Via Arul Louis and the soon-to-be-defunct Mediaah.com

Want to write fiction and get published by Penguin India? Contact Shobhaa De, Penguin's new Consulting Editor for Fiction.

If any of you out there has a hot idea to write fiction but don't know whom to approach, worry not. Bestselling writer and columnist Shobhaa De is now board Penguin India as Consulting (Fiction) Editor.

Shobhaa's mandate is to source new writers and manuscripts. There will be special emphasis to first-time authors and women's fiction. If you have an idea, or have written already, this is what you should do: please send a synopsis (ideally not more than 10 pages) or an entire chapter to her at shobhaa.de@penguin-India.com.

Erudite. Succinct. Knowledgeable. That's how I would describe Sashi Tharoor, the author of books such as the novels Riot, Show Business, and The Great Indian Novel, and nonfiction works India: From Midnight to the Millennium. His latest is a book which addresses the father of modern India. No, not the Mahatma as most of us have come to believe, but Jawaharlal Nehru.

Tharoor is also a witty orator. Not to be missed! He will read from his latest book on Saturday, January 3, 2004. The reading and discussion that will follow will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall, Harvard University. This event is sponsored by America India Foundation and the South Asian Initiative. It's co-sponsored by the South Asian Journalists Association.

If you would like to attend this event, please RSVP by e-mail to boston@aifoundation.org and include the names and affiliations of those who will attend. Please note: a few signed hard-cover copies of NEHRU will be available for purchase on the day of the event.

[Suggested donation for AIF well-wishers: $5]

Of all the populist fighters of our time, the best known, if not most colorful of personalities is … “in this corner” … [sound of drum roll] … Muhammad Ali.

Despite ailing from Parkinsons disease, Ali has managed to pack a punch in a new book, GOAT, that's just out. Like the fighter, there is nothing ordinary about this book. Like the fighter, it's larger than life. The brief on the 792-page book is that it weighs in at 75 lbs (as in “heavy”). Those with herniated disks or chronic back ache, beware.

With over 600,000 words and about 3,000 images, this is the mother of all coffee-table books. Find out how much this heavy-weight costs by reading the review. It's quite a stinger!

GOAT: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali, is in this New York Times review.

Monica Ali's Brick Lane will most likely make it under many Christmas trees this year thanks to the New York Times which just released its short list of “Best Books” for the year. The New York Times' glowing review suggests that the read is somewhat melancholic. More than a mere East versus the West sort of book, this first novel raises questions about fidelity and identity in an alien world.

One of the achievements of this deceptively sophisticated book lies in showing how that destruction could make a group of orthodox Muslims every bit as afraid as the rest of us, albeit for very different reasons.

Support Tiffinbox and buy the book from the list you see in the left column or click on the book's title above.

NYTimes reports the publication of a book by seasoned photojournalist Stanley Greene. It's a book on Chechens and their struggle for independence from Russia.

“By using his photographs to draw attention to the suffering that has marked the latest surge in Chechnya's centuries-long struggle for independence from Russia, Mr. Greene says he believes he has at last given something back.”

Eighty one images and journal entries over the period of 20 trips to Chechnya grace the book. The book is about the death and destruction of an area of the world that has received scant attention here in the US.

“Why? Why? Why am I doing this?” Mr. Greene writes in his journal on Jan. 7, 1995. Three days later, he writes: “Grozny is like visions of a Goya painting, `Disasters of War.' There are 70 or 80 corpses in the streets of Grozny. It's wet and cold and I'm here to photograph, but I can't when I see dogs eating the faces of the dead.” On Jan. 11 he asks: “Why are they bombing civilians? Can't they see what they're hitting?”

The article speaks of Greene as a young man who initially lacked focus in life. W. Eugene Smith, the father of the photo essay, apparently lit a fuse in him. It now seems more like a barn fire. Bravo!