Changing times, changing tales

If my idea of a perfect afternoon is mostly about visiting a far out bookstore, I soon realize that I am still not in the extreme minority of Bangalore’s population as digital book lovers would have me believe.

This weekend I headed out to Phoenix Market City and was pleasantly surprised to find its well stocked and well located bookstore fairly buzzing with people. Okay, to be fair, some of them were checking out the music (ah but here, let me stop for a minute to tell you, that there was a whole rack of vinyls on sale at this book store too. For those who remember vinyls as the LP records of old, this was like going backwards in a time machine to circa 1980. I wanted to do a small jig for the love of old times but I was in the direct vision of a stern looking store attendant and had to stop short).

Reflections apart, there I was browsing through the books and watching my shopping cart fill up with alarming rapidity when suddenly it struck me that international authors are now exploring all kinds of far out subjects in their novels now. Even my chicklit du jour is as you will soon find out, is totally different from anything I have read so far. And since books are a reflection of our times, it is quite evident that authors today are seeking to thrill, delight and shake up their audiences, instead of lulling them into the peace and sweetness of time tried romances and suchlike.

Come to think of it, finding anything to thrill us is quite a daunting task these days. Here I want to quote author Gillian Flynn in her book Gone Girl (please read this amazing, amazing book if you can) when she talks about growing up in an age of TV, movies and the Internet...
"We are the first human beings who would never see anything for the first time. We stare at the wonders of the world, dull eyed, underwhelmed. Mona Lisa, the Pyramids, the Empire State building. Jungle animals on attack, ancient icebergs collapsing, volcanoes erupting. I can't recall a single amazing thing I have seen firsthand that I didn't immediately reference to a movie or TV show...and the second-hand experience is always better. The image is crisper, the view is keener, the camera angle and the soundtrack manipulate my emotions in a way reality can't anymore." (Gillian Flynn)
Flynn goes on to write that even the way we act, react and think has been conditioned by movies and TV serials. Her unspoken question seems to be... When are people really genuine anymore?

Sorry, digressed there for a bit. The point I want to make is that as new age authors try to dish up the most outrageous plots for us in their books, I wonder what the reaction of their readers will be. Will we, a jaded, seen-it-all audience be easily impressed? I can't help thinking that this will be no cakewalk and in times to come, authors will have to work twice as hard to sell their stories.

Chicklit of the week:

A Very Accidental Love Story by Claudia Carroll

Those who are looking for pure romance should steer away from this very enjoyable book, because though there is a love story in it somewhere, it is tucked away inside a larger tale which takes up most of the story. The book is about Eloise Elliot, a newspaper editor, who on the eve of her 30th birthday realizes that she might not be getting married but she was not going to give up on motherhood, just because of this one blip in her life.

Eloise's longing for a child leads her into making one life altering decision. She goes to a sperm bank, chooses the best donor from a dossier of donor profiles and decides to undergo artificial insemination. The donor she eventually chooses is her idea of the perfect man -- musically inclined, athletic, and had even written a thesis on Ireland's economic meltdown (and therefore smart too).

Soon, Eloise gives birth to her gorgeous daughter Lily, but her problems have only begun. Managing a high powered job and motherhood singlehandedly is not easy for anyone, but soon things get worse for this young mother when Lily starts asking about 'daddy'.

So Eloise sets off on a mission to find Lily's father. It shouldn't be hard to find the perfect donor, should it? He could be a TV anchor or an executive or a man in a high powered job, if his donor profile is anything to go by.

What she hadn't reckoned with however, was that after much searching and interrogation, she would find Lily’s dad in a prison cell. How perfect is that?

Carroll's unconventional book is so well written that you will not put it down and as you go along, you begin to admire the gutsy heroine and love her far-from-perfect ‘accidental husband'. Lily is a tad too precocious but the book is so enjoyable, you don't really mind as you find yourself lost in this gripping novel with its innumerable twists and turns.

Will it all turn out fine in the end? You will have to read the book to find out the answer to that one, but then, in the world of chicklit, things are never allowed to go too wrong, are they?