Thura's Diary

Thura's Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq, by Thura Al-Windawi (2004)

Less than a week before the American invasion of Iraq, 19-year-old Thura Al-Windawi began writing her thoughts about what was happening to herself, her family, and her country. She somehow managed to write almost every day for next two months, at the same time coalition forces swiftly gained control of Baghdad and the rest of Iraq. It was also during this time that her family fled from their home in the heart of Baghdad for the countryside, although they were able to return in the weeks after the defeat of Saddam's Army.

In spite of the Iraqi propaganda machine, Thura is well aware of the political situation within her country. When, after the arrival of coalition forces in the capital the Information Minister claims that the Americans are losing, it is obvious to everyone that they are not. The young woman laments the loss of her people and their homeland.

As is well known now, the American occupation doesn’t lead to a more stable Iraq, and Thura finds her life after Saddam as uncertain as it was before. As time goes on, she finds herself able to go out even less than before the conflict, as emboldened extremists begin to detain women who don’t completely cover their bodies; it is not uncommon women to be captured and even killed. Al-Windawi's anger shifts from the Americans toward her own countrymen in the midst of the looting and destruction of the country’s greatest treasures.

Of course, Thura is most concerned with her own family throughout this tumultuous account. The clan’s situation is especially difficult as her younger sister is diabetic and needs insulin. Much of Thura’s time is spent helping her mother clean the walls of soot left by oil fires that blanket the city. She expresses her desire to go out and help her neighbors, which is now an impossible task. Above all, Thura wants to return to some sense of normalcy.

Al-Windawi’s diary is a poignant firsthand account of life in Iraq during the war. While there are a few descriptions of the horrors of war, there’s nothing here that is too upsetting for the recommended age group of eighth grade and up. Younger readers should be able to deal with the material as well, with some adult supervision.

Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs

Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse, by Paul Carter (2005)

Paul Carter's short biography primarily concerns his travels, often to remote corners of the earth, as a worker on oil rigs. The author and his co-workers work hard and live hard, and their stories are sometimes hard to believe and often laugh-out-loud funny.

The author was born in England to his mother and a stern father, a navigator in the Royal Air Force. His early childhood was not a happy one and the mother would later move with her children to Scotland. Still later, following a job opportunity for his mother's new boyfriend, the family moved to Australia.

Carter's career in the oil industry started in Western Australia but would later took him to Brunei, The Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, and many other places. He writes about the challenges of traveling in dangerous places like Nigeria. In some places, the rigs themselves are attacked by locals with muskets, or worse, shoulder-launched missiles.

If rigging is a rough life for men, animals often fare even worse. Carter writes of co-workers maimed and killed working on the rigs. Readers who are readily squeamish should also know that a number of animals meet a violent end in this short book. Even so, the author has produced a compact, authentic, and often hilarious volume that should appeal to a wide array of readers.

What Color is Your Jockstrap?

What Color is Your Jockstrap?: Funny Men and Women Write from the Road, ed. By Jennifer L. Leo (2006)

Leo returns with another installment in the Travelers’ Tales series. The book provides laughs even in the short introduction, as the editor recalls another parody title from a previous volume, The Thong Also Rises. Other titles from the series include Whose Panties Are These?, and There’s No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled.

Leo’s latest collection includes over 35 stories, all written by different authors about their adventures and misadventures experienced while away from home. The tales themselves are as diverse as the locales, from China to thousands of miles above the earth.

Frequent air travelers will appreciate Susan Orlean’s short “Skymalling,” an appropriately titled piece about the popular in-flight catalog. Writes Orlean, “Skymall is the land of products I never think I want, serving needs I never thought I had, and which I can’t quite bring myself to buy but can’t help considering once they have been brought to my attention.”

The reader is reminded that there are often many bumps in road while traveling: Bill Fink writes about his challenges with some particularly severe innkeepers while traveling in Italy in “The Hostile Hostel.” Scott Turner pens a hilarious essay whose title is borderline unbloggable—suffice it to write that it concerns the challenges of dealing with a municipal sewage utility in Eastern Africa. (Full disclosure: the reviewer knows Turner professionally.)

Those who enjoy the thrill of the hunt (for a mate, that is) may enjoy Sara R. Levine’s racy account of bar hopping in “Hip-Hop Hustle, Oaxaca-Style.” A less provocative tale of romance on the road is Kayla Allen’s “Making Eyes in Paris.”

Of course, not all trips are to idyllic locales. In “Trying Hard to Like India,” Seth Stevenson writes of the difficulty of enjoying the destination while being constantly confronted by people in poverty. Tamara Sheward recalls her ill-advised trip to a war zone in “Day Trip to Chechnya.” In spite of the subject matter even these tales have moments of comic relief.

Obviously, this is not a book for the whole family, but for the adult reader who isn’t put off by the quirky or risqué there are a lot of laughs to be had here.

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, by Warren St. John (2004)

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Warren St. John knows plenty about the fanaticism that surrounds college football in the Deep South. Like millions there, he grew up idolizing the life and career of "Bear" Bryant, even meeting the legendary coach once. His younger years coincided with a period of domination for the Alabama program, fueling his love for his team and the game.

Now a writer in New York, St. John decides to explore the question, "What is it about sports that turns otherwise sane, rational people into raving lunatics?" To answer the question, he takes a leave from his regular work, buys an ailing RV, and spends a season with the most hardcore fans, who comprise the tailgating scene. What he finds surprises even him, at times.

We are introduced to the Reeses, a couple who skipped their daughter's wedding because the date coincided with a game (although they did make it to the reception.) We also meet Don Cole, the Heart Guy, who in spite of being on the list for a heart transplant, defies his doctor's orders to travel to as many games as he can get to.

While the book offers hilarious accounts of many of these characters, these fans are more than crazed caricatures. We really get to know some of them, like Jerral Johnson, the Show Chicken Man. Johnson is a former businessman, who is living a second life with prize chickens and Alabama football as his twin passions. He's recently lost his old football buddy to heart failure.

We also meet John Ed Belvin, the ticket scalper - - er, ticket broker - - who alternately makes a killing and takes a shelling off of playing the Alabama ticket futures game.

Of interest to many in the South will be the time the author spent with sports columnist and radio announcer Paul Finebaum, the quintessential curmudgeon of the Crimson Nation. St. John describes the many precautions Finebaum must take, as he is frequently concerned about his personal safety.

The author straddles two worlds, which makes for an interesting cultural study. But while he references scholarly work on the psychology of crowds, he never loses his everyman focus. He pokes fun at how many of the fans butcher the English language, but he can get away with it as he is a native son.

In large part because St. John is such a skillful writer, this enjoyable book will appeal to fans and non-fans alike. The author has found the universal elements of his subjects and their humanity - - sometimes funny, sometimes disappointing, and occasionally disturbing - - shines through on every page.

Originally reviewed Fall 2004