I wanted to make a paella
out of the rice I specially bought for making paella more than a year ago. I
had not been feeling inspired about cooking in recent years. This afternoon
when the thought of making a paella struck, I set about making it happen. I was
glad that I did not have to drive far to get the requisite saffron and have a bit of time to hit the
independent bookstore which was located in the same shopping mall. The
bookstore owner had not seen me for a while so she said, 'Hello it has been a
long time.' I explained that I had to stop buying books as I have far too
many books at home,
unread that is .
“ Not really, I just have
too many books,” I responded.
As I was standing in the
cram space scanning quickly to see what were available , a man walked out with
a carrier bag followed by his daughter and his wife. They were looking
delightful and chattered about their find. I gather that they must be
bookish like me as only a bibliophile will understand the joy and anticipation
we feel when we pick up books that
we would devour over the weekend. I ended up picking up Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood,
an author whose books I have been meaning to read. I started on it
right away after dinner.
Published writers
constantly amaze me with their ability to describe a scene, a character and
tell stories. Due to their acute observation, they are candid in
their narration and subtle in conveying their perceptions. I
have recently read The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. It must have been the title of the book that first caught my attention. The story of The Imperfectionists is about a newspaper that
was founded in Rome in the 1950s and after over fifty years of its circulation,
the future looks bleak in light of the internet and the passing of its founder.
As the author has been a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press, his
fiction gives us some insight into journalism and an authentic
account about the workings of the newspaper.
I bought the novel
sometime ago. I ended up reading Rachman’s
second book “ The Rise and
Fall of Great Powers”click before reading his debut novel about the newsroom. Tom Rachman has
cleverly weaved together the stories of those involved in news publication against the challenges faced by the newspaper industry. There are eleven main
characters and everyone of the characters is fascinating. The author
cleverly spins a story about each of them and successfully humanize the
newpaper business with humour and wit.
About the business
reporter, Hardy Benjamin, Rachman writes,
Hardy spends her morning on the phone to London,
Paris and Frankfurt, wheedling quotes from grumpy financial analysts. “Is an
interest-rate hike imminent?’ she asks. ‘Is Brussels extending the shoe tariffs?
What about the trade imbalance?’
She is unfailingly courteous even when her
sources are not .
‘ I could call back later.’
‘I’m busy now, I’m busier later.’
‘Sorry to be annoying. Just wondering if you got
my voice mail.’
‘Yes , I know – you’re doing another China story.’
‘I’ll be quick, I swear.’
‘You know my line on China: “We should all start
learning Mandarin. Blah-blah-blah.” Can I go now?’
By midafternoon she has written a thousand words,
which is greater than the number of calories she has consumed since yesterday.
Hardy is on a diet that started, roughly, at age twelve. She’s thirty-six now
and still dreaming of butter cookies.
Tom Rachman's
style of writing is fluid. The stories are brilliantly told with charm. It
is definitely a goodread.
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