What to Read Now

What to Read Now Inthis new series ,WLTasks distinguished authors torecommend books about specific subjects within their area of expertise. In thisinstallment , we've asked Iraqiwriter Weam Namou tooffer three books towhich readers should turn fora better understanding ofIraqtoday. From the Mosul-based blogs ofa modern-day Anne Frank tothe memoirs andpoetry ofwriters living inexile , Namou s choices go beyond one-dimensional media images todelve deeper into Iraq's recent history. My Father's Paradise Ariel Sabar ArielSabar is a KurdishJewwhose father is from Zakho,an ancient townin northern Iraq thatis close to myparents'birth villageofTelkaif, wherepeople stillspeakAramaic.Zakhowas oncea tolerant community whereMuslims, Jews, and Christians dweltin harmony - thewayIraqwas before the2003U.S. and British-led invasion. In the1950s, Yona Sabarand his family immigrated to Israelduringthemass exodus of120/000 Jewsfrom Iraq (since2003,ithas beenthe massexodusof2.5million Christian Iraqis)and later immigrated toAmerica. ArielSabar,seeking toreclaim hisheritage, traveled backtoZakhoafter 2003,onlyto find utter destruction. MyFather's Paradise is a moving memoir, illuminatingthedifficulties ofestablishing peaceinIraqevenas attempts arebeingmadetostabilize thedifferent ethnic andreligious groups ofthat region. Iraqi Girl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq Elizabeth Wrigley-Field & John Ross,eds. Iraqi Girl isa bookcomposed ofblogentries written bya teenage Iraqigirl after the2003U.S.andBritish-led invasion .Thebookreminded meofTheDiary ofAnne Frank. Nobookorfilm hadmegraspthemagnitude oftheHolocaust as much as Frank's innocent anduninhibited story .Sixty yearslater, a teenage girlfrom a different land andculture continues todocument herpeople'slegacy ofignorance and violence. Perhapsonedaysoonthese stories willhelpreplace intolerance with compassion. Baghdad Mon Amour SalahA1Hamdani After twenty years ofliving intheUnited States, andfeelingtorn between myEastern heritage andWestern home, I visited mybirth city ofBaghdad in2000whenSaddam wasstill inpower andIraqwasunder sanctions. I revisited this experience more recently through SalahA1Hamdani's poemsandwritings inBaghdad MonAmour, inwhich A1 Hamdanidescribed an impoverished and painful childhoodin Iraq,overthirty yearsofexilein France, and, following theUS.-ledinvasion, hisfirst visit toBaghdad. Morethan four million Iraqis havefled their birth country indiepastthirty-five years, escaping Saddam's totalitarian regime, several wars,and thesanctions. In Baghdad Mon Amour, A1Hamdani'swordssoothetheconfusion and sadnessmostexilesendure.His poetry connects Iraqis and non-Iraqis aliketo thecontinuous suffering ofthe Iraqipeopleanddiedestruction ofanentire nation, both ofwhich haveaffected theworld, bothofwhich arerealizedquite differently through words than they arethrough what we'remore accustomed to - mediaimages. Weam Namou was born inBaghdad, Iraq, asa minority Christian and came toAmerica atageten. The author of three novels, she isthe cofounder andpresident ofIraqi Artists Association, andshewrites for several local newspapers. Currently, she isworking onafeature documentary , The Great American Family .Her poems "Dear Iraq" and "Miriam" appeared in the November 2007 issue of WLT. 61 World Literature Today

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