This book looks interesting, although I haven't heard much about it. My husband, HopOnPop, is currently reading it, then I'll take a look.

this will go back to genevalove when I'm done--more later.

LATER: Liked it--a pageturner. It helped that I had followed her coverage on NPR during the war. Refreshingly objective.

This was an interesting first-hand account of the war in Iraq. It's a different perspective than that presented by most of the embedded journalists that were on TV at the time. My only quibble: her husband's emails didn't add much of value to the book. I would have preferred to read some of her actual reports for NPR, rather than second-hand retellings of what she was up to in Baghdad.

I'm starting an international perpetual bookray with this book. Participants must be willing to ship internationally (surface mail is fine)--please PM me if you're interested! This book will be mailed out before October 25th. So far, the following bookcrossers have signed up:

juliebarreto (Hawaii)
allysther (Hawaii)
AmberLee17 (California)
Rendiru (California)
bilbi (France)
mdhistorian (Maryland)
JesseBC (Illinois)*
caligula03 (California)
Hawkette (Australia)
aleonblue (Australia)
seferim (Maryland)
Lobodyke (Kentucky)

It just arrived. I'm looking forward to reading it! I guess it should have been subtitled "The Beginning of the Iraq War...."

November 30, 2003 update. Finished it! I found it very informative and readable. I really felt I was with her in that miserable hotel room. She certainly gets the point across that her reporting in Baghdad really depended heavily on her various minders and helpers. Her helper Amer especially seems like an honorable person in a dishonorable situation...like so many others, I suppose.

As I read this, I kept thinking of that old knee-jerk response from the American Viet Nam era: "my country, right or wrong!." That's just what going on now in Iraq. Yes, they may have hated Saddam, but he was one of their own. The shame and ignominy of the USA occupying Iraq is directly responsible for this quagmire we've entered. Oh, for some American leadership that can make some positive steps in this sorry situation. Out with Bush, now!

This is off to allysther in Wahiawa.

Arrived today. I've just finished up "Dude, Where's My Country?", so I'm ready to be shown the truth in a different light. I will begin reading this evening.

I truly enjoyed this book. Although I listened to NPR and heard her reports at the beginning of the war, I can't actually say that I remember them. I would love to have this book in audio format, with some of the reports included in the text. I really wanted to find the reports in NPR's archives as I read.

I actually enjoyed the letters from her husband. I found that they provided a lovely subplot, and were more a tribute to his love for her than anything else. He gave a slightly more distanced perspective of her experiences, filtering out what their friends and family didn't really need to know.

Reading this has made me need to aquire my own copy so that I can pass it around my family. I think that this book has added a new angle to the coverage of the war, one that should be heard.

Arrived yesterday, in a huge avalanche of ring/ray books. Oof! I'll get to it as quickly as possible.

Arrgh. I keep accidently deleting this journal entry: all thumbs today. One MORE time...

Really enjoyed this book. Somewhat eery to read and remember/realize just what was and wasn't known this time last year... Was reading it at the gym while tapes of Sadam Hussain's capture were being played on the news overhead... I rather enjoyed the husband's commentary interspersed throughout, it added depth for me.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this book. Will be off in the mail this afternoon.

I received this in the mail today. I'll be starting it tonight or tomorrow. I'm looking forward to reading it. :-)

I can't say that I actively enjoyed this book. The subject matter was too upsetting for me to enjoy, but I did appreciate it. The book was certainly captivating, but I could only read a few pages at a time before I needed a break from the intensity of the descriptions. Sometimes having a vivid imagination has its drawbacks. It was very much like being there during the lead up to and during the invasion.

For someone like me, who is calmly going about daily life, only struggling with occasional health problems and monetary concerns (personal or those of dear ones) in a society where everything I need is, if not immediately accessible, at least conceivably available, it is painful to be reminded of the daily struggle to meet basic needs that exists for so many in this world. This, along with the reminders of daily persecution occurring in Iraq (and many other places) at the time this book was written (and still to varying degrees today) was what made reading this book difficult for me.

It is also what made this a memorable, worthwhile book.

I am glad that I had a chance to read it. Too often I crawl into my comfy hole in the ground and ignore the rest of the world. I certainly feel connected today.

This will go in the mail to bilbi tomorrow.

I've just received the book. I've already had several 'rings to read so I'm afraid I won't be able to read it right now. I hope the next bookcrosser is not in a hurry :\

It was really interesting to read. It emphasizes the "whys" of the war : why does it start (oil or democracy) ? why do Iraqis despise American troops (leaving the country to looting, for instance) and and the "whos" : who are responsible for the deaths of civilians ? who would rule after ?
Anne is so calm and brave throughout this conflict. I don't know her works before , but I'm willing to learn more about her.
Thank you for sharing this book with me.

Just received this book from bilbi -- looking forward to reading it around about the one-year anniversary of the invasion...

This ought to be an important book, particularly at the one-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but for me there were two difficulties, both springing from Garrels's position as a journalist. First, she herself admits that telling Iraq's story before and during the invasion was not unlike making a long string out of smaller bits of string (her commentator-husband compares it to stringing beads). Supervised by minders and drivers at all times, with no knowledge of Arabic, and then later virtually confined to various hotel rooms by the actual attack, Garrels makes observations that are highly anecdotal, leaving the reader with tantalizing snatches of fill-in-the-blank story. She started so many tales, then left them incomplete, probably because of lack of further information: the Muslim women who pray in Baghdad's Greek Orthodox church to the Virgin Mary; the university president who begged for help in stopping looters from destroying Iraq's intellectual heritage; average Iraqis disgust with the return of ex-patriates. Second, the journalistic dispassion that serves her well when broadcasting made it challenging for this reader to really engage with her as a person-in-danger. Her most passionate comments are reserved for other journalists, particularly television, who didn't meet her rigorous standards for courage and dedication, although she does let us in on her close relationship with invaluable minder Amer in the end. In short, if you are interested in war _journalism_ in Iraq, this book is full of insights; if you are interested in war in Iraq, there are probably better books.

On its way to JesseBC today...

Thanks!