Saturday Matinée | Books Abroad


	Saturday, June 11, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Granta 112: Pakistan Filled with almost 200 million people speaking nearly sixty languages, brought into nationhood under the auspices of a single religion, but wracked with deep separatist fissures and the destabilizing forces of ongoing conflicts in Iran, Afghanistan and Kashmir, Pakistan is one of the most dynamic places in the world today. This collection of stories and essays delves into one of the most globally defining societies of our time, making it a must-read book this season.		Saturday, September 10, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Songs of Blood and Sword Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of a family of rich feudal landlords – the proud descendents of a warrior caste – who became powerbrokers in the newly created state of Pakistan. It is an epic tale full of the romance and legend of feudal life, the glamour and licence of the international political elite and ultimately, the tragedy of four generations of a family defined by a political idealism that would destroy them.
	Saturday, July 9, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Shame In this brilliant novel, Salman Rushdie masterfully combines history, art, language, politics, and religion. Set in a country "not quite Pakistan," the story centers around the families of two men -- one a celebrated warrior, the other, a debauched playboy engaged in a protracted duel that is played out in the political landscape of their country. Shame is a tour de force and a fitting predecessor to the author's legendary novel, The Satanic Verses.		Saturday, October 15, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Broken Verses Fourteen years ago, famous Pakistani activist Samina Akram disappeared. In present-day Karachi, her daughter has just discovered a letter in her mother's private code - a letter that could only have been written recently. Merging the personal with the political, Broken Verses is at once a sharp, thrilling journey through modern-day Pakistan, a carefully coded mystery, and an intimate mother-daughter story that asks how we forgive a mother who leaves.
	Saturday, August 13, 2011 ~ 2:00pm A Case of Exploding Mangoes Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father's suspicious death, which the government calls a suicide. Ali's target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, dictator of Pakistan. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his cologne-bathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets his elaborate plan in motion. There's only one problem: the line of would-be Zia assassins is longer than he could have possibly known.		Saturday, November 12, 2011 ~ 2:00pm In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Passing from the mannered drawing rooms of Pakistan’s cities to the harsh mud villages beyond, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s linked stories describe the interwoven lives of an aging feudal landowner, his servants and managers, and his extended family, industrialists who have lost touch with the land. Refined, sensuous, by turn humorous, elegiac, and tragic, Mueenuddin evokes the complexities of the Pakistani feudal order as it is undermined and transformed.


	Saturday, June 11, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Granta 112: Pakistan Filled with almost 200 million people speaking nearly sixty languages, brought into nationhood under the auspices of a single religion, but wracked with deep separatist fissures and the destabilizing forces of ongoing conflicts in Iran, Afghanistan and Kashmir, Pakistan is one of the most dynamic places in the world today. This collection of stories and essays delves into one of the most globally defining societies of our time, making it a must-read book this season.		Saturday, September 10, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Songs of Blood and Sword Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of a family of rich feudal landlords – the proud descendents of a warrior caste – who became powerbrokers in the newly created state of Pakistan. It is an epic tale full of the romance and legend of feudal life, the glamour and licence of the international political elite and ultimately, the tragedy of four generations of a family defined by a political idealism that would destroy them.
	Saturday, July 9, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Shame In this brilliant novel, Salman Rushdie masterfully combines history, art, language, politics, and religion. Set in a country "not quite Pakistan," the story centers around the families of two men -- one a celebrated warrior, the other, a debauched playboy engaged in a protracted duel that is played out in the political landscape of their country. Shame is a tour de force and a fitting predecessor to the author's legendary novel, The Satanic Verses.		Saturday, October 15, 2011 ~ 2:00pm Broken Verses Fourteen years ago, famous Pakistani activist Samina Akram disappeared. In present-day Karachi, her daughter has just discovered a letter in her mother's private code - a letter that could only have been written recently. Merging the personal with the political, Broken Verses is at once a sharp, thrilling journey through modern-day Pakistan, a carefully coded mystery, and an intimate mother-daughter story that asks how we forgive a mother who leaves.
	Saturday, August 13, 2011 ~ 2:00pm A Case of Exploding Mangoes Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father's suspicious death, which the government calls a suicide. Ali's target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, dictator of Pakistan. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his cologne-bathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets his elaborate plan in motion. There's only one problem: the line of would-be Zia assassins is longer than he could have possibly known.		Saturday, November 12, 2011 ~ 2:00pm In Other Rooms, Other Wonders Passing from the mannered drawing rooms of Pakistan’s cities to the harsh mud villages beyond, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s linked stories describe the interwoven lives of an aging feudal landowner, his servants and managers, and his extended family, industrialists who have lost touch with the land. Refined, sensuous, by turn humorous, elegiac, and tragic, Mueenuddin evokes the complexities of the Pakistani feudal order as it is undermined and transformed.