17/11/2016 my favourite writers....."Fine weather we're having," said Mortimer, who was a capital conversationalist.
"Yes," said the girl. "I like fine weather." "So do I." "There's something about fine weather!" "Yes." "It's - it's - well, fine weather's so much finer than weather that isn't fine," said Mortimer. He looked at the girl a little anxiously, fearing he might be taking her out of her depth, but she seemed to have followed his train of thought perfectly. "Yes, isn't it?" she said. "It's so - so fine." "That's just what I meant," said Mortimer. "So fine. You've just hit it." He was charmed. The combination of beauty with intelligence is so rare. This is just one of the thousands of comic dialogues written by the author in his 95 books. Every time that I read his books, or excerpts from his books, I marvel at his supreme sense of humour. But at the same time I have to also admit that it is a queer ambivalence that I feel. It is a weird combination of admiration and jealousy alloyed together that runs through my mind whenever I read his stories. As a pretender in the art of writing, stumbling across gems as excerpted above can only result in undiluted jealousy. It is also a reason for much frustration considering that I shall never succeed in creating imagery, concocting hilariously funny dialogues and conjuring stunning hyperboles, regardless of however hard or long I might endeavour. It is not for nothing that PG Wodehouse is often called the greatest writer in English since Shakespeare. But for me, Wodehouse surpasses Shakespeare by a long distance. Who else - just who else - has ever had the ability to spin a yarn out of absolutely nothing? His stories did not have plots worth mentioning, were non-consequential in their outcomes, talked dramatically about servants, aunts, pigs and dimwits in the same breath and yet, kept the reader glued to the words through the sheer beauty of language. Such ability requires the mind of a genius and the pen of a master. Wodehouse was precisely this. Another author who evokes a similar (although not identical) sublime reaction in me is undoubtedly Bill Bryson. I had never heard of him until 2008, which is something that I am now rather embarrassed to reveal. In the early days of a friendship through correspondence after we had discovered that there was one string that bound us together - our mutual love for literature – a friend and I started exchanging letters on our favourite books and authors. In was during the course of one such correspondence that the friend mentioned the writings of one Bill Bryson and enquired if I might have read any of his books. I remember admitting that not only had I not read his books, I had not even heard his name! The friend suggested that I try reading Bryson for I might quite enjoy his style. I did not immediately take up on the recommendation and it wasn't until the November of 2008 when I was presented with a copy of A Walk In The Woods. That was the first Bryson book that I read and promptly became his fan. After that, of course, I read most of his other books and thoroughly enjoyed each one of them. However, A Walk In The Woods remains my favourite. It is my favourite not just because of the humorous use of language but because it talks about what is arguably the finest hiking experience in the world. Not to forget, of course, the inimitable Stephen Katz, Bryson's friend and co-hiker on the Appalachian Trail. At Home is yet another classic that talks about the few centuries of human history bottled up inside houses, rooms, constructions, articles of everyday use, etc. It is a highly informative book, quite like A Short History of Nearly Everything. The third in the haloed list of my favourite authors is Roald Dahl. I chanced upon Dahl rather by accident many years ago. One day, when I was visiting friend, I found a Dahl omnibus resting on the table in the living room of his house. He had borrowed it from one of his colleagues to read. Over the next hour that I was at his house, I sat and read some pages from the book. The book was a collection of short stories written by Roald Dahl and by the time I had got up to leave, I had decided to take the book with me. I told my friend that he could postpone reading the book because I was taking it with me. And, I took the book home. That night and over the following day, I finished reading the entire book, which was a good 600 pages, if I remember correctly. Although I had read the book, I later purchased a copy of it from Calcutta just for keeps. Dahl is a terrific author. For a writer of children's books to write such masterly adult stories is indeed a fine act. Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, The Visitor, Switcheroo, etc have a brilliant storyline and an equally brilliant endgame. Until I had read Dahl, I always held the opinion that nobody could master the craft of a twist in the tale as well as Jeffrey Archer. After reading Dahl, I quietly relegated Archer to the second position. Dahl's macabre sense of humour was something that made me both cringe and laugh at the same time. Unlike Wodehouse who had quipped that sex was too serious a subject to be dealt with trivially (and of which he did not know much), Dahl was generous in the use of sexual imagery and indeed, innuendos. My Uncle Oswald is a story that could leave the reader blushing at every page! These are some of the authors who have filled my life with numerous moments of happiness and satisfaction. I cannot imagine how much poorer my life would have been if my path had not crossed with Wodehouse, Bryson or Dahl. I wish I could write like them, but in the absence of any talent of such exalted standards, I have chosen the next best option - to be entertained by the books written by these authors. If you do decide to take up on my recommendation and read these authors, trust me your reading days will be spent well. Comments are closed.
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