The Translator by Leila Aboulela

The story of (oddly enough) a translator:) This is about a Sudanese widow who has embraced her Islamic religion. She is living in Scotland when she start working as an Arabic translator for an Islamic scholar who is not a believer. After they fall in love she must decide what is stronger, her love or her faith. What this novel explores with great finesse is the true nature of faith. What it means to be faithful and what it means to give your life over to that. The language in this novel is a joy to read and the story is lovely. Highly enjoyable and different look at the Islamic faith.

The Road by Cormic McCarthy

Oh my goodness. Last night I got home from a play at 11 or so and thought I would read for a little bit. I can safely say that I read one of my best books of the year.

The Road by Cormic McCarthy was stunning and completely different than anything he has ever written before. This is the story of a father and son who are traveling through a post-apocalyptic world in search of food, warmth, survival. The father hangs on to the last shreds of his morality because of the son's continued faith in their goodness. It is an amazing journey that explores the power of love in a world of no hope. One of the most profound reading experiences of my year.

The Mystery Guest: An Account by Gregoire Bouillier

This is one of those very "French" novels that is hard to describe but I will do my best. Basically this is the story of a man who has been invited by his ex-lover to be the mystery guest at an artists home. The man agonizes over the meaning of the invitation since the ex-lover left him with no explanations about why she was leaving him. Asking himself such questions as "Why did she invite him?" "What could she be trying to tell him?" and even analyzing the meaning behind the number of flowers at the party. (And I thought women were the only ones who over analyzed things.)

This is not a novel that captivated me but it was interesting and had a very old fashioned literary feel to it, similar to Virginia Woolf in tone.