1. Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic, by Ray Takeyh. A good implicit "public choice" treatment of how the different factions in the Iranian government fit together. Surprisingly readable.
2. The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation, by David Kamp. Terrible title, good content, awkward writing style, terrible font, little economics, still good for foodies but only for foodies.
3. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. "Post-apocalyptic masterpiece." Fair enough, but is it better than The Dark Tower? I’m not sure, but even to pose that question is to favor Stephen King. Here is the NYT review.
4. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood, by Rashid Khalidi. Some of the apologetics and omissions really bugged me. But as to why the Palestinians failed to construct their own state — before the creation of Israel — I learned a great deal.
5. Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses. His best novel. Fun from the outset, and you can test your knowledge of Bollywood and Islamic theology. Too famous as a political dispute, too little known as a book.
Your comments on the Satanic Verse are spot on. Much better than Midnight’s Children, which I felt was overrated. In Satanic Verses, Rushdie had the right balance of playfulness and profundity.
Actually, Shame is better than either Satanic Verses or Midnight’s Children–more fantastic.
i’m going with verses over shame and midnight’s children, liked the moor’s last sigh, find ground beneath feet to be good, not great.
Personally, I think Midnight’s Children beats The Satanic Verses by miles. Of course one can’t argue over preference. But I’d say this – Midnight’s Children created a new literature. In that way, it is like Keynes’s work – whatever you think about Keynes’s argument, The General Theory created macroeconomics as we know it.
As for his other works: Shame is a very dark book that reuires knowledge of Pakistan (you don’t need to know anything about India or Islam to enjoy Midnight’s or Satanic); he repeats himself in the Moore’s Last Sigh; and The Ground Beneath Her Feet is good but nothing special. I think the fatwa really got to him – as Chris Hitchens would say, ‘It’s the Islamo-fascists, stupid.
Nice broad selection. I just finished “The Constitution in Exile” last night. Hope to start Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom tonight.
Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/
“Some of the apologetics and omissions really bugged me. But as to why the Palestinians failed to construct their own state — before the creation of Israel — I learned a great deal.” But if you don’t quite trust the author on the topics you were already familiar with, why would you trust that on the topics you were not familiar with you “learned” anything but an equally distorted picture?
I’m reading Satanic Verses now. Based on the reactions here and my own enjoyment of the book I’ll be picking up Midnight’s children and Shame very soon.
Requesting extended commentary from Tyler on The Dark Tower!!
Omissions in the Iron Cage? What would one expect – Khalidi is the Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies at Columbia University.
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