Recommendation

I read a book.

Unfortunately that doesn't happen too often with me these days. [Although now that I've settled in a place of peace and calm it might well happen more often]
And it probably seems a bit audacious for someone who doesn't read a lot to recommend others to read something... but I'll do it anyway.
Read this:

my heart
two bombs just went off. my windows are shaking. stupid me, i closed them to stop the mosquitoes from coming in. thank god they didn't shatter. my heart, my heart is another story.

lebanese drivers
today I drove through downtown to visit my parents. i was driving alone and was nervous. i came across a red light and stopped. the streets were empty, and i caught myself wondering why i stopped. then i remembered my latest policy to keep me sane; that even under attack, we should not lose our manners.
i looked into my rearview mirror and saw other cars approaching. i closed my eyes and prayed that they would also stop. that if they didn't cross the light, it would indicate that somehow we are all thinking alike. most of you have heard about lebanese drivers. they never stop at red lights.
ladies and gentlemen, today, they stopped.

Zena el-Khalil, exerpts from the illustrated diary "with love from beirut"

The book is called "Lebanon, Lebanon" (Saqi Press, London, 2006) and is a collection of short stories, poems, articles, drawings, photos and other forms of visually representative art (including the excerpt above) that was drawn together in the weeks following the Israeli attacks on Lebanon. The works are either directly related to the issue or to the general theme. Although obviously tilted towards one side of events, there is a beautiful variety of works from famous and current artists, including Adonis, John le Carre, Mahmud Darwish, Yann Martel, Orhan Pamuk, Harold Pinter, Carmen Callil, Hoda Barakat and Hanif Kureishi to name but a few.

It costs ten pounds and all profits go towards child charities in Lebanon. I carried my copy all the way from Bavaria to Syria and finally sent it to a friend in Scotland, who rejoiced at receiving it.