Matt Rees's Blog – September 2009 Archive (6)

I Have Publishing Surrounded: John Higgs's Writing Life

Thomas Carlyle wrote that “A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.” There may be some debate as to whether Timothy Leary’s life was well-spent. However, his biography by John Higgs is one of the most well-written and compelling books you’ll ever come across. “I Have America Surrounded: The Life of… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 30, 2009 at 12:48am — No Comments

'Smart People Recommend'...Me

On The Daily Beast's Buzz Board, under the headline "Smart People Recommend", Charles M. Sennott, head honcho of the innovative international news site Global Post, plugs THE SAMARITAN'S SECRET: "Matt Beynon Rees’s Palestinian detective novels reveal more truths about the 'Holy Land,' and I use that term loosely, than any straight journalism I’ve… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 30, 2009 at 12:36am — No Comments

Scared away

Here's my latest post on the International Crime Authors Reality Check blog:

I keep finding new reasons why I write my novels about the Palestinians. Usually these reasons have nothing to do with the Palestinians.

Here’s the one that may be the deepest, the one I’ve known about for a while, but have only recently been able to face up to: it’s because I’m scared of home.

Not so long ago, I read the 1992… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 10, 2009 at 7:02pm — No Comments

Suffering 101

Palestinians and Israelis take an eternal debate into the classroom, leaving the UN stuck in the middle. By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPost

JERUSALEM — In the Book of Lamentations, the people of Jerusalem cry out against the destruction of the city: “Is any suffering like my suffering?”

The answer, of course, is: No. Ever since, Jeremiah’s phrase… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 5, 2009 at 1:25am — No Comments

Oldest Bible? Tell it to the Samaritans

UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports the discovery of a portion of a Bible from 350 AD in the library of the monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai. The Codex Sinaiticus is written in Greek on animal skin and the newspaper calls it "a fragment of the world's oldest bible." Well, I hate to disappoint the good Fathers in the Sinai, not to mention the… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 4, 2009 at 4:50pm — No Comments

Acknowledge no one

Here's my latest post on the International Crime Authors Reality Check blog:

Authors are posturing, self-aggrandizing assholes. At least, that’s the conclusion I’ve reached after noting the trend for excessive “Acknowledgements” growing like mold over page on page of nonfiction books. These days they’re spreading their blight all over novels, too.

Here’s how I think it breaks down.

More than a few… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 3, 2009 at 11:36pm — 5 Comments