Erica Park Park itibaren Zalozy, Lviv Oblast, Ukrayna
the day before i started reading this, someone told me she hated the book because it was rambly. i'd describe it as lyrical. ie. i don't hate it. it reads a little like milan kundera (unbearable lightness of being guy), describing little vignettes, that dissolve into philosophical musings and observations of the poetics of everyday life. through all this, the book stresses the validity of literature to life. it chronicles an incident in the university of tehran where the author stages a court trial in one of her classes, to debate on whether or not the book "the great gatsby" posed a threat to islam and tehran. many quotable quotes in those passages, that would make any literature teacher proud. (also many quotes that would warm the heart of an islamic radical.) this makes some headway into answering the question, "does art have any significance in a time of war", that goes beyond the escapist reasoning. yes, literature and almost any other art provides an escape from reality, but there's also an emotive element, not just a harsh line where life stops and dreams begin. i love how it intertwines life in iran with western literature, reaching over historical and cultural lines to show that no matter where people are or when people lived, we all experience similar emotions of love, resentment, yearning and disappointment.
Cadilhe is a (sort of) Portuguese equivalent of Michael Palin, doing travel television travel documentaries, with accompanying books. This one ("In the Footsteps of Magellan") was quite well-researched, perhaps a bit heavy into detail at times, but overall an interesting trail of adventures, both his and Megellan's.