Books Read or Being Read...

Conversations on...

The One: Finding Soul Mate Love and Making It Last - Kathy Freston
A book about relationships and spirituality.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Our Patron Saint is reading this one. The comment is "It is OK".

Cities of Salt - Abdelrahman Munif
The story chronicles the transformation of a traditional desert society following the discovery of oil. It is a work of fiction but there is so much truth in it. Banned in Saudi Arabia.

Turkestan Solo: A Journey Through Central Asia by Ella Maillart
Ella Maillart travelled to Russian Turkestan, now known as "The Stans" in the 1930s. She was a woman who loved mountains and loved to meet the people of the remote regions she travelled through. This books offers some insight into how things were politically in Central Asia at a time when Russia was heavily involved in that region.

Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800 - Richard Broome
Interesting to see regions where you've grown up and not known parts of the history of the place you were in as a child.

Why Warriors Lie Down and Die - Richard Trudgen
The Yolngu will not start thinking about a response until the speaker has had their full say. They consider it rude to interrupt, and, on certain occasions, to speak directly. With the processes of interpretation, listening to one language, translating, framing a response in their own and translating it back, the time taken to respond can be lengthy. Trudgen says that white people quickly become uncomfortable and impatient with the silence, failing to give time for communication to take place.


Still Reading....

Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Early in the novel, we discover that the narrator majored in religious studies and zoology, with particular interests in a sixteenth-century Kabbalist and the admirable three-toed sloth.

How we Survived Communism and Even Laughed - Slavenka Drakulic
A collection of essays that discuss aspects of life under Communism - including religion, political change and access to consumer goods - and looks at the reasons for its failure.

How the Mind Works - Stephen Pinker
Heavy but riveting tome.

Flying Hero Class - Thomas Keneally
A troupe of Aboriginal dancers are on a flight when their plane is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and their manager is identified as an enemy of the people. This book was written in 1987.

Stories of Eva Luna by Isabelle Allende
Magical-realism stories from Latin America


Finished reading...

Dark Room - Minette Walters
crime fiction

From Eve's Rib by Gioconda Belli
Political and sensual poetry.

I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala Edited by (anthroplogist) Elisabeth Burgos-Debray
An indigenous Guatemalan who was the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize. This book is a testimonial biography of the human rights violations committed by the Guatemalan armed forces during the country's country's civil war which began in 1960. Later, the book was subject to controversy as to how accurate her published account really was by another anthropologist known as Stoll.