Judith Recommends:
Green, Jonathan (2010) Murder in the high Himalayas. Public Affairs. Award-winning author and journalist accounts the politics of high-altitude guiding, through the story of the brutal killing of Kelsang Namtso, a seventeen-year-old Tibetan nun fleeing to India, by Chinese border guards. Witnessed by dozens of Western climbers, Kelsang’s death sparked an international debate over China’s savage oppression of Tibet. In his affecting portrait of modern Tibet, Green raises enduring questions about morality and the lengths we go to achieve freedom. Well written and edited, Rating: 9/10.
Helga (from Berlin) Recommends:
Wolf, Christa (1988) Cassandra: a novel and four Essays. Farrar Straus Giroux. Distinguished East German writer Christa Wolf retells the story of the fall of Troy, but from the point of view of the woman whose visionary powers earned her contempt and scorn. Written as a result of the author’s Greek travels and studies, Cassandra speaks to us in a pressing monologue whose inner focal points are patriarchy and war. In the four accompanying pieces, which take the form of travel reports, journal entries, and a letter, Wolf describes the novel’s genesis. Incisive and intelligent, the entire volume represents an urgent call to examine the past in order to ensure a future. Also recommended is City of Angels (not yet published in English).
7:30 Bookclub 