Books And More

At the turn of the millennium, if 5000 copies of your book were sold, you would be a best-selling author. Then, in the next few years, the Indian publishing industry expanded by leaps and bounds. As the industry burgeoned, there was this author whose re-print runs usually exceeded 500,000. He was described by the New York Times as “the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history” and many others ascribed to him the “phenomenon” tag. The man in question, Chetan Bhagat, changed...

Books by Indophiles make for tedious reading. They are usually unreadable and insufferable. Much as they try not to, they are invariably condescending and take the reader on a journey of cultural tourism that Indian readers are never interested in. Such books need to be read only to ascertain what perception outsiders hold of India. Mark Tully is an exception. Tully is no Indophile, as we know them. He was born in India and has lived and worked here for 40 years. He is probably as Indian as any...

One would need to be blind not to notice the signs – that of the Indian publishing industry being on a roll. Every other person seems to be penning a book, and everyone seems to be buying and reading them. Newspapers every other day carry reports of one book launch or the other. To top it all, there are the literary festivals that all and sundry want to attend. Yes, the Indian publishing industry is certainly on the upswing, if one goes by sheer numbers, recession or otherwise. But then, all...