Saying it in Spanish

Spanish language rights for A Breath of Fresh Air were recently bought by Random House Mondadori. This pleases me no end because A Breath of Fresh Air, my first book came out all the way in 2002.

In other book news, Publisher's Weekly gave a rather disappointing review for The Sound of Language. They thought I had good intentions but didn't deliver. I was quite upset initially, but then I looked back and realized that PW has never given me a good review and in the middle didn't even review a book or two. Conclusion: I have bad karma when it comes to PW.

So now I'm awaiting the other trade media reviews in dread. What if they're all bad? What if no one likes the book? What if...? According to my husband, since the book has already sold in Denmark and Holland, I shouldn't be so pessimistic. But what does he know?

I used to think this self-doubt, this uncertainity was just me, other authors were way more confident and chilled out about their careers. One of my favorite blogs to read is the one by Tess Gerritsen at www.tessgerritsen.com/blog/ and she puts my mind to ease that all writers are slightly nuts and I can forget about ever getting over my anxiety during book release time.

What ails the short story?

Stephen King has written an excellent piece about what is wrong with short stories today in the New York Times. According to him the problem with short stories is that they're written for writers and teachers and not the reader. I tend to agree with him.

I used to read short stories but lately, I don't pick them up that much. I find most of them snobbish and I miss the punch line. Some of my favorite short story writers are H.H. Munro (aka Saki), Chitra Divakaruni (I don't like her long fiction much, but she writes kick ass short stories), Anton Chekov (I fell in love with him after reading The Grasshopper), and Dorothy Allison (and that's because I like everything she writes).

My favorite short story of all time is The Open Window by HH Munro and you can read it here.

Do you read short stories? What do you like most about them?

Musings about King Khan and why Indians love their movies

Like all Indians born and raised in India, I have a special place in my heart for Bollywood. In India, movies are like religion. Songs from movies can even become the national theme.

In all my books, there will be some talk about Indian movies. How can there not be? I cannot write about a credible Indian from India who wouldn't talk about Indian cinema. I mean, even the snobs, the Indians who only watch art films from Bulgaria and West Bengal have their Hindi movie favorites.

The New York Times has reviewed a biography of Shahrukh Khan or King Khan as he's known in my country. I am stunned that this book got reviewed in The New York Times. I mean, first, it's about Bollywood (not intellectutally lofty enough) and then it's about an actor who is really not a good actor but because of sheer luck and mindnumbing hard work has made it to the top of his game. None of this I thought would take this book beyond being a bestseller in India.

So I am very pleased that this book was reviewed by the top American book reviewer.

I am also pleased that the Western world is noticing Indian cinema and Indian actors (I say Aishwarya Rai hit some top 50 beautiful people list from E!). Sure, you can laugh about people dancing around trees (they actually don't do that anymore; our songs are more like MTV videos now) but Indian movies have heart, and they entertain the masses, in great numbers. These movies cater to the lowest denominator but don’t alienate the others. There is something about Indian cinema and in my opinion, it just rocks.

Most people will talk about Bend it Like Beckham, The Namesake, and Bride and Prejudice when they talk about Indian movies, but these are not Indian movies. These are Western movies about India and Indians. Indian movies, pukka Indian movies are different - they probably cannot be enjoyed by a foreign audience (my husband has tried and failed; and he can watch Vin Diesel in XXX).

Indian cinema is in my blood. There are days when I just need to watch a Hindi or Telugu movies; or even an excerpt (thank you YouTube). These are the times I realize that I am veddy veddy Indian.