Transplanted Author Finds Roots in Writing : NPR

In all her work, acclaimed author Jhumpa Lahiri has focused on the lives and struggles of Bengali-Americans. Her stories are about strangers in a strange land, trying to fit in.

Cultural Chasms in Lahiri’s ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ : NPR: “Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth, a new collection of short stories that chronicles the cultural alienation that exists between Indian-born parents and their American-born children.

Lahiri is the author of The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies, for which she was awarded the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.”

New Islamic Directions - Imam Zaid Shakir on NYT Book Review feature on “Islam”

Blogged with Flock

Marginal Revolution: Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Poor

…in [south Chicago], as in so many American ghettos,
confronting the local gang requires wading through some very murky
waters.  This community is in many ways held together by a
prevasive underground economy, and here, in the gray areas of ethics
and legality, gang members and residents are inextricably linked. 
In practice, many residents might have no direct involvement in shady
trading.  However…the underground economy manages to touch all
households, whether as a direct source of income, as a place to acquire
cheap goods and services, or as a part of the public theater. 
Thus, it is not easy to separate the innocent from the perpetrator…

That is from Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor.  You may recall, he is the guy who helped Steve Levitt crack the finances of a drug gang; here is a home page for him.

This book treats crime, gangs, poverty, micro-finance, the
foundations of cooperative behavior, urban economics, Jane Jacobs, what
the police maximize, and why so many barbershops rent out their back
rooms to prostitutes, all rolled into one fascinating and profound
volume.

So far this year Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling On Happiness and David Warsh’s Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations are the only non-fiction books I have urged you to buy.  This book joins that list.  Very highly recommended, and Steve Levitt loves it too.

Interview with the Editor/Publisher of Islamica Magazine 9-03-06 - Google Video

Ray Hanania interviews Salahuddin Khan, publisher, and Firas Ahmad senior editor of Islamica Magazine. A retaping of an earlier edition … all » that had sound problems. Ahmad and Khan discuss the history of Islamica Magazine, its future plans for expansion from a quarterly magazine to eventually a monthly publication, content, focus, niche and purpose.

Conquistadors’ women pardoned in paperback | News | Guardian Unlimited Books

For centuries both women have been reviled as collaborators in Spanish conquests of the new world that verged on genocide. La Malinche was an Aztec turncoat who helped Hernán Cortés conquer Mexico; Inés Suárez was a Spanish seamstress who joined another conquistador, Pedro de Valdivia, in slaughtering the inhabitants of Chile.

Now two of Latin America’s female literary giants, Laura Esquivel and Isabel Allende, have come to the rescue by writing novels casting them as misunderstood heroines who could be role models for today’s women.

Guardian Unlimited Books | Special Reports | Unfinished Tolkien tale completed by his son

An unfinished tale abandoned by JRR Tolkien in 1918 has been completed by his son and will be published next spring, it was announced yesterday.

Memories in Translation - Denys Johnson-Davies

Memories in Translation is a very casual memoir, focussed mainly on Johnson-Davies’ work as a translator of Arabic literature — a small (though very significant) part of what appears to have been a very unusual life. Johnson-Davies begins by recounting how he came to study Arabic — an unlikely chain of events that included leaving boarding school at age fourteen because they wouldn’t let him play squash. And Arabic was an odd choice for someone who wasn’t particularly fond of Latin and Greek, but that’s what he wound up studying at Cambridge…..

Always Greener: Günter Grass Discusses His SS Past - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

In a public reading of his controversial autobiography, Günter Grass talked for the first time in front of a live audience about why he took so long to reveal serving in the SS. But are we any the wiser?

W. B. Yeats: The Four Ages of Man

He with body waged a fight,
But body won; it walks upright.

Then he struggled with he heart;
Innocence and peace depart.

Then he struggled with the mind;
His proud heart he left behind.

Now his wars on God begin;
At stroke of midnight God shall win.

284. Human Seasons. J. Keats. The Golden Treasury

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | New research indicates Johnson gave up on his dictionary

Leading expert claims that Dr Johnson abandoned his dictionary for several years - without telling his publishers

Guardian Unlimited Books | Special Reports | Authors beg Rowling: don’t kill Harry

The author of The Shining and Misery is not generally known for his sentimental streak, but last night Stephen King joined with fellow author John Irving in a plea to JK Rowling not to kill off Harry Potter in the seventh and final book of her bestselling series. “My fingers are crossed for Harry,” said Irving.

Minor Wisdom: Don’t trust the non-musical

I like this quotation by William Shakespeare (the Free Dictionary quotation du jour):

The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.

The motions of his spirit are dull as night,

And his affections dark as Erebus.

Let no such man be trusted.

The Merchant of Venice V, i, 83-85.

TNPC Blog » Blog Archive » How To Read A Book - Mortimer J. Adler

I recently found myself discussing and recommending How to Read
A Book by Mortimer Adler. [Faraz: Me too.] I keep coming back to that book since
it had a such a large impact on my life. In a nutshell the book
shows you how to read a book and extract the meaning inside of
it. Obviously, this doesn’t have to apply only to books. The
techniques work just as well with all forms of communication.