Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Birthday Books

Went to Borders the other to cash in my birthday gift card from Nana, Papa, David and Chill Factorino (along with a bit of birthday dough from Mom). Many thanks, I got four books I can't wait to read:

Into the Wild
-- story of a 24 year-old who hiked into the Alaskan bush alone and underequipped, just to see if he could survive -- he didn't.

Let Me Go -- Mother abandons husband and daughter in Austria in WWII. 30 years later daughter discovers Mom left to become a notorious SS concentration camp guard for women. Mom remains unrepentant about her role -- daughter must come to terms.

A Brief History of the Middle East -- enough said


1491: The Year Before Columbus
-- anthropologist's reconstruction of ther lives of Native Americans in both North and South America the year before Columbus arrived.

Just finished "Disgrace" by J.M. Coetzee, a story about a South African professor who is forced out of his university after having an affair with a student, and then travels to his estranged daughter's homestead in the bush, where Afrikkaners have become persona non grata. After a robbery and brutal attack on father and daughter, it's about coming to terms with the new South Africa, where the oppressors are now being oppressed. Bleak, but a worthwhile read.

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