Review: Henry Townsend, once a slave belonging to William Robbins, the son of Augustus Townsend (who bought himself out of slavery at the age off 22) and Mildred Townsend (purchased out of slavery by Augustus at the age of 26) was himself freed by his loving parents somewhere around 1843 when he too was entering his twenties. Due to the fact that Henry continued to be the property of William Robbins during the intervening years before his freedom, as well as the fact that his parents were only allowed to see Henry on Sundays, the relationship between the newly freed son and his parents struggled to live up to the promise that freedom held. Their unease with each other grows even more once Henry Townsend, a freed black man, purchases his own slaves.

Henry continues to amass wealth through the purchase of slaves, and he attempts to run his property to the best of his abilities. The advice that William Robbins, the owner of 113 slaves and Henry’s former master, gives him helps Henry keep his human chattel in line. Henry marries Caldonia, and it is Caldonia who must take over when Henry dies unexpectedly. She struggles to keep the estate running properly, and her life and the lives of the slaves she owns and is left to preside over disintegrate around her at an ever increasing pace until she cannot hold onto to what is hers.
Recommendation: This is not just the story of Henry or Caldonia, nor is it just the story of the slave Moses or the white slave-owner William Robbins. This story unravels the lives of each character and then weaves them together to present an unflinching and revealing look at slavery in its varied and conflicting forms. There are authors out there to be compared to. Faulkner. Morrison. But I don’t think this book is merely a combination of the two. There is a daring in this story that challenges the reader. Like the moment when Henry first slaps his own slave, this book reaches out and snaps us out of our own reverie.
For a long time slavery has been about black and white. Slaves were motivated by the desire to be free, and whites were motivated by power or greed or maybe compassion. In The Known World motivations are as disparate as the colors of skin. Each character struggles with the demands and expectations of a world defined by not only the law but also the racially charged interpretations of it. This is an eye-opening and challenging tale that is well worth exploring. It is deserved of the praise bestowed upon it.

Jones, Edward P.. The Known World, Harper Collins, New York, 2003.

Currently Reading: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

On Deck: The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

Recommendation: Let’s face it: most books that make it into movies are good. Whether the movie is good or not is another matter. This book is no different. Its rich character exploration, highlighted by the first person narrative, will seduce the reader with both direct and coy story telling. There is nothing flashy in the writing. Like the character of Hanna Schmitz ,it is blunted and unwavering. This is a simple book about simple people in a complicated world. Those two things cannot help but collide.
But there is something to be said for a book like this. It catches the reader off guard and then leans in until the balance one hopes to maintain is almost impossible to regain. When all is said and done, when the last page is turned, life goes back to normal only because the writing has stopped. I am positive that the story will continue to resound even after you hear the last scrape of the page as you turn it.

Schlink, Bernard. The Reader, Vintage Books, New York, 1999.

Currently Reading: The Known World by Edward P. Jones

On Deck: Matter by Iain Banks

Most fans of the Twilight Saga would think “How can this series get any better?”  Anyone who has read the fourth book of the thrilling saga will say, “It can!”  Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer is the fourth and most adventurous of the books in the series.

In the previous books and in the beginning of Breaking Dawn, we get a sense of how Bella, a girl who moved from sunny Arizona to dreary Forks, Washington, feels about her vampire sweetheart, Edward Cullen.  Through a series of vampire battles and struggles, she discovers the fantasy world of immortals that she never thought existed.

The second book in the saga, New Moon, shows how Bella’s life is altered again when she discovers that her best friend, Jacob, is a werewolf.  Werewolves and vampires don’t get along, so Bella is constantly conflicted about which side to be on, without hurting anyone she loves. 

Many fans of the saga have different opinions about how they thought Jacob acted.  Some thought that he was way too pushy and mean.  However, Minah Choi (7), one fan of the saga says “Jacob was hysterical in his account.  He came off as being too critical but that is what made him so funny.

In the previous book, Eclipse, Bella decides between her best friend and her true love.  She chooses to become a vampire and stay with Edward forever.  In Breaking Dawn, her wish just might be answered through a series of odd and almost unexplainable events.

Breaking Dawn tells the tale of Bella’s last breaths as a human and the astonishing and unforeseeable events that come with it.  Then the story is turned over to Jacob.  He explains the odd events that follow through a slightly more human perspective.  These events include the coming of a new vampire- well, an almost vampire.  Jacob keeps readers down to earth and shows the true shock and mortification that any mortal would feel in the frantic preparation for the new member of the Cullen coven.  However his disgust for the new, loveable character that hasn’t even arrived yet is shown in a hateful and rude way.  The discovery of the character only comes from his visits to Bella and Edward.  He only hates this new creature because it is causing Bella pain, and he is still in love with her.

After Jacob’s insensitive account of Bella’s painful experience, the story is turned back to Bella in her new and much improved vampire self.  However, Bella isn’t like the usual newborn vampire that is vicious and bloodthirsty.  She has the control to not injure or attack any humans.

The newcomer is much like Bella in this way.  This is one of the reasons why Bella describes it with such adoration.  She loves it so much that she doesn’t care that it caused her pain.  Even though this newcomer is a delight to be around, the Volturi, an evil vampire coven, finds out about it and is out to destroy the entire Cullen family because they believe this newcomer will destroy all existing vampires.

Velvet Sewell (8), another fan, says, “The Volturi are just like Stalin because they both jump to conclusions about possible crimes that are most likely untrue.  They have a ‘kill now, ask questions later’ attitude.”

Despite all of the conflicts in Breaking Dawn, everything turns out exactly how the Cullens envision.  This book is the most action-packed and thrilling book in the series.  It is by far the best way to end the saga.

Choi and Sewell say, “Everyone should read Breaking Dawn.  You won’t regret it!”

Two rogues swindle and fight their way through the bloodthirsty and brutal landscapes of the 10th century. Amram, a towering pillar of virility, carries a giant axe known for its propensity to remove heads from necks. His companion is Zelikman, a scarecrow of a man clad all in black who uses a much less devastating but no less effective physicians lance. Their tongues are nearly as nimble as their weapons of choice and get them into and out of more trouble than a lifetime needs. Like two amiable brothers, they carry a strong bond between them, and they work together to separate the drunken and debauched from their money as easily as possible. They are mercenaries, criminals, thieves. They are gentlemen of the road, but when one of their plans goes awry, the two find themselves entangled in a war between nations, and they are forced to choose what is right and what is wrong.

Filaq is the son of a murdered war king whose land and power was stripped during a coup. Far too young to defend himself, Filaq is lucky to escape with the old keeper of the war king’s pachyderms. The old man sees that Amram and Zelikman can help the young boy escape those who hunt him down, and the two accept the job with their eyes firmly fixed on the reward they will receive when they the deliver the boy to his wealthy relatives. But things are never so easy. Filaq’s desire for vengeance drives him to either escape his new guardians or hurl invectives at them from various trussed up positions. And if that isn’t enough, to add injury to insults, Filaq winds up in the hands of those they were protecting him against. When Amram and Zelikman choose to go after him, they are embroiled in espionage, intrigue and a brewing conflict between savage Northern hordes and Khazars.

Recommendation: Michael Chabon is one of my favorite authors. Similar to most favorite Michaels of mine, he can do wrong. Sure, Jordan may have a gambling a problem, and Jackson is not the same guy that wrote Billie Jean twenty years ago, but they were still great at what they did, and you can’t take that away from them. At this point, Chabon has not retired nor has he gone Wacko Jacko, so rest assured that his writing career is still on track. This book is proof of that.

While it does not reflect the humorous pessimism of The Yiddish Policeman’s Union or the biting reality of his short stories, it captures the spirit of what imagination is all about. The two protagonists, polar opposite brethren, are reminiscent of the heroes that we love: the reluctant hero. Like many of the protagonists of books I’ve reviewed, including Ender Wiggyn in Ender’s Game or Lev Beniov in The City of Thieves, the two men are not concerned with saving many people besides themselves, but they wind up knee deep in conflict and being the heroes that people need. Like the two smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, Amram and Zilekman go searching for fortune and glory and getting much more than they bargained for.

The book is set in a time period that I am not very familiar with (950 A.D.), but the setting becomes natural as the scope of the tale becomes broader and broader. Each twist of the plot entangles the reader further into the journey of these two men, and I enjoyed ever page of it. I was never confused long enough to let it get in the way of my read, and by the time I was finished with the novel, I wanted only to be able to read more about the adventures of Zilekman and Amram.

Chabon, Michael. Gentlemen of the Road, Del Rey Books, New York, 2008.

Currently Reading: Pillars of Earth by Ken Follett

On Deck: The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

Review: This book records the life and times of Enzo the dog. Enzo is part labrador, part poodle and german-shepherd, unofficially part terrier (because terriers are problem-solvers, and Enzo would like to believe that he comes from “a determined gene pool”) and wholly sagacious. Plucked as a pup from the lap of his mother by Denny Swift, Enzo becomes fast friends with his new owner. Frustrated by his lack of thumbs, lips that cannot pronounce words, and inability to sit on a toilet and flush it, Enzo works hard both to understand his master and to be understood. Surprisingly, television finally serves a useful purpose, and Enzo becomes assimilated to the urban world he inhabits through days spent watching T.V. while waiting for Denny to return home. The two share a common bond: race car driving. Denny possesses an uncanny ability behind the wheel, especially when weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest make track conditions far from ideal. The two, master and dog, share in Denny’s dream, but life gets in the way and they both must find ways to cope with the harrowing turns that are thrown at them.

Denny begins to make a life for himself. He gets married and soon finds himself with a beautiful wife and baby daughter. Enzo, despite feeling marginalized by these new arrivals, manages to see past these giant upheavals in his and Denny’s life. Uneasy truces are created, then solidified, bonds are forged, and the two becomes three and three becomes four, and Enzo becomes part of a family. And while Denny’s dream seems to suffer from the advent of his wife and daughter, he accepts his new responsibilities stoically and finds new joys.

Then Denny is given a chance to go back to what he loves, and he is presented with the opportunity to be part of a racing team. He studies and prepares. He wants to be ready to seize the chance that has been given to him. Enzo, his wife Eve, and his daughter Zoe support him as he leaves for days at a time to race. But just as Denny’s life seems to be coming together, Enzo watches it unfold around him. With no ability to communicate, he does everything he can to support Denny as the days grow bleaker and the clouds grow darker.

Recommendation: Garth Stein will be giving a talk at Charles Wright Academy on January 15, at 2:00 p.m. Admittedly, this book probably would not have fallen in my hands otherwise. While I love animals (even my former bloodthirsty dog, Grendel), I hate car racing. Nothing but right turns (it could be left, I am not sure). But Garth Stein, a Northwest native, turned racing into something greater, and at the heart of it is the wise and loving dog. Enzo anchors this narrative through his perceptive comments and also his inability to act. He shows the reader sides of life that might normally go unnoticed and even makes the reader be a touch more self-conscious about how people behave not only towards animals but also towards ourselves. Even at its most heart wrenching, Enzo is there to help get through it.

Oddly enough, I’d recently read a short story that is written through the perspective of a dog. Dave Eggers has an interesting story in his collection “How We are Hungry”. The dog at the heart of that story is wholly a dog, and Garth Stein gives us much more. Enzo is not some wild spirit barking unnecessarily at passing cars or running without abandon to go sniff the crotch of strangers. He is imbued with a soul to be envied, and I would not be surprised to learn that people who read this book view their dog differently for some time. It is a difficult journey that Denny and Enzo undertake, but it is one well worth being a part of.

Stein, Garth. The Art of Racing in the Rain, Harpercollins, New York, 2008.

Currently Reading: Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

On Deck: At Random by Bennett Cerf

The oldest of three children, Robyn “Robbie” is raised in dubious circumstances relatively close to the border of both Zimbabwe and South Africa. Moved to Botswana at the ripe old age of seven, Robbie and her family leave their life in New Zealand behind to take a chance (unnecessarily) at a new life. Already in Botswana are her grandparents, one of which is famous for his work as an airman and as a fearless inspector of vicious wildlife. His devilish attitude delights his grandchildren and promotes in them an unhealthy disregard for all things potentially dangerous.

The family is as dysfunctional as it is endearing. Robbie’s father takes on the role of doctor and flies from village to village regularly to make check-ups and administer aid. He also sets up shop as a local doctor taking patients several times a week. His main competition is another local doctor and various medicine men. Surprisingly, the competition is fierce. The promise of Western medicine does not entice the expected devotional patients as one might expect. Mom takes on the role of teacher. Her three students are her three children, and they work on different areas of education: remodeling, exploring, and playing. These lessons become intertwined with unimportant aspects of schooling such as mathematics and grammar, but the kids benefit from their “student-centered” learning. Their ability to problem solve, think independently, and speak their mind creates opportunities for them later on down the road.

But living in southern Africa is no picnic. Her dad becomes embroiled in the AIDs epidemic, working to fight against superstition and the government. When they move further south they become exposed to the racial divide in South Africa as well as the conflict in Zimbabwe. It is the families ability to navigate the treacherous waters and the unflappable nature of each member which drives the story onward and roots the reader in their bizarre and amazing lives.

Recommendation: Frankly, this book is awesome. At one point in my life, I heard a Miss Washington speak to a group of students that life is not about the destination but about the journey. This book is a testament to that very idea. This autobiographical look at a family built upon the principles of independent thought is filled with harrowing stories of danger, hilarious stories about hilarity, and heart wrenching tales of people fighting for survival in an environment at once inhospitable and convivial.

Robbie’s narration of the life of her family reflects the love that she has for her parents, grandparents, and siblings. It would be easy to think that she would be frustrated by the free-wheeling nature of her upbringing, but she instead finds the strongest and weakest parts and tempers them so that the reader believes that this unlikely journey might just be the way to go.

This is the kind of book that almost urges you to take risks and follow your ideas and ideals. A life of perfection may not quite be the life worth living. Robyn Scott’s book is an endearing portrait of why that might just be the way to go!

Scott, Robyn. Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: A Memoir of Africa, Penguin Books, London, 2008.

Currently Reading: Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

In the Hole: The Better of McSweeney’s, Volume One, edited by the people at McSweeney’s

Review: For some boys, life can be a lonely and desultory place which slowly grows grimmer and darker each day. When David’s mother dies, she takes with her most of the light and love that David really knew. The books which they once enjoyed together are now read by David and David alone. His father is a grave man fighting to keep he and his son together at the same time Britain fights to hold itself together during the second World War. The life that David once tolerated begins to unravel when his father takes a new wife and brings a little brother to the family. He now has no one to turn to.

They move to a new house, large and dusty, and it is here, amidst the cobwebs and shadows of the past, that David’s books begin to talk to him. He can hear them muttering during the day and whispering to him at night. They cajole him with their stories and frighten them with their tales. He learns of the other young boy who once lived there, and of the Crooked Man. He is frightened. Fantasy mingles with reality, illusions suddenly become truths, and David hears the pleading of his dead mother. He can save her, she tells him. But he must leave the world he knows and enter a world he does not trust.

When he can no longer stand the sound of his mother’s desperate voice, he leaves the house and goes to save her. But the world she is trapped in is a world filled with evil. The inhabitants are characters David knows, but they are grim and severe. The trees bleed, wolves prey on humans with sanguinary desire, and small children go missing while a king sits huddled on an expiring throne. David becomes ensconced in his own terror, and in order to survive, he will have to shed his childhood innocence.

Recommendation: John Connolly creates a world very reminiscent of the dour fairy tales that children grow up with, but he manipulates them to be a murky reflection of characters we know. This is compounded by the sparse writing of Connolly. The place that David finds himself in is very sinister, and this ominous tone carries the novel a long way. While it is the story of a child, it is not necessarily a story for children. The enchantment is rich with malevolence.

Like many tales about the transition out of youth, this is a story for adults who have already made that journey. This book will especially appeal to people who spent hours immersing themselves in stories when they were younger. The idea of becoming a part of the story you love is appealing, even if the story turns out to be a life and death struggle.

Connolly is able to keep the reader engaged because the character of David has a lot to surmount not only physically but also mentally. He has lost quite a bit, and this makes him pitiable, but because his desires are so dark, he is not the heroic protagonist one would expect. Following him on the journey to see if he can grow into this role is where the book’s strength lies, and I enjoyed following David through that.

Connolly, John. The Book of Lost Things, Washington Square Press, New York, 2006.

Currently Reading: Twenty Chickens For a Saddle by Robyn Scott

On Deck: Suggestions? I am nearly to the end of my most recent read, and I am looking for titles to indulge in.  Email me at rscotlan@charleswright.org or leave a comment!

As he tries to make his way home, a series of small mishaps leaves him on a plane with a man named Wednesday, a man who knows his name, a man who knows his wife died, a man who offers him a job. Shadow makes futile efforts to avoid this man, but Wednesday is like a bad penny; he always turns up. Without his wife to return to, Shadow needs to find something to hold onto. The more Wednesday talks, the more Shadow finds himself listening and latching onto what the man has to offer. Then the maelstrom begins.

Wednesday introduces Shadow to people who are never quite what they seem and who appear to step out of the pages of antiquity. The more they work together, the more Shadow becomes embroiled in something that he realizes is beyond him, a mortal, and better left to those with power, those who are gods.

Recommendation: Neil Gaiman works hard to embrace his readers into the mythology of the world. He touches on Norse, Irish, Native American, and Russian mythological figures (among many others). In an interesting twist, he moves these figures into American life as though they rode in the hulls of the first boats that came to American shores. Now they live here, feeding off the fading beliefs of the early inhabitants. He insinuates the gods into our daily lives: cab drivers, alcoholics, apartment tenants. Much of their mystique has faded, but it still lurks behind their shabby exteriors. America is slowly destroying them.

As the protagonist becomes more and more entangled with this previously unknown community, the book seems to lose its focus. The purposeful inclusion of mythology’s gods and goddesses forces its way to the forefront of the novel, and Shadow’s narrative falls to the wayside. As interesting as Wednesday and his colleagues are, the story of Shadow is the most engrossing. He spends a lot of time in a small town hiding from authorities who think he has killed members of their department. His good natured but taciturn personality makes him irrepressible, and it is not long before Shadow grows on the town and the town grows on him. It is here, amidst this society, that the book finds its groove.

The rest of the novel reads like a combination of horror and magical-realism as though the author can’t quite decide where he wants to take his novel. Due to this, the story swirls out of control. Shadow’s imposing presence is unable to anchor the novel, and much of it becomes overwhelming. The best part of the novel focuses on Shadow and a mystery in the small town where he hides. This story might have made for an interesting novel itself. The book struggles to right itself like a ship caught in a storm, and the reader must ride the tossing and turning until the very end.

Gaiman, Neil. American Gods, Hapertorch, New York, 2001.

Currently Reading: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

On Deck: Twenty Chickens For a Saddle by Robyn Scott

City of Thieves

Review: Eggs. Why did it have to be eggs? In a Russian city under siege by German forces, food runs scarce and eggs seem to be the scarcest of all. A Russian commander plans a birthday celebration for his beautiful, ice-skating daughter, and amidst the chaos of the war, he wants the very best for his sweetest little lady. What birthday would be complete without a cake, and what cake would be complete without eggs. He finds two men, Lev and Kolya, to steal these eggs and gives them one week to do so.

Cost of eggs in Leningrad during WWII: your life.

Lev is a teenage Russian Jew who in what could be his final act of rebellious youthfulness chooses to stay behind in besieged Leningrad to show his mother he is a man. Lev spends the war nights helping his city lookout for German bombers on the roof of his apartment building. One night a frozen German pilot parachutes into his neighbor hood, and Lev is caught on the streets after curfew pilfering the body. Thrown in jail, he finds that his cell mate is everything he is not. Tall, incredibly handsome, college-educated and confident, his cell mate Kolya has been accused of deserting his unit. Kolya claims his rendezvous with a woman kept him from making it back to his unit on time. Instead of death, they are given one last chance at redemption. The Russian commander gives them one week to find eggs.

Finding the eggs in a city with a starving populace is surely impossible, and their search increasingly puts their lives in danger. Death will find them, Lev doesn’t doubt it, but they are not sure if it will come from their fellow war-torn citizens, the Russian Commander or the Germans themselves.

Recommendation: The character of Lev is classic. Small for his age, shy, ignorant, and cowardly, he refused to flee with his mother and sister in an effort to prove his independence and manliness. Like many teenagers on the verge of adulthood, he acts recklessly and without much thought for the long run. Unable to be join the army because (despite his choice to stay behind) he is not yet 18, he volunteers on the rooftops and reminisces about his deceased father, a victim of Russian politics. He has everything to gain and everything to lose, and his journey will finally test him the way he has imagined.

Paired with the impossibly perfect Kolya, our little Jewish friend begins to learn life’s lessons from the Russian Casanova, and their uneasy truce slowly blossoms into a friendship. Kolya slips effortlessly from discussions about great literature to the ins and outs of seducing women properly. When his mind is not amongst the great novelists of his time, it is definitely in the gutter. The author does a great job of portraying his main character in a light consistent with teenage selfishness and awkwardness. Lev, as self-concious as any unproven teen, cannot help but sulk at the unfair burdens placed on his shoulders. Not only does he have to get killed to find eggs or not find eggs to get killed, but he has to live with the shame of being a virgin in the presence of (apparently) god’s gift to women. The humor found in the interactions helps to balance the depressing situation Leningrad finds itself in. Capturing the banter of two such characters is tricky, but Beinof does a fairly good job. T

At the core of the book is exactly what one should expect from a story about youthful men. Lev struggles to define himself as the man he wants to be, and Kolya starts to come to grips with the person he has become. It is surprise to both of them and the reader that despite their myriad differences, they have much in common. Together they both must examine what makes them human, and it is their struggle with the atrocities around them as well as the rays of hope that help make this story engaging.

Ulitmately, I cannot say that I loved this book nor can I say that I despised it. The character of Lev was somewhat hard to like, despite being able to understand his impetuousness. With many protagonists you quickly come to support them, love them, or even loathe them. Lev never resounded inside me. His lack of courage and tendency to shirk from social situations could not compel me to root for him until midway through the novel when a love interest in introduced. This is surprising because I myself was socially awkward, somewhat introverted, and hardly a candidate for potential heroics at the same age. Lev should have been a character I found familiar and interesting. Instead, I found him somewhat unauthentic and cold. Only towards the end of the novel did I feel really engrossed in his story.

Beinoff, David, City of Thieves, Viking, 2008, New York.

Currently Reading: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

On Deck: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

His successful career in journalism has moved him from Zimbabwe to London and then, finally, New York. He transits between the two in order to keep an eye on his aging parents who continue to live in the country they call home. Each time he touches down in Harare airport his situation becomes increasingly tenuous and desperate. During these trips he learns that his father has a secret past, that the driven man with the clipped British accent and stubborn tenacity is not really the man he knows. While Zimbabwe is caught in maelstrom of political and social he turmoil, he is swept up in his own personal storm. The history of his father becomes intertwined with the unfolding history of Peter’s home country, and the two stories provide a rich context for understanding the current situation.

Recommendation: This is the third book I’ve read about Africa recently. The first was reviewed here (What is the What), and the second was the The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency about a fictional female detective in Botswana. Of those two, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency was the least depressing. And maybe depressing is the wrong word. After reading When the Crocodile Eats the Sun, I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

Here is a leader, Robert Mugabe,  driven by power and greed to lead his country into desperate times. What makes the situation appear so daunting is the breakdown of social systems. As Mugabe’s war veterans take over farm after farm and displace the workers and owners, there are no police to fight against the unjust actions. They claim that “it [is] a ‘political’ matter beyond their jurisdiction”. Even the police are scared. Since the police do nothing, people must take their own action to protect what they have worked for, and the dominoes begin to fall. Farm owners are killed. Their employees are killed, raped, threatened, beaten and terrified.

George Godwin, Peter’s father, has been a kind and fair employer his whole life. He treats his employees with respect and dignity, but even that gets taken away from them by the war veterans. They force one of his retired employees, a sweet and decent woman named Mavis, to demand payment for her services, though she has been paid generously all her life. Finally, George is forced to admit that “this is extortion” and although he “has never given a bribe in his life, for whom bribery is anathema, who believes that the briber giver is just as morally corrupt as the briber”, he must give in or face certain retribution. This is what humanity is reduced to.

The story of Peter and his family and of their experience in Zimbabwe is powerful and humbling.  Peter’s role in this country is also in conflict, and the reader can sense that Peter struggles internally with his decision to leave.  There are many people unbalanced by the ongoing troubles.  Some benefit enormously and some do not.  We only hear about the happenings through Godwin, and the narrations all bear traces of tragedy.  I wonder whose stories would not.  My heart aches for those caught in the midst of this crisis. Even now, as I read articles online about Zimbabwe’s state, I have hope that the things can turn around. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe recently released a 500 billion dollar note in an effort to keep up with the swift-rising inflation. Bush ordered new sanctions to be placed on Zimbabwe to help fight political violence. Mugabe has agreed to talk with Morgan Tsvangirai about sharing power in an effort to heal the country.

Godwin, Peter. When the Crocodile Eats the Sun. Back Bay Books, 2008, New York.

Currently Reading: City of Thieves by Daniel Beinoff

On Deck: American Gods by Neil Gaiman