Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

Salman Rushdie was brutally attacked and stabbed several times, possibly due to the fatwa issued after publication of The Satanic Verses. He suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves, and will most likely lose sight in one of his eyes.

Salman Rushdie


Books on the list:
   •Grimus (1975)
   •Midnight's Children (1981)
   •Shame (1983)
   •The Satanic Verses (1988)
   •The Moor's Last Sigh (1995)
   •The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999)
   •Fury (2001)

"Salman Rushdie" (Wikipedia) -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_...

"Stabbing of Salman Rushdie" (Wikipedia) -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabbin...

"The Satanic Verses Controversy" (Wikipedia) -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sat...

"Sir Salman Rushdie attack suspect 'only read two pages' of Satanic Verses" (BBC) -- https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainmen...

"Iran denies involvement but justifies Salman Rushdie attack" (NPR) -- https://www.npr.org/2022/08/15/111748...

"Salman Rushdie Attack: Author Speaking And Off Ventilator As Suspect’s Father Refuses Questions In Lebanon" (Forbes) -- https://www.forbes.com/sites/carliepo...

I'm about to start reading The Satanic Verses. I haven't ever read Rushdie, but I've been wanting to for some time. I want to see what all the controversy is about. I've also been working on reading banned books this summer, so this works with that quite well, too.

Midnight's Children was fantastic! I enjoyed The Satanic Verses too, but not as much.

Glad to hear his condition is improving.

I only have "Midnight's Children" and "The Moor's Last Sigh" to read. "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" was my favorite.

I bought Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses after hearing about the stabbing as my way of supporting the author. I'm planning to read them by the end of the year. It's heartbreaking that he suffered such a horrendous attack.

Currently reading "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" for the Scavenger Hunt challenge - my first Rushdie and won't be my last. His creativity is amazing!

I loved The Ground Beneath Her Feet and I mostly enjoyed The Satanic Verses. It’s a shame what was done. He is one of my favorite writers.

I’ve loved all of Rushdie that I’ve read particularly The Satanic Verses (read twice) and Shame but somehow I never read Midnight’s Children which I am reading now. I am so sick of stupid and ignorant people using violence to try to impose their views on others.

Thank you for posting this list, Karen. I am anxious to read my first book of his. Upon hearing of the brutal attack, I read an excellent article in The Atlantic by Randy Boyagoda who advised, “Instead of just scrolling and sharing links about him and the attack, we can actually read something by Salman Rushdie. One of those other books he wants to be know for.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc...

I chose to purchase “The Midnight Children” from bookshops.org . Hope to get to it soon.

Great article, Sandy! Thanks for sharing. Kudos to our group -- we've been reading Rushdie since 2006!

I started reading Rushdie in 1988 -- I wanted to see what was so controversial about the book. I remember how the whole world was so shocked that a gov't would publicly issue a reward for the assassination of an author. And that wasn't all -- protests (before the fatwa) occurred worldwide, the book was banned and burned, and bookstores that sold it were attacked and bombed. Rushdie spent the next 9 years under police protection and the issuance of the fatwa led to a break in diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Iran.

I didn’t know the government issued a fatwa against him. I think I read somewhere that someone had, but the gov’t? Wow!! That’s just crazballs. And really unfortunate because the Satanic Verses must have been completely misunderstood. It was so well written and did not disparage any religion at all. It was a book that was inspired by the Muslim religion and incorporated a lot of the stories into it. Ignorance and fear of the unknown can destroy humanity.

Rushdie used the name "Mahound" and never mentioned Mohammed so none of the reviewers made any connection to Islam.