Without a doubt, this is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best work to date. While her debut, Purple Hibiscus, was engrossing, and her short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, included stand-out gems, both titles pale to the exceptional Yellow Sun. Gentle, innocent Ugwu enters the home of...
If, like me, you don't like to know the whole story before you read the book (!!), then skip the family tree in these opening pages. Don't even glance at it. You can always go back to it after. Ahdaf Soueif's 1999 Booker Prize shortlister (J. M. Coetzee took...
Contrary as I am, I find I must start with this book backwards. The final entry in this important title by one of Palestine's literary icons is not only the collection's highlight, but it is undoubtedly one of those haunting 'what-if' situations that you'll find...
In another century, travelers wrote a few postcards. Today's modern wanderer might send group emails or abbreviated texts; the more techno-savvy might start a blog and instantly upload the pictures from those tiny devices. The really ambitious write essays and even books. Guy Delisle (thank goodness!)...
For someone who has experienced hell, Loung Ung is a bright, welcoming voice filled with inviting laughter. She’s warm: “I just had dinner with my writing group last night. They’re my PenGals. I just love them! I don’t know what I would do without them.” She’s practical:...
People, even complete strangers, feel compelled to tell Xinran their personal stories, from the simple happiness of sweet everyday lives to the most horrific memories of shocking abuse. Something in her soothing voice, the wordless encouragement to keep talking, exudes a sense of undeniable comfort...
I have to admit that the unnecessary chopsticky font and the strangely-eerie illustrations set me off temporarily, but the old adage 'never trust a book by its cover' proved true in this case: this real-life story is well worth your attention. Mei Ling lives in Los...
According to her official website bio, Lorraine Adams left her Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper career in 2000 "to recount the lost stories of Algerians she knew without the strictures of journalism, and the conventional sentiment of the moment." Even before 9/11, Adams well understood about "ambiguity" and...
At the end of a six-year stint in Beijing as the China correspondent for NPR, Rob Gifford sent his wife and children ahead to London to start their new lives. Gifford, who first arrived in China as a language student in his early 20s, embarks on...
Tragically, death and destruction are very much a part of human reality ...
I am the first to admit I missed having the poetry function installed when my limited brain got assembled. So when I DO actually GET poetry, I feel a true sense of gratitude to the writer, not to mention a few outbursts of gleeful accomplishment. Nathalie...
Sometimes my inability to process dialects actually has an upside ...
Every new year seems to begin with a fervent prayer/wish/hope for true PEACE. So far in my own lifetime, worldwide peace hasn't been achieved. Still, I have a few more years left in me and surely enough stubbornness to believe peace can truly happen before...
The title of this diverse anthology is taken from the opening line of Afghan fairy tales, not unlike 'once upon a time.' In this case, afsanah, seesanah – one story, thirty stories...
When I hear "collateral damage," one thing I've never thought of before (I know, shame on me!) are the animals! And how much more tragic are the animals trapped in cages ...
This time of the year, in spite of my higher-than-usual crank factor with all the commercial hubbub, I do enjoy escaping into mushy, happy books. Here's one to add to the holiday list,...
"However tall the mountain, there's always a road," so goes the Afghan proverb that opens Awista Ayub's inspiring memoir. Thank goodness for the energy of youth to actually find the...
First off, Samrat Upadhyay is one of my favorite short story-tellers. His debut Arresting God in Kathmandu remains one of the most memorable collections I've ever read, and a quote from the review I...
Hurray (itself a word of Mongol origin) for cultural anthropologist and Macalester College professor Jack Weatherford who reclaims Genghis Khan from a much maligned history that defines him as "the quintessential barbarian," leading an...
Alas, tragic headlines continue to repeat over and over: The front page of today's New York Times reports, "Iraq's Ills Lead Former Exiles to Flee Again." [An online version of the article is available...
