attack yasmina khadra

I thoroughly enjoyed this painful book to read. One that challenges the comfort of not only dr Amin but of me as a reader. I kept waiting for the calming resolution - there was none. As in this conflict there appears to be none. One reads and ponders what could in fact heal the world.


" Dr Amin Jaafari is a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. He is an incredibly successful surgeon, awarded numerous honours and living a seemingly idyllic life with his beloved wife, Sihem. They have a beautiful house, but no children. They have strong friendships with Israelis, absorbing a lifestyle that rejects a traditional approach; they’re not practising Muslims. Amin and Sihem are ostensibly the best examples of integration, and despite some tension in the hospital, Amin is blissfully unaware of differences. If we are to believe him, his wife is generally satisfied too.

Dr Amin Jaafari is a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. He is an incredibly successful surgeon, awarded numerous honours and living a seemingly idyllic life with his beloved wife, Sihem. They have a beautiful house, but no children. They have strong friendships with Israelis, absorbing a lifestyle that rejects a traditional approach; they’re not practising Muslims. Amin and Sihem are ostensibly the best examples of integration, and despite some tension in the hospital, Amin is blissfully unaware of differences. If we are to believe him, his wife is generally satisfied too.

“They can take everything you own- your property, your best years, all your joys, all your good works, everything down to your last shirt- but you'll always have your dreams, so you can reinvent your stolen world.” 

“We’re not Islamists, Dr. Jaafari,” one man tells him. “And we’re not fundamentalists, either. We are only the children of a ravaged, despised people, fighting with whatever means we can to recover our homeland and our dignity.”

― Yasmina Khadra

Days of Honey. - Annia Ciezadlo

The Nytimes says -Ms. Ciezadlo is a seasoned young foreign correspondent — she reported from Baghdad for The Christian Science Monitor and from Beirut for The New Republic — who in “Day of Honey” turns her attention to Middle Eastern culinary traditions and to “the millions of small ways people cope” during wartime. Her book is among the least political, and most intimate and valuable, to have come out of the Iraq war.

It's a unique angle on ingesting war and the coping mechanisms built to go on. The food descriptions inspire one to open one's palate and core dinning s. the  dealing with living in war torn strife is challenging as you are grateful not to be in it yet saddened and guilt laden for having relative ease.

Food is a key part of everyone'slife, whether its live to eat or eat to live. Brigham has always had his own take on the reading / eating discussion and I thank him for the invitation

Food alone can not make peace. It is part of war, like everything else. We can break bread with our neighbors and kill them the next. Food is just an excuse - an opportunity to know your neighbors. When you share it  with others , it becomes something more.

In talking with kid guess the  mom-made foodscare our anchor. Cinammon rolls, salmonn, ribs, trifle, scones, and pancakes for a Saturday .   But they have to be at least similar to how mom makes them, or else they are just food. I wonder what a. Pioneer's take on the subject would be?