E-Books – All the real things are dying off

Jonathan Franzen has spoken of his fear that ebooks will have a detrimental effect on the world – and his belief that serious readers will always prefer print editions.

The acclaimed and bestselling novelist, who denies himself access to the internet when writing, was talking at the Hay festival in Cartagena, Colombia. “Maybe nobody will care about printed books 50 years from now, but I do. When I read a book, I’m handling a specific object in a specific time and place. The fact that when I take the book off the shelf it still says the same thing – that’s reassuring,” said Franzen, according to
the Telegraph.

“Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it’s just not permanent enough.”

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

In war-torn Afghanistan, millions suffer and endure. Men use weapons against foreign invaders and each other. Women face daily violence while coping with harsh customs and laws that render them second-class citizens.

After a smash-hit first novel, The Kite Runner, Afghan-born Khaled Hosseini seizes a golden chance to tell the world about the plight of his nation’s women in his second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns (2008, Bloomsbury, 421 pages).

“I suppose there were some easier roads I could have gone down. But I chose this one because, both as a writer and as an Afghan, I couldn’t think of a more riveting, important or compelling story than the struggle of women in my country. Dramatically speaking, every other topic paled in comparison….

“The gender apartheid that has been forced on Afghan women has been one of the great unresolved injustices of the modern world. In addition, Afghanistan needs its women. The whole project of rebuilding Afghanistan is doomed if the fundamental human rights of its women are not respected and its women are not allowed to participate.”

Starting in the 1970s, Hosseini follows two fictional female characters – Mariam, from Herat, and the younger Laila, from Kabul — through more than three decades of personal and national turbulence. He explores their “inner lives” and seeks “the very ordinary humanity beneath their veils” in a “tribute to the great courage, endurance and resilience of Afghanistan”.

These heroines meet as adversaries married to the same abusive man (Rasheed, a shoemaker), but then they forge a firm friendship. Somehow they cope until one must make a supreme sacrifice for the other.

How abusive is Rasheed? “Up close, his sneering face seemed impossibly large. Laila noticed how much puffier it was getting with age, how many more broken vessels charted the tiny paths on his nose. Rasheed didn’t say anything. And, really, what could be said, what needed saying, when you’d shoved the barrel of your gun into your wife’s mouth?”

Little in A Thousand Splendid Suns (the title comes from a 17th-century poem) reflects well on Afghan men. As Rasheed declares, “Where I come from, one wrong look, one improper word, and blood is spilled. Where I come from, a woman’s face is her husband’s business only.”

With feminine wiles, Mariam’s mother warns: “Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.”

Consistently interesting and competently written, this book still falls short against the lofty expectations for Hosseini. Too much of the plot parallels that in The Kite Runner, which told of two boys who endure tragedies to become honorable adults. Here, two girls do likewise amid love, hate, turbulence, cruel traditions and too many explosions.

Hosseini’s novels share a theme. “…how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet… people find a way to survive, to go on.”

The most fascinating passages tell of daily life, like the sensation for women to wear an all-concealing burqa. “The padded headpiece felt tight and heavy on her skull, and it was strange seeing the world through a mesh screen. She practiced walking around her room in it and kept stepping on the hem and stumbling. The loss of peripheral vision was unnerving, and she did not like the suffocating way the pleated cloth kept pressing against her mouth.”

In one horrifying scene, Laila receives no anesthetic when giving birth by Cesarean section in a dismal hospital. “Laila’s eyes snapped open. Then her mouth opened. She held like this, held, shivering, the cords in her neck stretched, sweat dripping from her face, her fingers crushing Mariam’s. Mariam always would admire Laila for how much time passed before she screamed.”

Background events – from the Soviet occupation to the rise of the Taliban and the post 9-11 American invasion — have the familiar ring of past newspaper headlines. “Outside, rockets were zipping across the sky as Hekmatyar‘s and Massoud‘s forces fought and fought. Laila knew that somewhere in the city someone had just died, and that a pall of black smoke was hovering over some building that had collapsed in a puffing mass of dust. There would be bodies to step around in the morning. Some would be collected. Others not. Then Kabul’s dogs, who had developed a taste for human meat, would feast.”

Almost everyone reaches the same crisis: “As much as I love this land, some days I think about leaving it.”

Yet the author still finds humorous moments: “Today, Hasina was dispensing advice on how to fend off unattractive suitors. ‘Foolproof method, guaranteed to work. I give you my word…. Beans. No less than four cans. On the evening the toothless lizard comes to ask for your hand. But the timing, ladies, the timing is everything. You have to suppress the fireworks ’till it’s time to serve him his tea.”

Born in Afghanistan in 1965, Hosseini moved to Paris where his father worked as a diplomat. Later he attended university in California, became a doctor and then an author.

By any measure, A Thousand Splendid Suns deserves glowing praise. Just don’t expect it to soar to the same heights as The Kite Runner.

Courtesy: http://www.cairnsmedia.com

THE PAKISTAN US CONUNDRUM: JIHADISTS THE MILITARY AND THE PEOPLE THE STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL By Yunas Samad

Review

 

This book is an important contribution for its theoretical and contextual discussion of a country that remains poorly understood by social scientists. It explores issues of central importance to the study of Pakistan, including—especially—in-depth discussions of the rise of Jihadi Islam; the impact of the Afghan war on politics, religion, and society; the role of emergent forms of ethnic identity in moments of violent conflict in present-day Pakistan; and the nature of violence in the country more generally.

(Magnus Marsden, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, author of Living Islam: Muslim Religious Experience in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier )

Yunas Samad’s study challenges much received wisdom. It takes us through a thicket of complexities and ambiguities with clarity, insight, and more than a few surprises. We encounter American misperceptions and counterproductive actions, along with an illuminating assessment of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, well rooted in the daunting complications of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s border regions before and after 9/11. The analysis of Pakistan is especially rich, covering politics and fraught relations with the United States, under military and elected governments; the army’s crucial importance; the economy; the role of religion, ethnicity and regionalism; relations with India; and the problem of Kashmir. Timely and careful, this analysis is impossible to ignore.

(James Manor, School of Advanced Study, University of London )

Yunas Samad’s careful exploration of the relationship between Pakistan and the United States exposes the inconsistencies and wishful thinking that lie behind the strategies of the West in central and South Asia. It reveals the roots of jihadism and explains, precisely, why it has proved so difficult to contain.

(David Washbrook, Trinity College, Cambridge )

An important book that needs to be read for its deep understanding of Pakistan’s history and its analytical brilliance on the country’s contemporary social and political situation. It challenges the internationally sponsored security-driven agenda for the region and provokes us to think seriously about Pakistan and its people with empathy and in solidarity. In doing so, this study shows a way out of the current quagmire by encouraging the deepening of democracy and initiating meaningful social and economic reforms that benefit the people of Pakistan.

(Kamran Asdar Ali, South Asia Institute, University of Texas, Austin )

 

About the Author

 

Yunas Samad is professor of South Asian studies at the University of Bradford, England. He is the author of A Nation in Turmoil: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Pakistan, 1937–1958 and coauthor, with Gyan Pandey, of Fault Lines of Nationhood: Cross Border Talks.

To order, click here

 

14 Ways to Cultivate a Lifetime Reading Habit

Somewhere after “lose weight”, “stop procrastinating”, and “fall in love”, “read more” is one of the top goals that many people set for themselves. And rightly so: A good book can be hugely satisfying, can teach you about things beyond your daily horizons, and can create characters so vivid you feel as if you really know them. If reading is a habit you’d like to get into, there are a number of ways to cultivate it. First, realize that reading is highly enjoyable, if you have a good book. If you have a lousy book (or an extremely difficult one) and you are forcing yourself through it, it will seem like a chore.

If this happens for several days in a row, consider abandoning the book and finding one that you’ll really love. Other than that, try these tips to cultivate a lifetime reading habit:

1. Set times. You should have a few set times during every day when you’ll read for at least 5-10 minutes. These are times that you will read no matter what — triggers that happen each day. For example, make it a habit to read during breakfast and lunch (and even dinner if you eat alone). And if you also read every time you’re sitting on the can, and when you go to bed, you now have four times a day when you read for 10 minutes each — or 40 minutes a day. That’s a great start, and by itself would be an excellent daily reading habit. But there’s more you can do.
2. Always carry a book. Wherever you go, take a book with you. When I leave the house, I always make sure to have my driver’s license, my keys and my book, at a minimum. The book stays with me in the car, and I take it into the office and to appointments and pretty much everywhere I go, unless I know I definitely won’t be reading (like at a movie). If there is a time when you have to wait (like at a doctor’s office or at the DMV), whip out your book and read. Great way to pass the time.
3. Make a list. Keep a list of all the great books you want to read. You can keep this in your journal, in a pocket notebook, on your personal home page, on your personal wiki, wherever. Be sure to add to it whenever you hear about a good book, online or in person. Keep a running list, and cross out the ones you read. Tech trick: create a Gmail account for your book list, and email the address every time you hear about a good book. Now your inbox will be your reading list. When you’ve read a book, file it under “Done”. If you want, you can even reply to the message (to the same address) with notes about the book, and those will be in the same conversation thread, so now your Gmail account is your reading log too.
4. Find a quiet place. Find a place in your home where you can sit in a comfortable chair (don’t lay down unless you’re going to sleep) and curl up with a good book without interruptions. There should be no television or computer near the chair to minimize distractions, and no music or noisy family members/roommates. If you don’t have a place like this, create one.
5. Reduce television/Internet. If you really want to read more, try cutting back on TV or Internet consumption. This may be difficult for many people. Still, every minute you reduce of Internet/TV, you could use for reading. This could create hours of book reading time.
6. Read to your kid. If you have children, you must read to them. Creating the reading habit in your kids is the best way to ensure they’ll be readers when they grow up … and it will help them to be successful in life as well. Find some great children’s books, and read to them. At the same time, you’re developing the reading habit in yourself … and spending some quality time with your child as well.
7. Keep a log. Similar to the reading list, this log should have not only the title and author of the books you read, but the dates you start and finish them if possible. Even better, put a note next to each with your thoughts about the book. It is extremely satisfying to go back over the log after a couple of months to see all the great books you’ve read.
8. Go to used book shops. My favorite place to go is a discount book store where I drop off all my old books (I usually take a couple of boxes of books) and get a big discount on used books I find in the store. I typically spend only a couple of dollars for a dozen or more books, so although I read a lot, books aren’t a major expense. And it is very fun to browse through the new books people have donated. Make your trip to a used book store a regular thing.
9. Have a library day. Even cheaper than a used book shop is a library, of course. Make it a weekly trip.
10. Read fun and compelling books. Find books that really grip you and keep you going. Even if they aren’t literary masterpieces, they make you want to read — and that’s the goal here. After you have cultivated the reading habit, you can move on to more difficult stuff, but for now, go for the fun, gripping stuff. Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Nora Roberts, Sue Grafton, Dan Brown … all those popular authors are popular for a reason — they tell great stories. Other stuff you might like: Vonnegut, William Gibson, Douglas Adams, Nick Hornby, Trevanian, Ann Patchett, Terry Pratchett, Terry McMillan, F. Scott Fitzgerald. All excellent storytellers.
11. Make it pleasurable. Make your reading time your favorite time of day. Have some good tea or coffee while you read, or another kind of treat. Get into a comfortable chair with a good blanket. Read during sunrise or sunset, or at the beach.
12. Blog it. One of the best ways to form a habit is to put it on your blog. If you don’t have one, create one. It’s free. Have your family go there and give you book suggestions and comment on the ones you’re reading. It keeps you accountable for your goals.
13. Set a high goal. Tell yourself that you want to read 50 books this year (or some other number like that). Then set about trying to accomplish it. Just be sure you’re still enjoying the reading though — don’t make it a rushed chore.
14. Have a reading hour or reading day. If you turn off the TV or Internet in the evening, you could have a set hour (perhaps just after dinner) when you and maybe all the members of your family read each night. Or you could do a reading day, when you (and again, your other family members if you can get them to join you) read for practically the whole day. It’s super fun.

by Leo.