Summer Reading

[ajnabieh]

At my local library, they're handing out Summer Reading passports. I remember those, from elementary school on: getting checkmarks for books I read, the race to read more than anyone else (yeah, I was that kid), and then, getting older, the lists of books I had to pick from in middle school and high school, all of which were severely below my reading level, and which usually got banged out in the last week of vacation, after having spent the summer curled up with more Serious Works Of Literature. (I had a thing for John Barth in high school. Don't ask me why.)

Like most academics, I think of the summers, primarily, as time to get work done without the regular stresses of the academic year. No students, no meetings, nothing to do but read, write, and research. That's a beautiful thing--especially given that, though I had no teaching commitments this past summer, I did have a number of personal things get in the way of my work.

So I'm making a summer reading list. (And a writing list, but it's more in flux.)

On it so far are:

• Voices of the New Arab Public,, by Marc Lynch. I am happy to report that, after having wanted to read this book since it came out in 2006, and had it out from the library since January, I have finally read it. Expect a review this week, if I'm organized.
• Peripheral Visions: Publics, Power, and Performance in Yemen, by Lisa Wedeen. I'm a Wedeen fan in general ("fangirl" might be the more appropriate term, if you catch my drift), and I read a few chapters of this before it was published, and found them incredibly exciting. She's an excellent writer, and Yemen is certainly relevant to the news these days.
• Democracy, Human Rights and Law in Islamic Thought, by Mohammed Abed al-Jabri. Both Lynch and Wedeen draw on Habermasian frameworks in their two books above. I've been thinking about the necessity of working through questions about the Habermasian public spheres, and about al-Jabri, who also uses public sphere frameworks. There's an article in there, and I think this set of three books is going to poke it out. Inshallah.
• At least 1-2 recent books to write reviews of.

Why the last? Well, because there was a fairly hilarious, IMHO, piece in the most recent MESA (Middle East Studies Association) newsletter, aiming to guilt us all into writing review pieces for the Review of Middle East Studies. When I say "guilt," I mean it:

Why do we write? Is it for tenure? For the tiny audience of specialists to which we each belong? ... Or, do we write in the hope that someone, somewhere will engage with our imaged worlds? And, if so, do we not then have the responsibility to read and critique the work of others in the hope that our work will receive similar attention? ... You will tell me that we have way to much to do; that there are too few of us; that reviews are undervalued by tenure and promotion committees; that print publications are headed for the trashbin of history....Perhaps. But in the meantime, think about it.

Just for you guys, I went and got it out of the recycling bin so I could transcribe that. I hope you're amused.

The thing is, I do agree with the general point: reviews are good academic citizenship. Plus, I would like to read something new, something to remind myself that I am, actually, interested in Middle Eastern politics and Things That Are Not My Dissertation. I picked up a wide variety of things in my latest library run: an edited collection on Gulf politics and a general reader on women in the UAE to go with my mild obsession with the politics of small states, an ethnography of Moroccan garment workers that seems to be marketed to a mainstream audience, and a book on marriage and the Egyptian state, which I have a suspicion will work its way onto my fall syllabi. My plan is this: if I don't feel strongly one way or another after 50 pages, I'll put them aside. If I find them horrific and disasterous, I'll write a review. If I find them amazing and brilliant, I'll write a review.

Of course, I'm planning on doing a little of that other sort of summer reading...



(Click through for a list of titles. I picked them up yesterday. Two of them are ready to go back already. Om nom nom, books with pictures in them.)

***

Any recommendations for things I should be reading this summer? In either category, *g*.

Also, it's probably a little late for this, but would any of the other academic folks on my rlist want to start a false-deadlines-and-feedback writing support group for the summer? I know there are other similar things going on in blogland, but I'd be happy to coordinate a group on DW.

Comments

[loveanddisdain.blogspot.com]

I certainly hope you restored the MESA newsletter to the recycling bin after you transcribed it here. You know how valuable reviews are on your CV? Yeah, about that much. When you have tenure and don't need to worry about whether you can keep your job or not, then you can fiddle with reviews. Alternatively, kill two birds with one stone and connive to do a review of a book that you need to read for some other purpose. Otherwise, you end up with a timesuck of a writing project that a) does not earn you many brownie points down the road, and b) can actually hurt you, if colleagues perceive you to be savaging a book unfairly. Maybe you're a nicer person than I, but I find that I often dislike books the first time I read them, and I need some time to live with the author's ideas and writing style before I warm up to the good stuff therein. It's awfully hard for me to write a positive review on any kind of deadline.

[ajnabieh]

I think I'm definitely using the reviews thing as an excuse to read Non Dissertation Books, because, OMFG if I read book about my dissertation topic I will SET MY DISSERTATION ON FIRE, and I would like to, you know, finish it?

I think I'm generally a generous reviewer in print, because I do know that the author will, inevitably, read it. I think I'd really just like to write a review article of something that doesn't suck--I've written two so far, and in both cases the books have had deep flaws. (In one of those cases, the project was still worthwhile...but only one.)

(Plus, I'd like there to be something on my CV with a date more recent than 2008. Somewhere not in public, I have a rant to deliver on my experience with journals this past year...)

[liseuse]

We had a "read round the world" challenge at my local library every summer when I was a kid. Luckily the librarian knew me (very small village!) and let me take books from wherever on the shelves I wanted and then sort of fudged the challenge-sheet so no-one got taken to task. It was a nice change from fighting with the school librarians.

[ajnabieh]

I definitely immediately got the "read what you want" bump in most contexts, which was very nice. Though I think probably someone should have stopped me writing book reports on Star Trek novels in sixth grade...

I think no matter how large the place you're from, there are some kids the librarians always know. I fear mine may be on his way; the lady who runs sing-a-long time is always so happy to see him...