Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel, Dean Koontz's Darkest Evening of the Year, Postsecrets

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Infidel is a memoir of her life until she moved the US, where no doubt the American Enterprise Institute was delighted to hire a Muslim woman who thought Islam was evil and dangerous. She discusses many painful circumstances dispassionately, and I almost laughed at the passage where, elected to the Dutch legislature, she loses her citizen ship because she lied about her last name. (She got it back because in Somalia one is entitled to use any name in the lineage.) She also describes her own excision and infibulation calmly. It is certainly worth the three-odd hours it took for me to read it. I wondered about her safety, given what she says about Islam. I grieve for her and all women like her who have been denied by custom and misogyny the joyousness of sexuality.

I also read Dean Koontz's Darkest Evening of the Year, finding it significant to read some bestsellers every once in a while. I found the lack of proper paragraphs tiresome after a while. It was a quick easy read, a long paean to the author's late golden retriever.

I also read the latest installment of Postsecrets, a collection of postcards recounting secrets sent to the author.