usha manohar wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

Chetan Bhagat is not a bad writer, he is loved by the younger crowds and he is smart and successful having understood what exactly they like to read. He is the typical modern day writer like it was with James Hadley Chase or Mills and Boons romantic novel writers in the west.. 

Usha, he is not a bad writer in fact, I find his concepts and ideas to be quite relevant and in keeping with the modern times, he has understood the minds of Indian youth quite well. But t is the way he writes, is what I personally do not like much. I feel that reading such books with very easy, small sentences will keep the reader exposed to a very limited vocabulary and does not let the reader to exercise his or her brains in understanding the intricacies of the English language usage that is missing in Bhagat's works. Even James Hadley Chase books, very popular they may be, give us a better understanding of the language.

Chetan Bhagat's English is what most people in India would identify with. It is only the non resident Indians who grew up and studied in Britain ,  have an excellent command over the language . The other day I happened to read what Queen Elizabeth had to say about American English..." There is no such thing as 'American English', there is English and there are mistakes " . I would agree with that because no one could speak English as well as the British do ! The highly educated classes have perfect diction,grammar, pronunciation and a very attractive manner of speaking the language . It is a pleasure listening to their conversation..

"

I agree, the it is quite delightful to listen to the Queen herself on occasions, and I love the way one of my former clients and now a dear friend speaks. Not just because of the perfect diction and grammar, but the typical sing-son manner in which most British speak with. I grew up reading P. G. Wodehouse, King Arthur and his Knights tales, Gerald Durrel, Jerome, and so many others, not to mentiuon Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is why I find it really hard to like Chetan Bhagat books. Not just foreign writers, but I also read many of Ruskin Bond books, every inch an Indian, eve though he may be born a British, Rudyard Kipling, again whom I consider to be more Indian than many others, so kind of difficult to like Bhagat when you have read so many of these celebrated story tellers!

rambabu wrote:

It's clearly understood that Chetan'S intention of writing Novels in English in such down to earth English language is more of business rather than spreading the English language. A writer , who writes in simple language will be more popular than a writer who writes in a bit hard English.

 

He did not resign his 1 crore job to spread a foreign language but make money :)

But no author perhaps has ever wrote a novel to spread the language in which he/she is writing.

This cannot be generalized. Authors with a motive to spread the language are also there. But they are less in number.

rambabu wrote:

This cannot be generalized. Authors with a motive to spread the language are also there. But they are less in number.

Do give an example, I would like read a few such books!

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Honestly speaking I am not a great novel reader. I love to read articles, short stories and poems. My 14 year old son is a voracious reader and I have noticed that he is fond of Amish Tripathy whose genre is mythology. As we all know, presently, Chetan Bhagat is a very popular novelist who writes in a very casual English. Those who love the English language, they are not fond of Bhagat's English.  

I want to read Amish Tripathy's Shiva trilogy books, I have heard that they are quite good. I am very much surprised and pleased to know that your 14-year-old son has reached the stage where he is reading those books, as some of the adults have found it a little hard to understand them. I personally too am not really fond of Chetan Bhagat's style of writing, although his ideas behind each of his books are good.

Kalyani, His school and being parents we encouraged him to read books and now, he is a bookworm. He has finished series after series of many authors. He is extremely fond of Greek and Roman mythologies. Amish Tripathy's Scion of Ikshivaku is another favourite of his other than the Shiva Triology. Well, books of Chetan Bhagat, I personally feel is not of his age and even he shows no interest in reading his books. He loves to read detective books also such as Sherlock Homes, Agatha Christie and translated works of Satyajit Ray.

THat is really great Shampa! Nowadays most parents complain their children don't read books but they themselves don't take much efforts to inculcate reading habits in the children. LIke you, I too have encouraged and motivated my son a great deal and at 8, he is already reading more books than a 10-year-old kid. Just yesterday, we got his report card and teh teacher's remark says it all, "Adroit Arnav is a voracious reader and an ocean of knowledge at such a young age" My day was made simply reading that!

Right now, he is reading more of Asterix and Obelix and has become a great fan of Julius Caesar and reads up on everything he can find out about him. Do recommend me some good books on Roman and Greek mythology since your son is reading those books. I am sure its a good sign yor son is refusing to read Chetan Bhagat books, no offense intended to Chetan Bhagat fans of course, it is my personal opinion. You should now introduce him to classics such as Jules Vernes adventures, he will love them!

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. He reads classics too but he has not read the one you suggested. My son is popular in school because of his reading habit and his librarians too try to give him books even on the days when it's not his turn. Now, he is in school so later I will let you know the names of the books you wanted to know.

Though reading habit is good, it becomes a problem when the child fails to restrain himself for his regular studies. I have to always restrict him because he fails to control his temptation of reading storybooks. 

True Shampa, restraint from reading books when they should be playing or doing some other thing does become a problem at times, but can be dealt with by remaining firm and insisting on some proper play time and study time etc.

I am sure he will love Jules Verne adventures, you may have heard of them such as Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Centre of the Earth etc. which have also been adapted rather nicely into films.

Kalyani, I conveyed your suggestion to my son and the response I received from him is that he is in search of those books but they are not available in his school library. So, I have to arrange them for him. He loves to read Shakespeare as well as Roald Dahl. Well, he has read the abridged version of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in prose form. As you wanted to know the names of some books, my son told me about the Percy Jackson books based on Greek mythology written by Rick Riordan.  

 

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

rambabu wrote:

This cannot be generalized. Authors with a motive to spread the language are also there. But they are less in number.

Do give an example, I would like read a few such books!

 

The Book is written by Md. Hashim in 4 parts. This book is published only with an intention of spreading the importance of English language. The Author has included etymology and origin of words, some Sanskrit words which became a part of English, Idioms etc in this Book. Long ago someone has presented it to me. The first page of the Book was torn. I thought of giving you at least the Publisher's name so that you can try to get the book from   a local Book seller.The Book's name is "English is an interesting language".

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

Chetan Bhagat is not a bad writer, he is loved by the younger crowds and he is smart and successful having understood what exactly they like to read. He is the typical modern day writer like it was with James Hadley Chase or Mills and Boons romantic novel writers in the west..

You are right that Chetan Bhagat has read the mind of the youths very well. He believes in being saleable author so has opted that very writing skill. His work can be easily made into films and certainly it's profitable.

Films also made on novels of Gulshan Nanda, but he was never accepted as great writer. Kati Patang, Naya Zamana and some more. 

 

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Shampa Sadhya wrote:

Honestly speaking I am not a great novel reader. I love to read articles, short stories and poems. My 14 year old son is a voracious reader and I have noticed that he is fond of Amish Tripathy whose genre is mythology. As we all know, presently, Chetan Bhagat is a very popular novelist who writes in a very casual English. Those who love the English language, they are not fond of Bhagat's English.  

I want to read Amish Tripathy's Shiva trilogy books, I have heard that they are quite good. I am very much surprised and pleased to know that your 14-year-old son has reached the stage where he is reading those books, as some of the adults have found it a little hard to understand them. I personally too am not really fond of Chetan Bhagat's style of writing, although his ideas behind each of his books are good.

Kalyani, His school and being parents we encouraged him to read books and now, he is a bookworm. He has finished series after series of many authors. He is extremely fond of Greek and Roman mythologies. Amish Tripathy's Scion of Ikshivaku is another favourite of his other than the Shiva Triology. Well, books of Chetan Bhagat, I personally feel is not of his age and even he shows no interest in reading his books. He loves to read detective books also such as Sherlock Homes, Agatha Christie and translated works of Satyajit Ray.

THat is really great Shampa! Nowadays most parents complain their children don't read books but they themselves don't take much efforts to inculcate reading habits in the children. LIke you, I too have encouraged and motivated my son a great deal and at 8, he is already reading more books than a 10-year-old kid. Just yesterday, we got his report card and teh teacher's remark says it all, "Adroit Arnav is a voracious reader and an ocean of knowledge at such a young age" My day was made simply reading that!

Right now, he is reading more of Asterix and Obelix and has become a great fan of Julius Caesar and reads up on everything he can find out about him. Do recommend me some good books on Roman and Greek mythology since your son is reading those books. I am sure its a good sign yor son is refusing to read Chetan Bhagat books, no offense intended to Chetan Bhagat fans of course, it is my personal opinion. You should now introduce him to classics such as Jules Vernes adventures, he will love them!

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. He reads classics too but he has not read the one you suggested. My son is popular in school because of his reading habit and his librarians too try to give him books even on the days when it's not his turn. Now, he is in school so later I will let you know the names of the books you wanted to know.

Though reading habit is good, it becomes a problem when the child fails to restrain himself for his regular studies. I have to always restrict him because he fails to control his temptation of reading storybooks. 

True Shampa, restraint from reading books when they should be playing or doing some other thing does become a problem at times, but can be dealt with by remaining firm and insisting on some proper play time and study time etc.

I am sure he will love Jules Verne adventures, you may have heard of them such as Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Centre of the Earth etc. which have also been adapted rather nicely into films.

Kalyani, I conveyed your suggestion to my son and the response I received from him is that he is in search of those books but they are not available in his school library. So, I have to arrange them for him. He loves to read Shakespeare as well as Roald Dahl. Well, he has read the abridged version of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey in prose form. As you wanted to know the names of some books, my son told me about the Percy Jackson books based on Greek mythology written by Rick Riordan.  

 

Ah yes, Percy Jackson series, my son has been asking me for those books but I was not sure until now whether he would be able to understand them at his age. A couple of his older friends have read them and so my son is asking for them. I suggest you buy Jules Verne books, they are worth collecting for ever. If he is interested in animals, you could also get him a few of Gerald Durrell books such as 'My Family and Animals', "The Corfu Trilogy" etc. They are extremely delightful and funny, a chronicle of his days of growing up with his large family and the ever-expanding collection of animals in his family he and others kept bringing home. Really humorous and funny, you would enjoy those books too.

Surprising that there are no books by Indian authors like Panchtantra Tales etc being recommended. They will give an Indian viewpoint.