Numai politica in ziarele de azi, Basescu, Geoana, Antonescu. Primul bosumflat in perspectiva pierderii alegerilor si a iesirii la rampa cu explicatii despre dosarul Flota. Ceilalti cu alianta lor in care singurul lucru bun e Johannis, dar sa vedem daca ramane asa. Presa urla despre astia si cumva cu cat e mai vocala, ma intereseaza din ce in ce mai putin.

Iata ce am gasit eu prin ziare :

• romanii ies mai repede din somaj. ieii, aveam nevoie de vesti bune
• pun pariu ca nu stiti sa puneti degetul pe harta in dreptul Pasajului Englez din Bucuresti. Doar Lamaie ma astept sa exceleze la un astfel de task
• maine incepe Gaudeamus cu Salman Rushdie in rol de star. Omului chiar i place in Romania din moment ce se tot intoarce

In alta ordine de idei sa imi explice si mie cineva nebunia legata de Twilight ca nu inteleg de ce prinde atat de bine la public. E un fel de Harry Potter cu vampiri ?Merita sa imi cumpar toate volumele ? Ia, bagati

Last week I wrote about my experience at Cody’s during the Rushdie Affair in 1989.  It didn’t really end the day the bomb went off. The melodrama continued for months, both in my life and in the  book world.

After the bomb squad detonated the bomb in the store, I hung around for the rest of the day watching the FBI sort through the rubble in their investigation. My wife, Joyce Cole, contacted the media who had been filming all this and told them that my life was in danger and they should block out my face. That night we watched the 6 o’clock news and saw the interview of me with my face looking like a  Picasso in his Cubist Period. Like Rushdie’s fake mustache in Hyde Park, this wasn’t going to fool anyone.

The same day Peter Mayer, the publisher of Penguin Books, called us and offered the services of their security advisory agency. The Satanic Verses had been out of stock at the publisher for a week, and almost no one in the country had it. The chains probably did, but they had taken it off their shelves. Peter said that because of our courage (or whatever  it was),  Penguin was going to overnight our shipment of the next printing, so we would be the only book store on the street  (and probably in the country) selling it. This was a touching expression of gratitude, but one not likely to help me sleep  more peacefully.

 The security consultant provided to us by Penguin had a lot of experience protecting companies against labor unrest, but  I doubt that he understood any more about terrorist bombings than I did. On his advice, my family left our house and settled in at  my friend’s house  for a week. Although I wasn’t aware that the Ayatollah had issued a Fatwa against me, we felt it was the prudent thing to do.

 The next day there was a picture of Cody’s on the front page of The New York Times. I’d been waiting all my life for this moment. Unfortunately, the picture they decided to use was of a guy from the cleaning service sweeping up. I thought that was the end of my fifteen minutes of fame.

But I was advised by the security people to stay out of the news anyway. Though I ate bitter bile, I told the Cody’s folks to deal with all media queries by saying “Mr. Ross is unavailable for comment at this time”. That is what they told  Dan Rather. That is what they told The New York Times. That is what they told McNeill – Lehrer. For all I know, that is what they  told the Pope.

For the next 2 days and nights, I sat at my desk designing a security plan for Cody’s to be implemented when we reopened after the FBI went home. When it was completed, it was a pretty impressive document. But  I knew then, as I know now, that it was something of a formality to make the employees feel more at ease. It was going to cost a lot of money and be a big hassle and wasn’t likely to deter a serious or even a casual terrorist. The plan included specific procedures for dealing with “suspicious ” people, evacuation procedures, inspections at the front door, dealing with media, and metal detectors in the shipping room.

The first scare we had was when we found a letter addressed to me. The bells and whistles went off when we scanned it with a metal detector. We evacuated the building. The police courageously told me to open it myself. It turned out that it was a  cutesy note from Melissa Mytinger, the events manager, with a little smiley face metal foil sticker inside.

We did see a lot of customers with sort of  sinister Middle Eastern looks to them and shifty eyes. I would usually get a warning call from the information desk saying  that they saw “a sort of sinister, middle eastern looking guy with shifty eyes”. It turns out that there were a number Muslim individuals who came into the store looking to buy the book. The shifty eyes may have had to do with the fact that they were doing something naughty. But I don’t know. They also warned me about another suspicious person. It turns out that he was from New Delhi, a Hindu, and a friend from the book business.

One of the most poignant  encounters I had was with a group of Muslim students at UC Berkeley who wanted to express their compassion for Cody’s and to tell me that they were ashamed of all this. As you can imagine, any Muslim in America was getting a very raw deal with the hysteria that was going on. I told them that I wanted to apologize to them for what they must be suffering. I realized something important during that encounter.

We still kept getting calls from the media  who wanted six o’clock news clips of the security measures. For some reason, they all wanted to ask me if we were going to put the book in the window. As if I would risk getting by ass blown to smithereens so they could have a sound bite. I think what they really wanted was for me to get up on a soap box in front of the store facing a thousand cameras  and say: “Ayatollah Khomeini, Read…..my….lips!”

Eventually things settled down. We slowly in stages phased out the security plan. There was a lot of debate about eliminating each measure. The gist of the conversation at each step was something like: “What do you care more about? Human life or money?” But we moved on. We sold over 700 copies of  The Satanic Verses the week after we re-opened. I think that it was more an act of solidarity than an interest in the book. A lot of people told me later that they never read the damn thing.  Some people wanted me to autograph it. I think I demurred. What did they want me to inscribe anyway? “I am Salman Rushdie!”

A few months later, I was called by the National Association of Newspaper Editors and asked if I would be on a panel at the convention to talk about my experiences. I told them that I had been trying to avoid the media. They told me not to worry. It was going to be quite discrete. I can’t imagine how I believed that  a speech in front of every major editor of every newspaper in the country could ever be discrete. So I went there. I was on a panel with Larry McMurtry and Robin Wright, a distinguished journalist covering Iran. I should have known that there was nothing discrete about the meeting when I saw the prime minister of Israel who was giving the presentation before  us, followed later by the Palestinian representative to the UN.

I got there and saw that the whole show was being broadcast on C-SPAN. I told them my “Ayatollah, read my lips” line and got a lot of laughs. Then I went home and watched myself on national TV. As you can see, I lived to tell about it.

The following summer Susan Sontag was invited to give a speech about the whole affair at the American Booksellers Association  Convention. I went there hoping that at last she would acknowledge that Cody’s did something special. She was extremely critical of almost everyone in the book business who refused to stand up and be counted or who didn’t allow their names to be used in full page ads in The New York Times. But she did want to acknowledge the commitment shown by independent bookstores. And she wanted especially to single out  one in Berkeley, California: Black Oak Books.

I guess this just shows that in real life stories don’t always end the way you would like.

Marţi, 24 noiembrie

după ora 19:00 Grimus concertează unplugged la Teatrul Odeon din Bucuresti la încheierea întâlnirii scriitorului Salman Rushdie cu cititorii; accesul publicului este liber, dar intrarea se face pe baza unor tichete de acces, care pot fi procurate de la Casa de bilete a Teatrului Odeon în ziua evenimentului (marţi, 24 noiembrie, începând cu ora 11.30)

Joi, 26 noiembrie

la ora 21.30 Grimus va susţine un concert alături de Are(a)zione (Italia) la SPICE Club, în cadrul evenimentului “Music Contaminations” organizat de Cramps Music, InMusica Records şi TVR.

…

Ne cerem scuze. Informaţia a sosit TÂRZIU

(în stil bucureştean … bine că nu am primit informaţia vineri).

Voi prezenta o parte dintre lansările de carte, inclusiv cele care mi-au strârnit interesul, ce se vor succeda pe parcursul acestui eveniment.

Miercuri 25 noiembrie

ora 17.00: La standul editurii Cartea Românească va fi lansarea romanului Fugi din viata ţa, revoltătoare şi slută, în cartea mea, de Daniel Bănulescu Prezintă: Carmen Muşat, Bianca Burţa-Cernat, Paul Cernat

ora 18.00-20.00:  La invitația editurii Polirom, o şedinţa de autografe Salman Rushdie

Prezintă: Oana Boca

Locaţie: Stand automobile Dacia din cadrul Romexpo

Joi 26 noiembrie

ora 16.00 La standul editurii Humanitas:
Volume câştigătoare ale concursului de debut literar UniCredit, ediţia a II-a , 2009
Cântecul geamănului de Gabriela Toma
Soarele răsare din televizor de Carmen Dominte
Apocalipsa după Vaslui de Dorin Cozan
Participă: Mircea Vasilescu, Paul Cernat, Gabriela Toma, Carmen Dominte, Dorin Cozan, Cristina Guseth, Gabriela Maaz

ora 17.00: La standul editurii Polirom va fi lansarea volumului Despre doliu. Un an din viaţa lui Leon W., de Mircea Mihăieş

Prezintă: Cristian Teodorescu, Ioan T. Morar, Adrian Serban

ora 18.oo : La Standul Editurii Vinea: 44 – Pavilionul 17, va avea loc lansarea volumului de poezie intitulat “Sentic“. al lui Florin Caragiu.

Vineri 27 noiembrie

ora 15.00: La standul editurii Polirom va fi lansarea volumului Profeţii despre prezent. Elogiul morţii, de Nicolae Breban

Prezintă: Alex Ştefănescu, Eugen Simion, Daniel Cristea-Enache

ora 16.00 La standul Humanitas, lansarea volumului Poveşti impertinente şi apocrife de Andrei Cornea
Participă: Ioana Pârvulescu, Andrei Cornea, Gabriel Liiceanu

ora 16.30: La standul editurii Cartea Românească lansarea romanului Regele cu pene, Constantin Ciucă

Prezintă: Radu Aldulescu, Cosmin Ciotloş

ora 17.30: La standul Humanitas se va lansa cartea  Non-sensul giratoriu şi alte non-sensuri de ieri şi de azi de Matei Pleşu
Participă: Matei Pleşu, Gabriel Liiceanu, Radu Paraschivescu, Lidia Bodea

La standul Polirom, lansarea volumului L-am urît pe Ceauşescu. Ani, oameni, disidenţă, de Gabriel Andreescu

Prezintă: Ovidiu Şimonca, Mihnea Berindei, Adrian Şerban

ora 18.00: La standul Polirom, lansarea volumului Inamici publici, de Michel Houellebecq, Bernard-Henry Lévy

Prezintă: Vasile Ernu, Daniel Nicolescu

Sămbătă 28 noiembrie

ora 12.30: La standul Polirom, lansarea volumului Ultimii eretici ai Imperiului, Vasile Ernu

Prezintă: Eugen Negrici, Florin Iaru, Andrei Gheorghe

ora 15.00: La standul editurii Cartea Românească  o interesantă lansare: Elena Vlădăreanu, Spaţiu privat. Cu 33 de ilustraţii de Dan Perjovschi

ora 15.30:La standul editurii Humanitas se va lansa  volumul Încă de pe atunci vulpea era vânătorul de Herta Müller
Participă: Oana Pellea, Simona Kessler, Emil Hurezeanu, Alexandru Şahighian, Denisa Comănescu

ora 16.00: Tot la Humanitas, va fi la lansarea cărții Creştetul gheţarului de Constanța Buzea
Participă: Constanţa Buzea, Ioana Pârvulescu, Lidia Bodea

ora 18.00: La standul editurii Cartea Românescă va fi lansarea romanului Medgidia, oraşul de apoi, Cristian Teodorescu Prezintă: Carmen Muşat, Paul Cernat, Cosmin Ciotloş, Daniel Cristea-Enache

Duminică 29 noiembrie

ora 11.30: La standul Humanitas, va fi lansarea volumului Povestiri despre om de Constantin Noica
Participă: Vladimir Tismăneanu, Sorin Lavric

The Picador India book “Fear Factor Terror Incognito” is out and on the bookshelves already in India, with an official release date of 10th December. A few copies are on their way to me. I am hoping the courier can manage to deliver them by Monday. It will be a great delight to see the book in print at last.

Picador Australia has The Aus edition on their website with a March release.

Order form at: http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/resources/2010-03-A.pdf

From the Picador Australia (Pan Macmillan) webpage: “A unique collaboration between Australia and India, the stories represent these writers’ protests against the phenomenon of modern terror. They do not offer solutions. Instead, they lead readers along the hidden paths of an unfamiliar psychology to make their own discoveries.

A joint publication with Picador UK and Picador India, Fear Factor: Terror Incognito is essential reading for anyone interested the global phenomenon of terror.”

Please pass the word, if you can.

Also, the link for those interested in the very worthy Room to Read

More about Room to Read in November 13 Post on this blog.

Cheers,
Sharon

Welcome once again to a recap of our weekly finds from around the internet.

As always, we begin our journey by fortifying ourselves with a piece of cheesecake.  This week, at Chris’ request, that cheesecake is Padma Lakshmi, the host of Top Chef on The Food Network.  I have to be honest and say I’m curious to see what kind of traffic the combination of cheesecake and Padma Lakshmi drives.

Padma’s geek credentials are strong.  Besides her work on The Food Network, she has been a runway model, the love interest in an EELS music video, Sean Bean’s nemesis in Sharpe’s Challenge and, perhaps most importantly, an alien princess on Star Trek:  Enterprise.

It’s good to be Scott Bakula.

Oh, and she was married to Salman Rushdie.

On with the links.

1. Chicago Tribune columnist literally eats his words re:  Bulls C Joakim Noah.
2. Between Two Ferns with Zack Galifanakis, the best talk show EVER schools Conan.
3. The 100 Greatest Quotes from The Wire.
4. Newsweek presents the decade in 7 seconds.
5. Smart guys fight over football; Malcom Gladwell puts the hurt on a reviewer over QBs and draft status.
6. A trailer for a movie where Manny Pacquiauo fights a giant crab.
7. College football play of the year from Bethel College in Kansas.
8. Commonsense?  Conservatism?  Verbal tic?
9. Microsoft blows a software rollout?  No way!
10. Stephe’s a Trekkie…ummm…Trekker.
11. E*Trade baby outtakes.  Funnier than you think.
12. Calibrate.
13. Bacon Envelopes.  Thank you science.
14. Humorous bailout rant.
15. Existentialism.
16. Interview with Lemmy.  \m/
17. Robot band.
18. Rescuing the horns for metal.  See above.
19. That’s both gross and wrong.  More wrong, but still gross.
20. More cryptozoology.
21. Our obligatory Twilight link of the week.
22. And I’ve read two.
23. And I drafted two.
24. I’m pretty sure the word you’re looking for is treason.
25. Disturbing XBox 360 story #1.
26. Disturbing XBox 360 story #2.
27. NO!  REALLY!
28. And, finally, Jon Stewart once again delivers the truth.  This time about Nancy Grace.

OR

On February 28, 1989, Cody’s was bombed. I remember being awakened by the police who informed me that a fire bomb had been thrown through the window of Cody’s. The fire department had broken into the store putting out the fire. The firemen’s efforts at containment did considerably more damage than the fire, itself. I came down to the store at about 2 AM. I waited around most of the night. I made some phone calls to the American Booksellers Association and, I believe, my mother and brother informing them of the incident.

We assumed that the bombing was associated with the so-called Rushdie Affair, although it was never learned exactly who was responsible for the incident. But I assumed that it probably wasn’t a disgruntled ex-girlfriend of mine.

Let’s backtrack a little. In September 1988, Penguin Books published The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie in the UK. From the beginning it was considered a literary masterpiece and Rushdie’s most ambitious work. Sadly for him, it satirized some themes in Moslem history and theology. In February, 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the Iranian revolution, issued a Fatwa, a decree under Muslim Sharia law, declaring the book blasphemous and offering a bounty for Rushdie’s murder.

Rushdie went into deep hiding, although someone said they saw him in Hyde Park in disguise. When asked what Rushdie looked like, the person responded that he looked like Salman  Rushdie with a fake mustache.

The publication unleashed a fire storm, literally and figuratively. There were book burnings all over the Moslem world and fire bombs thrown into book stores in the UK. In the book world there was a veritable frenzy of people issuing pronouncements about defending freedom of speech from terrorists and fanatics. There was a lot of talk about people sacrificing their lives, if necessary, to protect this freedom. Writers’ organizations started handing out buttons that became ubiquitous in publishing saying: “I am Salman Rushdie!”. Of course with the death threats flying around, certain wags started wearing buttons saying: “He is Salman Rushdie!”.

The book was published in the United States at the beginning of February. Several weeks later, America’s largest chains: B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, and Barnes & Noble pulled Satanic Verses from their shelves nationwide. The writers’ organizations, led by PEN America and just about everyone else in publishing went ape-shit. PEN organized a public reading of Satanic Verses and a march to Dalton’s to picket the store. Susan Sontag was president of PEN. Norman Mailer was the past president. They were everywhere speaking about the outrage. There continued to be much breast beating about people’s willingness to give their lives for the cause.

I was watching all this with a lot more than detached interest. It was pretty easy for Norman Mailer and Susan Sontag to talk about risking their lives in support of an idea. After all they lived   fairly high up in New York apartment buildings. It was quite another thing to be a retailer featuring the book at street level. I had to make some really hard decisions about balancing our commitment to freedom of speech against the real threat to the lives of our employees. From the vantage point of street level, this was not such an easy decision.

I had made a second career out of attacking the chain stores in any manner I could find. But when they became the underdog in this melodrama, for the first and last time in my career I took their side. It was a very contrarian position that won me few friends. I’m sure that had Cody’s not been bombed the following week, and had I not become the martyr de jour, I would have taken some heat for this.

I articulated the reasons for this and the reasons that my own feelings had become quite conflicted in a letter I wrote to Susan Sontag on February 19, 10 days before the Cody’s bombing. I’ll quote the letter at some length here.

“I was distressed to read a quote by you in the media… in which you seemed to draw an analogy between the behavior of members of the literary community to the silence of Germans during the 30’s….

“The events of the past week have forced me to make difficult decisions; decisions in which I have had to choose between my most valued ideals of freedom of expression and the need to protect the lives and safety of my employees. Both of these values are absolute and yet, in this case, inconsistent. We are on the horns of a dilemma. To aggressively affirm our commitment to freedom of speech, we risk inflaming further the anger of fanatics. At best we compromise and find a middle ground. We agonize endlessly over whether we should carry the book at all; if so, do we sell it under the counter or display it; if we display it, do we feature it prominently or discretely.…..

“And so we make our decisions without any assurance of their wisdom. Our actions will be judged either cowardly or prudent only in hindsight and only as a result of consequences which are out of our control….

“… Although I personally disagree with the chains’ actions, I find it difficult to pass judgment on them in this instance. Booksellers are the front line shock troops in this struggle as in most censorship issues….We can’t go into hiding, and so we are uniquely vulnerable….It may be that in some situations, caution is required. If, as a result of such caution, lives are saved; then a store’s actions could be deemed not cowardly but prudent. If, as a result of another store’s decision to carry the book, people are harmed; then such actions could be deemed not courageous but foolhardy….”

Susan Sontag never responded to this letter.

The following week,  Cody’s was bombed. I spoke of the fire bombing that occurred at 2 AM. More troubling was that as we were cleaning up in the morning, an undetonated pipe bomb was found rolling around the floor  near the poetry section. Apparently it had been thrown through the window at the same time as the fire bomb. Had the pipe bomb exploded, it would have killed everyone in the store. The building was quickly evacuated. Lawrence Davidson, who discovered the bomb, ran upstairs to warn me to leave the building. If I haven’t told you before, Lawrence, thanks.

As I walked outside, I was met with a phalanx of newsmen. Literally hundreds. Normally I was a shameless panderer for media publicity. At this point I had no desire to speak. And I knew reflexively that public pronouncements under the circumstances were probably imprudent.

We all assembled across the street facing the building, which had been cordoned  by yellow tape.   The police bomb squad entered  to see if they could diffuse the bomb. Apparently they judged it too dangerous to move. They decided to pack it with sand bags and detonate it in the store. We heard the bomb blast and watched as the building shook. I remember thinking that this was unreal. It can’t be happening. Then I started crying. Of course the media vultures loved this and stuck a camera in my face to record the tears rolling down  for the six o’clock media clips.

We all pulled ourselves together and returned to the store. I called a meeting in the café. Jesus, what do you say after you have just watched your store get bombed? It isn’t like we learned how to deal with this situation in ABA booksellers’ school. We had, after all, just witnessed the first act of international terrorism in the United States. And it had been directed against us!

I stood and told the staff that we had a hard decision to make. We needed to decide whether to keep carrying Satanic Verses and risk our lives for what we believed in. Or to take a more cautious approach and compromise our values.  So we took a vote. The staff voted unanimously to keep carrying the book. Tears still come to my eyes when I think of this.   It was the defining moment in my 35 years of bookselling. It was the moment when I realized that bookselling was a dangerous and subversive vocation. Because ideas are powerful weapons. It was also the moment that I realized in a very concrete way that what I had told Susan Sontag was truer and more prophetic  than anything I could have then imagined. I felt  just a tad anxious about carrying that book. I worried about the consequences. I didn’t particularly feel comfortable about being a hero and putting other people’s lives in danger. I didn’t know at that moment whether this was an act of courage or foolhardiness.

But from the clarity of hindsight, I would have to say it was the proudest day of my life.

Several years later, Salman, still undercover, came to the Bay Area. A secret dinner was arranged for him with numerous celebrities, politicians and movie stars. We were honored guests. The next day, Rushdie insisted on paying a visit to Cody’s. We were told that we could not announce the visit until 15 minutes before he arrived.  It was a very emotional meeting. Many tears were shed, and we were touched by his decision to visit us. We showed him the book case that had been charred by the fire bomb. We also showed him the hole in the sheetrock above the information desk that had been created when the pipe bomb was detonated. One of the Cody’s staff, with characteristic irreverence,  had written with a marker next to the damaged sheet rock: “Salman Rushdie Memorial Hole”. Salman shrugged his shoulders and said with his wonderful self-deprecating humor, “well, you know some people get statues, —-and others get holes.”

Never thought I’d use those two tags in the same post…

Now the tricky part is getting seats on Tuesday – I think we’re gonna need all the luck we can get

Jag har hört talas om kvinnor som smusslar in kassar med skor och kläder för att deras män inte ska kunna klaga på att de shoppat – IGEN. Däremot har jag nog aldrig hört talas om en kvinna som smusslar in tre kartonger innehållande femton bättre begagnade band av ett utdaterat uppslagsverk, och gömmer under skrivbordet för att sambon inte ska upptäcka dem och komma med liknande spydigheter.

Ehm. Men det där är just vad jag gjort idag.

Jag missade ett tåg efter min visit hos La Dottoressa i förmiddags, och fick oförhappandes 20 minuter på mig att besöka det lokala biblioteket – som visade sig ha någon slags utförsäljning. Jag inhandlade två böcker á 1:- stycket. En gammal Loesje-bok och någon slags teoretisk avhandling om musik – läste inledningen, den verkade gå ut på att om man inte är ett musikaliskt underbarn (tänk: Mozart) bör man inte ens överväga att försöka lära sig spela ett instrument.

Hm. Nåväl, det får stå vad det vill i den, jag köpte den för att den hade en snygg typografi – perfekt att riva sidor ur och göra collage av!

Och så var det då det där uppslagsverket. 75:- skulle de ha för hela rasket. Jag menar – sjuttiofem spänn…! Jag kunde inte gärna släpa tre kartonger på tåget, utan lämnade dem där för att tänka på saken. Ett par tre stycken är väl en sak – men femton band? När vi just gjort oss av med vårt eget gamla uppslagsverk för att spara plats…! (Fast det ångrar jag förstås. Tänk att gå löst med en sax och kniv på Bra Böckers lexikon…!) Jag tror att sambon skulle ha svårt att riktigt uppskatta det konstnärliga värdet i dessa medfarna böcker – ens om jag visar honom Brian Dettmers samlade mästerverk.

Men faktum är att jag någonstans är så förmäten att jag åtminstone tänker försöka göra en Dettmer. Måste ju testa, åtminstone. Det enda jag klurar på är i vilken ände av boken man ska börja… Det verkar mest logiskt att börja längst bak, men jag är säker på att jag läst någonstans att Dettmer själv börjar framifrån. Hur fan gör karln då?? Och i vilket läge ska man limma sidorna?

Nåväl, där ryker väl en 2-3 band åtminstone. En bok ska jag använda till att göra en sy-ram av för bokbinderi – enligt modell från en av artjournaling-böckerna jag skrivit om på sistone. En ska jag skära pärmen av och göra en hembunden anteckningsbok av. En ska jag altra som den är, genom att limma ihop sidor och kludda i. Resten… Tja, resten vet jag inte riktigt vad jag ska göra med faktiskt. Men jag hoppas att jag kommer på nåt bra, innan sambon upptäcker de tre kartongerna under mitt skrivbord.

***

Sen hittade jag en reklamblaska från Akademibokhandeln i dagens DN. Jag skulle kunna lägga ut texten om bokhandlars framtid och marknadsförutsättningar här – men jag har faktiskt ingen lust att vara seriös idag.

Däremot bläddrade jag i den och blev lite nyfiken på Salman Rushdies senaste. Jag har läst en bok av Rushdie – Marken under hennes fötter. Den var språkligt fantastisk, och berättarmässigt intressant… men alldeles för lång. Den skulle ha varit 300 sidor kortare, så hade substansen räckt till hela boken. Det där har gjort att jag undvikt fler böcker av honom – fast lockelsen finns där.

Han är en jävel på att hitta udda vinklade berättelser, och en jävel på att skriva – men som sagt, det är ju det där med att han dränker sina berättelser i ord, bara… Hm. Jag kanske ska bita ihop och ge mig på den här senaste i alla fall: Förtrollerskan från Florens. Bara omslagsbilden kittlar i den själsliga maggropen.

Drink-fuelled pensioners rioted at Sunday night’s O2 concert by 70’s folk singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens. Furious fans felt cheated to realise that Yusuf was no longer a young man. “He looked just as old as us,” one disgusted fan claimed bitterly. “We didn’t pay to see some old guy sit and watch a musical.”

The trouble started when pensioners, many of whom have little concert experience, were allowed to go the bars during an interval during the show. They returned to their seats having downed several sherries in the short break and ready for trouble. Yusuf played right into their hands by sitting back and inviting ten actors on-stage to perform an extract from his new musical. Fans were outraged by this and appalled to realise that Yusuf had no answers to their problems and had actually nothing to say about the current economic recession.

“It’s completely unbelievable,” said Philomena, a grandmother of twelve. “We thought we were getting a a solution to all our problems tonight and instead he sings some crap songs that no one’s ever heard of and then makes us watch some poxy play about a hippy looking for the sun!”

Writing on his blog, Yusuf has reflected that, “One thing is clear: many of the fans didn’t realise that it was no longer 1972 – and some thought I was rubbish. That can easily be fixed with a free souvenir programme for the night and me personally informing the audience of what’s happened in the last 35 years.”

On a more sinister note, a senior Garda source noted that some of the elements responsible for last year’s medical card for pensioners riots were also present at this concert. This was, she remarked, “a worrying development and possible sign that disruptive elements were successfully infiltrating institutions such as Age Concern and bridge clubs across the country.”

The singer has, however, rejected suggestions that a fatwa be issued calling for the death by hanging of the unruly audience members. “Although, the Qur’an makes it clear – if someone defames the prophet, then he must die — it didn’t work with Salman Rushdie – we never got the bugger – and I’m not about to try that malarkey again. Besides, I’m not actually a prophet and it would further confuse fans who just getting used to my new cuddly image.”

carevasazica avem:

Povestitorii de la Sosea – miercuri 18 noiembrie, Clubul Taranului, ora 19:00 (Ana Maria Sandu, Dan Lungu, Marius Chivu)

Salman Rushdie – intalnire cu publicul marti 24 noiembrie, teatrul Odeon, ora 19:00 + sesiune de autografe la Gaudeamus, miercuri 25 noiembrie, ora 18:00 (pana atunci e de citit un interviu misto in ultimul numar din Dilemateca)

Lansare: “Cartea lui Mos Oposum despre Pisicile Poznaşe” – TS Eliot , sambata 28 noiembrie, Gaudeamus-Humanitas, ora 11:30

Lansarea volumului: “Moartea lui Bunny Munro” – Nick Cave, sambata 28 noiembrie, Gaudeamus-Polirom, ora 14:00

Lansarea romanului: “Şi Hams Şi Regretel”- Matei Florian, sambata 28 noiembrie, Gaudeamus-Polirom, ora 16:30

& more goodies – aici gasiti programul Gaudeamus complet pe zile (NU incercati pdf-ul, ca momentan nu merge..)

see you there:)

   Obiectul afecțiunii : Salman Rushdie, Pământul de sub tălpile ei.

   O recenzie pe care refuz să o citesc înainte de carte, aici.

   Revin.

   p.s. Pamantul de sub talpile ei-salman rushdie