Month: June 2006


‘For Bread Alone’

For some time now, I’ve been looking for an English-language edition of Mohammed Choukri’s For Bread Alone, translated by Paul Bowles, but the book is out of print and used copies are very hard to find. First editions are ridiculously expensive. Given the state of fiction in translation in the U.S., I am not holding my breath for an American edition sometime in the future, either.

Luckily for those of you who would like to finally get your hands on this seminal Moroccan novel, Telegram Books in the UK is re-issuing it this month, so I’ll be sure to pick up a copy when I’m in London in July. You can also get it on Amazon.co.uk. You’d better get a copy and read it, or you are dead to me.



More Ali Reviews

Ron Charles, writing in the Washington Post, is not particularly taken with Monica Ali’s new novel, Alentejo Blue.

Monica Ali’s debut, the sensitive, subtly witty Brick Lane , was one of the best novels of 2003. Now, with Alentejo Blue , she’s produced one of the best books of 1926. This spare, unrelentingly depressing story about several lost generations might have delighted Gertrude Stein and made Hemingway green with envy, but whether readers will want to subject themselves to it now seems doubtful. Searching for this title online, don’t be surprised if you get a pop-up ad for Prozac.

Other reviewers appear to agree. I’m really disappointed, but let’s face it, I’ll probably pick up the book and give it a try anyway.



Summer Reading

If you’re wondering what to take the beach: The Guardian asked Monica Ali, John Banville, A.S. Byatt, Dave Eggers, Francis Fukuyama, Kazuo Ishiguro, HIlary Mantel, Pankaj Mishra, Audrey Niffenegger, Orhan Pamuk, Sarah Waters, and many many others about their summer reading lists.



Reading Recap: Olsson’s

Audience: About 35.
Anxiety index: 1 (out of 10).
Surprise guest(s): Author John Kropf.
No. of Moroccans who said hello: 8.
Book given away: None. (I forgot to pack one!)

My trip to our nation’s capital last week was my very first, but for some reason I wasn’t nervous at all about my reading. The weather was great, the turnout was excellent, and, even better, the audience was really engaged. I asked people what they wanted me to read. They suggested “The Fanatic,” and I was happy to oblige, especially because it’s not a piece I read from very often, since it’s pretty long. In any case, the reading went very well. Some questions I was asked: Where will your book be published? (Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil.) Has your book been translated into Arabic? (No.) Do you want to translate it into Arabic? (Of course. Though the translation that’s closest to my heart is one into Darija–Moroccan Arabic–which I’ll do myself, after I finish the novel I’m working on now.) Do you feel that when you talk about problems in Moroccan society you’re airing dirty laundry? (I understand that concern, particularly given the vicious images we see reflected back at us from the media. But as a writer I have to do what feels true to the characters I create. I hope the world in the book is complete enough and plausible enough that it will ring true to the reader.) Do you want to write non-fiction? (Yes. Maybe. But fiction is my first love.)

During the signing period, I got to talk to several people, some of whom had been to Morocco, and I wanted to mention in particular one guy who served in the Navy a few years ago. He was on deck when his ship passed through the Straits of Gibraltar, and he saw some harraga being stopped by Moroccan and Spanish coast guards. I also loved meeting four college students who were interning in Washington for the summer. I have no idea how they heard about my reading, but here are some photos they posted. I signed some extra copies at the store, so if you missed the reading, here’s your chance to get them from a cool independent.




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