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High Tea in Mosul

Pauline, one of the two English ladies whose lives in Iraq are the subject of Lynne O’Donnell’s High Tea in Mosul, sends Lynne emails every few days describing what life is like in Dohuk, where she is living these days. They are fascinating for their descriptions of daily lives, which are punctuated sometimes by the violence of war, and always in its shadow.

Jon Stewart’s Take on the Presidential Faux Pas – Wonkette

The latest Booknoise author, Peter Wallsten (with Tom Hamburger), has a new book, One Party Country, coming out next month, but this week got some surprising extra media coverage (and an apologetic phone call to his cell) when the president decided to rib him during a press conference.

By Daniel Gross

We’ve long wondered why the Bookscan numbers have not achieved the same marketing currency as the music industry’s Soundscan numbers, the best selling debuts of which are announced each week. Maybe because most books don’t jump off the shelf the first week of sale, the way records do. And that’s not a bad thing.

The Silence of the City

Who hasn’t had a Talk of the Town piece killed? This site wants to know, and is happy to publish the dead. I get a funny feeling reading these pieces, not because they aren’t of interest (they are), but because I feel I can tell maybe that they aren’t quite NYer quality. Do the writers disagree, and publish to show how arbitrary taste can be? Or do they have that same sneaking suspicion I do, but still feel these not-quite-Talk stories should see the light of day anyway?