Wondering which book to read next?

Bookish can help with some great recommendations.

All you have to do is visit the website and, in the dialog box on the home page, key in the name of a book — it can be something you have read, for instance, or a book you are reading now. Automatically, you get personalised recommendations based on, according to Bookish, the insights of editors and other book experts, plus various book characteristics that include their subjects, the awards they've won, and their authors' writing styles.

For instance, when I typed "The Lowland", Jhumpa Lahiri's Booker-nominated novel, here's what Bookish came up with:

Try it out yourself. If you're a booklover, it's not only fun; it will also lead to some serendipitous discoveries.

• Bookish lets you read samples, too, and currently you can also check out the guide to the best new books expected to be launched this fall. 

• How did I happen to come upon Bookish? It was all thanks to Jeremy Greenfield's post on Forbes: "The Best Way To Find The Next Book You Want To Read". Also on Forbes: "Best-Selling Novels the Critics Hated".

• By the way, if you love to peruse book lists, A List of Books has 13 "Top 100 Books" lists combined and condensed into one master list — 623 books in all. Check it out here.

What it means to be a freelance photographer

Commits alumnus PRATIDHANI TAMANG (Class of 2012), who works as a freelance photographer in Bangalore, explains what it takes to work on one’s own terms

I have no boss. And every day is the weekend; at the same time, every day is also a workday.

That’s because I have been “job-less” — by choice — since I graduated from Commits a little over a year ago.

But not having a job to go to does not mean not having to work.

So I do work, but on my own terms. You see, I am a freelance photographer and cinematographer.

PRATIDHANI TAMANG: IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA, FOR ONCE.

The first thing I want to make clear here is that being a freelance photographer is not for everyone (as my senior, Nishal Lama, from the Class of 2008, will corroborate), so don’t splurge on that latest Canon or Nikon just yet.

The biggest problem when you work as a freelancer is that hundreds of people will appreciate your work and make business inquiries. But after you send them an estimate, they will just vanish into thin air. Out of hundreds of formal discussions, only five or so jobs will actually work out.

Also, sometimes, there is no work for long periods of time, which can be very frustrating. I think it is this fluctuation in work schedule that scares many freelancers into opting for a regular full-time job.

On the flip side, I am sometimes offered loads of work, but I feel too lazy to take it all on. There is no boss to scream at me, so why bother!

When I first started off I already had a few contacts, thanks to whom I was able to bag my initial assignments. I explored many new places and I made many new friends. That was amazing! As for making ends meet, the money is certainly coming in, though not as fast as I would like. The thing is, I have to make humongous investments in my gear: there’s always something I need to buy to upgrade my equipment, or so it seems.

But there is mostly satisfaction in being able to have a huge amount of control over the work I choose to do.

Bottom line: I love my life right now. Having said that, I know that sooner or later, like most freelancers, I will have to give up this gig and go in for a 9-to-5 (yikes!) or set up my own business (very different from hangin’ out solo). I see the latter happening, but I think there is time enough for that.

Till then, I am going to savour, and live by, Pink Floyd’s dictum: “Shine on, you crazy diamond.”

CHECK OUT PRATI'S FACEBOOK PAGE HERE.

"Talking about how busy you are has another undesired effect: It makes you seem ineffective"

Back in May I had published this quote (among others) that I had read in The Thinking Life, a thought-provoking book by P.M. Forni:

" 'I have no time,' we say, but we do, we always do. What we lack is the will or wisdom to commit our time to goals that would be smart of us to pursue. If you are really motivated to do something, you will make time for it. I am not arguing that you are not busy. Most of us are. I am simply urging you to consider that you are only as busy as you let yourself be."

I chose this particular excerpt to make the point that if we care enough about what we have to do, we will always find the time in which to do it.

The operative words are "what we have to do". And also "find the time".

Whether we are in full-time employment or in pursuit of an academic/vocational course, we may have little or no say in the nature of the tasks assigned to us. It is rare for a boss to ask you if you would like to do this or that job. And there is certainly no point in grumbling about the lack of time. When such is the case, surely it is to our advantage to tackle any assignment head-on by making the time for it and by caring enough about the outcome?

After all, if you love what you do, you get to do what you love.

Now here's another perspective on this tendency that many people have of asserting they are "busy as usual". Writing in The Week, the magazine's business editor Carmel Lobello says it is time to stop talking about how swamped you are because...

...talking about how slammed you are can actually damage your ability to connect and interact with people, which is bad for all aspects of life.

In Harvard Business Review, entrepreneur Meredith Fineman says, "To assume that being 'busy' (at this point it has totally lost its meaning) is cool, or brag-worthy, or tweetable, is ridiculous."

As my cool students would say, "True that."

Read Carmel Lobello's enlightening column in its entirety here: The worst word in business: 'Busy'.

PS: I remember that when I was working with Khaleej Times in Dubai, my colleagues would invariably respond to my friendly greeting "How are you doing?" with the retort "Surviving." But any time I was asked "How are you doing?", my response would invariably be "Thriving."

• ALSO READ: "How do you know you love your job?"

Author Mohsin Hamid on the difference between a novelist and a filmmaker

An excerpt from an engrossing book I have just finished reading:

As a novelist, I found it fascinating to watch a film being made. In many ways, Mira does what I do as a novelist — construct and painstakingly craft a story.

But she also does things I don't have to, like marshal 230 people for weeks on end. What I can do in a sentence or a paragraph, she has to build an entire set to do, and she needs carpenters, electricians and painters to do it.

I operate in a pleasant little cocoon, just me and my computer, quietly working away. She has to create this beautiful, impactful thing in complete chaos, with phones ringing, last-minute problems developing, traffic violations, electricity shortages — all kinds of crazy stuff.

I am much more appreciative now of how difficult it is to make a good film.

• Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, in his short essay in Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist: From Book to Film

To read a review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist (the book) written by Commits student Rigved Sarkar (Class of 2010) for the college newspaper, visit the Commits website: "Musings of a man changed (http://commits.edu.in/aug/six.html)".

To read a review of the film by New York Times critic Manohla Dargis, click on this link: "Dreams Are Lost in the Melting Pot". The New York Times also has an interview with Mira Nair.

• In addition, you should visit Mohsin Hamid's home page to learn more about the novelist (his latest best-seller is How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia).

How good is your grammar?

Find out by taking these interesting and instructive grammar tests:

1. From the Daily Writing Tips blog
20 Questions

2. From the Daily Telegraph (U.K.)
Good grammar test: can you pass?

3. From GrammarBook.com
Free interactive grammar quizzes 

4. From the Staples website (a quiz recommended by Commitscion Satish Perumal, Class of 2011)
Have you got a grasp of grammar?

5. Also, Grammar Monster has dozens of tests not only for grammar but also for punctuation. Check them out here.

And while you're at it, laugh your way through "19 Jokes Only Grammar Nerds Will Understand (The difference between knowing you’re shit and knowing your shit".

• Meanwhile, I am grateful to Commitscion Supriya Srivastav (Class of 2011), for posting on my Facebook wall a link to this hilarious yet very instructive "Word Crimes" video on YouTube: 

 

So, did you learn something from watching that video? I sure hope so. :-)

ADDITIONAL READING:

• "Good grammar is important for everyone, not just journalists"

• "How to avoid being a grammar goof"

• "Bad grammar, poor punctuation: a sure recipe for disaster at your workplace"

• "Everything you always wanted to know about the usage of punctuation marks (but were afraid to ask)"

MY NEW FAVOURITE NEWSPAPER

For the best news analysis; for the best Edit and Op-Ed Pages; for the best sports coverage; and, of course, for the best reading on Sundays (National Standard is the only daily in Bangalore that comes with a full-fledged free magazine on Sundays).

Thank you, Shekhar Gupta, editor in chief of The Indian Express Group, for launching National Standard in Bangalore on August 15 and making newspaper reading a pleasurable activity again.

• Also read: "Bravo, Shekhar Gupta!" and "Bravo, Viveck Goenka!"

Bravo, Viveck Goenka!

FROM VIVECK GOENKA TO INDIAN EXPRESS EMPLOYEES:

For me, the ideal business model has always been good journalism allied with a robust top and bottom line. I take pride in the fact that this company has never declared a dividend. Whatever money we make goes back into the paper and to the cause of high-quality and empowering journalism.

Bravo!

• Read Viveck Goenka's e-mail to Indian Express employees in its entirety on sans serif, the blog published by Outlook editor Krishna Prasad: "From: Viveck Goenka. To: Express employees".

To understand why this is a big deal, read the following Reading Room posts:

• "Paid news and the influence of newspaper owners"

• "In the New Yorker — "Citizens Jain: Why India's newspaper industry is thriving"

Bravo, Shekhar Gupta!

"... we never do paid news, or stretch any of the First Principles of Journalism."

 
AN EXCERPT FROM EDITOR IN CHIEF SHEKHAR GUPTA'S E-MAIL TO INDIAN EXPRESS STAFF:

We are today acknowledged to be one of the soundest news media companies within-our-size category. And no, we never do paid news, or stretch any of the First Principles of Journalism.

Never.

The truth is, it is overly simplistic to say, that we have a Chinese wall between marketing and editorial. We have never needed one. Because it is our colleagues in sales and marketing who have protected our editorial integrity with as much zeal and commitment as us journalists.

Bravo!

• Read Shekhar Gupta's e-mail to Indian Express staff in its entirety on sans serif, the blog published by Outlook editor Krishna Prasad: "Shekhar Gupta gives up charge as Express CEO".

To understand why this is a big deal, read the following Reading Room posts:

• "Paid news and the influence of newspaper owners"

• "In the New Yorker — "Citizens Jain: Why India's newspaper industry is thriving"

• ALSO READ: "Bravo, Viveck Goenka!"

Great news for media students, journalists, and newspaper readers in Bangalore:

On August 15, Indian Express launched National Standard in Bangalore:

Read all about it on sans serif, the blog published by Outlook editor Krishna Prasad: "A new paper in India’s most crowded market".

• “The new paper will be a quality paper for quality young audience, and Bangalore is that kind of a market, evident from our online market. Our largest base for online readers is in Bangalore.”
  
  ~ Shekhar Gupta on why Bangalore was chosen as the National Standard's launch-pad in the South (read Gupta's interview in Business Standard here)

• Also read: "Bravo, Shekhar Gupta!" and "Bravo, Viveck Goenka!"

WHY IS HARD WORK PITIABLE?

RUMER GODDEN

I have never understood why 'hard work' is supposed to be pitiable.

True, some work is soul destroying when it is done against the grain, but when it is part of 'making' how can you grudge it?

You get tired, of course, but the struggle, the challenge, the feeling of being extended as you never thought you could be is fulfilling and deeply, deeply satisfying.

~ RUMER GODDEN, English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books

• ALSO READ: "If you love what you do, is it 'work'?" and "How do you know you love your job?"