Reading...Douglas, Maeve, Khaleed, Diane (...)

I have this habit of stretching myself thin in everything that I do, including reading! I had to do less of the net, moreso, less of Facebook and get back to living! I spend so much time behind the computer in that reading a novel from Kindle, a notepad et al! is totally not in my list-of-things-to-do. So two weeks ago I walked into this bookshop and stumbled upon a small section of English reads and that's how I ended up alternating between four novels and tonnes of other self-help books.

Douglas Kennedy on "Five Days" - How long does it take to fall in love and leave your life behind? - is what will give you that mushy lovey-dovey stuff of the modern generation of middle aged personalities that'll leave you aweing all the time. You see the characters in every word and want to reach out and touch them, and join them in their dreams and hopes! It's a truly easy read that'll break your heart at the end! It's full of surprises and lots of other good things! 

An excerpt, "But the truth is, the love I felt, the love given, the love we shared ... it was nothing less than matchless. All these amazing plans. All within the realm of possibility. Because love - at its truest - allows all the impediments to fall away. You see a vision of the life you want to lead. A fulfilled life."

Who wouldn't want that?! Taken in the context of what was going on between those two characters, I swear all you can think of is that love is indeed such a beautiful thing! Get it! Read it! Then come we lament together.

Khaleed Hosseini is simply a brilliant writer, a magician with a pen. I love reading his books so far - The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - purely because he takes you all the way to Afghanistan, a country which the very few people I know never dream of visiting. Khaleed in "And The Mountains Echoed" is unstoppable. More characters than in Douglas Kennedy's above, that'll lose you in the beginning but once you get a grip of them you just want to keep following them. It's magical how you get to figure out a part of Afghanistan in a story told on two families. I swear I loved it. He is also full of surprises! There's a mention of homosexuality albeit mildly but enough to get the reader thinking of - what if?  The reader gets a picture of Afghan before and after the Mujahideens, a description of social disparities between a family of the rich and the poor. Buy it! Read it! There'll be no lamentations.

My favourite quote from Khaleed, "They say, find a purpose in your life and live it. But, sometimes it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind."

As for Maeve Binchy (r.i.p) I'm not sure why the French love her so! Maybe because hers is always full of gossip. She reminds me of those FB groups where women gather to talk about either their lovers, side-dishes, etcetera...this one lady for instance was narrating what I'd equate to a fantasy, "My life with a millionnaire" but when you take a look at her profile you can spell out "S-U-F-F-F-E-R-E-R" even with a blind fold on. Okey, I digress as her writing can never compare to Maeve's :-)

Last night Maeve almost killed me with this phrase;

"They tell me you are an actor, Norman,' she said, (...) 
'Is it an advertisement?' (...)
'Norman's a real actor you know, Joyce,' said Sally. 'He's not just in advertisements.'
'Lots of real actors are in advertisements,' said Joyce, flustered. She had thought he might be playing a fat Italian eating a tin of beans or some funny, clowning window cleaner falling off a ladder to get to his pint of beer. She was annoyed with herself, for her efforts to put this fatso at his ease were rebounding on her in an unexpected way.'

Last in this series is "Femmes de Dictateur 2" - the Dictators' Wives by Diane Ducret. This is the bf's read. I saw there's also the part one of it, I'll need lots of grace to read it. This particular one that I'm reading covers Castro, Saddam, Milosevic; Ayatollah Khomeiny, Kim Jong-il and Bin Laden. I am reading it because it talks mostly about the wives. Never in my life would I be interested in the biographies of the personalities, I don't do biographies anyways. I guess I just wanted to know how the women in their lives coped because I imagine I'd do well as a wife of a dictator, especially if I'm the one who is pulling the strings. I totally related to Mira Markovich, Slobodan Milosevic's wife, former Yugoslavia and Serbia's president. I simply love her personality and loyalty. It's a nice read but not one to be hurried.

When I pick a book to read, I pay my hommage to the author. I admire their skills, I respect their work and when pages keep turning - and the characters, the places mentioned even though fictious become alive in your mind - and at the end of it you shelve the book because you know you are going to read it once more in future, then you know without a shadow of doubt that the author has accomplished their mission. 

A letter to Kenyans from Al-Shabaab

Has anyone else seen this?

"15 Jumad ath-Thani 1436 (04/04/2015) –

 It is a well known fact that the Kenyan government has perpetrated unspeakable atrocities against the Muslims of East Africa. From the historical massacres in Wagalla and Garissa in which nearly ten thousand Muslims were summarily executed to the mass detention, torture and extra-judicial killings of Muslims, the systematic persecution of the Muslims in Kenya was carried out with such savagery that it has left deep psychological scars in the hearts of many Muslims. 

In Somalia, the Kenyan military has committed a countless number of atrocities against the Muslim population. With their government’s approval, the Kenyan military embarked on a series of mass killings, torture and systematic rape of the Muslim women in Somalia. Tens of thousands of Muslims were displaced from their homes, hundreds more were killed and thousands injured as a direct result of the Kenyan invasion. Kenyan jets shelled refugee camps and hospitals killing dozens. They strafed entire villages from the air, killed livestock and bombarded Madrassas and educational institutions, crushing, with such malice, the dreams and hopes of an entire generation. 

Throughout East Africa, the Muslims were stripped of all their dignity and subjected to the most inhuman treatment for failing to succumb to the subjugation of the disbelievers. Following such widespread persecution against Islam and the Muslims, it became incumbent upon Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen to retaliate on behalf of their Muslim brothers and, in a series of attacks, avenge the deaths of thousands of Muslims killed at the hands of the Kenyan security forces. 

The latest attack occurred at Garissa University College on Thursday. At around 3am the Mujahideen stormed the university compound and swiftly proceeded to the halls of residence where they had gathered all the occupants. And since the attack targeted only non-Muslims, all Muslims were allowed to safely evacuate the premises before executing the disbelievers. The Muslim blood is inviolable whereas the blood of a Kafir [disbeliever] has no protection except by Eeman [belief] or Aman [covenant of security]. 

And this is a message addressed to the Kenyan public: 

We have repeatedly warned you that the actions of your government will not be without retaliation. Choices have consequences; you chose your government out of your own volition so endure the consequences of your actions for you will bear the full brunt of its follies. Not only are you condoning your government’s oppressive policies by failing to speak out against them but are reinforcing their policies by electing them. You will, therefore, pay the price with your blood. 

For as long as your government persists in its path of oppression, implements repressive policies and continues with the systematic persecution against innocent Muslims, our attacks will also continue. No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath from occurring in your cities. 

How long will you be lulled into a false sense of security by your government’s repeated lies? Have you not learnt anything from the attacks at Westgate, Mpeketoni, Gamba, Mandera and Garissa? Your government keeps promising you a lasting security but fails to deliver on its promises. And the reason is that those in the corridors of power are serving their Western masters and care little for the welfare of Kenyan citizens. You are vulnerable and you will always remain vulnerable. Your government cannot protect you. Your government is not willing to protect you. You will not find safety in your schools, universities, workplaces and even in your homes. 

Do not dream of security in your lands until security becomes a reality in the Muslims lands, including the North Eastern Province and the Coast and until all your forces withdraw from all Muslim lands. We will, by the permission of Allah, stop at nothing to avenge the deaths of our Muslim brothers until your government ceases its oppression and until all Muslim lands are liberated from Kenyan occupation. And until then, Kenyan cities will run red with blood. And like we said, this will be a long, gruesome war of which you, the Kenyan public, are its first casualties. 

So if you care about the future of your country and the future of your children, then hold your government to account for its crimes before it’s too late or there will come a time when the notion of peace would be but mere reminiscences of a past long gone. You will regret at a time when regret will be of no avail. Think wisely and do not ignore this threat for it has the potential to save your country from destruction, your necks from being slaughtered and your loved ones from being massacred. As for the Kenyan government: Our message will be written to you not with words, but with the blood of your people. Dig their graves and prepare their coffins from now. 

But honour belongs to Allah and His Messenger, and to the Believers; but the Hypocrites know not 

Press Office Harakat 
Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen"

Source
Retrieved on 05/04/2015. Kobciye24.  http://kobciye24.com/english-news/garissa-attack-burying-kenyas-hopes/