From Bookmooch, to be read and added to the Asian-Bookbox.

Taken from the blog of Iraqi Salam Pax, from the days leading up to the U.S. invasion and those following. Salam is a great blogger, full of real feeling, ranting and commenting on life in Baghdad. This is a man who knows what Saddam Hussein is, but knows that the U.S. coming in as "liberators" is not the answer. A great fan of music, films, books, his entries are witty, funny as well as giving a rarely heard Iraqi perspective of what was happening.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

In the bookbox.

Taken from the asian bookbox. Great box Soffitta1!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Hope you enjoy this

The book arrived safely today! Thank you so much for the RABCK, Katrinat!

This is one of those books again that I would have never read if it wasn't for bookcrossing. :) I enjoyed this book a lot, even though I'm not sure if you can use the verb enjoy, the events Salam describes are so tragic. But his blog entries are humorous too and he describes the daily life in Iraq in a lively way. I do admire his talent to write! He is critical of both Americans and his own countrymen. Despite the whining of some of his readers, I believe his observations are rather reliable (even though subjective of course).

Thank you Katrinat for passing this book on. I'm going to find it a new reader in the near future.

And the book found its next reader through Finnish advent calendar, thanks to Savotar! This was a great calendar surprise, as I was expecting something with snow, red nosed men and reindeers too.. Shame I haven't heard of the book earlier! This'll definitely find it's place on top of my tbr's.

Dear all,
I love Salam Pax. (Hope his mother doesn't get her hopes up here, though.)
Do I have to finish this book someday?

It's taken me some time to digest everything and to get some perspective to the text. Most of all, how could I rate anyone's personal experiences? There's a real person with real feelings behing the words, with knowledge on his own country and culture and front row seats to it all. Writer's been right in the eye of a historical storm, and what I've read are his experiences, his perspective but also a piece of real world history. The text might not always meet with the reality that was sent to our homes through news channels, this is rather what I didn't see or hear. What I got in my telly in 2003 was soldiers patrolling or people ululating in front of a heap of rubble - not anyone really saying anything sane. Nothing's simple in war (or occupation or whatever you want to call what's happened in Iraq), there's nothing absolute, but after reading The Baghdad Blog I feel like I've been given a grain of truth.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Good reading on offer at Vihtorin kirjasto!

Thanks for releasing, pippis! :)

The book is still available on the shelf, the other one released yesterday seems to have already travelled... :)

EDIT. 2010/03/25: This book is still in the shelf.
The other one 'The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation' is no longer in the shelf.