The Library Girl

Book Club Blues

I hold my non-fiction book club every six weeks, which isn't exactly often by any measure. Be that as it may, it takes over my life each and every time. This weekend, for example, pretty much all I did was prepare for it. Sure, I procrastinated big-time through baking, shopping, walking, and napping, but essentially, I had to mosie back to my desk and keep taking notes. Hour after hour. Page after page. I wish I could sleep. I wish I had better sitting posture so my back wouldn't hurt. Kvetching isn't seeming to help.

There is nothing that detracts from the enjoyment of a book as much as forced note-taking. A quotable bit is one thing, a nice turn of phrase - whatever- but details like the kind one needs for papers are painful. It's a good thing that the actual book this time is endlessly fascinating, otherwise I'd have been in trouble.

The title in question is Tom Reiss's The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, about an eccentric dandy named Lev Nussimbaum/Essad Bey/Kurban Said. This terrific biography is about a man who had a short but rollicking life, fleeing from Bolsheviks and then Nazis, whilst chasing his Oriental dream. A Jew from the oil-producing region of Baku in Azerbaijan, Lev ended up escaping through desert and mountain, and converting to Islam before finding his place (for a while) in Weimar Berlin. He went on to publish both fiction and non-fiction bestsellers, and managed to make it through more a more than average number of scrapes before finally perishing in 1942.

I really loved this book. It has adventure, flamboyant and witty characters, history, romance, and tragedy. On top of that, I like the way the author tells the story, and how he tries to get to the bottom of the man behind the mystery, pursuing his trail in over ten countries. As a history person, I also appreciate the details and background information Reiss provides.

That's my recommendation for the day, or week, I guess. Just read it. You'll be glad you did.

Getting Crispy

This is the first weekend in months that felt like pre-promotion times. I read like crazy and enjoyed every minute of it. Perhaps it’s that nip of fall in the air (it’s still stiflingly hot during the day, but gets somewhat crispy at night), but the brain is ON.

I started with a book edited by Helen Small called The Public Intellectual.  It was really disappointing in that I could barely trace the relevance of several of the essays contained therein. A volume I picked up last year, I am annoyed at myself for buying it rather than taking it out of the library.

The second book was a text by Gwynne Dyer, whom I heard speak years ago when I was in CEGEP (that’s college, for those of you who have no clue what I’m referring to). A Canadian journalist living in Britain, this volume, entitled Future Tense: the Coming World Order, was really insightful. Even though it was published a couple of years ago, it is still most relevant. He talks about the present US leadership vis-à-vis the rest of the world, especially the Middle East. I appreciate his viewpoint, which is neither American, nor fully Canadian, nor quite British. It’s recommended.

Going along the theme of war (fun fun!), I read the absolutely brutal Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra. I love this author’s novels, but they are really heavy and always disturbing. Since reading The Attack, I’ve had this book on my radar, and only just got to it last night, finishing it this morning, at 2 a.m. It takes place in Kabul and focuses on two couples and their response to a Taliban-dominated existence. Khadra writes about mental unraveling in an eerily accurate way. One must read total fluff afterward to balance the cosmos a little.

And so I shall. In truth, I should be doing some prep for my upcoming book club, but I’m tired and have a crazy day ahead tomorrow. Since my muffins are out of the oven (carrot-bran this week), I think I’ll just go to bed. G’night.