| |
| |
|
|
Synopsis
An incisive look at the history of anti-Western ideologies and how the self-proclaimed enemies of the West who espouse them use distortions and stereotypes to fuel their followers' hatred.
Review
Esteemed professors and writers Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit turn Edward Said's seminal book Orientalism on its head, exploring the threads of various historical depictions and distortions of the West and tracing them back to nationalist and nativist movements in industrialized countries like Germany, Japan, and Russia. The authors make it clear that criticism of the West is valid, and in fact necessary, but they describe an extremism that has often exploded into violence.
The West, Occidentalists argue, is a decadent cosmopolis, rational and liberal, populated by capitalists and Jews, and, more generally, lacking the spirituality and soul of the people who find these traits abhorrent. These anti-liberal tendencies find root in societies where the individual's will is subjugated to the needs of the masses and their leaders often have aspirations to be heroes, defending their culture from "Westoxification." This distorted view of the Occidentalists further inflames hatred of the West, and the result ranges from mere resentment to loathing to organized terror. Like Paul Berman's Terror and Liberalism, this slim book elucidates a terrifying dynamic where believers within these mass movements embrace this utopian self-sacrifice to the point of choosing death over life. Occidentalism, with its claims of purity, spirituality, and collectivism and its caricatures of the West's inherent impurity, soulless materialism, and individualism, links today's Islamist jihadists to 20th-century fascists, and the counter-Enlightenment before them.
This provocative thesis argues that hatred of the West, though not always without reason, often stems from a contempt for modernity and liberalism. Anti-Western paranoia is nothing new, but understanding and debunking it has taken on a new urgency and Occidentalism is a call to battle in the war of ideas. Islamist Occidentalism is but the latest manifestation of a historical anger at Western modernity — with globalization only adding to the already volatile mix — the roots of which grew from European soil over a century ago. (LW)
|
| back to top |
 |
| |
|
|
Synopsis
The first of several books about a shaman named don Juan, whose
teachings offer doors to another reality.
Review
For those of us living in the modern world, watching CNN, talking on cellphones, eating hamburgers, and checking the Weather Channel to see if it'll be sunny tomorrow, there is an ordinary reality. We may or may not think about a god, but either way, this existence of ours is largely figured out — down to the strands of DNA. It goes without saying that we should be skeptical of anyone who says lizards can divine the future, men can transform into crows, and smoking mushrooms will help you see better.
But, as dusk reveals "that crack in the universe between daylight
and dark," Carlos Castaneda leads us into an alternate way of thinking, where power is not defined by bank accounts and technological superiority, but by a communion with the earth and the self. As a student in the '60s interested in learning about peyote and its cultural and physiological effects, the painfully scientific-minded Castaneda weaves the yarn of don Juan Matos, a Yaqui Indian shaman and an expert in the plant that can connect you with the spirit Mescalito. The old mystic takes him on as a protégé and soon Castaneda is immersed in a separate reality that he feverishly records but cannot understand.
Don Juan introduces him to a fantastical, often psychedelic, world where plants are not merely food or decoration, but unique beings of wonderment, certain varieties of which can unlock potentials of the mind and what it means to be human. Mixed among pages of quasi-scientific recordings of banal details come nuggets of wisdom that feel like a cross between Nietzsche, Huxley, and the I Ching. Don Juan elucidates the painful struggle in becoming a man of knowledge as he entreats his student to simply find "a path with heart." Whether taken as truth or just a colorful allegory, the worldview of this shaman connected to the earth cannot help make you wonder for a moment that perhaps it's not all as it seems. (MM)
|
| back to top |
|
| |
|
|
Synopsis
A captivating look at Tibet through photographs of its colorful local inhabitants and people on pilgrimages to holy sites.
Review
With a remarkable talent for capturing the inner spirit of people and places, Steve McCurry presents 96 photographs that take us on a Himalayan journey, revealing sheer beauty. Capturing the Tibetans in brief encounters, without artificial lighting or staged settings, he delves deep into the soul of the sitters, shooting straight into their eyes to let their own stories come out. Over the course of many years and multiple visits, he traveled Tibet and northern India, home of the Dalai Lama and a government in exile, compiling a timeless visual diary.
McCurry, a Magnum photographer made famous by his 1985 National Geographic photo of a refugee girl from Afghanistan, has a knack for colorful portraiture and concise photojournalism. He familiarizes himself with the environment and then lets the subjects speak for themselves. Whether its monks praying, studying, and debating or pilgrims circumambulating the monasteries, he brings you inside the natural rhythm of Buddhist life. Tibetans are very stylish people and it's visible from the way they dress and adorn themselves. Their chic hats, bejeweled hair, rosy makeup, and colorful garments contradict the daily struggles they face in a poor mountainous country ruled by foreign conquerors.
One of the most striking photographs shows a giant silk thangka, 100 feet of divine appliqué, being unfurled on a hillside for a religious festival, while one of the strangest depicts a group of Buddhist devotees prostrating its way to Lhasa. With hands shielded by wooden blocks and bodies and clothing protected by thick aprons, they prostrate the length of their person day after day, week after week, month after month for a two-year journey to spiritual enlightenment. These are people on their way someplace, photographed as the wanderlust artist has found them, on a road with no return. (PL)
|
| back to top |
|
| |
| |
SUMMER READS
|
 |
FICTION
Tijuana Straits
2004
by Kem Nunn
|
|
As the literary laureate of the California surfer bum, Kem Nunn brings vivid, complex life to a diverse cast of characters hovering to the north and south of the US-Mexico border. Fueled by a dark and suspenseful plot, Tijuana Straits is full of emotional and literary surprises.
Nunn Interview (Crime Time)
|
 |
| |
 |
FICTION
Little Scarlet
2004
by Walter Mosley
 |
|
In the wake of the historic race riots of the '60s in Los Angeles, tensions run high as Easy Rawlins returns to assist police in a murder they aren't in any position to solve. Mosley proves once again that he is a master of hard-boiled fiction.
Review (USA Today)
|
|
| |
 |
FICTION
Skinny Dip
2004
by Carl Hiaasen
|
|
After getting thrown off a cruise ship by her husband, Joey finds her way to safety and plots revenge and blackmail on her would-be killer. With a lovable heroine and a bad guy with blatant disregard for Florida's ecosystems, this is satirical fiction at its most humorous.
Review (New York Times)
|
|
| |
 |
FICTION
Porno
2002
by Irvine Welsh
|
|
Years after Renton split for Amsterdam, Sick Boy gathers the Trainspotting crew back together for another shot at transcendence: making a pornographic movie. Welsh eases up on the urban blight
and has fun with Spud, Begbie, and the rest of them for a quick and fun read.
Review (Guardian)
|
|
| |
 |
NONFICTION
Dead by Sunset
1995
by Ann Rule
|
|
Brad Cunningham appears to be the All-American Dad, but after mysterious events surrounding his fourth wife's tragic death become apparent, he becomes a murder suspect. Ann Rule does her homework to show us a fraud and murderer brought to justice.
|
| |
|
| back to top |
 |
| |
BOOK NEWS
A few notable bits of recent reporting.
|
Clinton's book slightly different in China (Sky News
UK)
|
A much more interesting version of Bill Clinton's memoir, My Life, is being sold in China as a slim paperback put together by counterfeiters in which Bill quotes Chairman Mao and tells Hillary his name is "Big Watermelon."
|
A new approach to work upsets some French (The Guardian UK)
|
Hello Laziness — The Art and the Importance of Doing the Least Possible at the Workplace spells trouble for its author.
|
New literary magazine debuts (n+1)
|
n+1, a biannual literary magazine featuring top-drawer contributors including novelist Sam Lipsyte, debuts.
|
A government report knocks The DaVinci Code off the top (New York Times)
|
The 9/11 Commission Report becomes a huge bestseller for W.W. Norton, especially via online booksellers.
|
People prefer stories about apocalypse and genocide (Toronto Star)
|
The Left Behind series is the most popular series of books for adults in the US, and its latest installment features Jesus returning to earth to wipe out all non-Christians from existence.
|
Bestselling book withdrawn (New
York Times)
|
The American and Australian publishers of Norma Khouri's, Forbidden Love, a supposedly true account of the honor killing of her best friend, have withdrawn the book after information has surfaced that suggests it's a fake.
|
Pondering creativity and crowds (Slate)
|
Something to do at a flash mob: can crowds write novels?
|
|
| back to top |
| |
|
|
