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Added to The Blogroll

1. MahdiWatch, a blog by Timothy Furnish, author of Holiest Wars: Islamic Madhis, their Jihads and Osama bin Laden, keeping an eye on eschatological rhetoric in missives from Islamist imams so you don’t have to!

2. Mooselim.ca. According to an article in the Toronto Star, “Tired of the so-called "community leaders" who purport to speak on their behalf, a group of half a dozen twentysomethings are finding the voice of the average young Canadian Muslim – and sharing it at a unique blog cheekily named mooselim.ca.” It looks interesting.

Book Meme

Well, I've been tagged for a book-meme thingy by modernityblog, originally via Marcus at Harry's Place, so here ya go:

1. Name one book that changed your life: Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning

2. One book you've read more than once: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson

4. One book that made you laugh: Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson

5. One book that made you cry: Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore

6. One book you wish you'd written: Anything by Elmore Leonard.

7. One book you wish had never been written: Since Marcus has already mentioned the obvious (Mein Kampf), I'm going with A Separate Peace by John Knowles. I liked it well enough myself, but anecdotally it seems to be the one standard book on the American high school syllabus most responsible for turning our nations' young people off reading forever.

8. One book you're currently reading: Since modernityblog mentioned everything currently in progress, I can too! The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor, Bollywood Uncensored by Derek Bose, Fundamentalism and American Culture by George Marsden, Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden, The Bible, Understanding Jihad by David Cook, and Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin.

9. One book you've been meaning to read: Arabic Thought In the Liberal Age, 1798-1939 by Albert Hourani.

10. Tag 5 people: Oh, anyone who wants to do it. Leave it in comments or post a link to your own blog if you'd like to let me know that you did it, if you did.

11. (additional question), make up the titles of two imaginary books: Martha Stewart's Killing by Martha Stewart, and Charted Knitting Codes & Rituals by Barbara Walker.