TAKING THE A OUT OF....

Anonymous is actor Hugh Grant. Forget the music, it's going to be lyrics all the way. He's working on a "dark" and "disturbing" novel. Something, which upon completion will be submitted to book editors without his name.

Why? Because if he could simply sell it based on his celebrity, Grant would perhaps never know his literary worth.

Yes, I do like to be surprised, but given this confessional, I'm left wondering how much of it will be a total shocker, if and when the book is out.

It's almost like the norm of reading from books in progress. Passages, characters, entire chapters make it to readings these days, sometimes weeks, months before the book is out, killing all the elements of what could be an enticing read even before the story has begun.

Anita Desai has said she could never do it. "Somehow, sharing something so intimate before the work is completed, would break it for more," she'd said at her session at Ubud. Her daughter Kiran too was uncomfortable about sharing her book before it was completed.

It's a response that has intrigued me. And whenever, I get an opportunity to speak to authors I always ask them - how much would you share? Not surprisingly, before the book is out, the best ones give very little away. After that, if the book is good, it does its own talking.