Two books and a story. Samarkand, by Amin Maalouf is about Iran and Omar Khayy·m and his Rub·iy·t. At a deeper level is about different dreams for the islamic world from the poet to the fanatic. Clancy’s The Teeth of the Tiger is why I will never read another Clancy novel. Warmed over characters that are the children of previous heros are just part of the problem. The premise of a secret organization privy to all the secrets of the CIA and FBI is unbelievable. The good guys are even less believable. Clancy sets up the good gudys by having others talk us how smart they are. One big backslapping circle of characters without humility. I find it hard to believe this was a best-seller – it isn’t even good enough for airport reading. Easily the worse book I’ve read in a decade.
Alas Clancy is what people will read to orient themselves to the islamic world instead of Maalouf.
Bibliographic entrey: Amin Maalouf Samarkand New York: Interlink Books, 1996. First published in French in 1989.