It's really nice to see Preeta Samarasan interviewed by Masami Mustaza in today's Malay Mail ... but what an embarrassment that the headline in the print version screams :
Cameron Highlands Native has a Story to Tellthough it looks as though the online version (which will be up in a few hours) has put things right.
A related question. (Warning - Rant coming up.) Is Malaysia the only country where journalists interviewing authors feel they really don't need to read the book beforehand? I hear this over and over from authors, both local and visiting from overseas. Sometimes there is a legitimate excuse (your editor only gave you a day's notice beforehand - and yes, this has happened to me) but mostly it's a lack of professionalism in the industry as a whole.
Talking of the Malay Mail, I missed blogging about Mr. Raman's very interesting column Why I Read Fiction.
Ever heard a novel compared to a durian before? The comparison though is wonderfully apt :
I have come full circle and read mostly fiction now. Oh, there are the bummers, of course, and often all that pandering, stereotyping, clichés and bad writing gets to me such that I sometimes seriously want to tell the author never to write again. Still, I persist. It is like going through a basket of durians: you are pushed on by a memory of a really good fruit you once ate; you want to rediscover it, you want to feel again that creamy texture, you want to experience that divine bitter sweet taste once more. So, you are willing to go through an entire basket, through a lot of poor ones, average ones, okay ones, good ones before you finally get to that great one. Yes!
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