Enjoy!

at the pop-up OBCZ!

Picked this up at the OBCZ during the 2012 Hawaii Book and Music Festival.

This was one of the books on the World Book Night list that I hadn't read. It sounded interesting, so I decided to bring this non-WBN copy home. :)

Interesting? Yes.

Distressing & infuriating? That too.

I know there was a lot of chaos after Hurricane Katrina, but what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his friends should never have taken place. The fact that it was our government that did it to them is scary.

More information about the book, the Zeitoun family, and the foundation bearing their name can be found at http://zeitounfoundation.org.

It will be interesting to see what Jonathan Demme makes of this story as an animated film.

Update 2013: Zeitoun's story just gets more complicated.

And a later update.

International bookray headed out to see the world!

Here are the instructions:

1. Make a quick journal entry when you receive the book so we know it got to you safely.

2. VOLUNTARY - let's see if anyone reads this part! ;) If you're willing, please PM hyphen8 for my address and send me a postcard with some interesting stamps on it for my mom the stamp collector, especially if you're not in the US.

3. Read and send on within 1 month - or make a journal entry to let us know how it's going if you need to keep the book longer. I realize that sometimes life gets in the way of BookCrossing, but please keep us posted on what's happening.

4. Make a journal entry when you've finished - tell us what you thought!

5. Check back here to make sure the mailing order hasn't changed, then PM the next person in line for an address. Even if you've mailed something to that person before, please double-check their mailing info and make sure they're still interested and able to participate.

6. Use whatever shipping method works best for you; if you have a surface mail option, that's fine. If you're able to use delivery confirmation/tracking that's always nice.

Current order (subject to change):
*PLEASE* check before sending to the next person!

okyrhoe: Greece (international)
RonOren: UK (international)
DubaiReader: Dubai (international)
GronnLivsstil: Norway (Europe preferred)
sintra: Germany (EU preferred)
Miss_Sunshine: Egypt (temporary UK mailing address; international) - asked to be skipped
KathrynW: Ireland (Europe preferred) - skipped
Fifna: Netherlands (Europe)
a3ana: Netherlands (international) - skipped
OneMorePage: California, US (US only) - asked to be skipped
ekgv414: Pennsylvania, US (US preferred) - Zeitoun is here
iwillrejoice: Florida, US (US/Can) - asked to be skipped
??

If you see a known staller on this list please send me a PM.

If you'd like to participate, post in the forum thread and send me a PM with your location and mailing preferences.

It looks like another hurricane may hit New Orleans this week..I hope not.

Just to be sure, this time Zeitoun is leaving town and headed for Greece to start the bookray! (Mailed Monday 8/27).

Counting this as a release for booklady331's One Word challenge.

September 15: Hm...I wonder how long "first class" mail to Greece takes. :s
Answer? Almost a month...but it got there. :)

Arrived in Athens. Thanks hyphen8 for including me in the bookray, and for posting the book to me!

I have 1 BC ring book to finish up, and this one will be tackled next.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Review 10/10/2012
I was amazed by how restrained the writing is. Eggers allows the plotline, that is, the events and their sequence, to tell the story. It is a highly political story, but the treatment of it is not politically charged.
Adjectives, characterization, emphasis, all of that is kept to a minimum. Sometimes the narrative is a bit too dry (forgive the pun) but eventually it becomes necessary if the climactic moments of Zeitoun's experience are to be felt and understood in their full force, on a personal rather than ideological level.
Having lived in the Middle East (including Syria) I can understand Zeitoun's somewhat unnerving personality traits, as well as the persistent concern of his family on the other side of the Atlantic. Eggers' decision to include background information (through the inclusion of photographs and Zeitoun's reflective flashbacks as he contemplates his life during the quiet moments stranded in his N.O. family home) I think is valuable to understanding the Syrian temperament and how it plays out in Zeitoun's story.

Bookray is now traveling to the UK for RonOren. Enjoy!

This just arrived, in perfect timing for a 4h flight and week's holiday starting this weekend :-). So I expect to have polished this off pretty quickly... Looks very interesting, so I'm looking forward to it!

Apologies for the delay in journaling this book - I'd finished it some time ago, but couldn't find the time to write about it.

I found this a very impressive but also rather depressing book. Zeitoun seems such a nice character (in the sense of interesting person, not the fictional version), who actually tries to do some good in the world. Of all people, he seems the last person to be singled out as a "terrorist"! It took me quite a while to realise that this is actually a real story and Zeitoun a real person - he seems almost too good to be true...

What as really scary about this book is that I read it just when Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New York. I couldn't help wonder whether the same was about to happen again...

Surprisingly, for a book that deals with such difficult matters, it actually reads quite well. Still, I wouldn't say it's enjoyable, exactly. But it is certainly a book that I think everyone should read!

Thanks for sharing this book, dustyflint! I'll get in touch with DubaiReader to get the book moving again soon.

This book is now on its way to DubaiReader. Apologies for the delay in sending and journalling!

Yay! It's arrived :)
I have a few books in front of this one but will try to get it moving on asap.
Thanks to Dustyflint and RonOren for making this available.

Hyphen8 has just reminded me that I need to get this book moving. Unfortunately I had a bunch of Rays come in at the same time and it's taken me a while to get through them.
I'll try and send this one on its way asap.
Sorry :(

Oh dear, another reminder from Hyphen8, I really must read this book.
I confess that I have read a couple of rays out of order because they were quick reads and I wanted to keep as many Rays moving as possible. If I didn't want to read this so much I'd just pass it on, but I've never had the opportunity to read about the hurricaine Katrina before and I now do.
Will put this to the top of the list, before all the book groups start in Sept.
Sorry to all those who are waiting, who won't get this message, unfortunately. And sorry Hyphen8 :(

I'm sorry I have had this book for so long. It is now ready to continue its travels and I have contacted GronnLivsstil for the forwarding address.
I will get this in the post asap.
Thanks.

I think this book is haunting me!
I was so sure I'd posted it on months ago, but it just turned up, wrapped ready to go, but never posted. Yesterday it definitely went into the post box. Fingers crossed it will only take a couple of weeks to get to Norway.
So sorry to those who are patiently awaiting their turn and apologies to Hyphen8 who diligently follows her Ray books and sends out reminders.

I've finally got it. I've got another book to finish, but I'll read it as quickly as I can.

It was an interesting read for sure. I'll PM the next one in line and hopefully it will be on it's move soon.

Sent off to the next reader.

The book arrived safely in Germany. I have another ring before this one but I'll try to send it on again, soon. Thanks a lot!

I'm really sorry about the enormous delay! I took an involuntary break from BC for the last couple of months after some log-in problems and then some RL issues on top of it. But I'm back now and I'll send this book on as fast as possible.

I thought it was a very interesting account of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I was aware that there were many darker aspects in the authorities' actions during and after the hurricane but I hadn't heard of this story before. Thanks a lot for sharing this book!

PMed the next person on the list.

Arrived safely, thanks sintra! This will be my next read.

Received today. Thanks so much!

I'm just starting another book that I need to get out, and then this one is up next and (I hope) on to the next person soon. Looking forward to it; I've always enjoyed reading Dave Eggers.

This book is ready to move along, but iwillrejoice is no longer interested. Has anybody else expressed any interest? Do any of you previous readers (if you see this) have a friend who might enjoy? I'd be happy to send it anywhere!

If there's nobody else officially through this thread, maybe I'll just check out some wishlists or find another way to pass along.

Happened to have this book with me when I walked by a Little Free Library on the North Side of Pittsburgh. I thought it would be a fun way to send the book on at the end of the bookray... I hope someone does pick it up and comes back here to journal.

If anyone seeing this would like to seek it out, the Little Free Library is at 1402 Monterrey Street.