The advantage of having a horrible cold and cough is that I get a lot of reading done. And I love to read. So while the little guy's new curtains are languishing on my sewing table, and chores are piling up, here is what I've been reading this week: Queen of the Underworld by Gail Godwin, and Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez. It's been a week of new horizons and new locales. Kabul Beauty School is a non-fiction memoir of a fascinating lady who went to Kabul (Afghanistan) after 9/11 with a relief organization, and later established a beauty school as a way to support women in that male-dominant culture. She draws you into the life and daily struggles that she experienced there, and it was an amazing read.
Queen of the Underworld is my current read, and I am about half-way. All that I've read from Gail Godwin has been wonderful, and this novel has not disappointed. Different from most of her works, this book is not about a small-town insular society, but instead takes place in Miami during the 1950's, and it deals largely with the emigration of Cubans as Castro took power. I find myself woefully ignorant of much of this history. My sister-in-law's family come from Cuban roots and so I am entranced by this portrait of what that time was like for many wealthy Cubans, coming to Florida to start anew with nothing--that they would rather have the nothing that comes by their choice to emigrate, than to have nothing that comes by force when Castro seized land and property. I am anxious to see how things turn out in the novel.
What are you reading lately? I'd love to hear...I'm always looking for a good book!
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