This starts out fine, slows down with a bit of a small sigh and then picks up again very quickly. It is a personal memoir of sorts by a young woman who is fascinated by food, culture and war. She writes very well (some phrases and sentences just sing..)and I learned more about Iraq, Iran and Lebanon in this book than in many another more formal history. It also made me fascinated with the food she describes. Most importantly, she brings home the real human cost of wars and the differences between those who start them, those who fight them and those who must carve out a life from the rubble left behind. Worth it! ( )

Adult nonfiction; memoir. This was ok, I just couldn't finish it because I didn't have time. ( )

Wonderful book, with Ciezadlo's on-the-ground reporter's view of the situations in Iraq and Lebanon (from 2003 to about 2008). Ciezadlo is also just married, meeting her Lebanese in-laws, learning to cook, and learning about how people live in wartime--the odd mix of horror and basic life-goes-on mentality.

During the first Marine assault on Falluja and the Abu Ghraib court-martials she goes to a Baghdad restaurant for her everyday plate of mixed vegetables. Instead, in the room without air-conditioning (failed generator) she finds the chef had made a complicated chicken roulade, filled with cream sauce.
She asks him: 'Why make such a beautiful thing at a time like this?'

"An expression of pride and despair...flickered across his face. 'It's what I do'. ( )

The book is a bit convoluted (moving between Lebanon and Iraq with lots of secondary characters) but it is well written. The author's style is lyrical and I always like reading memoirs about travel or food and this had both. ( )

A thought-provoking book about living in a war zone and establishing connections and forming a community around food ( )