Laila Lalami

Suki Kim, author of The Interpreter, in bookstores now, writes movingly about what it was like to visit North Korea. There’s everything you might expect (famine, persecution, cult of personality) and everything you might not (people who fled North Korea in horror decades ago, now calling it “home.”)

If anyone’s read Kim’s book already, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I remember picking it up and reading the first couple of pages and then putting it back down–it didn’t grab my interest.

Link via Arts and Letters Daily.

Poor Dubya. France and Germany don’t want to go to war. Neither do Russia or China. That leaves him alone in the Security Council, and so any war on Iraq will have to be on his own terms, without the approval of the UN. Problem is, 72% of Americans want to see more proof before going to war, and 48% think Al-Qaeda is a greater risk than Saddam (24%). And while 56% still think we should “take action” in Iraq (36% oppose), that number is sure to continue to drop as we get closer to the attack (mid-February, analysts say). More numbers from the WSJ poll here.

I noticed a few book mentions in this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, devoted to the new year: a new book by Eric Schlosser (of Fast Food Nation fame) will be out in Spring. Then Suzan Lori-Parks (Topdog/Underdog) will have a novel out in May, called Getting Mother’s Body. But we’ll have to wait till September for Jhumpa Lahiri’s much anticipated first novel, described as “a multi-generational tale of a Bengali family in America called The Namesake“.

Harold Pinter wrote this poem, “God Bless America,” for the Guardian.

Adnan ran across this video of an Australian journalist asking general interest questions here in America. It’s not random, of course. I’m sure they just happened to pick the dumbest people for the clip. But it’s damn funny.

Apparently, publishers now send reviewers “limited, signed, first-editions” of books they’re trying to promote. See, it’s not really a bribe or anything. It’s just a contribution. Book promotion is becoming more like movie promotion. Or politics.
This Guardian article explains it all.

Here’s an interview with Norman Mailer in Newsweek. Like John LeCarre, Salman Rushdie, and other writers, he’s not too hot on the war with Iraq:
“Leaving aside all the usual explanations the oil, the fact that if the people in power in this country win they will then have this commanding position in the Near East forgetting all that, the fact is, that war could just go on and on and on. But I don’t think that bothers our leaders very much. I think they kind of like the idea that if the country gets very military, then they can stop all the free, free love, gay liberation, women’s liberation, all the things they detest. There’s no question that the level of uncertainty, the absence of absolutes, has probably never been greater. So the longer the danger goes on, the longer they have to create a new kind of society. We’re in for curious times. ”
Indeed.

John LeCarre, the man who has made a living by writing terrific spy novels as well as more ‘reflective’ books like The Tailor of Panama, has an Op-Ed piece in today’s Times Online, titled “The United States of America has gone mad.”
He decries the lack of debate about the proposed war on Iraq, the lack of coverage of all the issues plaguing the U.S. Administration to the exclusion of the war plans, the bewildering support of Tony Blair for the war, etc.
However, I think he’s got it wrong on a couple of points. To wit, I don’t believe that “88% of Americans support the war.” It’s more complicated than that. Americans oppose unilateral action, and want Bush to get U.N. support before doing anything. In addition, Americans rank Al-Qaida as a far greater risk than Saddam.
Overall, though, the piece is definitely a worthwhile read, especially since he expressed the opinions of many Brits. Plus he’s got a real way with words, that man. Unfortunately, I’m sure he’ll be ridiculed just as much as all those actors who told Bush to shove it. After all, they’re just artists. What the hell would they know about the world, right?
Link via The Literary Saloon and Maud Newton.

Harry Potter fans (whose numbers include my husband) can finally mark their calendars for June 21. That’s when they can assault bookstores for the worldwide release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. And you can already pre-order it at Amazon.com.
In other YA book news, Publishers’ Weekly’s Off the Cuff awards were announced today. Poor Michael Chabon. They picked his Summerland as the most over-rated book of the year. Ouch. Not everyone can have J.K. Rowling’s mojo. Not even Joyce Carol Oates’ latest.

Turns out my fatigue from yesterday was because I was coming down with a sore throat. Suggestions for harmless self-medicating brews welcome.