Book Giveaway: Stilettos in the Newsroom by Rashmi Kumar

Here is your chance to win one of 3 author-signed copies of Stilettos in the Newsroom, by Rashmi Kumar. This is a great book on the struggles faced by a woman in the cut-throat industry of journalism and is about her struggles in love, life and work. If you want to know more, read my review of the book here.

Update: Due to the response, the author is offering not 1 but 3 copies of the book! Come and apply!

Entering this contest is really simple. Just write here below the answers to the following simple questions: 

1) Which is the book you're reading right now? 

2) Which is your favorite book and why? 

3) Which is your favorite catch-phrase from a book? 

(Curious about the questions? Rashmi Kumar and In My Bookshelves love to promote the reading and sharing of your favorite books.)

New update: If you would prefer to be more private, email me your answers at sakhisshah[at]gmail[dot]com (replace the [at] and [dot] with the respective symbols.)

Also leave your name and your email address and you might win a copy of this great book! So come on in and join the fun! 

Also, if you want to ask author Rashmi Kumar a question, about her books or just about anything else, do post below in the comments! 

Contest Deadline: 31st May. Winners will be announced soon after and notified by email! 

Interview: Rashmi Kumar

And today I have on my blog Rashmi Kumar, author of "Stilettos in the Newsroom" reviewed by me here not so long ago. Welcome, Rashmi! 

1. I'd like to begin this interview by asking you what kind of books are there on your bookshelf? What books are you reading right now? Which genre of books do you generally read? Which books do you re-read again and again?

 I am actually surrounded by fiction. I am a huge fan of work of fiction and that's precisely what you'd find on my bookshelf! Currently I am reading Gregory David Robert's Shantaram.  There was a time when I had started reading too many contemporary Indian authors, while that tired me soon, I decided to change my taste to books which have been popular but I could never come around to reading them,Shantaram being one of them. While I have re-read  Marquez's novella Memories of My Melancholy Whores over and over again, I was also fascinated by Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Now I definitely plan to re-read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. There is no particular reason why I have re-read these books but guess, somewhere they've connected too closely to my heart.        

2. Tell us something about your work before "Stilettos in the Newsroom"?

Interestingly, the manuscript for Stilettos in the Newsroom is technically not the first one I wrote, but it definitely is my first official book. Some 8-9 years back, I'd completed a story but when I read it again (after many years!!) I  found it extremely boring, full of flaws and totally unfit for anyone to read so I decided to dump the manuscript and work on something new, that's how Stilettos... came along. 

3. Did you always want to be a writer? How did you get into writing? What inspired you to write "Stilettos in the Newsroom"?

Well, I always knew I had to do something with writing but wasn't sure what. There was a time when I considered joining an ad agency, but eventually ended up being a journalist. So, writing was not by default, it was a conscious decision to make a career out of it. Creative writing however, happened when a friend coaxed me into writing the first manuscript. I was too under confident to  believe that I could ever be a writer because when you say the word author, you think of someone  who belongs to a different league altogether. 

As to what inspired to me write Stilettos... Other than being a journalist, I have also been a great observer. I love to observe things so deeply that at times I surprise myself for staring at a thing too hard or thinking about a subject too deep! So I had a raging desire to share my observations about a newsroom and its myriad journalists with everyone.

4. What kind of people do you think this book will reach out to?

I thought the book would have struck a good cord with people of all age groups, but over the months, I realised that it is somehow more popular among youth. It could possibly be due to the language, and many young characters in the book. But, interestingly it has been received too well even by those who do not come from the journalistic fraternity. 

5. What is your favourite thing about books and reading? How have books made an impact on your life?

Favourite thing about books is that it makes you look so intelligent, so intellectual, so well-informed :) But on a more serious note, books can play an important role in your life only when you seriously read them and imbibe them in your life. 

Any person can be impacted by books, that's why we all call them our best friends. Had it not been for my reading, I wouldn't have been able to write. You can never be a good writer, if you don't read enough, and the right kind of literature that helps you enhance your language, thoughts and personality!

6. Quick take. Answer the following with the first words/phrase that comes to your mind, in five words or less:

- Journalism – Be tough to survive it.

- Life – Live to the fullest.

-  Struggles in love – I've had too many :)

  

- Radhika (the character) – Beautiful and strong.

- Books – Precious.

Stilettos in the Newsroom by Rashmi Kumar

Stilettos in the Newsroom is an important glimpse into the journalism industry.

Its written from the perspective of a female journalist in what seems to be highly autobiographical (or perhaps that is just the way the book is written?) and tells you about the struggles that Radhika will face as she enters the tough and demanding world of journalism - office politics, power struggles, sullen bosses, back-stabbing friends, mismatches between the picture and the caption, relationship problems and a great deal of craziness - with people inside and outside the industry. It seems to be written without any pretense, there is a lot of stuff in it that is controversial - like relationships between the Press members and the people they interview, or relationships with bosses in order to get better stories. Moreover, Radhika is ambitious enough in this book to be doing just about anything to get what she wants - a big plus.

The characters in this book, aside from the main character, are according to me a little under-developed. I can hardly keep the names and places straight, most people just become one single character trait and quite a few of them don't appear very often. Even Radhika's love interest, Sameer, is a rushed character who doesnt get the screen space he deserves - after reading this book, I have trouble with knowing anything about him other than the fact that "he was a nice guy." I also failed to understand the motivations or why some of them acted the way they did, but perhaps this is a personal thing. This is one of the things I didnt particularly like about the book.

However, there were a lot of things that I did like a lot about the book. I like the 'chat-with-the-reader' style the book is written in - its a simple, fast, entertaining read and I appreciate that. I really like the 'journalism tip' of the day at the end of each chapter - its a nice conclusion to each event, some of it is hilarious, and a lot of the tips arent just limited to journalism but are rather applicable to everyone's lives. I also enjoyed how the author describes various facets of the journalism industry, they are fascinating, especially since I've never read anything in a similar vein (though perhaps I should). The book is humorous at parts, touchy at parts, and written in a no-nonsense way that makes the humor more try and the emotion less tacky, which I appreciate.

Final thoughts: An interesting book on a young's journalists struggles. Worth a read for sure.

(Come back soon to catch my interview with author Rashmi Kumar.)

Other thoughts: This is my third book for the Book Readers Challenge 2011!  Come join us, and discover a new genre...or just get an excuse to read a lot.

(Financial disclosure: Book source was the author.)