First of all, have you come to the library to get your free copies of the musical CDs given to the library by Beth Gustafson? You will find a sack of CDs on the library table. Do stop by and make your choices. Thanks again, Beth, for thinking of the library.

Thanks also to Fran Brocker for donating several of the excellent books she has used for background information for her COD classes on religion.

Karen Parkinson has written a review of a book read by her small group, and now given to the library, So Many Enemies, So Little Time: An American Woman in All the Wrong Places by Elinor Burkett.

“Sounds like some of us, doesn’t it? This story is so much more. Elinor is a journalist who goes to Kyrgyzstan (don’t worry, you’ll find out where it is, and you don’t have to read it out loud!) to teach journalism at the Kyrgyz-Russo-Slavic University (KRSU) in 2001. She learns as much or more than she teaches. It is a world steeped in tradition and becoming democratic (with a very slow learning curve.) A country that is so different from the United States, it’s amazing! Her emotions range from loving these people from countries that have not been our best of friends, to frustration for wanting them to seek the freedom needed to become true journalists by breaking some of their “traditions.”

Reading this book is enjoyable time well spent, meeting these people and learning about their different cultures, traditions, and even geography (we Americans struggle with that whole “you are here” map thing.) TCTWQ gives it a 4-star rating.

Thank you Karen for the very interesting review, and your gift to the library.

The Qur’an: A New Translation by Tarif Halidi (291.1/Qur) is a new addition to the library. Note the difference in the spelling of the title from that commonly used in the United States. The translator was born in Jerusalem and educated in England and at the University of Chicago. He has taught at the American University in Beirut. An excellent introduction and a glossary of terms are included.