From the confused little country
Les Aurores montréales by Monique Proulx My rating: 5 of 5 stars I must have bought this book on my last trip to Montreal, more than 20 years ago, but only now got around to reading it. Brilliant portraits of very different lives in this complex, vibrant metropolis, from the points of view of sophisticated … read more »
The Mediterranean world circa 1520
Leo the African by Amin Maalouf My rating: 4 of 5 stars Amin Malouf’s first novel is a wonderfully vivid reimagining of the life of Hasan al-Wazzan, better known as Leo Africanus, the 16th century chronicler whose Della descrittione dell’Africa et delle cose notabili che iui sono was for decades Europe’s principal reference work on … read more »