“I’m talking about the marriage ladder.”

There were many points at which I put the book down and mulled over my own opinions as if I were at silent third at the discussions between Loos and Clarin. Of course, apart from these lively debates, there’s a story, a love affair in all of its various stages: the initial throes of passion all the way to boredom and the desire to escape told by Clarin, and it’s this tale that forms the mystery at the heart of the tale. I really enjoyed the book–not just for its two main characters who are perfectly drawn opposites–one man who appears to be the marrying type, and the other a permanent bachelor, but also for its rather bleak look at marriage and the questions raised about its sustainability given the mercurial aspects of human nature, the inexplicable nature of attraction and the selfishness of desire.

—Guy Savage reviews Markus Werner’s On the Edge, in the blog His Futile Preoccupations or the Years of Reading Aimlessly.

A Reluctant Soldier

Even though we always invent memory, it means that we don’t lie because the truth is so obscure. History is an invention: it describes the past as we hope we see it. But our memory is like alcohol, always deceiving us. We don’t want to remember everything, we have to create stories instead, and they are based on the same thing. I didn’t write this as a memory for my children, I wrote it as a story. I wanted to write it to understand what happened to me in that war, but not in the same way a historian would. I wrote it for my own conscience and awareness.

—Yoram Kaniuk interviewed by J. P. O’Malley in The Spectator about 1948, his book about his experiences in the First Arab-Israeli War, which he describes as a work of fiction.

Kiran Nagarkar, author of Ravan and Eddie, the book Katherine Boo calls “wicked, magical, hilarious, enduring,” on the language of storytelling.

(Source: nybooks.com)

Kiran Nagarkar, author of Ravan and Eddie, the book Katherine Boo calls “wicked, magical, hilarious, enduring,” on the language of storytelling.

(Source: nybooks.com)

Warrior in Hot Pink

As remarkable as the characters she comes across may be, however, as well as her flippant and poignant descriptions of Beirut, there’s something else lying at the heart of this memoir, which is El Khalil’s piece de resistance. More than anything, Beirut, I Love You is a story about overcoming the odds, staying true to one’s roots, and coping with the bitter realities of conflict and war. In an iconic photo of the artist, El Khalil appears – not unlike the subjects in her work – boldly gazing out into the distance among a sea of drab apartment buildings, AK47 in hand (hot pink, of course), and with a wreath of roses atop her head, looking every bit the Lebanese superwoman, if there ever was one. On the surface, it all seems a bit frivolous, although upon digging into her stories, one comes to regard El Khalil as more of a warrior than a writer – or even an artist – as she casts all doubts about her superhero persona aside. Having lived as an Arab in New York during 9/11, experienced the 2006 war with Israel firsthand, battled myriad inner demons, and lost her best friend to cancer, El Khalil’s struggles have been many; however, she’s anything but bitter, and it’s with nothing but humour and grace that she looks back on her trials and tribulations, speaking of both triumphant victories and painful recoveries.

—from Joobin Bekhrad’s review of Zena el Khalil’s Beirut, I Love You in Reorient magazine.

Zena el Khalil on the podcast "Other People with Brad Listi" →

The author of “1948,” who was there at the creation of the State of Israel. (Photos from Israel National Photo Archive.)

(Source: bit.ly)

Yoram Kaniuk, the author of  the novel “1948” talks about the creation of the state of Israel and its future.

(Source: vimeo.com)

Listen to the author of NYRB Lit’s “1948” discuss religion and nationality in Israel.

Gwyneth Paltrow likes Beirut, I Love You!

In this memoir published by the New York Review of Books, Zena el Khalil, a young Beirut-based artist returns from art school in New York to Beirut in the midst the Israeli armed forces’ 34-day war against Lebanon in 2006. Khalil brings the city and its current events to life through personal anecdotes about loss, tragedy, friendship, life as a young woman in a polarized city, and love for this conflicted, beautiful place she calls home.

—All reviewers are alike. Some are just more famous than others. This reviewer is named Gwyneth Paltrow. She recommended Beirut, I Love You on her blog, goop. Our estimation of Ms. Paltrow went up very high.