Night Draws Near

"Whenever I go to Barnes and Noble, I check the current affairs section. There's always a new book about Iraq these days. Anthony Shadid's book "Night Draws Near."is one of the few books that caught my eye, AND I wanted to read it.

I have reasons to choose Shadid's book instead of the many Iraq-related books published lately. First, Shadid is an Arab-American. Second, he covered the 2003 war with Iraq from Baghdad. Third, his mention of a Abd Al-Halim's song in his book didn't hurt my feelings. It's actually the reason I decided to read the book. The song has nothing to do with the situation in Iraq. I like listening to Halim songs. But, that's another story.

In his book, Shadid is mostly an observer of the events unfolding in Iraq. He tries his best to keep his personal opinions aside. He still hints on where he stands in short sentences throughout the book. An approach I appreciated while reading his book. "
Fayrouz in Beaumont