First, the matter of getting situated. In this, the largest country in Africa, geographically, nearly twice the size of Alaska: Sudan. Its peoples speak 134 different languages, more than 400 if one counts distinct dialects. It officially declared independence on January 1, 1956. North of Sudan is the Sahara
Sheila Watt-Cloutier's story of protecting her Inuit culture is fraught and complicated. Many times, I had to set it aside, the core of my being all-a-shudder. In the past, this setting-aside was longer lasting. This is a book I have had trouble leaving between the covers. Ultimately, I read
In which I discuss the skinny volumes which accompany me on my travels, while the heavier volumes (like Stephen King's It and an omnibus of Shirley Jackson's short works) remain at home. On a late August afternoon, I'm taking the Queen Street streetcar, in the stretch between Beach and Parliament,
Shirin Ebadi's Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran landed on my stack thanks to Ali's description of hearing her speak and reading the book. Ebadi's tone is resolved and declarative. This, her third book, chronicles her experiences in the years surrounding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership
A child's experience of war is strangely pure and slanted. The impact is wholly dramatic at times. Its inconsequence just as overwhelming at other times. Sharing his experiences growing up in a French-Vietnamese family in Saigon, between 1961 and 1963, Marcelino Truong's graphic memoir is vibrant and informative. Some
