Wednesday, November 15th at 6:30 p.m. *
Book Club
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
(Scribner)

This month’s selection is Brick Lane by Monica Ali. After an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years older, Nazneen is taken to London, leaving her home and heart in the Bangladeshi village where she was born. Her new world is full of mysteries. How can she cross the road without being hit by a car? What is a Hell's Angel? And how must she comfort the na‹ve and disillusioned Chanu?As a good Muslim girl, Nazneen struggles to not question why things happen. She submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes herself to her husband and daughters. Yet to her amazement, she begins an affair with a handsome young radical, and her erotic awakening throws her old certainties into chaos. Read it and join us!

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Thursday, November 30th at 7:00 p.m.*
World Affairs Book Club
The Punishment of Virtues: Inside after the Taliban by Sarah Chayes
(Penguin Press)

Once a NPR reporter covering the last stand of the Taliban in their home base of Kandahar, Chayes left reporting to help turn the country's fortunes, accepting a job running a nonprofit founded by President Karzai's brother. With remarkable access to leading players in the postwar government, Chayes witnessed a tragic story unfold—the U.S. government and armed forces allowed corrupt militia commanders and even Taliban forces to return to power. Of her remarkable account, Ahmed Rashid says, Chayes’s book is “the most gripping, sensitive, funny, perceptive...beautifully written book you will ever read on Afghanistan, US policy and nation building." Email Jenn at Jenn_Ramage@yahoo.com or call 462-4415 for more information.

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