"The Sirens of Baghdad: A Novel ", by Yasmina Khadra

[Sequoia]

From Publishers Weekly
Khadra's latest political thriller set in the Middle East couldn't be more timely. The versatile Khadra brings the reader inside the mind of an unnamed terrorist-to-be, an Iraqi Bedouin, radicalized by witnessing the death of innocents and the humiliation of the civilian population by the American forces in the Second Gulf War. Without apologizing for the carnage caused by either side in the conflict, the author, a former officer in the Algerian army, manages to make the thoughts of a suicide bomber accessible to a Western readership, even as the scope of the terrorist's intended target, meant to dwarf 9/11 in its impact, and the method's plausibility will send a shiver down the spine of most readers. Despite the essential bleakness of the book's themes, Khadra (The Swallows of Kabul; The Attack) manages to inject a note of hope toward the end, without betraying his powerful message of how the occupation of Iraq has brutalized both the Iraqis and the Americans.

amazon.com

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Thanks. Haven't heard about it.

Note taken.

[Sequoia]

2. Hi, fellow NC'er

I just happened to see it in the library. I usually avoid Iraq war books but since this wasn't by a gun-ho flag-waving basement-typing person relating tales of square-jawed buzz-cut Marines (adjective meltdown here) I thought it might be intersting. And it is, from the prespective of the other side.

Another book from the other side of WWII about a German which is most excellent is "Night Over Day Over Night", by Paul Watkins. I read this book about 15 years ago and thought it was one of the best WWII novels around. This edition was published in 1997, so guess it's still popular.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/512W59M4A4L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

By the way, about a week ago someone posted in DU and said he/she was on the road (in a truck I think) and saw your NCDUer sign and honked at you.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. NCDUer is somebody else -

the only ID on my vehicle is my DU bumpersticker (along with another half-dozen or so). I think the person with the NCDUer tag is over in Greensboro, IIRC.

:hi:

[Sequoia]

4. Oh, of course, sorry. I should've looked more closely.