Yo for real though... stop making these threads

Right on. I challenge you to satirize the novel in his style. that way if I hate it I can at least be amused by your acerbic wit.

Thucydides, why? I ask, because I am would legitimately know what is wrong with the thread.

I second smcbride's question, Thucy. What's wrong with this?

smcbride: Thank you for the invitatin. My combination of busy-ness and lack of interest in Rushdie's work combine to lead me to the conclusion taht I'll sit this one out, but please keep us posted on future book club activities. It's not a bad idea at all.

Thanks and will do.

I have always found it weird how the ayatollahs put a fatwa on Rushdie for the book, have they actually read the damned thing?

I'n not going to read it, but would be interested to hear what others think. Perhaps post the erotic parts here, on this august forum. Get it fatwa'd.

@smcbride: "Approximately 23% of the world's population is Muslim. Current estimates conclude that the number of Muslims in the world is around 1.6 billion."

How many of those are WebDiplomacy players, I haven't a clue, but I guess quite a few.
Your thread/book club will probably only serve to antagonise a substantial number of your fellow players, for no good reason. Seems pointless, unless that's actually intend to do.
As others say, it's unreadable anyway. If you truly like the book club idea, maybe choose a title that is a little more worthy of our attention?

*. . . unless that's actually what you intend to do.*

I'm not sure why me discussing a book would lead to Muslims being upset. It is no worse than the folks who openly bash religion. Nothing I write about will Be intentionally inflammatory.

What percentage of muslims actually found the satanic verses to be offensive? I thought all the fuss was made by a small but vocal minority. What does it matter if some find it offensive. No doubt some Christians find Richard Dawkins offensive. So what? If you don't like it, don't read it.

And avoiding offense is a great way to stop all conversation. We wouldn't talk about religion, annoying threads, not running book clubs, or the politics of class warfare...

"I'm not sure why me discussing a book would lead to Muslims being upset."
Oh yeah? They had a fatwa out on the author. Join up the dots.

I doubt Khomeini speaks for all Muslims everywhere. And I also doubt he has actually read the damned book. If he has, he is a much more patient man than I.

They had a fatwa? Not all muslims were involved in that fatwa. What about all the muslims who didn't give a shit?

What about me? I don't give a shit either. Just saying.

Yeah -- it's often counter-productive, of course, to act too enraged about something you dislike, but that might be the record-holder. It's hard to imagine anybody outside of graduate school would still be reading TSV if it hadn't been for that fatwah.

Yeah, they shot themselves in the foot and boosted international sales for a book that is total crap.

Because there are a thousand "non-Bible discussion" threads. If you really wanted to talk about satanic verses, well okay. But there was all that complaining about Mujus making several threads, he goes to one, and then 10 more come up to make fun of him. Lame.

This is serious. I am not making fun of him. Of course everyone on here is making me think I chose poorly with TSV. Oh well.

Well alright then fair enough. Interesting timing then, if you really aren't lying.

Thucy, smcbride talked in another thread about how maybe we really should start a book club, and received sufficient encouragement that he decided to do so.

This is obviously not a spoof thread. It doesn't have the word "Daily" in the title.

Okay, I started the book today. I had not read much about the story except that it made some folks upset. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised with the premise.

I am probably wasting my time since no one else is reading this book. But I want to post about it a little bit. I just finished the first Section "Gibreel the Angel" and I am in love with this book. I am sometimes put off by the stream of consciousness writing such as Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce, but Rushdie has a whimsical tone to his writing that I get along with. It took a little while to get used to the Indian and English phraseology but it is coming along. Although, I do find myself looking up a bunch of Hindi and Urdu words that I am not familiar with.

Just a note, I should be done with this book in a week or 10 days, the next book on my list is I,Claudius, if anyone wants to pick that one up.

Another day, and another update no one will read. I am about a third of the way through TSV. I still love it. It is very reminiscent of James Joyce, and I may be the only one to make this comparison but I think Rushdie and Tom Robbins were influenced by the same people.

I think it is great that even though the outward appearance of Saladin and Gibreel make a strong case for which is the angel and which is the demon, but there are allusions that contradict these outward appearances. I am curious to see how that progresses.

Until the next time that I write about a book that no one cares about!

I have a short extract for you, it's a one liner in 2 parts ....... on no sorry that was The Titanic Verse.:-(

haha

Did someone write an update ........ sorry, didn't read it !!

Just a curiosity, I am not Muslim and I am not terribly familiar with Islam. Can anyone, preferably a Muslim, explain why this book enraged so many followers of Islam? Is it the pejorative use of the prophets name or the idea that the prophet was not perfect, or the idea that the prophet may have actually revealed The Satanic Verses as the word of Gabriel? Thank you for your help.