DaVinci Code Banned in Iran.

Christian clergy in Iran have gotten Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code banned from being sold in the country. What do you all think of this? Does this seem bizarre, that in Iran the Christian community (which is about 100,000 compared to 69,000,000 Muslims) banned an "anti-Christian" book? How does that reflectf Christianity in Iran? Banning books is never good, right, even if it's the Da Vinci Code?
It's just a blurb story in the NYT, but I'm fascinated by this move.

*update*
Looks like azf and diedan were right on this one. Here' s an article describing the rush in Iran to buy Da Vinci Code before the copies run out. The government allowed remaining copies to be bought, but no new copies to be sold.
Luckily, "Iranians...can still buy videos or DVDs of the film version on the black market, the usual way in which Western films circulate in the country."

Curious...

I was just wondering what every one is reading these days? And of course if you are loving it or hating it and what not. I would start this thread by telling you all what I am reading but if you don't already know that...well, I don't even know what to say to that.

Against the Day.

Everybody loves a good Thomas Pynchon novel. Well. Maybe they do. I've liked two of them(V and Vineland), but I had to put down Gravity's Rainbow out of boredom. I've never even considered Mason & Dixon. Now there is another in the catalogue of novels by America's great reclusive writer (notwithstanding Mr. Salinger, unless of course they are the same person). Against the Day, it is called. And surprise surprise, its "at least 900 pages long and the author will not be going on a promotional tour." Oh well, next time Tommy, I expect you to be at my local Barnes and Noble.

My Sin. My Soul. Lo-lee-ta.

One of my favorite books, and one of the best to discuss, is Nabokov's Lolita. It's both creepy and beautiful. I read this article at NPR, which described one of the great traits of Lolita being the readers complicity in the actions of Humbert Humbert. Like Richard III. There's nothing like getting the inside scoop from the bad guys, and being forced to go along with them, even sympathize. Even empathize. It's a great novel, and a polarizing novel. And it never seems to leave literary news alone.

P.S. Has any book had as many great covers as Lolita?

My many books...

I started Under The Banner of Heaven (no worries, I'm reading it along side The Red and The Black) by John Krakauer, whom I had a major literary crush on my senior year of high school. It turns out he’s just as amazing to read all these years later. As for the book, if you don't know about it already, it’s about Mormon Fundamentalists and the practice of polygamy (very broad overview). I’m wondering what you opinions are on the subject. Is it okay to practice polygamy? What about the children of polygamists? And if the children choose to partake in this behavior when they are adults is it okay, or is the ability to choose not an ability they ever had because they were raised this way?

Amazon Challenge

Hey readers, I have a request for you. I was recently given the privilege of spending $75 on Amazon (!!!!!) and, while I have a longish list of books that I would like to buy, I thought I would take the opportunity to instead ask all y'all for your recommendations. So, please, state your case-- what possibly obscure, previously-unknown-to-me books (not that you know which books I do and don't know....), should I buy, and why?
Thankssss

Road Trip!

Well, its not winter, but I thought I would stick with last weeks theme of posting a book having to do with our travel. Tonight we leave for Minnesota to hang out with our dear loved ones and complain about how hot it is. I'm sure it will be the desire of everyone around to not just read about how great Minnesota is in the winter but also for it to actually be winter. This is also a shout out to the illustrator, whom we here at luminous books are totally smitten with.

5 Million for the book of books.

A private collector in London has purchased for over 5 million dollars what in our hearts, we all wish we could have (at least for a few hours): a first edition of Shakespeare's First Folio. It was published in 1623, and is in "mint" condition, considering the 250 copies that exist.
What a buy.

Confession.

We are all guilty. Every one of has one; that book we are supposed to love, it’s a classic no doubt, one of the greats, everyone else raves about how brilliant it is—but as for you, you don’t get it. You’ve read it, and you just don’t like it. But admitting it is a horrible sin to be scoffed at. So I’m just going to say it and get it out there; for me, it’s the The Awakening. Being that I am of the female gender this is a double sin. Not only did I not enjoy this classic but it’s also a Stonehenge in the world of the independent woman. The forerunner in the world of female fiction. I’ve tried to read it three times (twice sincerely) and have never finished it. Plain and simple, it puts me to sleep. Edna, Kate, I'm sorry. There is nothing else I can say. How’s that for a confession? Your turn.

Dickens, Charles.

Continuing through Bleak House, which is terrific, but long, I have been thinking about Dickens. Many people characterize Dickens as a man who solely desired the moneys; he was extremely popular, therefore not a great artist. (I can't tell you how many times you hear this ridiculous claim made about Shakespeare, too, I mean come on...Shakespeare?) Others just don't like him, as on this message board of folks ("Charles Dickens, and all his goofy-ass character names and lame-ass plots, can bite me." Magwitch and Snagsby resent this comment).
Anyway, I was reading about Dickens on Wickipedia, and was blown away by the fact that "the popularity of his novels and short stories during his lifetime and to the present is demonstrated by the fact that none has ever gone out of print."
Dickens wrote 20 novels, and none of them has ever been out of print. Amazing.

"One Art"

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

-Elizabeth Bishop

This is George. He was a good little monkey...

I wanted to make a quick post before we go off on our camping weekend, to remind people of this great book, written by the Reys, who understood what curiousity and monkeyhood were all about. Maybe I had a predeliction towards misfit monkeys as a child, but I loved Curious George.

Best-Sellers

Do you ever look at the NYT best-seller list? I've been looking at it lately, following Al Gore's quest to save the globe , and am continually amazed to see what tops these lists. I know it's nothing new to see the best-sellers, I've just never actually paid any attention.
#1 Hardcover Nonfiction: Ann Coulter's Godless
#1 Hardcover Fiction: Janet Evonavich's TwelveSharp
At least in Paperback there are some good books, even if they neede Oprah to bring Night to the top, or a possible apocalypse for Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth. In Paperback fiction, Evonavich's Eleven on Top is still hanging in there, way to go Janet. Does anyone know the last time a novel that (I'm betraying my arrogance here) worth reading topped the NYT best-seller list?

Let the reading begin...

A novel is like a bow, and the violin that produces the sound is the reader's soul. -Stendhal

I have started The Red and The Black as promised. For those of you that aren't sure what the story is even about: It's based on a article that was written in the Gazette des Tribunaux (1829) about the trial of a young man charged with the attempted murder of an ex-mistress. Who doesn’t love a good French crime novel?

"Life of Pi"

I finished Life of Pi yesterday after a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo with my husband. We didn’t run across Richard Parker but we did see a very active Siberian Tiger pacing its grounds, putting home the fear Pi must have had while living on a raft with a Tiger. In the end, I loved this book. It wasn’t a love I felt immediately but upon thinking about it more, and thinking about it still, I am a bit awe struck over the story and Martel’s writing. Though it began slowly the novel grew to proportions I hadn’t expected. I was amazed at Martel’s ability to make a novel with so little dialogue so gripping, to be able to go beyond describing emotions but to describe events so well I couldn’t help but question, “Is this real?”. Martel made you want what he was about to give you before you even knew it was coming. In that sense, I think he was a bit of a miracle worker with his writing. Then we have the religious and philosophical aspect both so subtle and obvious my head was spinning. It leaves you thinking, thinking, thinking...what more can a reader ask for?

For those of you who have already read it, I am especially eager to talk about the role of meta-fiction in the novel. And also that idea that it is a story, “that will make you believe in God.” What does that mean? Do you think it’s true?

Also, here is a short interview with Martel about writing the book, if you are interested.

Definition of the Day

For those who want to expand their vocabulary, who maybe lost their copy of the "Handbook to Literature" or just don't quite understand what FR is talking about, here is a definition for the phrase Objective Correlative. The word was used as early as 1850 to describe the process by which the external world produces pleasurable emotion but of course T. S. Eliot had to come along and change the meaning. The handbook for literature defines it as

"term for a pattern of objects, actions, events or a situation that can serve effectively to awaken in the reader an emotional response without being a direct statement of that subjective emotion."

In other words, a certian action takes place in the reading, creating a particular emotion in the reader which is justified by the plot and the characters response. Questions?

Kavalier and Clay

As I push through Bleak House unending, the merits of The Amazing Adventures of Cavelier and Klay has become a topic of discourse. Is the Pulitzer Prize winning novel sentimental tackiness? Poorly written? Or is a work that deserves the lauding it has recieved? Here is a taste of the conversation that has already transpired.
WH: "I was pissed off at Joe. I was pissed off because he is so egocentric that his despair and agony only involves his own pain and guilt."
FR: "What i am talking about WH, is, even though i said "soap opera," what i meant was the fuckin, fuckin, objective correlative."
Again, FR (my favorite quip of the day): "And K and C is just one dry boring dust path moving toward liberal, "sexually freeing," tolerent, stupid, great american politess and levinasian bullshit."

Orange Award Announced.

I have been hearing Zadie Smith's name for all too long now to not have read anything. Well, kind of. I picked up "On Beauty" a while back in the bookstore when some friends decided to read her, but was bored before the first paragraph ended. Be it my mood, or my taste I don't know. But apparently most people disagree with me, the 2006 Winner for The Orange Award for Fiction is none other than Zadie Smith's "On Beauty." Doesn't mean I will read it, but it does mean that maybe I should reconsider.