marlonbrowndo
Senior ODI Player
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The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway. What a great book
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Contact the PP Team
What was the last book you read?
- Thread starter Kashif
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ManFan
T20I Debutant
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- Jun 4, 2017
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I’m reading Adam Zamoyski right now, perhaps the best contemporary Napoleonic scholar.
“Moscow 1812” and “Rites of Peace” are fine works.
“Moscow 1812” and “Rites of Peace” are fine works.
Azfar Moin’s book The Millennial Sovereign. This is the most remarkable book I have read on the Mughal empire. Moin recreates what to modern eyes appears a world full of strange beliefs and rituals. A world of divination, of belief in the occult powers of numbers and letters, a world of dream interpretation and astrological calculations. A time when rulers consulted astrologers, soothsayers, and holy men associated with certain shrines.
With Babur we learn the importance of dreams, for they “implied a prophetic connection with the invisible world and were considered a highly regarded source of truth.” With Humayun we are told that he was guided by cosmological principles. That he arranged his imperial administration according to an augury of names, that the schedule of his court was based on “astral auspiciousness” - the positions of the planets. That the colour of his attire on any day depended on what planet the day was linked to. He divided his court into twelve ranks, with the number twelve chosen because “of its far-reaching cosmological and scriptural importance.” With Akbar, Moin argues that he used the first Islamic millennium to project himself as a sacred redeemer of a new age. With Jahangir we see how he used the medium of painting to portray his “spiritual power, with which he could perform miracles, sustain the balance of the cosmos, inaugurate new cycles of time, and impose his will on the world by mere allusion.” With Shah Jahan, Moin turns to architecture and specifically the jharoka throne in Delhi, where the emperor was “focus of supplication” to “whom the people turned to in need, and his jharoka was the rising place of the sun of the spheres of sovereignty and the caliphate.”
This is a different world indeed, but Moin’s work reminds us that we need to understand history on its own terms and not through our post-enlightenment rationalist lens. In uncovering the cultural foundations of Mughal political authority he makes the case that Mughal sovereignty rested not on doctrinal Islam but was in fact shaped by Sufi, millennial and cosmic motifs.
With Babur we learn the importance of dreams, for they “implied a prophetic connection with the invisible world and were considered a highly regarded source of truth.” With Humayun we are told that he was guided by cosmological principles. That he arranged his imperial administration according to an augury of names, that the schedule of his court was based on “astral auspiciousness” - the positions of the planets. That the colour of his attire on any day depended on what planet the day was linked to. He divided his court into twelve ranks, with the number twelve chosen because “of its far-reaching cosmological and scriptural importance.” With Akbar, Moin argues that he used the first Islamic millennium to project himself as a sacred redeemer of a new age. With Jahangir we see how he used the medium of painting to portray his “spiritual power, with which he could perform miracles, sustain the balance of the cosmos, inaugurate new cycles of time, and impose his will on the world by mere allusion.” With Shah Jahan, Moin turns to architecture and specifically the jharoka throne in Delhi, where the emperor was “focus of supplication” to “whom the people turned to in need, and his jharoka was the rising place of the sun of the spheres of sovereignty and the caliphate.”
This is a different world indeed, but Moin’s work reminds us that we need to understand history on its own terms and not through our post-enlightenment rationalist lens. In uncovering the cultural foundations of Mughal political authority he makes the case that Mughal sovereignty rested not on doctrinal Islam but was in fact shaped by Sufi, millennial and cosmic motifs.
Space Cat
ODI Debutant
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Just finished reading The Expanse with the final book to be released later this year.
Fantastic sci fi with an emphasis on believable science and physics mixed in beautifully with a fascinating backdrop of planetary politics.
The TV series is also excellent.
Fantastic sci fi with an emphasis on believable science and physics mixed in beautifully with a fascinating backdrop of planetary politics.
The TV series is also excellent.
imrankhannsu
Local Club Regular
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- Feb 15, 2012
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I am mainly looking for a thriller: I really liked Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Was looking for recommendations
I am also a Kite Runner (but didnt enjoy the bullying incident) and Shantaram fan. Any recommendations here will also be appreciated
I am also a Kite Runner (but didnt enjoy the bullying incident) and Shantaram fan. Any recommendations here will also be appreciated
miandadrules
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In the shadow of the sword
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The demise of Pakistan – a country with a reputation for volatility, brutality and radical Islam – is regularly predicted. But things rarely turn out as expected, as renowned journalist Declan Walsh knows well. Over a decade covering the country, his travels took him from the raucous port of Karachi to the gilded salons of Lahore to the lawless frontier of Waziristan, encountering Pakistanis whose lives offer a compelling portrait of this land of contradictions.
He meets a crusading lawyer who risks her life to fight for society's most marginalised, taking on everyone including the powerful military establishment; an imperious chieftain spouting poetry at his desert fort; a roguish politician waging a mini-war against the Taliban; and a charismatic business tycoon who moves into politics and seems to be riding high – till he takes up the wrong cause. Lastly, Walsh meets a spy whose orders once involved following him, and who might finally be able to answer the question that haunts him: why the Pakistanis suddenly expelled him from their country.
Intimate and complex, unravelling the many mysteries of state and religion, this formidable book offers an arresting account of life in a country that, often as not, seems to be at war with itself.
He meets a crusading lawyer who risks her life to fight for society's most marginalised, taking on everyone including the powerful military establishment; an imperious chieftain spouting poetry at his desert fort; a roguish politician waging a mini-war against the Taliban; and a charismatic business tycoon who moves into politics and seems to be riding high – till he takes up the wrong cause. Lastly, Walsh meets a spy whose orders once involved following him, and who might finally be able to answer the question that haunts him: why the Pakistanis suddenly expelled him from their country.
Intimate and complex, unravelling the many mysteries of state and religion, this formidable book offers an arresting account of life in a country that, often as not, seems to be at war with itself.
JaDed
Test Star
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- May 5, 2014
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Finished a thousand Splendid Suns, easy read but well written esp worth time for South Asian,Middle-eastern readers.
For a week I kept going Laila jo in my head.
Started -the Sympathizer by Nguyen, different from what I usually read.
For a week I kept going Laila jo in my head.
Started -the Sympathizer by Nguyen, different from what I usually read.
Colonial Lahore by Ian Talbot and Tahir Kamran. In truth it is a bit of a dry read and the style of writing does not quite bring to life this famous city. But there is a fair amount of useful information. The title of the chapters give a glimpse of some of the territory covered: Darvarzas and Mohallas; Travellers, Tourists and Texts; Poets, Wrestlers and Cricketers; A World of Goods; Pilgrims and Shrines in the Colonial Age; Martyrs, Migrants and Militants.
While the focus of the book is squarely on Lahore during the colonial era, it made me think of the different sorts of history that are evoked by three Punjabi cites: Lahore, Faisalabad and Islamabad.
For many Pakistanis, Lahore carries Muslim history on its shoulders. Although Pakistan saw itself as a cultural successor to the Mughal empire, many of the great monuments and cultural centres were inherited by India. Lahore was the exception. Its monuments - particularly the Badshahi mosque and Shalimar gardens - evoked Mughal history. It was a city associated with high Muslim culture. Following the shock of the rebellion in 1857, the centre of gravity for the output of Urdu literature moved westwards to Lahore. Key intellectuals such as Azad and Hali spent time in the city. Azad reached Lahore in 1861 after the trauma of 1857 and remained there until death. He helped organise a modern style of mushairas. Hali’s stay was temporary but seminal in his intellectual development. The city has not only a sense of cultural importance but of political importance too. It was at the very back end of 1929 when the Congress declared Purna Swaraj in the city. It was in 1940 when the Lahore resolution was passed by the Muslim League. Mochi Gate and Mochi Bagh have been sites for political rallies including the mobilisation for Pakistan. It was at Mochi Gate that Iqbal recited his famous poem Jawab-e Shikwa, in 1912.
With Faisalabad I am prompted by the 'ghanta ghar' to think of its colonial origins at the heart of a quintessential canal colony. The British constructed clock towers in many cities, but in Faisalabad it has become one of its most famous monuments. The clock tower represented two faces of British rule in the Punjab which remained in tension. On the one hand, for the British it stood as a symbol for the modernising side of its rule, standing for rationality and order. On the other hand it was constructed in the mould of Indo-Saracenic architecture, a style that the British projected as a sign that their rule was continuing an Indian tradition and therefore reflected the sense that they were protectors of custom and tradition.
With Islamabad we enter firmly the post-colonial period. In the 1960s there was a strong emphasis on development and this was reflected in the making of Islamabad. Three currents shaped this attitude. Firstly, this was in some ways the high point for Islamic modernists who tended to project Islam as a symbol of unity and personal commitment. It is not insignificant that the new city would be named Islamabad. The selection process for the Faisal mosque - featuring a striking design - was guided by the desire to demonstrate that Pakistan was a site where Islam was consistent with a progressive and modern ethos. Secondly, the attention to development was in some ways a continuation of colonial thinking. The British had attempted to legitimise their rule on grounds that they were bringing material progress to the ‘backwaters’ of the subcontinent. The anglicised elite that dominated the government of Pakistan after independence shared in this colonial outlook. Thirdly, this was an era of international development and modernisation theory. There was a theory of development, emanating from the US to whom Pakistan was closely aligned at the time, that focused on the transition to a modern economy which had growth at its centre with little concern for equity.
While the focus of the book is squarely on Lahore during the colonial era, it made me think of the different sorts of history that are evoked by three Punjabi cites: Lahore, Faisalabad and Islamabad.
For many Pakistanis, Lahore carries Muslim history on its shoulders. Although Pakistan saw itself as a cultural successor to the Mughal empire, many of the great monuments and cultural centres were inherited by India. Lahore was the exception. Its monuments - particularly the Badshahi mosque and Shalimar gardens - evoked Mughal history. It was a city associated with high Muslim culture. Following the shock of the rebellion in 1857, the centre of gravity for the output of Urdu literature moved westwards to Lahore. Key intellectuals such as Azad and Hali spent time in the city. Azad reached Lahore in 1861 after the trauma of 1857 and remained there until death. He helped organise a modern style of mushairas. Hali’s stay was temporary but seminal in his intellectual development. The city has not only a sense of cultural importance but of political importance too. It was at the very back end of 1929 when the Congress declared Purna Swaraj in the city. It was in 1940 when the Lahore resolution was passed by the Muslim League. Mochi Gate and Mochi Bagh have been sites for political rallies including the mobilisation for Pakistan. It was at Mochi Gate that Iqbal recited his famous poem Jawab-e Shikwa, in 1912.
With Faisalabad I am prompted by the 'ghanta ghar' to think of its colonial origins at the heart of a quintessential canal colony. The British constructed clock towers in many cities, but in Faisalabad it has become one of its most famous monuments. The clock tower represented two faces of British rule in the Punjab which remained in tension. On the one hand, for the British it stood as a symbol for the modernising side of its rule, standing for rationality and order. On the other hand it was constructed in the mould of Indo-Saracenic architecture, a style that the British projected as a sign that their rule was continuing an Indian tradition and therefore reflected the sense that they were protectors of custom and tradition.
With Islamabad we enter firmly the post-colonial period. In the 1960s there was a strong emphasis on development and this was reflected in the making of Islamabad. Three currents shaped this attitude. Firstly, this was in some ways the high point for Islamic modernists who tended to project Islam as a symbol of unity and personal commitment. It is not insignificant that the new city would be named Islamabad. The selection process for the Faisal mosque - featuring a striking design - was guided by the desire to demonstrate that Pakistan was a site where Islam was consistent with a progressive and modern ethos. Secondly, the attention to development was in some ways a continuation of colonial thinking. The British had attempted to legitimise their rule on grounds that they were bringing material progress to the ‘backwaters’ of the subcontinent. The anglicised elite that dominated the government of Pakistan after independence shared in this colonial outlook. Thirdly, this was an era of international development and modernisation theory. There was a theory of development, emanating from the US to whom Pakistan was closely aligned at the time, that focused on the transition to a modern economy which had growth at its centre with little concern for equity.
sweep_shot
T20I Captain
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30 DAYS: Change your habits, Change your life.
Madplayer
Senior Test Player
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Read 2 in last 20 days:
The richest man in Babylon by George S Clason:
To be honest, I read it without knowing what it was about just because it was available in the house. Bit of a self-help kind of a book. Quite nice if you want to get elementary insights into how to manage your finances.
Carrie by Stephen king:
His first ever novel. I guess it comes under horror category. Was good overall but the last 30-40 pages were a bit of drag and felt as if forced into the book.
Next i'll read Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
The richest man in Babylon by George S Clason:
To be honest, I read it without knowing what it was about just because it was available in the house. Bit of a self-help kind of a book. Quite nice if you want to get elementary insights into how to manage your finances.
Carrie by Stephen king:
His first ever novel. I guess it comes under horror category. Was good overall but the last 30-40 pages were a bit of drag and felt as if forced into the book.
Next i'll read Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
JaDed
Test Star
- Joined
- May 5, 2014
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- 38,484
A man Called Ove - 10/10 amazing. Can't wait to read all Fredrik Bakman's books, can't believe all these books are swedish and translated.
Robert
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- Nov 4, 2007
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Yes it is.
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. A sort of science fiction tale about a reluctant soldier’s experience in and around WW2, culminating in the firebombing of Dresden.
JaDed
Test Star
- Joined
- May 5, 2014
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- 38,484
Beartown , second book of Fredrik that I read, well written ,emotional and describes Ice hockey and how much it means to smaller towns very well.
9/10.. cant wait to read the sequel.
To all NHL fans this is a must read eventhough it doesn’t cover NHl but is the best book ice hockey and smaller teams.
[MENTION=99630]nextover666666[/MENTION]
9/10.. cant wait to read the sequel.
To all NHL fans this is a must read eventhough it doesn’t cover NHl but is the best book ice hockey and smaller teams.
[MENTION=99630]nextover666666[/MENTION]
This year I have read three books on Islam in South Asia that are concerned with the period roughly from 1857 onwards: Francis Robinson’s collection of essays, The Muslim World in Modern South Asia; Brannon Ingram work on the Deobandi movement, Revival from Below; and Justin Jones work on the Shi’a minority of upper India in Shi’a Islam in Colonial India.
The books are all quite different. Robinson looks at the characteristics of the Islamic revival in the age of Western dominance. Ingram examines Deobandi thought in relation to Sufism, highlighting how many Deobandis understood Sufism as in essence standing for ethical self-fashioning. Jones outlines Shi'a religious change and the development of a harder sectarian identity in the colonial period. But where they converge, is on the changing nature of religious authority in the modern era.
Before the onset of colonial rule, mosques, madrasas, the law and the ulama were generally supported by Muslim state power. The authority of the individual alim rested on possession of ijazas and on a system of person to person transmission of religious knowledge.
With the waning of Mughal rule and the deepening of British rule, patronage of the ulama declined. No longer did the British fund madrasa education; no longer after 1865 was the advice of Muftis to be sought when administering Anglo-Muhammadan law. Revenue free grants that supported families of the ulama were reclaimed in many instances; religious knowledge was deemed inferior and government servants were increasingly expected to have obtained their qualifications from government schools.
It is in this context, that firstly, many worked to build a Muslim society from the bottom up; to mould the conscience of the believer. In Ingram’s words, “one had to reform the individual to reform society.” One also had to educate the individual. Thus, there was a profusion of madrasas after 1857 and the objective of the madrasa was now no longer to produce individuals who would serve the state as civil servants, but to produce individuals who would serve society through the religious knowledge that they learned. Fatwas once produced by and large for judges were now directed at individual Muslims.
In the process, a greater emphasis was placed on personal responsibility and in Robinson’s words, a “this-worldly Islam of action on earth to achieve salvation." Listen to the modernist, Sayyid Ahmad Khan: “I regard it as my duty to do all I can, right or wrong”, he said “to defend my religion and too show the people the true, shining countenance of Islam. This is what my conscience dictates and unless I do its bidding, I am a sinner before God.”
In the case of the Deobandi, Ashraf Ali Thanvi, he reminded his followers of the horrors of the Day of Judgment to focus their minds on their responsibilities. Ingram’s book in fact begins with a quote from a sermon delivered by Thanvi, in 1923:
“O Faithful, save yourself and your family from the torments of Hell.”
Secondly, we see in the colonial period the development of ‘brands’ such as Deobandi or Barelwi. Religious authority was now not just vested on those that possessed ijazas but was also based on ‘maslaki’ identity. It became more important for adherents to distinguish themselves from other denominations, to guard ‘their’ boundaries.
Thirdly, and related to this, the attempt to prove one’s authority in itself contributed greatly to the development of modern sectarianism. Indeed Jones stresses inner conflicts within the sects themselves. So he says, “while Shi‘a–Sunni arguments received all the contemporaneous comment and press attention, they were in fact frequently something of a smokescreen for competition, or even conflict, within Shi‘ism itself.” The same no doubt applies for many Sunnis who engaged in polemical religious debate. It became a more “crowded religious marketplace” and debates were often about the desire to “consolidate their own positions of internal leadership through the vituperation of manufactured external communities.”
Fourthly, the expansion of print also enabled those outside the religious establishment to speak on behalf of Islam. In Robinson’s words:
“Increasingly from now on any Ahmad, Mahmud or Muhammad could claim to speak for Islam. No longer was a sheaf of impeachable ijazas the buttress of authority…The force of 1200 years of oral transmission, of person-to-person transmission, came increasingly to be ignored.”
The emergence of religious thinkers outside of the ulama was a global phenomenon. Teachers, lawyers, journalists, intellectuals and engineers stepped forward to speak in the name of Islam. Think of Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Iqbal and Maududi in South Asia; of al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb in Egypt; of Hasan al-Turabi in Sudan; of Rashid al-Ghannushi in Tunisia; of Mahdi Bazargan in Iran.
Fifthly, rather than seeking patronage of an elite, as they might have once done, many seeking a claim to religious leadership now looked to rally public opinion. Authority could be derived from public backing. Communication in vernacular languages and an emphasis on oratory, on stirring emotion, on demonstrating a devotion and commitment to Islam, was increasingly prevalent. Indeed Margrit Pernau in her book (Emotions and Modernity in Colonial India) has argued that in Colonial India there was an intensification of emotion in Muslim discourse. There was a shift from an emphasis on adl, that is balance, to josh, that is fervour, ebullience.
The following quote from Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari is indicative of this ethos, though it is not included in any of these books - I take this instead from David Gilmartin’s book, Empire and Islam. The Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam, which emerged in 1929, composed mainly of Punjabis and those mainly from a Deobandi background. Most of their leaders relied on fiery oratory. None more so than Bukhari. “I would fain allow myself to be thrown before fierce lions as a punishment for my love of the Prophet,” he declared in a speech delivered at Saharanpur in 1935. He continued, “I would deem myself fortunate if those lions were to chew my bones in their jaws and I were conscious enough to hear them cracking.”
The books are all quite different. Robinson looks at the characteristics of the Islamic revival in the age of Western dominance. Ingram examines Deobandi thought in relation to Sufism, highlighting how many Deobandis understood Sufism as in essence standing for ethical self-fashioning. Jones outlines Shi'a religious change and the development of a harder sectarian identity in the colonial period. But where they converge, is on the changing nature of religious authority in the modern era.
Before the onset of colonial rule, mosques, madrasas, the law and the ulama were generally supported by Muslim state power. The authority of the individual alim rested on possession of ijazas and on a system of person to person transmission of religious knowledge.
With the waning of Mughal rule and the deepening of British rule, patronage of the ulama declined. No longer did the British fund madrasa education; no longer after 1865 was the advice of Muftis to be sought when administering Anglo-Muhammadan law. Revenue free grants that supported families of the ulama were reclaimed in many instances; religious knowledge was deemed inferior and government servants were increasingly expected to have obtained their qualifications from government schools.
It is in this context, that firstly, many worked to build a Muslim society from the bottom up; to mould the conscience of the believer. In Ingram’s words, “one had to reform the individual to reform society.” One also had to educate the individual. Thus, there was a profusion of madrasas after 1857 and the objective of the madrasa was now no longer to produce individuals who would serve the state as civil servants, but to produce individuals who would serve society through the religious knowledge that they learned. Fatwas once produced by and large for judges were now directed at individual Muslims.
In the process, a greater emphasis was placed on personal responsibility and in Robinson’s words, a “this-worldly Islam of action on earth to achieve salvation." Listen to the modernist, Sayyid Ahmad Khan: “I regard it as my duty to do all I can, right or wrong”, he said “to defend my religion and too show the people the true, shining countenance of Islam. This is what my conscience dictates and unless I do its bidding, I am a sinner before God.”
In the case of the Deobandi, Ashraf Ali Thanvi, he reminded his followers of the horrors of the Day of Judgment to focus their minds on their responsibilities. Ingram’s book in fact begins with a quote from a sermon delivered by Thanvi, in 1923:
“O Faithful, save yourself and your family from the torments of Hell.”
Secondly, we see in the colonial period the development of ‘brands’ such as Deobandi or Barelwi. Religious authority was now not just vested on those that possessed ijazas but was also based on ‘maslaki’ identity. It became more important for adherents to distinguish themselves from other denominations, to guard ‘their’ boundaries.
Thirdly, and related to this, the attempt to prove one’s authority in itself contributed greatly to the development of modern sectarianism. Indeed Jones stresses inner conflicts within the sects themselves. So he says, “while Shi‘a–Sunni arguments received all the contemporaneous comment and press attention, they were in fact frequently something of a smokescreen for competition, or even conflict, within Shi‘ism itself.” The same no doubt applies for many Sunnis who engaged in polemical religious debate. It became a more “crowded religious marketplace” and debates were often about the desire to “consolidate their own positions of internal leadership through the vituperation of manufactured external communities.”
Fourthly, the expansion of print also enabled those outside the religious establishment to speak on behalf of Islam. In Robinson’s words:
“Increasingly from now on any Ahmad, Mahmud or Muhammad could claim to speak for Islam. No longer was a sheaf of impeachable ijazas the buttress of authority…The force of 1200 years of oral transmission, of person-to-person transmission, came increasingly to be ignored.”
The emergence of religious thinkers outside of the ulama was a global phenomenon. Teachers, lawyers, journalists, intellectuals and engineers stepped forward to speak in the name of Islam. Think of Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Iqbal and Maududi in South Asia; of al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb in Egypt; of Hasan al-Turabi in Sudan; of Rashid al-Ghannushi in Tunisia; of Mahdi Bazargan in Iran.
Fifthly, rather than seeking patronage of an elite, as they might have once done, many seeking a claim to religious leadership now looked to rally public opinion. Authority could be derived from public backing. Communication in vernacular languages and an emphasis on oratory, on stirring emotion, on demonstrating a devotion and commitment to Islam, was increasingly prevalent. Indeed Margrit Pernau in her book (Emotions and Modernity in Colonial India) has argued that in Colonial India there was an intensification of emotion in Muslim discourse. There was a shift from an emphasis on adl, that is balance, to josh, that is fervour, ebullience.
The following quote from Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari is indicative of this ethos, though it is not included in any of these books - I take this instead from David Gilmartin’s book, Empire and Islam. The Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam, which emerged in 1929, composed mainly of Punjabis and those mainly from a Deobandi background. Most of their leaders relied on fiery oratory. None more so than Bukhari. “I would fain allow myself to be thrown before fierce lions as a punishment for my love of the Prophet,” he declared in a speech delivered at Saharanpur in 1935. He continued, “I would deem myself fortunate if those lions were to chew my bones in their jaws and I were conscious enough to hear them cracking.”
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
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- 217,913
The novelist and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi has said he may never be able to walk or use a pen again after a fall on Boxing Day in Rome.
The Buddha of Surburbia author has now tweeted about the incident, following reports in the Italian media that he was in intensive care.
“I had just seen Mo Salah score against Aston Villa, sipped half a beer, when I began to feel dizzy,” Kureishi wrote.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...-novelist-screenwriter?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
The Buddha of Surburbia author has now tweeted about the incident, following reports in the Italian media that he was in intensive care.
“I had just seen Mo Salah score against Aston Villa, sipped half a beer, when I began to feel dizzy,” Kureishi wrote.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...-novelist-screenwriter?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
SalimBhai
First Class Player
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Among the believers
House of mr biswas
House of mr biswas
ElRaja
ODI Debutant
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- Oct 7, 2010
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don't read much these days, but read "when breath becomes air" on a friend's recommendation, great quick read, dealing with issues of mortality in a very impersonal, and then personal way.
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- Oct 2, 2004
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- 217,913
Gary Lineker, Gary Neville and Marcus Rashford are among those nominated for the 2023 Sports Book Awards, an annual prize for sports writing and publishing.
Alex Scott, Peter Crouch, Gabby Logan and Micah Richards are also featured in the 11 category shortlists, alongside Steve Thompson, Beth Mead, Sue Barker and Mark Noble.
The aim of the awards is to highlight "the most outstanding sports books of the previous calendar year, to showcase their merits and enhance their reputation and profile".
Mark Pougatch will host the 21st Sports Book Awards, which will take place at the Kia Oval on the evening of 24th May. A Bat For A Chance will be the 2023 Sports Book Awards charity of choice.
New for this year is the New Women’s Sports Writing award, which will be named in honour of Vikki Orvice, a sports journalist who championed female sports writing. The prize will be judged by Nick Greenslade, Dame Katherine Grainger, Sue Anstiss, Anya Shrubsole, Susie Petruccelli and Lewes c.e.o. Maggie Murphy.
Orvice’s husband, Ian Ridley, said: "Vikki was a great champion of the written word and was often frustrated by the limited opportunities and lack of opportunities for women to see their writing commissioned and showcased. This welcome award plays a big part in putting that right and I am proud that it will be in her name, the use of which I readily agreed to as I know she would have readily endorsed it."
The Sports Book Awards are judged by an academy including The Football Writers’ Association, The Rugby Union Writers’ Club, The Cricket Society, National Literacy Trust, Christine Ohuruogu, Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson, Mark Pougatch, Annie Vernon, Simon Halliday, Jill Douglas and Simon Brotherton.
A public vote is also now open to find the winners in two categories, Autobiography of the Year and Sports Entertainment Book of the Year.
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/...ose-nominated-for-the-2023-sports-book-awards
Alex Scott, Peter Crouch, Gabby Logan and Micah Richards are also featured in the 11 category shortlists, alongside Steve Thompson, Beth Mead, Sue Barker and Mark Noble.
The aim of the awards is to highlight "the most outstanding sports books of the previous calendar year, to showcase their merits and enhance their reputation and profile".
Mark Pougatch will host the 21st Sports Book Awards, which will take place at the Kia Oval on the evening of 24th May. A Bat For A Chance will be the 2023 Sports Book Awards charity of choice.
New for this year is the New Women’s Sports Writing award, which will be named in honour of Vikki Orvice, a sports journalist who championed female sports writing. The prize will be judged by Nick Greenslade, Dame Katherine Grainger, Sue Anstiss, Anya Shrubsole, Susie Petruccelli and Lewes c.e.o. Maggie Murphy.
Orvice’s husband, Ian Ridley, said: "Vikki was a great champion of the written word and was often frustrated by the limited opportunities and lack of opportunities for women to see their writing commissioned and showcased. This welcome award plays a big part in putting that right and I am proud that it will be in her name, the use of which I readily agreed to as I know she would have readily endorsed it."
The Sports Book Awards are judged by an academy including The Football Writers’ Association, The Rugby Union Writers’ Club, The Cricket Society, National Literacy Trust, Christine Ohuruogu, Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson, Mark Pougatch, Annie Vernon, Simon Halliday, Jill Douglas and Simon Brotherton.
A public vote is also now open to find the winners in two categories, Autobiography of the Year and Sports Entertainment Book of the Year.
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/...ose-nominated-for-the-2023-sports-book-awards
Just finished Pratinav Anil’s book, Another India: The Making of the World's Largest Muslim Minority, 1947–77.
It is a dazzling book written with great flair and panache. As the subtitle indicates, the experience of the Indian Muslims in the thirty years after partition is the focus of the work. Anil disabuses us of the idea that the Nehruvian era represented some golden age for Indian Muslims. He also dispels the idea that Muslims were passive bystanders. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Muslim elite largely failed in their efforts at advancement for the Muslim community as a whole and it is a failure that Anil ascribes in large part to the Muslim elite itself.
He acknowledges that partition circumscribed space for Muslim assertion. There was always the pejorative label of communalism that Indian Muslims had to be especially wary of after the division of British India. In Anil’s striking words: “’Communalism’. Less a description than an imputation, contempt drips from every mention of the word.”
But partition does not explain all and there were continuities in the thought and ideas of ‘nationalist Muslims’, pre and post-partition. There was first an uncritical commitment to Congress as embodying the India nation. There was, secondly, an attitude of "complaisance" towards the Congress. Anil quotes one prominent nationalist Muslim - Syed Mahmud (1889 - 1971) — as writing to Nehru on his thirty fifth birthday: “Now the only present that I can offer is my life-long devotion and fidelity to you and to the Nehrus. I am painfully conscious of the worthlessness of my devotion, but then, my boy, just like a dog I have nothing else or better in my possession to give my master…”
Thirdly, and for Anil perhaps most fatally, there was an “unflinching belief” in juridification. Even before partition many Congress supporting Muslims envisaged India as a “juristic ghetto” where Muslims would be independent of the state and governed by the shari’a. In the post-independent period the Muslim elite retained an attachment to Muslim personal law and more generally to symbols of Muslim culture, but paid insufficient attention to the political, social and economic advancement of the wider Muslim community. For Anil, the elite Muslims “betrayed” the Muslim community with its focus on depoliticisation and juridification rather than on the political and material uplift of the community as a whole.
For Anil, “No single life encapsulates the depoliticisation of the nationalist Muslim that followed independence better than Azad’s.” Maulana Azad (1888-1958) - frequently held as a poster child for secular supporters of the Congress - comes out badly in this account, indeed a rather spineless figure. He allowed himself to be reduced to a mere figurehead as President of the Congress.
This said, while this is a valuable work, Anil’s superior tone will grate on some. You will also be well advised to keep a dictionary close by as Anil has a particular penchant for the arcane, with the following a small sample of the words that make an appearance: acephalous, prosopography, heteroclite, transhumance, epigoni, peripeteia.
It is a dazzling book written with great flair and panache. As the subtitle indicates, the experience of the Indian Muslims in the thirty years after partition is the focus of the work. Anil disabuses us of the idea that the Nehruvian era represented some golden age for Indian Muslims. He also dispels the idea that Muslims were passive bystanders. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Muslim elite largely failed in their efforts at advancement for the Muslim community as a whole and it is a failure that Anil ascribes in large part to the Muslim elite itself.
He acknowledges that partition circumscribed space for Muslim assertion. There was always the pejorative label of communalism that Indian Muslims had to be especially wary of after the division of British India. In Anil’s striking words: “’Communalism’. Less a description than an imputation, contempt drips from every mention of the word.”
But partition does not explain all and there were continuities in the thought and ideas of ‘nationalist Muslims’, pre and post-partition. There was first an uncritical commitment to Congress as embodying the India nation. There was, secondly, an attitude of "complaisance" towards the Congress. Anil quotes one prominent nationalist Muslim - Syed Mahmud (1889 - 1971) — as writing to Nehru on his thirty fifth birthday: “Now the only present that I can offer is my life-long devotion and fidelity to you and to the Nehrus. I am painfully conscious of the worthlessness of my devotion, but then, my boy, just like a dog I have nothing else or better in my possession to give my master…”
Thirdly, and for Anil perhaps most fatally, there was an “unflinching belief” in juridification. Even before partition many Congress supporting Muslims envisaged India as a “juristic ghetto” where Muslims would be independent of the state and governed by the shari’a. In the post-independent period the Muslim elite retained an attachment to Muslim personal law and more generally to symbols of Muslim culture, but paid insufficient attention to the political, social and economic advancement of the wider Muslim community. For Anil, the elite Muslims “betrayed” the Muslim community with its focus on depoliticisation and juridification rather than on the political and material uplift of the community as a whole.
For Anil, “No single life encapsulates the depoliticisation of the nationalist Muslim that followed independence better than Azad’s.” Maulana Azad (1888-1958) - frequently held as a poster child for secular supporters of the Congress - comes out badly in this account, indeed a rather spineless figure. He allowed himself to be reduced to a mere figurehead as President of the Congress.
This said, while this is a valuable work, Anil’s superior tone will grate on some. You will also be well advised to keep a dictionary close by as Anil has a particular penchant for the arcane, with the following a small sample of the words that make an appearance: acephalous, prosopography, heteroclite, transhumance, epigoni, peripeteia.
SalimBhai
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Just read Biko again. Great bio
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Finishing The Poppy War trilogy. First two books were great. Last one is a bit of a slow burn but I hope it gets better. I have high hopes.
In Plain Sight by Dan Davies about Jimmy Savile. Based on the author's recollections of interviewing him over several years.
Some of the details of his abuse are truly harrowing, especially in the hospitals where he worked as a porter and behaved like he ran the place. It's remarkable how brazen he was, making little effort to disguise his actions, and even constantly dropping hints in public. Yet he formed a highly effective smokescreen through his eccentricity, charity fundraising, and connections with police and high officials.
The guy had the keys to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital housing some of the worst criminals in the country. Had he been brought to justice, that's exactly where he belonged.
Some of the details of his abuse are truly harrowing, especially in the hospitals where he worked as a porter and behaved like he ran the place. It's remarkable how brazen he was, making little effort to disguise his actions, and even constantly dropping hints in public. Yet he formed a highly effective smokescreen through his eccentricity, charity fundraising, and connections with police and high officials.
The guy had the keys to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital housing some of the worst criminals in the country. Had he been brought to justice, that's exactly where he belonged.
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