September 2005

This is a wonderful book. The story starts out sad but becomes a beacon of hope and love in the later chapters -- the book is sad, funny, melancholic and deeply touching. The main subject of the book is female power, and strength that women can give to each other, situated against a back-drop of the civil rights movement in the 1960's in America's South.

Sasha read this book first after a very good review in The Economist and recommended the Secret Life of Bees to me.

This book, a Pulitzer Price winning publication by Jared Diamond, has gotten a lot of attention in the media. Recently the author wrote a book on the collapse of civilizations so Guns, Germs and Steel got some new publicity as well. I bought a hard cover version at Barnes & Nobles, because it's a book that I want to keep.