Besides varying artwork and font selections as well as hardcover or soft cover choices, I would argue little has changed in the publishing world during the past century when it comes to books (at least presentation-wise). But now, Penguin, one of the biggest publishers in the world, has started, what we might call, a web […]

“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” - The Second Law of Clarke’s Three Laws
To Arthur C. Clarke, whose words fueled my imagination growing up (especially the wanting-to-become-an-astronaut phase). May God rest your soul.

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In the state of siege, time becomes space
Transfixed in its eternity
In the state of siege, space becomes time
That has missed its yesterday and its tomorrow…
The siege will last in order to convince us we must choose
an enslavement that does no harm, in fullest liberty!
- Under Siege by Mahmoud Darwish
Gaza is still under siege
Mahmoud Darwish […]

I first passed by Readers a few weeks ago, in July, soon after they launched on the day the last Harry Potter book came out. At the time, I was impressed but I didn’t get the chance to really browse through the place. First of all, it’s easily accessible which I love, especially when compared […]

FOR YOUR MUGGLE READING PLEASURE, THIS POST IS SPOILER-FREE.
So the tale of Harry Potter comes to an end in The Deathly Hallow, with over 750 pages worth of reading. Let me say this, I never thought Rowling was a great writer; she had a great idea but not the best of writing to back it […]

Why oh why did someone have to go and ruin everything by making this movie?
Hannibal Rising is as the title suggests, about the young Hannibal Lecter years and years before he became the psychopath portrayed by the extraordinary Sir Anthony Hopkins (neglecting Brian Cox in Manhunter). I never read Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Rising which […]

An excerpt from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel “Haunted” that I found quite telling of the human condition…

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Within a minute of boarding a plane and sitting down I always reach for the emergency pamphlet just to chuckle as I resurrect Tyler Durden’s eternal observation: Emergency water landing, 600 miles an hour: blank faces, calm as Hindu cows…

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It started with ‘Da Vinci Code’ and ended with ‘Deception Point’ as I’ve only recently managed to cover all of Dan Brown’s books. My conclusion? Brown is a pretty bad writer. I’m sorry, I know there are big fans of the guy out there but he’s frankly a bad writer. So what makes it for […]

Can you imagine life without music? Monday morning’s without a soundtrack? Every car ride you’ve ever taken, every time you’ve been out cruising, without a single tune as your GPS? I admit I sometimes take music as seriously as Jack Black’s character, Barry, in High Fidelity. I’m the guy who goes on one hour rants […]

I freaked out when I read this, the kind of freaking out that results in hair pulling but currently my hair is too short to pull so I slapped myself hard to make sure I wasn’t dreaming…
Jordan’s Al-Dastour newspaper reports that the Department of Publications is taking Jordanian poet Ibrahim Nasrallah to court over his […]

I just finished this book Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, which is actually older than I am but nevertheless a great read. Anne Tyler tells the story of a Baltimore family who is abandoned early on by their father. Pearl Tull is left to raise Cody, Ezra and Jenny on her own, all the while […]

So I was biking yesterday and out of no where a spasm shot through my lower back and I was down for the day. I spent most of it on my couch, on my back, reading. I couldn’t get up to do anything and it’s times like these you wish for family because of course […]

Amman: Jordan’s Council of Churches on Saturday urged a government ban on the film The Da Vinci Code for being “a violation of redlines”, the official Petra news agency reported.
Council Secretary General Hanna Nour said the movie, based on a best-selling novel by Dan Brown “has been previously banned from publication in Jordan and Lebanon […]

“What if everything you think you know about Jesus is wrong?”. This was the headline from last Sunday’s Dateline report.
You might remember Michael Baigent from recent news with his high profile lawsuit against author Dan Brown, claiming that The Da Vinci Code was copied from his own book Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
He lost. But his […]