Words, Words, Words VII : Comfort Books

by Peter Scotchmer | Essays

Peter writes his seventh essay on his comfort books and a review of The Bookseller’s Tale. Picture Credit: Goodreads Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Hamlet: Words, words, words. Polonius: What is the matter, my lord? Hamlet: Between who? Polonius: I mean, the...

Life in a Pond

by Jim Sugiyama | Essays

Read Jim’s version of Walden in his meditation on the hidden Oxbow pond. You know the fable and so do I. The homely frog prince-in-waiting, pining away on his lily pad being ignored by all the beautiful princesses, until that fateful day. The moral? Maintain...

Everyone Knows Everyone in Firozsha Baag

by Aashisha Chakraborty | Essays

Revisiting a Bombay neighbourhood through Rohinton Mistry’s story collection I have a soft spot for books that engage in storytelling for the sake of it. No plot as such. Just a writer at their desk, writing about people they see through their window. The window this...

The Game That Never Happened

by Jim Sugiyama | Essays

AI says that the Leafs game in the 1960s never happened but Jim Sugiyama was there with his dad and remembers every goal. This morning I am thinking about Dad. Yes, it’s three days after official Father’s Day, but truth be told, there isn’t a day that goes by during...

Our Guest is a God – Atithi Devo Bhava

by Nigel Scotchmer | Essays

(Taittiriya Upanishad, Shikshavalli I.11.2) Great India #1 Nanda Devi from the Himalayan Writing Retreat I have just returned from nearly a month spread between Delhi and The Himalayan Writing Retreat. The first morning I woke to the screaming chirps of ten green...

Words, Words, Words VI : Watch Your Language

by Peter Scotchmer | Essays

Peter writes his sixth essay on the ‘abusage’ of language, an affliction all too rampant today. Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Hamlet: Words, words, words. Polonius: What is the matter, my lord? Hamlet: Between who? Polonius: I mean, the matter that...