The Way of the World?

Gosh, I love NPR! At book club Wednesday night, I couldn’t think of the name of the other book I recently read–besides Charlie Wilson’s War and 3 Cups of Tea–having to do with America’s activities in Afghanistan and its neighborhood. But before I had a chance to look it up, there on Friday, being interviewed on "All Things Considered,” was Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, author of The Way of the World. (http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/08/06/suskind/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Suskind )
Suskind’s 2008 book, subtitled "A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism," is both devastating in its analysis of the process by which the Bush administration took America to war and ultimately hopeful in presenting the things that can help repair the damage to our international reputation, our relationships with Islamic countries and their people, and our own democracy and national integrity.
To proceed in reverse order of publication (and as it happens, reverse order of my reading), 3 Cups of Tea (2006), by former mountaineer Greg Mortenson and journalist David Oliver Relin, is the astonishing story of one young American’s dedication to building schools for children (especially girls) in the mountainous tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Subtitled "One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time,” it is, according to me, very readable. Vivid and perceptive description, as well as lots of pictures, help make the people seem real. It serves as an antidote to despair and a corrective to much of recent US policy. One of the most important themes is the importance of empowering women as a way–some would say the way-- to bring both progress and ultimately peace to troubled areas. https://www.ikat.org/three-cups-of-tea/
If you saw the movie Charlie Wilson’s War, with Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, be assured the book by former 60 Minutes journalist George Crile (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/15/national/main1620687.shtml ), while also highly entertaining, is ultimately quite serious.. Charles Taylor ( http://www.powells.com/review/2003_08_22 ) calls it “a very funny book about something that isn't funny at all.” The lengthy but not exaggerated subtitle is “The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times.” Originally published in 2003, Charlie Wilson’s War reads like a spy thriller, and indeed several of the key characters are professional spies. Fascinating (and scarey) insights into the inner workings of Congress, the CIA, and the relations among these and other inside-the-beltway organizations. You’ve heard that the US trained and armed Osama bin Ladin and his cohorts–to fight the Russians. Here is how we did it.
Taken together, these three books give important in-depth perspective on politics and people in and around Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, and on Western contacts with Islam in these and other areas over several decades. I heartily recommend all three; they are anything but dry reading!

Julie & Julia--gotta see it

If you love food, or Paris, or Queens, or if you think Julia Child was a hoot–any or all of the foregoing– absolutely do not miss “Julie & Julia.

It’s a Nora Ephron film telling the story of two women, Julia Child, and Julie Powell, the young New York cubicle-worker who committed to cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogging about it every day for a year. Meryl Streep absolutely nails Julia’s mannerisms, enthusiasm, and voice, without caricaturing her. Amazing! And the Julie Powell story that runs alternately with the story of Child and her diplomat husband is lively, funny, and sweet without being saccharine.

I can’t remember the last time I purely enjoyed a movie so much! Maybe Ratatouille. (Hey, is there the beginning of a pattern here? Paris, French cuisine, love story....no rats in J & J)

Run, don’t walk, as the saying goes!

Movie trailer:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/julieandjulia/site/#/Videos

Julie’s blog site (she’s not as pretty as Amy Adams):
http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/