Books Lyrics Alley
Leila Aboulela | Grove Press, 2011 | Sudan Mohammad Bey is the patriarch of the wealthy Abuzeid family and his two wives—a young, modern Egyptian and an older, traditional Sudanese woman—embody the tensions of the day as they wage battle over polarizing issues like female circumcision. When a paralyzing injury crushes the dreams of Nur Abuzeid, the young heir to the Abuzeid dynasty, it shakes the entire family. A love story between Nur and his teenaged cousin in 1950s Sudan becomes a love story for a country in transition. As Nur finds his calling as a poet, his struggle for self-expression gives him a reason to live and the reader a reason to keep turning the pages.
Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life Karen Armstrong | Knopf, 2010 | Global
If compassion is central to the teachings of every major religion, why isn’t it more present in our world? Karen Armstrong, the visionary behind the Charter for Compassion, believes we’ve set the bar too low. Belonging somewhere between the self-help and social theory shelves, her book, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, is a 12-step guide for a world stuck in its destructive habits. Armstrong has dedicated her life to transforming the universal ideal of compassion into something we see in the world around us. For her, step one is for all of us to learn what compassion truly means. With her encyclopedic knowledge of religious history, this book will bring all of us closer to living more compassionate lives.
Annabel
Kathleen Winter | Grove Press, 2011 | Canada
Set in isolated Labrador, Canada, Kathleen Winter’s first novel is the intimate coming-of-age story of an intersex child. The child’s parents call him Wayne and raise him as a son, while a friend secretly calls him Annabel. A story as quiet and beautiful as the landscape that surrounds it, Annabel explores the gender continuum through the eyes of an insular community and a child who finds belonging somewhere between son and daughter, between Wayne and Annabel.
68 | worldpulse.com