Shabbir's Diary

What Should I Do With My Life?

By Shabbir | March 12, 2003

Skipping Towards Gomorrah

By Shabbir | February 13, 2003

” border=”0″>Skipping Towards Gomorrrah, as a present sooner or later. In it, Savage proceeds to find an American sub-culture that embraces each one of the seven deadly sins, and then proceed to commit the sin with them. This is difficult, since Dan cannot marry (making adulty impossible) but he does make a good run at it.

Shut Up And Deal

By Shabbir | February 13, 2003

” border=”0″>Shut Up And Deal when I broke my ankle in Lake Tahoe recently.
I had a lot of time to sit in one place, and so I ploughed through most of the reading I brought with me. Jesse May, the protagonist of the book is two parts Charles Bukowski, one part card shark, and one part obsessive-compulsive. Written as a personal diary through several years of his life as a professional gambler, May shows us exactly what it is to ride the emotional roller coaster that is professional gambling.

The Biggest Game in Town

By Shabbir | February 13, 2003

The Sublime Sarah Vowell

By Shabbir | January 28, 2003

I saw Sarah Vowell speak at the recent They Might Be Giants vs. McSweeney’s show here in DC. She read one short section from her book

No Way to Treat a First Lady

By Shabbir | January 22, 2003

Gambling as a profession (or maybe not)

By Shabbir | January 7, 2003

My winter holiday this year was spent in a warm place with a stack of books, some good friends, and a flu we all shared. Despite the flu, we had a great time, and I’d repeat the entire experience in a heartbeat (except for the vomiting).

It was this book, Michael Konik’s

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Thanksgiving reading

By Shabbir | December 2, 2002

I spent Thanksgiving week in the San Francisco area with a stack of books. The Trials of Lenny Bruce I’ve already reviewed. The other three were Elisabeth Eaves’ memoir of her life as a stripper in

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The Trials of Lenny Bruce

By Shabbir | December 1, 2002 |

Here at the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of a comedian being hauled into court for something he said on stage seems absurd. And yet, that is exactly what happened to America’s most martyred comedian, Lenny Bruce. While there have been countless books and films about his life (including the wildly inaccurate

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Barren Lands by Kevin Krajick

By Shabbir | September 17, 2002

If you’re an American, you probably don’t know squat about geography in the US, much less Canada. Ever look at a map of North America? Well it turns out that it’s not just trees in Canada that suddenly turn into icebergs as you get farther north. Up at the northern reaches are an incredibly deserted place called the Barren Lands. The place looks like the moon or Mars, with no vegetation, and flat rocks as far as the eye can see. There’s nothing up there.

Well, almost nothing. Turns out it’s got the largest source of diamonds in North America. And copper, and gold, etc…