
What more can I say? It's Ian McEwan, only one of the top living writers in the English language. Love his stuff. Can't wait for his new one. Out March 30, no? Anyway. Want!More Waiting on Wednesday at Breaking the Spine with Jill.

What more can I say? It's Ian McEwan, only one of the top living writers in the English language. Love his stuff. Can't wait for his new one. Out March 30, no? Anyway. Want!
Awhile ago, I saw the movie "Definitely, Maybe," which featured a character who collected various editions of Jane Eyre, because she loved the book and because she was looking for a particular lost volume of her own, given to her by her late father. I loved this nerdy, bookish touch in an otherwise by-the-numbers romantic comedy and it reminded me that for a while when I was a teenager I had my own collection of old copies of Jane Eyre. It was my favorite novel (still is) and although my collection reached a grand total of three copies I still treasure those books.
Most recent is Miriam Gershow's very nice The Local News, about a teen girl whose brother has disappeared. I liked this one a lot. It's moving in a quiet way.
Cutting for Stone, one of my top favorite reads last year. It's amazing. If you like literary fiction please read this!
American Wife has been out for several months, but it's still worth checking out. It's a fictionalized version of the life of Laura Bush. I enjoyed Sittenfeld's writing in this character-driven, darkly comic novel.
The White Mary was controversial in the blogosphere when it was released in the summer of 2008. I loved it. I just noticed the paperback in my local bookstore a few weeks ago.

In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?
More importantly, have you read them?
How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?
I have Strunk & Whites The Elements of Style, and yes, I have read it, though I'll say that I don't think that the style the authors promote is the end-all of good writing. I think grammar is very important and it bothers me so much to read writing with poor grammar that I will put a book down if it's sloppy enough. (I've also been known to stop reading poorly-written blogs.) Of course, most professionally published books aren't that sloppy and the most I really ever notice will be some misused pronouns- "She was taller than me" is a typical example. It's I, folks- "She was taller than I". It's a big reason why I dislike reading books written in dialect. Sometimes that technique can really help a reader get inside a character's head, but sometimes if it's not done well it just strips the character of his or her (notice how I didn't say their) dignity and makes the character sound stupid. So yeah, I'm not crazy about bad grammar!
As promised, today I'm featuring a short interview I did with Iranian writer Mahbod Seraji, who graciously agreed to answer a few questions for us. Yesterday you may have read my review of his novel, Rooftops of Tehran; long story short- I loved it, and I was thrilled to be able to ask Mahbod a few questions.
My own childhood, the memories of the alley, great friendships I had as I was growing up – As I mention in the interview at the end of the book ROOFTOPS OF TEHRAN is loosely based on my own personal experiences. I have to also admit that reading ANGELA’S ASHES deeply affected me. One of my greatest regrets in life is that I never got to know or talk to Frank McCourt before he passed away. His story was quite an inspiration to me.
2. What would you like an American reader to learn about Iran from your book?
I wanted my readers to know that Iran is full of people just like them. People who fall in love, value friendship, have strong morals. One person at a book club meeting told me that before reading Rooftops she thought all Iranians were animals. We are talking about a nation of seventy seven million people, 70% of which is under the age of 30 with a literacy rate of over 98%. How 77 million people can be all animals, is beyond me. But it’s the reality of the situation we’re facing; the consequence of 30 years of demonization and dehumanization of Iran and Iranians for political reasons. And unfortunately sometimes people only remember sound bytes from political speeches, or Fox News, and form an unfavorable perception of a nation. Now that would be like someone outside the US watching the first 15 minutes of any of the local news channel and forming a perception of life in the US based on those segments, which hardly represent life in America in its entirety. Right? My book was an attempt and a hope for people to understand life in Iran at a deeper level, and understand that people of Iran are very different than its government.
3. What is That, that quality that others say Pasha has, that he learns to value in himself and others?
THAT, is an indefinable quality, perhaps charisma, charm, presence, and a sort of magical appeal that attracts one’s attention. It’s not one thing, someone’s look, education, the way they speak, the way they make you feel, but a combination of all those things.
4. The character of Doctor appears only briefly in the novel but his presence is felt throughout the characters' lives; was he inspired by someone or something in particular?
Doctor was based on two people, a friend of my father who was arrested by the SAVAK and executed, and the son of my Persian literature teacher in high school, suffering the same fate. His father was devastated with what happened to his son, and I wrote an emotional blog called THIRTY YEARS LATER for truth out.org about the whole incident and its similarity to the death of Neda the young woman whose death was captured by a cell phone camera during the last June’s disputed election rallies in Iran: http://www.truthout.org/
5. Are there any other books you'd suggest- fiction or nonfiction- to someone who want to learn more about Iran? Will we get to see any more fiction from you in the future?
I have a list at the end of the book: Nonfiction: Ervand Abrahamian has a number of great books on Iran, I also like MODERN IRAN by Nikki Keddie, ALL THE SHAH’S MEN by Stephen Kinzer and THE IRAN AGENDA by Reese Erlich. On fiction side, MY UNCLE NAPOLEON by Pezeshkzad, FUNNY IN FARSI by Dumas, and all of Nahid Rachlin’s books are excellent. I am writing another book and am almost finished. Hope to get it out in 2011. For now, I’m calling it, CHILDREN OF THE VILLAGE.
Mahbod, thank you so much for participating! I can't wait to read your next book!
Rooftops of Tehran, by Mahbod Seraji. Published 2009 by New American Library/Penguin. Paperback.

It's Sunday again, and it's one of those Sundays when it's a little hard for me to come up much to say. I've been busy working- I have a new part-time job for the Association of Jewish Libraries- and I'm starting to set up a little home office for myself. My husband and I went to Ikea yesterday to look at desks and I found the perfect one, but I don't want to buy it until I get my sewing room cleaned up enough. I have a broken-down futon that needs to come out; that's a project for this week. I'm anxious to get my little workspace set up now.
Anita Amirrezvani's The Blood of Flowers, historical fiction set in Iran about a woman trying to become independent. I hope that used copy I saw at the Harvard Book Store is still there! (Yeah, right!)
Marcel Möring's In a Dark Wood is going to be a must-read; it's about Europe dealing with post-Holocaust and post-World War II guilt and its consequences. I'm really looking forward to reading this.
Finally, Atiq Rahimi's The Patience Stone looks fantastic. Set in Afghanistan, it just won the Prix Goncourt, the prestigious French literary prize. I can't wait.