I Giorni Del Miele E Dello Zenzero (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
What a nice surprise. Annia travels with her Lebanese transplant husband from their New York home, both working dangerous war correspondent assignments at the beginning of the Iraq War. Along the way Annia discovers the familiar communion war-torn families in the Middle East relied on for a sense of normalcy through it all; food with origins sometimes centuries behind. Among the most unique voices I've read lately, Annia is serious and authoritative with details of the war in Iraq and later civil war in Lebanon. She also weaves the past and present together with insightful, endearing descriptions of the mouth-watering discoveries she unveils through the people she meets, befriends and comes to love as every life teeters on the edge of constant threat, and every community creeps closer to destruction. Loved the book. I wanted to like it. I did in the beginning. But I got a litttle bored and started skimming the numerous lengthy descriptions of food part way through the book, which led to skimming the book, which led to skipping whole sections until, voila, I was finally at the end. I liked the introduction of the author and the subject matter, modern Middle Eastern history that I'm sure I should know much better than I do. And I certainly did learn some. What a complex history! What an impossible-seeming political mess to sort out. I did like the author's very modern retelling of Gilgamesh, a ancient story I remember hearing but never fully understanding in AP English in high school. This book was informative and well-written, but the long descriptions (espeically of food) lost me in the end. Or, before the end, I should say.
What do You think about I Giorni Del Miele E Dello Zenzero (2011)?
This book is for people who think food is important.
—cupcake
well told memoir about her life in beirut and iraq.
—clotaker
