I requested a review copy of Bloomsbury's Come Back to Afghanistan because I am actively trying to find anything - anything at all - about Iraq and Afghanistan for young adults. I am so thrilled and impressed by this book (and I'm only about a 1/3 of the way through) that I can't hardly stand it. I'll be reviewing it for the March issue of Bookslut, but if you know anyone, of any age, who has a question or two about Afghanistan then this is the book for them.

It is written from the perspective of an American high school student (author Said Hyder Akbar) whose father was actively involved in Afghani politics for years. (His family is all Afghani and he was born in Pakistan after the family fled the Soviet invasion. They later moved to the U.S.) What I really love about it so far is how honest and forthright he is about certain players in Afghani politics and what is really going on behind the scenes - all the infighting and juggling for power. At this point, in 2002, his father has been governor of the Kunar Province. More on how all of this goes for him (and his visiting son) as I get further in the book.

But how wonderful to read something so well written about Afghanistan! I honestly didn't think such a book existed and I'm really looking forward to writing about it.

I'm also reading Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy - the first entry in his Nursery Crimes series. I'm a big fan of Fforde's Thursday Next series and while some critics say he works too hard at being funny, I really don't care - he makes me laugh and that's all that matters. (Remember, I'm also reading about Afghanistan - not a lot to laugh about over there right now!) His writing is always smart and witty and the fact that he sets myteries in literary and nursery rhyme worlds is just brilliant as far as I'm concerned. He came up with a good idea and then carried it through, and that only is worthy of my respect.

I've got several bits of writing to accomplish in the next few days. (In addition to an essay I'm thinking of submitting and a rewrite of my book's first chapter.) I need to write my review of The Big Why for Bookslut - waiting on a few responses from author Michael Winter for that - and also my feature on Paul Collins. I so love asking him questions, he is just such a thoughtful person, and I'm really hoping to write something different about him and how he crafted The Trouble With Tom. So that is the review writing this week. I finished David Chapin's Exploring Other Worlds a fascinating book about arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane and his love, spiritualist Margaret Fox. I've read a rash of arctic related books recently - mostly by coincidence - and I'm going to write about them for the next issue of Eclectica. As two of them were reviewed for Booklist, I need to wait until those reviews are up until I can write about the books, but I really enjoyed them all. And I can't help but wonder why I've been surrounded by arctic thoughts so much - if the universe is giving me a nudge, I know that I need to recognize it.