April 15, 2012
The Real Cool Killers

A hardboiled detective novel published in 1959, I read this book a while ago but loved it. Its been controversial because of the depiction of African Americans in the book and for the corruption and violence. There’s no mistaking Himes’ voice or the actin of these novels and they represent a moment in time … worth a read. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Cool_Killers

Here’s some background on the novelist, Chester Himes:

http://aalbc.com/authors/chesterhimes.htm

Other books by Chester Himes

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=chester+himes

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Filed under: books Literature 
April 15, 2012
Huzzah! There’s a new Roberto Bolaño short story, “Scholars of Sodom,” in the New York Review of Books:  It’s 1972 and I can see V.S. Naipaul strolling through the streets of Buenos Aires. Well, sometimes he’s strolling, but sometimes, when he’s on his way to meetings or keeping appointments, his gait is quick and his eyes take in only what he needs to see in order to reach his destination with a minimum of bother, whether it’s a private dwelling or, more often, a restaurant or a café, since many of those who’ve agreed to meet him have chosen a public place, as if they were intimidated by this peculiar Englishman, or as if they’d been disconcerted by the author ofMiguel Street and A House for Mr. Biswas when they met him in the flesh and had thought: Well, I didn’t think it would be like this, or: This isn’t the man I’d imagined, or: Nobody told me. (Read the rest here.) fsgbooks:

Huzzah! There’s a new Roberto Bolaño short story, “Scholars of Sodom,” in the New York Review of Books: 

It’s 1972 and I can see V.S. Naipaul strolling through the streets of Buenos Aires. Well, sometimes he’s strolling, but sometimes, when he’s on his way to meetings or keeping appointments, his gait is quick and his eyes take in only what he needs to see in order to reach his destination with a minimum of bother, whether it’s a private dwelling or, more often, a restaurant or a café, since many of those who’ve agreed to meet him have chosen a public place, as if they were intimidated by this peculiar Englishman, or as if they’d been disconcerted by the author ofMiguel Street and A House for Mr. Biswas when they met him in the flesh and had thought: Well, I didn’t think it would be like this, or: This isn’t the man I’d imagined, or: Nobody told me.

(Read the rest here.)

fsgbooks:

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(Notes: 17)
  
Filed under: Books Short stories Literature 
April 11, 2012
BOOK RIOT: The List List #1

Boy does the internet like a list. And boy, does the bookish internet love a book list. Here’s a round-up of recent books lists that caught our attention.

At Elle, 10 Books Taboo for Their Time

At Cracked, 6 Popular Children’s Books That Teach Kids Horrible Lessons

At The Guardian,

bookriot:

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(Notes: 95)
  
Filed under: Books Literature Lists 
April 11, 2012
Conhecimento.  repositando:

Conhecimento. 

repositando:

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(Notes: 9)
  
Filed under: Books 
April 5, 2012
If you haven’t read this ….

One of my favorite current events books is actually several years old but I was telling a friend about it recently and thought I’d mention it here. 

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (of McSweeney’s fame) is the story of a Syrian American Muslim who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. He stayed behind in the city when most people fled and according to his own account and that of others, spent several days after the levees broke paddling around in a canoe and helping others caught by the floods. He was wrongly arrested and jailed -  without charge because of his ethnicity….

There are some criticisms of the book which I won’t go into but I would recommend it. The non fiction story is amazing and the book itself well written.

Here are some links for more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitoun_(book)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/11/dave-eggers-zeitoun-hurricane-katrina

http://www.zeitounfoundation.org/

I won’t comment on the recent reports of domestic abuse other than to say that books never tell the whole story … people are real and they often fail to live up to our images of them. 

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/zeitoun-domestic-battery-792315

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Filed under: Books Syria Hurricane Katrina McSweeney's 
March 21, 2012
selenographics: Mermaids only come ashore for the books~I work at a library, so it’s only natural that I often end up doing book related doodles. And mermaids are awesome!

selenographics:

Mermaids only come ashore for the books
~I work at a library, so it’s only natural that I often end up doing book related doodles. And mermaids are awesome!

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(Notes: 344)
  
Filed under: Art Books 
February 13, 2012
Rereading: The books of my past

As an avid reader I’ve plowed through thousands of books in my lifetime. Recently, I’ve realized that some of the most influential and important books that I’ve read - the ones that greatly influenced me - no longer resonate the way they did the first time I read them. 

For instance, I read Satanic Verses when I was 17/18. At the time I had never even heard of Islam (thanks Alabama public schools!) and though I knew a controversy surrounded the book, I didn’t get it or the satire. So I decided to read Karen Armstrong’s Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet as a companion book in order to understand exactly what Rushdie was mocking (the two work incredibly well together … ). Those two books greatly affected me and led me to choose to study Arab/Islamic culture/politics/language/etc. Which in turn led to  my career path. 

But last year when I tried to reread Rushdie’s seminal work, it completely fell flat. I still found the language interesting but overall the book left me bored. (note that I’m a huge fan of Rushdie and have read Grimus and the Moor’s Last Sigh several times…)

A similar thing happened when I reread Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I was a huge Hardy fan as a teenager. I even read his poetry - which is what they use to punish sinners in Limbo. I loved the story of Jude when I first read it as a teen, thinking how cruel the world can be. But when I reread it as an adult, I found myself thinking how Jude and Sue brought most of their troubles onto themselves and how their selfishness led to the unspeakable tragedy at the end (I’ll not give details so as not to spoil it for those who’ve not read it yet…). I still enjoyed the second read but the book definitely left me with a completely different impression from the ideas I’d formed as a teen. 

I’ve realized that literature isn’t immutable but also changes as we change. This has been a disturbing realization. These books are like old friends, reliable and important pieces of my history. But now I see that my interpretation and understanding of a plot, character or motives changes as I grow and change. 

As a consequence I’ve decided to reread all of the books that I love (or think I love). Here’s a starting list …

Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Grendel by John Gardner
A Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Water Music by TC Boyle
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco 


P.S. There have been a few books that I’ve read and reread and still love without reserve. Here’s a short list:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Son of the Circus by John Irving
Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
The Things They Carried by by Tim O’Brien 
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Grimus by Salman Rushdie
Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice 

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Filed under: Books 
February 13, 2012
Your Guide to Literary Tumblrs

From the Millions, a list of literary Tumblr blogs of all shapes, sizes and content. 

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Filed under: Books 
August 16, 2011
Electronic Enlightenment

 Electronic Enlightenment

With 58,776 letters and documents and 7,114 correspondents as of March 2011, EE is the most wide-ranging online collection of edited correspondence of the early modern period, linking people across Europe, the Americas and Asia from the early 17th to the mid-19th century.

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(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Writing Books Culture 
August 16, 2011
Arabic Graffiti: An Eastern Voice in the Global Street Art Dialogue by Maria Popova

A very cool book about Arabic graffiti in urban settings. I want this book!

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(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: Arabic Books 
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