Category: personal


Reading Recap: Third Place Books

Audience: About 10.
Anxiety index: 4 (out of 10).
Surprise guest(s): A Moroccan-American reader who’d heard about Hope from a bookseller. And my friend Donna M., whom I met while a resident at Hedgebrook.
No. of Moroccans who said hello:1

One of the great things about Third Place Books is how it works with the local community. It’s one of those places where you see people dropping by on their way home from work, to have a cup of coffee and hang out, play chess, all the while checking out books. The reading took place in The Den, a quieter area in the store, and there were about 10 people, so it was pretty cozy. This time, I read from ‘The Fanatic,’ which I haven’t looked at since the piece was in manuscript form, so it was nice revisiting the characters of Noura, Faten, Larbi, and Salma.

After the reading, I was asked to sit down for snapshots at a photo booth. Usually, bookstores have you sign an autograph book, but Third Place keeps an album of black-and-white photos, with corresponding names and dates. It was fun to flip through it and see people like Michael Moore making faces at the camera.




Reading Recap: Elliott Bay Book Company

Audience: About 35.
Anxiety index: 7 (out of 10).
Book given away: Minaret, by Leila Aboulela.
Surprise guest(s): My friend Megan C., whom I haven’t seen since grad school.
No. of Moroccans who said hello:2

One of my favorite bookstores in the U.S. is the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle; it was a special treat to have a reading here. In addition, bookseller Rick Simonson has been very supportive of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (going as far as to give copies of the book to people coming through town) so I felt I was among friends when I arrived. On top of that, the Arab Center of Washington co-sponsored the event, and they did a wonderful job getting the word out.

I read from the middle of the book, the first scene in “Better Luck Tomorrow.” One of the most pleasurable parts of readings for me is the Q&A–I’m always interested to hear what people have to say. This time, I had a couple of questions about the choice of writing fiction in English. Even though it isn’t my native language, it is the language in which I function–I communicate with it, I read in it, I think in it. After a few years of living in the States, I found that my fluency in my own native language wasn’t at the level where I would want it to be in order to write well. Now, the strange thing is that when I write my characters, I hear their dialogue in my ear in Arabic, and so the challenge for me is to write in a way that I can retain the rhythm of the Moroccan language as well.

Later, I did some shopping at the store, picking up a copy of Eduardo Galeano’s Memory of Fire trilogy, on Rick’s recommendation. It provides a Latin American view on the making of the New World, through short vignettes describing major and minor historical events of the 15th century onward.



False Starts

I wanted to apologize to readers who’ve gone to Barnes & Noble to look for Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and weren’t able to find it. There was a glitch in the chain’s computer system; the release date was listed as November 7th instead of October 7th. I’m told that this has been corrected, and Hope should appear in those stores within the next few days. You can also, of course, order it online from B&N.com.

Meanwhile, Borders is experiencing some shipment delays. The cartons of books didn’t leave the warehouses in time to make it to stores by the official release date of October 7th. This, too, is being fixed. So, if you normally shop at Borders, try your store again in the next few days and you should find it. Or go to Borders.com.

And of course you can always find the book at all independent bookstores and online retailers.

I want to thank the many readers who’ve brought this to my attention. You guys rock! I appreciate your support very much. In fact, I’d like to give a free, autographed copy of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits to the first reader who sends me an email with the subject line “HODP” and a street address.

Update: Todd C. from Vermont gets the signed copy.




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