Christopher de Bellaigue is a pleasure. I've really enjoyed his Rebel Land, which details his search for truth on the Turkey/Armenia question. Okay, that may not be mass appeal stuff, but I'm personally interested, and he has an entirely engaging style.
After he lived in Turkey, de Bellaigue lived in Tehran, and another of his books, In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs, is on the next-to-read list. Got to get on with it, though, because his next book comes in May. It's about the coup against Mossadegh.
But both those books have stiff competition.
Two books arrived at the farm this week: The Unconquered by Scott Wallace and Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. The Unconquered is subtitled In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes, and it's one of these stories of adventure and peril in the jungle. Katherine Boo's book is subtitled Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. There are lengthy online excerpts for both.
Have a look: Here's Scott Wallace, and here's Katherine Boo.
