Archive for January, 2005

Midnight’s Children

Sunday, January 2nd, 2005

Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” is a wild, epic journey into post independence India/Pakistan. The title refers to the 500 children born in the first hour of India’s independence. These children were endowed with special powers. The first born and main character has the psychic ability to communicate via telepathy with the others. We follow his Muslim family’s life through the big events of independent India. This novel is a history viewed through the imagination of a unique writing genius. If you haven’t cared for his other work including “Satanic Verses”, give this one a try.

Birds Without Wings

Saturday, January 1st, 2005

Birds Without Wings Louis De Bernieres’ (“Corelli’s Mandolin” Novel and Movie) new “Birds Without Wings” introduces us to a small village in western Turkey at the end of the Ottoman Empire. Following a variety of local characters we live through the Great War (WWI) and its aftermath. The village has nourished its peaceful Greek Christian and Turkish Muslim populations for millenniums until the intervention of the West during the breakup of the culturally tolerant Ottoman Empire. Follow the actual history of this entire region including the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, and Palestine and the terrible repercussions of mindless Western decisions. Must reading for anyone trying to understand how we got here in the region.