Find Your Valentine
Slog
News & ArtsThursday, July 29, 2010
Life Beach Reading
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Heading to the airport, heading to an unnamed beach, taking a little light reading along.
4
Dan,
I read "While Europe Slept" by Bruce Bawer a few years ago. I liked it very much. It's controversial but he does make some great points. I agree with a lot of what he wrote. I have spent some time in Europe over the past ten years or so. I believe he was living in Norway with his partner at the time he wrote the book.
Bon voyage.
I read "While Europe Slept" by Bruce Bawer a few years ago. I liked it very much. It's controversial but he does make some great points. I agree with a lot of what he wrote. I have spent some time in Europe over the past ten years or so. I believe he was living in Norway with his partner at the time he wrote the book.
Bon voyage.
5
Why are you reading Bailey's "Man Who Would Be Queen"? It's complete crap. There, now you don't have to read it.
7
If you see it at the airport bookstore, pick up WAR by Sebastian Junger...amazing! Wishing you a good trip, with no sunburns and lots of tequila.
11
I read most of While Europe Slept, but failed miserably to complete it, primarily because I kept getting pissed off at factual errors. A lot of these errors are of a magnitude that implies intent to manipulate from either Bawer or his researchers.
I totally agree with his main thesis that European liberals fail to confront Islamic extremism, and that subject is worth a book, but Bawer doesn't have the integrity for the job.
I wrote a review (i.e. rant) of the book here:
http://bohemianrhapsody.dk/2009/01/09/wh…
I totally agree with his main thesis that European liberals fail to confront Islamic extremism, and that subject is worth a book, but Bawer doesn't have the integrity for the job.
I wrote a review (i.e. rant) of the book here:
http://bohemianrhapsody.dk/2009/01/09/wh…
12
You've got to be kidding me, Bruce Bawer? What a load of racist horse bollocks. To read Bawer, you'd think that Europe was already gone over to the dark side. He's a walking hate crime, and you shouldn't be reading his garbage. He doesn't understand the first thing about immigration in Europe.
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.
13
Thanks for your review, @11. Bat Ye'or is even worse than Bawer. "Eurabia" is the stupidest bogeyman imaginable. I've had this argument before, with the dope-huffing moron who runs Seattle Hydroponics, and decided to use his Questionland stint on the subject of gardening to bloviate about how Islamic terrorists have taken over Europe and are eating all the white babies. He painted an unrecognizable picture of, for instance, Malmo, Sweden, a city I am familiar with, as one with virtually unrestrained Muslim raping and pillaging in the streets. Bawer helped him picture that idiocy. He was a stupid man, but Bawer isn't stupid. He's evil.
I'm serious, Dan. Throw that shit away.
I'm serious, Dan. Throw that shit away.
16
I like ancient history, especially Suetonius. And I would be curious to hear if Jenny Sanford has anything of value to say, because frankly, that sounds like a boring book.
17
Sometimes I read books for mysterious, counter-programming purposes. You all see that Jenny Sanford title in there? I'm not exactly reading that for pleasure.
18
@15 Yeah, I have. It's transphobic garbage. That shit-streak on the underwear of humanity did his 'research' on trans women by recruiting prostitutes in a bar. It belongs on the same shelf with Mein Kampf.
21
@17, but you've printed Bawer in your paper before. Blech. He's the kind of asshole who gets laws passed against wearing head scarves in France, when only a thousand people in the whole country ever wore one. "They're taking over!" literature has a long and ignoble tradition. Bawer's the gay Pat Buchanan.
22
How does Bawer's book compare to "Reflections on the revolution in Europe : immigration, Islam, and the West" by Christopher Caldwell?
23
The Last Pagan is pretty good, but if you want some of the details filled in you should also read Julian by Gore Vidal.
25
Where are you journeying to, Kimmie? I think you told me, but I've been drinking. Don't answer here, but do remind me.
26
Wow, judgmental much? I'm glad I'm not subjecting my reading list, music preferences, or top 37 positions for you vultures to critique.
"WHAT??? Aibha is SO demeaning to the woman, and besides, you can get much better rear-entry penetration using Traivikrama and still have a lovely view!"
"WHAT??? Aibha is SO demeaning to the woman, and besides, you can get much better rear-entry penetration using Traivikrama and still have a lovely view!"
29
If you're in P-town, go to Townsend Lobster and demand a free lobster roll. Ask for Eric or Joe Grind. Tell them Ariel sent you.
31
You book burners will have plenty of company in the future. Say, in 2250 or so when Notre Dame is officially re-consecrated as a mosque (all the offending statuary and such having been removed or more likely smashed).
33
Hopefully he'll stop by the beaches in Pensacola, Destin, or Panama City. With the oil spill having destroyed the economy, the locals can't afford anything other than screwing so they could use some Savage advice. But given how conservative the area is, he'll need to start simple like letting them know there's something other than missionary.
34
I've read the Bailey book, & I can confirm that it subjects trans women's bodies to a patriarchal, phallogocentric male gaze of oppression. Way too many comments about whether particular trans women are attractive to the author, & a weird theory about "homosexual" & "autogynephiliac" transsexuals. That said, why are people assuming Dan loves & agrees with all the authors he's reading? People are allowed to read books expressing POVs they disagree with. Sometimes it's educational.
There are a lot of friggin' corny-ass baby boomers on this thread commenting about "you need to get a Kindle." Because a stack of six books is too hard to carry? I don't think Dan's arms are that atrophied. Some people like to underline & write in the margins of books, like to be able to put them on a shelf for quick reference (or lending to friends), don't want to be dependent on power cords/battery life, or don't want to carry a fragile, breakable piece of electronics when there's a sturdy substitute that lasts forever. If you love your Kindle, fine, but there's a million reasons not to waste money on one of those fucking things.
There are a lot of friggin' corny-ass baby boomers on this thread commenting about "you need to get a Kindle." Because a stack of six books is too hard to carry? I don't think Dan's arms are that atrophied. Some people like to underline & write in the margins of books, like to be able to put them on a shelf for quick reference (or lending to friends), don't want to be dependent on power cords/battery life, or don't want to carry a fragile, breakable piece of electronics when there's a sturdy substitute that lasts forever. If you love your Kindle, fine, but there's a million reasons not to waste money on one of those fucking things.
35
NIce stack of books, but have you heard of the Kindle? Instead of carrying a stack of books, you can carry one device with all your books in electronic format. Additionally, if you find that the book you're reading sucks, you can just open another one in a second. I'd also recommend "The Passage". One of the scariest vampire novels I've read in a long time.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
SL Letter of the Day: Life Sentence by Dan Savage
-
SL Letter of the Day: Daddy Loves Who? by Dan Savage
-
Required Listening: Howard Stern on Ellen, JC Penney, Bullied Gay Kids, Rosie, Santorum, Bachmann, et al by Dan Savage
-
Crowdsourcing Uncut Police Video from the Dec. 12 Occupy Protest at the Port of Seattle by Eli Sanders
-
Slog Bible Study: Deuteronomy 21:10-14 by Goldy
-
The AP Is Reporting That Whitney Houston Is Dead by Paul Constant
-
State Legislator Testifies That His Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage Came to Him from a Commercial for Jack in the Box by Christopher Frizzelle
-
"Let me be the first one to say: My business will refuse to participate in a same-sex marriage ceremony," by Republican Representative Matt Shea of the Spokane Valley by Eli Sanders
-
The Onion Is on a Roll: "Iran Worried U.S. Might Be Building 8,500th Nuclear Weapon" by Charles Mudede
-
"I don't know if I want to be here [if gay marriage passes]," by Republican State Senator Jay Rodne of North Bend by Eli Sanders
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (35) RSS