Ciao Asmara by Justin Hill

This is a fascinating, gripping account by a volunteer teacher from York, England who worked in a school in the tiny newly-independent African state of Eritrea during the mid-nineties. He tells the stories of the people he meets, especially those who were fighters in the 30 year long war of independence from Ethiopia.There are harrowing accounts of torture, rape and battle in the period of Ehtiopian occupation and the infamous thirteen-year long Battle of Nakfa. Before Ethiopian plunder Eritrea's capital Asmara was one of the most advanced African cities. Now Eritrea remains a desperately poor country. Intensely proud of their success in winning unaided the war of liberation Hill finds many former fighters struggling to sustain hope in the mundane and grindingly hard life of the peace. Hill notes how badly the natural environment has been ravaged because of the war.
I was attracted to this book because of my own experience as a volunteer teacher in Africa, Kenya in the late 1970s. Hill's descriptions of his classroom experiences rang bells with me. But I was staggered by the intenisty of work expected from teachers in Eritrea where there was a critical shortage of school places. Whereas I had 50 in my classes hill has 75.

Thw Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

American writer Joan Didion's husband, also a writer, suffered a massive heart attack as he sat down to dinner with her one evening. He was probably dead before he hit the floor.They had just returned from a visit to hospital where their daughter, their only child, married a few weeks earlier, was unconscious in an intensive care unit. This is a finely written, profoundly moving and perceptive book about grief from first-hand experience. Didion explores the anatomy of bereavement. She recounts how her thinking was altered by her this loss - it became other than rational - hence the title. The desire to have the loved one return again is overpowering. A must read for all bereavement counsellors.

The Threat to Reason: how the Enlightenment was hijacked and how we can reclaim it by Dan Hind

Using a philosophical approach this book shows how urgent it is that informed citizens use their expertise and opportunities to find out what is really going on in the world. Hind wants us to focus attention on the real threats to freedom, from the State and the corporation, which are far more powerfully undermining genuine knowledge than the allegedly irrational religious and mystical or traditional approaches to life which many self-styled modern secularist intellectuals like Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris would have us believe are dangerous. The author's own summary of the theme of the book is here

Chasing Francis: a pilgrim's tale by Ian Morgan Cron

In the form of a contemporary novel this book introduces the value of Saint Francis of Assisi for today's world and church. The story revolves around what happens when the successful pastor of a modern middle-American megachurch realises his faith is empty and takes time out in Italy and discovers the life and teachings of Francis.

The Spiral Staircase: a memoir by Karen Armstrong

This is the autobiography of one of the most acute of contemporary interpreters of religion writing in Britain today.It is well described in the cover notes as an exploration of one woman's painful journey to find herself and claim her place in the world.

Triksta: life and death and New Orleans rap by Nik Cohn

What happens when a middle-aged white male music journalist who's obsessed
with New Orleans sets out to make a rap album. This book takes you deep
into the poverty and struggle of the real pre-Katrina New Orleans behind
the tourist facade. Even if you don't care about or for rap this is still a
gripping read about personal journey across cultures. If you do want to
know more about rap Cohn's stories of the rappers he works with help to
explain what gangsta is all about. There is a final chapter added to the
paperback edition after Hurricane Katrina with personal inside stories of
what happened and his own return after the flood. Rap lives on but the New
Orleans he both hated and loved - the old quarters with their rich street
culture and family networks is gone forever. Yet sadly the gangs with the
drugs and the guns are returning because where else will have them.