War, as the title suggests, is the best war reporting I’ve encountered in my reading thus far. Like everyone’s favorite war-ish cliché, War is visceral. It is heartbreaking. It evokes rage. It harbors contempt. It loves. In the summers of 2007 and 2008 Junger embedded with Battle Company 2/503 Infantry Regiment in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley. He was joined by photographer Tim Hetherington. Junger stated that his goal was to just report and even said “It’s a completely apolitical film. We wanted to give viewers the […]
The story of modern Afghanistan
Twenty-eighth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. I had once asked Tame SheWolf why she doesn’t like to read Khaled Hosseini and she had said that it had caused her too much pain when she read The Kite Runner. So much, in fact, that she decided never to read Khaled Hosseini again. I was profoundly affected by The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini even became one of my favorite authors. And though it left me sad, it didn’t destroy me. It told me the story of life affected by […]
Baldacci popcorn thriller … no nuances, just a fun ride
If you’re looking for a lightweight quick read to go with popcorn, Baldacci’s latest thriller fits the bill. If you’re looking for subtley, nuance, serious character development and plausible plot, look elsewhere. Baldacci brings us another episode of his dynamic duo Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, former Secret Service turned private investigators who just can’t keep themselves out of trouble but who somehow manage to solve global conspiracies by themselves while magically winning the unpublicized appreciation of the U.S. President at the end of the […]