Mod query: "Blogging the Qu'ran"

[puritybrown.livejournal.com]

I was reading up on postmodern theorists when I happened to find Blogging the Qu'ran, a project on the Guardian blog site run by Ziauddin Sardar and Madeleine Bunting in which Sardar, a British/Pakistani Muslim (and postmodernist theorist -- I love his work), reads through the Qu'ran and comments on it, Guardian readers add their comments, and then Sardar and Bunting marshal the comments together, answer questions, and add further thoughts.

Now, this is not a "who's PoC?" question (Sardar is, Bunting isn't; their photos are right there on the website); it's an "is this a book/sufficiently booklike?" question -- because I think that if you counted the number of words in the blog posts, it would probably amount to something booklength, and it does seem to form a coherent self-contained series, but the back-and-forth nature of the "entry-comments-reply-to-comments" format is... well, it's a blog, innit? I'm probably going to read it anyway, but I'd like direction as to whether I should talk about it here.

California Batch

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting! by Sandra Tsing Loh
(New York: Random House, 2008; ISBN-13: 9780609608135)

Orange County: A Personal History by Gustavo Arellano
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008; ISBN-13: 9781416540045)

I happened to read these books right next to each other, and it was an interesting juxtaposition. Both writers use wit to underscore their social observations and critiques; both have wide-ranging media presences, from public radio to the Huffington Post to the Los Angeles Times. And both were writing about a particular California experience.

( California here we come )

A few books to keep an eye out for (via Nalo Hopkinson)

[shveta-thakrar.livejournal.com]

From Nalo's blog: "Island Fiction is a brand new fiction series from Macmillan Caribbean aimed at teenagers. The novels are all based around fantasy, science fiction and the legends and folklore of the Caribbean."

The first two titles launch on 20 May. For more information, go here.

#5. Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson

[whereweather.livejournal.com]

Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson
1998

Well, I see that Nalo Hopkinson is very popular here.  I have had several of her books on my to-read list for years, so I began with this one.

My feelings about the book are mixed -- it definitely shows many of the signs of a first novel, including some very clumsily worded passages, and a lot of filtering-type language ("Ti-Jeanne thought... Ti-Jeanne felt... Ti-Jeanne heard XX say..."), as well as some info-dumping ("Ti-Jeanne knew...")  But the setting, and the cultural and political backdrop, are so new and so vibrant -- fully felt, deeply realized and believed in -- that the book has some very strong bones, despite the occasional infelicities.  

( more... )

Anyway.  An interesting book, and I will look forward to seeing how Hopkinson's style develops as she progresses in her career.  Two and a half or three stars out of five, I think: two or two and a half for execution and technique, and three and a half for power and potential.

(ETA: Oh!  And I am also going to read Derek Walcott's "Ti-Jean and His Brothers," which ought to shed further light.)