One of my fav Agatha christie book

I love Agatha Chritie. I am trying to finish her list of books .I am done with Marple and with Poirot its going on .  There are other books she has written as well like Parker Pyne and Tommy and Tuppence. But I have read some other books not involving any particular character as such to solve the murder case.

But I must say this my favorite has always been Miss Marple . They was she says "People are same everywhere" is quiet amusing. I mean her solving of the thirteen problems was very good.I just love the way she discovers here nephew's proposal during the novel. But my best of the lot is "Murder is Announced" .Now what a story it was.To even think that the a pearl choker can have so much meaning in the story is fantastic. I loved it. "Litty ,Lotty" .This is how her Charlotte's companion gets confused and my my how it effects her.

Hats off to Agatha Christie for her ingenious talent and giving us something to read for centuries because I am sure people will read it just like we read Shakespeare and Milton till date.

Thank you Agatha  ! And thank God for giving her to this world.

The Universe and us

My son who is 3 years old loves space and planets and everything related to the Universe (outside earth). And in the effort to show him more on it we have bought so many books related to it and search in the daily nespapers if anything related to it has come. He is in love with space.He has by hearted eveyrthig about the planets and what not!... Now when he sees anything spherical ..he first compares it to a planet. The comparison doesn't  stop here. He has converted my face also into a planet. My face it seems is Jupiter and a dark spot on my face the is the giant red spot on Jupiter. He even showed me a moon on my face ..yep its the great pimple.:-).Thank fully he has ignored the craters.lucky me!

But all this process of learning along with him has pushed a profound truth into my head! The truth of our smallness compared to this HUGE Universe where we  our planet belongs to one of the zilllion galaxies . What are we ? A mere particle ..not even that. Maybe a small atom  which makes up the whole universe. And yet with this smallness ,which God reminds us always,we are such proud people. In this mere 70-80 years of our lives..we hurt so many ,we hold grudge on many .Why? We betray,murder,lie and ill treat others .(We may have not done all these but some ..) .Seems very funny to me . To forgive a person we think 20 times..and to hold a grudge  not even for a second.

The Time has come for the human to grow up! To understand this smallness and become big!!

I am trying my best and yet I fail but I will keep trying  :-)

Technique as a discovery -Mark Schorer

As a part of my course I was able to read few essays ,poems and books which I wouldnt have touched otherwise.And how I thank God for it. I simply was spellbound and in awe for the great writers who could think so differently and yet make us feel "oh how right they are!,why didn't I think of this?". One such essay which had a strong impression on me was Mark Schorer's "Technique as discovery".

Mark Schorer is very clear from the begining of the article that only if we apply technique(a deliberate action ,like applying a formula) to the subject matter (any subject) of the novel ,only then it can be called art.Otherwise it is just social experience .Quoting his exact words " The difference between content, or experience, and achieved content, or art, is technique." To understand this particular sentence I took some time.I understood what he meant by this when he explains this beautifully through four novels of our past which have been famous yet have failed due to the lack of proper technique. 

I dont want to discuss what was in the article because that has been already done some zillion times.What I want to highlight is Schorer's own beautiful analytical power,his sharp eye and his ability to express his thought in such a clean and neat fashion. 

I had already read James Joyce's "A Portrait of a artist.." before reading this essay.But after reading this essay I was willing to bow to Joyce for his absolute brilliance in using technique to discover his own subject.To objectify his own life ! And I have to thank Schorer for that.

After reading this essay I realised writing is not some automatic exercise where you sit near a lake and start writing a poem.Writing is a process where we need to  apply ,deliberately, our own technique to bring out what we are trying to say.Of course there are people who probably write only for themselves (like D.H Lawrence) and never want others to understand what they are trying to say.They don't belong to this group. A writer must always understand his subject well first and then search of ways(the so called technique) to make his reader understand his subject. A tough task !! No wonder there are millions of writers and yet only few great writers !

Take a bow Mr Schorer.

Persuasion movie 1995

Ah..how I loved watching this movie and not the one made in 2007.1995 movie truly captured the spirit of the book and I think chose excellent cast to make the movie though captain Benwick seemed a bit  out of place (maybe because of his physical personality) butotherwise  is near perfect.

I have read the book many times and remember many scenes which I always imagined how they would be shot and when I saw this movie I felt "Ah that is he" (as Aristotle told in Poetics).

But I always wonder why both movies (in fact the 1971 one too) don't have the scene where Mary's naughty son hangs on to Anne and she struggles to get rid. When Captain Wentworth sees this he rescues her .Oh what a lovely scene this would have been if included in the movie!!.

Maybe a new version will include it.:-).

Now coming to the cast itself ,there is no doubt that it was Ciara Hinds who stole the show playing Wentworth to the T . Amanda Root also did justice but nobody can beat the look in Hinds eyes everytime he watches her or is around her.Makes you believe in romance and love. Perfect acting !!. Even  the gentleman who played Mr Elliot indeed did very well. His vanity is glaringly visible and yet it seems to be part of the actor itself!.Of the rest ,I feel, the lady who played Mary did very well.She matched the character of the book to almost perfection.

Wonder what Austen would 've thought if she watched this movie.:-).

I thank her for giving this century something worthwhile to read!.Thanks Jane :-)

Well bye for now