books i very much want to buy
(but am resisting, due to financial constraints and the fact that all the books I already own are scattered in piles thousands of miles apart, and I should concentrate on reuniting them before adding to the number. Although thariel asks on the phone this week, can he keep and never give back everything by Eric Hobsbawm? I forsee a wrestling match upon my return to Oxford....)
The Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, the Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953 (I spent too much time holed up in kramerbooks paging through all the goodies in this, and should save the bookstore staff the suspense and just buy it)
Zadie Smith, On Beauty (I am greedily waiting for the paperback edition, as I am trying not to acquire more hardbacks until I have, like, a room and a bookshelf to put them in)
Anthony Shadid, Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War (a non-embedded account by a reporter who speaks Arabic, supposed to be very good)
Beshara Doumani, ed. Academic Freedom after September 11th (I saw a flier for this at the MESA conference--some very interesting essays, including one by Joel Beinin on the right-wing attacks on Middle East Studies scholars and departments post-9/11. A subject close to my heart and head, for obvious reasons)
Amitav Ghosh, Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times (I have always liked Ghosh's nonfiction better that his fiction, and this looks particularly interesting--Uma at indianwriting has been compiling tantalizing reviews)
Leila Fawaz and C.A. Bayly, eds., Modernity and Culture from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, 1890-1920 (Actually, I've given in and ordered this one from Columbia, although I'm not sure if the conference-discount form went through in time to be valid. I've read it before but had trouble tracking down a copy in Oxford. It's a very cool collection-- this sort of comparative, trans-regional scholarship truly excites me, and is what tempts me back to academia despite my very real desire to do advocacy/policy work at the moment.)
and books of poetry by--among others--Jack Gilbert, Martin Espada, Sherman Alexie, and Alice Fulton.
The Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, the Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953 (I spent too much time holed up in kramerbooks paging through all the goodies in this, and should save the bookstore staff the suspense and just buy it)
Zadie Smith, On Beauty (I am greedily waiting for the paperback edition, as I am trying not to acquire more hardbacks until I have, like, a room and a bookshelf to put them in)
Anthony Shadid, Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War (a non-embedded account by a reporter who speaks Arabic, supposed to be very good)
Beshara Doumani, ed. Academic Freedom after September 11th (I saw a flier for this at the MESA conference--some very interesting essays, including one by Joel Beinin on the right-wing attacks on Middle East Studies scholars and departments post-9/11. A subject close to my heart and head, for obvious reasons)
Amitav Ghosh, Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times (I have always liked Ghosh's nonfiction better that his fiction, and this looks particularly interesting--Uma at indianwriting has been compiling tantalizing reviews)
[note: Amardeep Singh has a post with links not only to reviews, but to online versions of many of the essays collected in the book. I really want to read the Shahid Ali one; if there are any Nation subscribers reading this who'd like to get behind the firewall and send it to me, it would be very much appreciated. And I promise I'll still buy the book.]Orhan Pamuk, İstanbul: Memories and the City (surprisingly, I haven't read it yet-- in İstanbul I was trying to only buy books I couldn't get abroad, and I've been meaning to read My Name is Red in Turkish first)
Leila Fawaz and C.A. Bayly, eds., Modernity and Culture from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, 1890-1920 (Actually, I've given in and ordered this one from Columbia, although I'm not sure if the conference-discount form went through in time to be valid. I've read it before but had trouble tracking down a copy in Oxford. It's a very cool collection-- this sort of comparative, trans-regional scholarship truly excites me, and is what tempts me back to academia despite my very real desire to do advocacy/policy work at the moment.)
and books of poetry by--among others--Jack Gilbert, Martin Espada, Sherman Alexie, and Alice Fulton.
posted by kitabet at 12:31 AM
2 Comments:
i have zadie smith and bayly. both of which u can borrow when u come to boston (dangling carrot....).
come to this end of the country- it's hot, sunny and experiencing freak weather for this time of the year! what's up with the nyc plans??
hi uma! i looove sherman alexie, and feel a sort of spurious attachment, since we were born in the same hospital (though i headed westwards away from spokane & over the mountains at a much younger age, like three). but still. what are you reading? my favourite, if you were to make me choose, is probably 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,' which I think is the best title for a short story collection ever.
and buchu dear, i am buying a plane ticket to NYC before the week is out. I will track you down in Boston and steal your books, and cook you dal to make up for it. read the izmir essay in the bayly--that's the guy who's responsible for my coming to oxford and wanting to be an academic to begin with.
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