My Summer reads ~~~~~~

What are you reading?

I'm half way through an incredible book - definitely not pretty - in fact a very painful story to read.

behind the beautiful forevers

by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo

If you've traveled to India, especially Mumbai,

you will want to read this story. 

Although I did see some disturbing sights around the city,

this book opened my eyes to what I didn't see when visiting 

there a couple of years ago.

"This book is both a tour de force of social justice, 

reportage and a literary masterpiece."

_____Judges Citation for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award

"Reported like Watergate, written like Great Expectations, 

and handily the best international nonfiction in years."

_____NEW YORK

"There are books that change the way you feel and see: 

this is one of them."

______Adrian Nicole Leblanc

"Pure, astonishing reportage. . .

an unforgettable TRUE story, meticulously researched 

with unblinking honesty."

______The Christian Science Monitor

"Extraordinary. . .moving. . .Like the best journeys, Boo's

book cracks open our preconceptions and constructs an

abiding bridge - at once daunting and inspiring - to a world we 

would never otherwise recognize as our own." 

______National Geographic Traveler

If you would like to have this book, leave me a comment in this post only.  I'll draw 

a winner next weekend then mail it to you as soon as I've finished reading it.

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Do you read short stories?

I like to keep this type of book nearby when traveling-----here, there, everywhere; but specifically for times when waiting for appointments, flight departures, a coffee break alone with nobody to chat with. . .moments in time that needn't be wasted by just waiting for something.

My current book of short stories is extraordinary and by a wonderful writer.

Brief Encounters with Che Guevara

by Ben Fountain

I was directed to this book when in Mr. B's Bookshop 

in Bath, England. Knowing nothing about this Dallas

author - acclaimed and awarded for his first novel, 

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (which I've yet to read)-

I took a chance and purchased it.

These are amazing short stories.

"Exceptional. . .Each of these eight stories is as rich 

as a novel. . .heartbreaking." 

_______NEW YORK TIMES 

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Waiting to be enjoyed again - 

- one of those all time favorites we each have - and I'm anxious to pick up my copy for what has to be the fourth time. Of course I've watched the incredible movie even more times. 

Out of Africa

by Isak Dinesen

My old, much-loved copy was printed in 1965. It's a bit 

dog-eared and stained inside from a folded 1992 

newspaper article. It details Karen Blixen's

(she wrote under the pen name Isak Dinesen)final refuge 

in her childhood home in Rungstedlund in the northern 

suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. 

She lived there the last 31 years of her life - it's 

where she wrote this book about her heartbreaking years on 

her coffee farm in Kenya.

If only I'd had time I would have visited Rungstedland, 

now a museum, in June when in Copenhagen.

Meanwhile, a journey in the not too distant future has once 

again put this wonderful story on my book list.