News

One of the pleasures of living in Casablanca is having easy access to books by Moroccan writers (or indeed by anyone who writes in Arabic or French or anyone translated in these languages.) So when I heard that Fouad Laroui had a new book out, an essay collection titled De L’islamisme, I popped into the Carrefour des Livres to pick up a copy. They were sold out. No problem, I thought, and I went over to Livre Service. They were sold out, too. I had to call two or three other bookstores before I could locate one copy (one!) at Gauthier Livres. (Coincidentally, the last remaining copy was set up next to a stack of The Caged Virgin by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.)

I stayed up until midnight last night to finish De L’islamisme. It’s enormously readable, it has lots of humor (just like Laroui’s novels), and it manages to bring a few fresh perspectives on a topic that has been beaten half to death. Laroui’s background in science also comes in handy as he deconstructs some of the ridiculous claims made by religious extremists, crackpot scientists, and other assorted imbeciles. My one complaint about the book is that it does not have source notes or a bibliography. For instance, Laroui writes things like “Voici ce que nous dit un commentateur,” but doesn’t always say who he has in mind, and I am not so well-read as to figure it out each time. I need names, dates, publications! It’s otherwise a very enjoyable book, a well-crafted mix of memoir and objective analysis that never gets precious or heavy.

I have a brief opinion piece in the Guardian about the hoopla surrounding Keith Ellison’s swearing-in ceremony today. A snippet:

Ultimately, however, Keith Ellison was not elected in order to represent Muslims, but in order to represent Minnesotans, regardless of their faith. So I hope that, once the curiosity has waned, the media will remember this important fact. I hope they will let him attend to his work, just like any other Congressperson. I hope they won’t go to him every time they need a sound bite on American Muslims, or, worse, on Islamic fundamentalism. I hope they just leave him alone.

You can read it all here.

Ahdaf Soueif’s new book, a collection of short stories titled I Think Of You, comes out in March in the United States. I was slightly disappointed when I found out that the pieces in this book have all been previously published, either in Soueif’s first collection Aicha (1983), or in her second, Sandpiper (1996). Those books were not published in the United States, though, and in any case they are somewhat hard to find through online booksellers, so this new collection, which culls the best stories from both, makes perfect sense. I recommend, in particular, the stories “1964,” “I Think Of You,” and “Sandpiper.”

For those who are curious (and who speak Dutch): There is an interview with me by Jan Stevens in the Belgian magazine Vacature.

Since my parents are out of town at the moment, we spent the Eid el-Adha (or Eid el-Kebir) holiday with my uncle in Rabat. It was a lovely weekend getaway, and I was surprised to rediscover so many details I had forgotten: The way that sheep bleat incessantly the day before, and then are absolutely quiet when the hour comes; how I always consider becoming vegetarian that day; how the smell of mint tea combined with that of melted crepine on boulfaf makes me succumb every time. After the meal, we looked through boxes and boxes of family photos, made and received phone calls, and sat out on the terrace. But I stayed out too long, and then woke up the next day with a horrible cold and migraine. My best wishes to all of you for a happy and very healthy new year.