What I'm Reading

Came across Guy Delisle's, The Burma Chronicles, two weeks ago while prowling the shelves at the Oshawa Library. Delisle's previous graphic novels Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea and Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China, were both in the same vein as this latest (to me anyways) novel/travelogue: Part political commentary, part travel lit., part history lesson and part humour. Highly recommend reading this latest work as it touches on the surreal nature of rule by military fiat, contrasts the crazy go-go nature of nearby Thailand, mention of the The Lady (recently released from house arrest) and friendly easy-going nature of the average Burmese.

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I have also just started reading Gwynne Dyer's, The Mess They Made: The Middle East After Iraq. Although the book was published in 2007, and events have quickly outstripped the usefulness of the details in the book, it still offers great insights into the reasons why the U.S. invaded Iraq, twice!, and more importantly, projects into the future....as the title suggests.

Dyer is a well known Canadian commentator on military and international affairs and than some.

Dyer's writing assumes nothing on the reader's part (thank God) and brings the reader along with clearly written explications of how events unfolded in the lead up to the invasions of Iraq.