Both Connelly and Chandler set their novels in Los Angeles, where they moved as adults. Chandler (1888-1959) was born in Chicago. He was educated at Dulwich College in…

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  • The only Bertie Wooster story told by Jeeves

    Calling all PG Wodehouse fans, here is a story narrated by the butler Jeeves and not by his master, Bertie Wooster. That makes it highly unusual. “Bertie Changes His Mind is the only story in the whole Wooster cycle which is related by Jeeves,” wrote Geoffrey Jaggard in Wooster’s World.…

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  • North Indian temples in Kolkata and Singapore

    I loved this temple in Kolkata. Quiet, well-maintained, it’s a welcome refuge from the world outside. Located on busy Diamond Harbour Road in Kidderpore, it’s an island of tranquillity. There is complete peace as you walk up the long flight of steps from the gate to the interior of the…

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  • The power of belief and habit

    It seems writers who talk about the power of positive thinking, the power of affirmation, the law of attraction and creative visualization are right, after all. Faith and belief can help overcome bad habits and transform lives. So says Charles Duhigg in his book, The Power of Habit. The New…

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  • Lifelong creativity and PD James’ tips for writers

    God bless PD James! At the age of 93, she wants to write one more detective novel. Amazing. Let’s hope it will feature Adam Dalglish, the Scotland Yard detective who has been her hero since her very first novel, Cover Her Face, published in 1962. Last seen in The Private…

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  • Those were the days

    Google is on a history jag. Yesterday’s Google Doodle featured Shakuntala Devi, the Human Computer. Today it’s the turn of Raymond Loewy, who designed cars, locomotives, the logos of Shell and Exxon, the Lucky Strike package and the Air Force One livery. Reading about his long life — he died…

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