Books To Jump Up and Down Over
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Rushdie, Salman Archive
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The Bat Segundo Show: Deborah Scroggins
Posted on February 3, 2012 | No CommentsIn this 35 minute radio interview, journalist Deborah Scroggins discusses her book Wanted Women, ongoing perceptions about Islam, Aafia Siddiqui and American/Pakistani relations, the Jaipur Literature Festival, and why so many intellectual figures believe in Ayaan Hirsi Ali. -
Midnight’s Children (Modern Library #90)
Posted on July 4, 2011 | 1 CommentIn the next installment in the Modern Library Reading Challenge, we tackle Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children! -
The Follies of Emotional Expression
Posted on September 18, 2009 | 4 CommentsITEM: September 1, 2009. A YouTube video surfaces. In the video, Van Jones calls Congressional Republicans “assholes.” The video is from an event in February 11, 2009. Jones was appointed... -
Demand Curry Accountability from John Sutherland!
Posted on September 9, 2008 | 1 CommentDespite John Sutherland’s previous pledge that he would curry and eat his proof copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence if the book did not win the Booker Prize,... -
Booker Shortlist Announced, John Sutherland Dinner Date In Works?
Posted on September 9, 2008 | No CommentsThis year’s Man Booker Prize shortlist has been announced, and Rushdie is not on it. What this means is that John Sutherland, who promised that he would curry and eat... -
Stanley Fish, Sherry Jones, and the Free Market Apparatchiks
Posted on August 25, 2008 | 5 CommentsI am certainly not a fan of Salman Rushdie’s limitless capacity for self-promotion, but I am even less enamored of smug academics who wish to split hairs over the term... -
Reason #482 Why Salman Rushdie is a Colossal Douchebag
Posted on July 4, 2008 | 5 CommentsLos Angeles Times: “It was as a puckish media figure rather than as that ‘employee’ that he attended Vanity Fair’s post-Oscar party and met Robert Altman — one of Rushdie’s... -
The Queen Ends Her Short-Lived Career as Marriage Counselor
Posted on July 2, 2007 | 1 CommentIt’s pretty despicable of me to resort to literary gossip for a news item, but I think that it now goes without saying that being knighted cannot save your marriage. -
AUTHORS: Do You Have What It Takes?
Posted on May 24, 2007 | 3 CommentsIt’s the ultimate reality series, the ultimate game show and the ultimate half-hour of intriguing storylines. The Ultimate Author is an awesome television program packed with entertaining, engaging and interesting... -
Clowing Around with Slim Returns
Posted on December 7, 2005 | 12 CommentsAs the Literary Saloon points out, Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown has sold only 26,000 copies, despite a massive publicity blitz. M.A.O. suggests that this is because nobody is really... -
Non-Katrina Roundup
Posted on August 31, 2005 | 1 CommentEarlier in the year, Jenny McCarthy, one of the finest anthropologists of our time, sold a book for $1 million called Marriage Laughs. It was a book offering marriage advice.... -
Rushdie Rumored to Be Joining Stanley Crouch for Anger Management Class
Posted on February 22, 2005 | No CommentsWe’re not quite sure what to make of Salman Rushdie chasing down journalists with a baseball bat. On one hand, we’d probably be a bit pissed if we had to... -
The Reader’s Last Sigh
Posted on January 12, 2004 | No CommentsThe Associated Press reports that Rushdie’s new novel will “have a lot more India in it” than Midnight’s Children. That’s great. But it still doesn’t change the fact that Rushdie...