OK, so I haven't quite reached the level of Anderson Cooper yet, but not too bad for a first attempt. I actually did my first interview - as the interviewer, rather than the interviewee. The fact that my subject was so interesting and articulate really helped - I talked with Preminda Jacob on her new book titled Celluloid Deities. Preminda is an Arts professor at my university, and when the offer came to interview her on a book that dealt with film posters in India, I jumped at it. The reason is that I used to paint film posters myself while growing up (you can see a few samples in the video).

I haven't reviewed books since the seventh grade, when we had to pick a book we'd read and comment on it. I believe I chose "Wuthering Heights" and called it "boring," whereupon my teacher advised, "Next time, don't take potshots at the classics." Perhaps that feedback permanently killed my career as a critic, because although I've given blurbs to a few novels I've loved, I've never agreed to review one. (For one thing, being a novelist myself, I'd hate to have to keep looking over my shoulder, waiting to be stabbed in print by someone I'd dissed - right now, I only have to worry about the ghost of Emily Brontë - whose book I really must read again.) I'm not going to deviate from my policy here, but I will comment on "The Hindus - An Alternative History" - a 700 + page book by Wendy Doniger that I've just finished.