<Tr> <Th> Preceded by </Th> <Td> Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> A Writer's Nightmare </Td> </Tr> <P> Talkative Man is a novel by R.K. Narayan first published in 1986 by Heinemann . The book is Narayan's 13th novel . Like his earlier novels, this one is also set in the fictional town of Malgudi . The novel is a bit short by Narayan's standards but provides the same level of enjoyment one experiences with his other writings . </P> <P> The main character is an ordinary man who is wealthy and works as a journalist . He has a regular routine in his life: post articles in the post box, have a talk with people in a tea shop, go to library and house . One day, he meets a man from an unknown land called "Timbuctoo", another of Narayan's creations, the land being similar to the US . The man seems to have come for an official duty for UN and, seeing the calmness of the place, decides to stay here for his work . There comes a twist of what is exactly the man up to and how the main character of the novel solves the problem . The story is simple, and the author honestly admits to being a short story writer, rather than a novelist as he tells; most of the people skip the intrinsic details given about the places and only catch the content (at the end of the book, his words about the story). It is a good read book and can be read for the calmness with which Narayan writes his story, as a critic rightly points out . </P>

With whom is the talkative man comparing himself