For bestselling author and external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup, reading books is like having a “leisurely seven-course meal” and the experience cannot be replicated by “fast-food” blogs.
Mr Swarup, whose debut novel Q&A was adapted into Oscar winning Hollywood movie Slumdog Millionaire, was on Sunday participating here in a discussion on Books vs Blogs on the concluding day of the fourth edition of the Delhi Literature Festival.
The 1986-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, who has penned three bestsellers, pointed out that while books have narrative, most blogs were like fast food, which he said is not necessarily healthy and most did not have a structure but just tried to make a point.
“Books have a beginning, middle and an ending. They have a plot and have to be of a certain minimum length. Books are like a leisurely seven-course meal, which is more pricey but something you can’t miss out on,” he said. The diplomat pointed out that books offered a two-way communication by way of the author writing and the reader’s imagination.
Mr Swarup did not, however, dismiss the power of blogs and the social media.
“Blogs are a medium of the 21st century. I don’t blog but I tweet on behalf of the MEA and I see the immediate response there is,” he said.
