Newspaper editor Ibrahim Issa has been sent to the slammer for publishing “rumors” that President Mubarak is sick. So much for free press in Egypt.
And
Suheir Hammad and Gloria Steinem discuss guarding their nest, booty calls, and office politics in New York Magazine.
The novel receives a really nice review today in the CSM. Here’s the first paragraph:
Home is where the heart is. There’s no place like home. Home sweet home. Randa Jarrar takes all the sappy, beloved clichés about “where you hang your hat” and blows them to smithereens in her energizing, caustically comic debut novel, A Map of Home.
When I first moved to Michigan, I discovered a rich garlic dipping cream at a catered event, at which we were served Arabic food. I’d never seen, heard of, or tasted the cream before, so I did a little investigation and found out they sold it at Ali Baba’s.
Forward a couple of years, and I’ve been going to Ali Baba’s twice a month to shell out $1.36 for the sauce (sometimes charging it to my debit card, much to the chagrin of the cashier dude).
Last night, I finally asked the guy what the origin of the sauce was.
“Somewhere.”
“Yeah, but where?”
“Um, let me ask this guy.” Yells to guy in the kitchen: “Where’s the sauce from?”
“The Middle East.”
“Where in the Middle East?” I said.
“The whole Middle East.”
“No, I’ve never heard of it before.”
Blank stare.
“I grew up there.”
“Where?”
“Kuwait and Egypt, and a little in Palestine.”
“Egypt is not in the Middle East.”
“Of course it is.”
“No. The Middle East is Lebanon and Syria.”
“And a few other places.”
“I can’t hear you.” (He gets out of the kitchen and comes to the counter.)
“Where did the sauce originate?”
“With me, honey. I make the sauce. I’m the one who makes it.”
“What’s in it?”
“Garlic, lemon, salt.”
“And oil.”
“Yeah.”
“What kind of oil?”
“Olive.”
“What else? It tastes heavy.”
“Corn oil. It makes it taste better.”
“Right. Thanks!”
“Egypt isn’t the Middle East.”
“Okay. Bye.”
I went home and enjoyed the sauce with Mr. Rockslinga and Mini Rockslinga. We are still licking our chops. Also: we know where the Middle East starts and ends.
The California leg of the tour was fabulous!
I got to see lots of old friends and meet email pals I’d never met in real life.
& It was so much fun to read to new faces. Yay!
I recently did a radio interview with Valerie Jackson for the Atlanta NPR radio show, Between the Lines. You can listen to it here.
I’m leaving for three book tour stops in CA. I’m excited to see Make/Shift Magazine friends, blog BFFs, and old friends. If you’re around, I hope you’ll come! Details:
LA
September 17
Skylight Books
1818 N. Vermont Avenue
7:30 PM
SONOMA
September 18
Readers’ Books
130 E. Napa Street
7:30 PM
SAN FRANCISCO
September 19
Books Inc. in Opera Plaza
601 Van Ness, SF
7PM
I’m reading in An Arbor in less than seven hours. At the Shaman Drum Book Store. If you’re a Michigan reader, please come!
UPDATE: That was possibly the best reading ever. I think the presence of Mr. Rockslinga and Mini-Rockslinga made it so rockin’, as well as the cheers and the support of all my Michigan peeps. ‘Twas a packed house. Loved it!
On my way out to the reading, I found a slip of paper slid under my hotel room door warning me about Ike. Ike was possibly coming to town, and I was possibly going to come home to a hotel without power.
The reading was spectacular. Almost all my Austin friends came, and writer friends like Karen Olsson, and Jim Lewis, showed up as well. I read two sections and signed books while Emily, a whip-smart BookPeople employee, serenaded me with the things she loved most about the book. It felt fabulous.
Later, I drank frozen mojitos on a roof-top bar by the bookstore. I felt like I was in Alexandria: the heat and the outdoor couch ambience. Even later, I just felt drunk. Note the blurry drunken camera lens.
The next day, I gorged on migas and chicken friend steak and went for a baptismal dip in Barton Springs. I saw several Ike evacuees, but they were swimming and eating migas, too. I also spotted a pair of topless, redhead twins. Only in Austin…
I ended the night with a quintessential Austin activity: watching a documentary on the side of a garage. We saw a “Ho Bus” on the corner and posed in front, hos that we are, and were informed by a local that the Ho Bus was on sale for $1,400. We’re considering buying it.
I’ll be back in TX for the Texas Book Festival, which I’m really looking forward to. Mr. Rockslinga will finally be introduced to Austin and to all my friends.
Check out a list of Bookfest authors here.
I’ll be reading at BookPeople tomorrow, Thursday, at 7PM- I can’t wait to see all my Austin peeps! I wrote the novel in TX, in and around Austin, and this will be a homecoming of sorts. I can’t wait. Also, tacos. Tacos and chicken friend steak. Mmmm.
This one from BookBrowse:
Coming-of-age themes are common, but the intelligent narration provides more than enough interest to sustain the momentum. Rare is the book that makes one stay up to finish it; this is one of them, simultaneously circling in its family dramas and spiraling outwards in its connections to history and place. Adult and teen readers alike would enjoy Nidali’s honest portrayal. She’s the Muslim equivalent of J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield, tender, caustic and wise in all the right moments.
There’s also an interview on the site for your pleasure…
