What to Read While Beirut Burns

In 2002, Elias Khoury’s novel Gate of the Sun was named Le Monde Diplomatique’s Book of the Year. This novel is great supplemental reading to all the articles about the recent violent (thus BORING) development in the Israeli-Arab conflict. Khoury's novel is considered a Palestinian Odyssey set in Lebanon, so be prepared for heavy reading. I had a dream about Oprah last night, and she told me that Gate of the Sun would top her book club list but that it may be a bit too hot-button, even for her daytime audience.