What Richard Holbrooke Is Reading
In July, New Yorker writer George Packer traveled with special representative Richard Holbrooke to Afghanistan and Pakistan. On the flight over, Holbrooke and his staff were discussing some of the problems Pakistan faces, including riots the previous week over a lack of electricity. From Packer's profile of Holbrooke, which ran in the Sept. 28 issue of the magazine:
"The first short story in the book I'm reading, the central figure is an electrician," Holbrooke said. "I have to read you one paragraph from the beginning." He retreated to his compartment and returned with a copy of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by the Pakistani writer Daniyal Mueenuddin. He read aloud from the first page, and then said, "I gave a copy to the President. I don't know if he's read it. It's beautiful."
Michael Dirda quite liked it, too.
By Rachel Hartigan Shea |
September 29, 2009; 12:18 PM ET
Fiction
,
Foreign Policy
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