Author
Graham Greene's name registered in my mind when I read obituaries of RK
Narayan while I was in college. My room-mate had a subscription to Frontline
magazine, and they extensively covered Narayan's life and works in that issue,
including a piece by N. Ram, and how Graham Greene 'discovered' Narayan.
I am a
great fan of Pico Iyer's writing, having read two of his books and many articles.
Also, a bit jealous of the life he leads - he still doesn't carry a mobile
phone, I can't go that far but have made up my mind on not possessing a smart phone - spends his time between Kyoto
and a monastery in the west coast of US, is a friend of and have interviewed
Leonard Cohen, wrote a great travel book and found a wife in the process, as
someone remarked (The lady and the monk) - what more can you ask for!
Anyhow, on
reading about the release of his last book - The Man within My Head, subtitled
"Graham Greene, My Father and Me", I wanted to read at least a couple
of Graham Greene books. The reviews of
Iyer's book stated that you really don't have to be a Greene reader to enjoy
this book, as the book is more on Iyer's personal life, his relationship with
his father, etc. However, I thought that I would enjoy the book more if I had
some background to Greene's writing. Hence here I am with a target of finishing
3 Greene books at least - The Quiet American to start with. I am half way into
the book and I am really glad that I chose to read Greene! And I can't believe
that it was written in 1955!
Two random
quotes from The Quiet American:
I shut my eyes and she was again the same as she used to be: she was the hiss of steam, the clink of a cup, she was a certain hour of the night and the promise of rest.
‘I’m not involved. Not involved,’ I repeated. It had been an article of my creed. The human condition being what it was, let them fight, let them love, let them murder, I would not be involved. My fellow journalists call themselves correspondents; I preferred the title of reporter. I wrote what I saw. I took no action – even an opinion is a kind of action.
