Sep 11 2012.
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Ashok Ferrey
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1. What's your absolute favourite book of all time? And why?
I don’t have one particular book but many: anything by RK Narayan or Graham Greene (The Comedians, Travels With My Aunt); Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh; The Prophet by Khalil Ghibran; Herman Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund; the short stories of Saki (the funniest man who ever lived!). I think what all these writers have is a combination of wit and mysticism that suits my rather jaded palate!
  .jpg) 2. As a writer, what do you additionally gain from the books you read?
You gain an insight into how other writers deal with certain technical difficulties in the writing. Of course I have to say that I consciously make an effort the first time I read a book not to look too closely at the bones beneath the flesh: if you do, it ruins the art of the book. I just make a note in the back of my mind to come back a second time round.
3. What are you currently reading?
Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Hugely interesting, because I used to be a very, very amateur long distance runner. There are certain truths that come to you when you run huge distances, when your mind is emptied, and you are a long way beyond tiredness and pain. It is interesting to have someone else confirm those truths.
.jpg) 4. What do you look for in a book when you see it on a shelf?
If a book looks interesting I take it off the shelf and open it at random to read just one page. Terrible, I know, but life is short! This makes it vital that the writing on every page should shine. If you read Freya Stark on her travels in Persia, for instance, she can write about eating a boiled egg in the most limpid and beautiful prose imaginable. A joy to read! It’s like drinking a glass of iced water.
5. What's more important in a book, the writing, the plot or the conclusion?
The writing. First, last and always!
6. A memorable book from your childhood?
Bonjours Tristesse (Hello Sadness) by Françoise Sagan
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Random House has just bought the entire back-list of Ashok's books, so Colpetty People, The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, and Serendipity will be released by them later this year. Love in the Tsunami is an anthology of short stories old and new, released by Penguin earlier this year.
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(By Dilshan Senaratne)
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