A reader's Happy Place

THE GIRL WHO ATE BOOKS
Adventures in Reading
Nilanjana Roy
HarperCollins
355 pages; Rs 499

Contrary to first impressions, The Girl Who Ate Books is not a collection of essays about writers or their stories. It is about a deep passion for the written word and reverence for those who are involved in the craft of writing. The first section of the book, titled "Early Days", captures Nilanjana Roy's childhood where she (literally) ate books as a four year old. The food critic in Ms Roy explains, "Bengali books seldom tasted good, paperbacks were dry and crumbly, and… exercise books were watery and disappointing". The essays touch on her house and its many books and on her discoveries as a child - as she notes: "So much of childhood is a balancing act between the first, indelible rush of astonishment and discovery."

The essays include one on her travels to London "chasing" Dean Mahomet, the first Indian novelist in English. It features anecdotes of a Leaflet Boy, who welcomed her to London, and a policeman whose words became the talisman for her own writing. The essays also go back to the literary culture of a pre-lit-fest nineties' India, with anecdotes of ego clashes between writers at the Neemrana Festival, and the ceremony of book launches across Delhi.

Subsequent essays map the history of Indian writing in English and raise critical questions on the identity of the Indian writer. The works of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, V S Naipaul, Mulk Raj Anand and Salman Rushdie act as touchstones to examine the conflict between Indian narratives, colonial and postcolonial influences, and their place in the world. "English Vinglish" delves into the language wars in India (Hindi vs. English) and power equations. It navigates through the evolution of English in India, starting from Macaulay's aim to create a local English-speaking administrative class, and how a century later Dalit intellectuals "saw the potential of English as a way out of the caste labyrinth" in India, creating a temple for Angrezi Devi.

A large part of the book finds Ms Roy indulging in conversations with those who have helped create the contemporary Indian literary scene - poets, writers, editors, literary critics, publishers, book-sellers and book lovers. There are short interviews with poets Dom Moraes, Aga Shahid Ali and Kamala Das among others. The longer interviews with writers give a sense of their works, individual personalities and often address nuanced themes relevant to literary discourses.

An interview with Khushwant Singh portrays him as a writer and an individual, and also brings in Amit Chaudhuri's criticisms of Mr Singh as a literary critic, giving the reader a wider context to understand the author and his works. The interview with Arundhati Roy takes into account the criticisms levied against her, and gently nudges her to respond to them, revealing her own perceptions of her work. The essay on V S Naipaul captures the writer's eccentricities, tethering it to Patrick French's biography, and concludes "Sometimes it is best not to know too much about the writers whose works and style you admire, and yet, it is impossible to look away."

The section on "Book Love" illustrates a love for the physical book. Mapping the journey of books from the well-loved libraries of their owners to eventually being resold or given away, Ms Roy concludes "Even when you sell entire collections testifying to the curious passions of the past to a bookseller, what you hope is that something of these books, these passions, and the people who housed them for a time will endure".

An essay on the pavement booksellers tells the story of a passionate reader and a writer, whom the author once knew, who "lost his battle against the demons living in his mind." Another essay details Ms Roy's readings as a child growing up in Delhi, the shadow of the Emergency years, and the gigantic shipments of Soviet books in 1970s India.

The author also addresses the darker aspects of writing - the meaning and consequences of plagiarism. The section "Expression" has Ms Roy pondering notions of freedom of speech, creative expression, and censorship. She explains, "The limits of free expression are always under construction, not at all easy to define or police, but the foundation of free expression is the belief that everything is up for scrutiny."

The last essay of the book is a lovely conclusion to Ms Roy's adventures in reading and "Crossing Over" to becoming a writer herself. She talks about her own difficulties in this transition and explains why she keeps the signed copies of her favourite authors. "These signatures raise the bar for anyone who wants to write… But, they also remind me that of all the vocations and occupations you could choose, this is an amazing, magical tribe to want to belong to."

The book consciously focuses on Indian writing in English so it misses out on a genre that consumes a large part of our literature - Indian writing in translation. Ms Roy explains why she did not want to include book reviews. However, a few reviews of books that she considers timeless would have only added to the many layers of this collection.

Diverse, fragmented, but never staccato, the book is neatly edited and thematically organised. Some pieces are light reads (to be consumed like samosas or papri chaat, as instructed by the author) others are intricate, addressing profound ideas related to literature, writing and expression. The strength of this collection is that it is devoid of lofty literary jargon or theoretical verbosity, usually found in literary essays.

Like a large bookshelf, bursting with old books, new books, fiction, non-fiction, and more, this eclectic collection of essays is a happy place (borrowing from its blurb) for anyone who reads to live or lives to read.

Disclosure: Nilanjana Roy is a regular columnist and writer for Business Standard