Thursday, December 22, 2005

Baghdad Without a Map by Tony Horowitz

Just as fun and quirky as his books on Australia and Confederate war re-enactors, this one was a good ride. He paints with a broad brush (is every Yemeni a lazy, qat-addicted criminal?), but if you suspend your inner skeptic, it makes for an enjoyable book.
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4 comments:

Amira said...

I can't remember if I quite finished the book because of that broad brush. Because I've met some nice Yemenis.

Still, it is fun to read. And pretty typical of Middle East travel books.

7:18 PM
Anonymous said...

I suggest reading Nine Parts of Desire by his wife, Geraldine Brooks. They were written roughly in the same time - interesting contrast between his macho, camel riding with the army accounts and her anecdotes of the interior life (literally) of Muslim women.

Sylvia
ticklethepear.livejournal.com

7:07 AM
Julie M. Smith said...

Wow, Sylvia, I *have* read NPoD but I hadn't made the connection that that was written by his wife.

7:30 AM
sylvia/ticklethepear said...

I think the two books should be reissued as a boxed set actually!

I met GB when she gave a talk at my grad school and I told her that I enjoyed reading the two books together and she said that they haven't considered promoting their respective books as his and hers.

My main beef with NPoD was that GB hadn't gone to Tunisia, Morocco, or Turkey....

Sylvia
ticklethepear.livejournal.com

11:35 PM

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