The Last Book I Read

Okay, this is probably as close as I'll get to typical summer reading fare-- you know, big adventure stories that you can zip through while catching rays at the beach. Not that it totally fits the model, since it is a true and detailed historical account of an American crew shipwrecked on the western edge of North Africa in the years immediately following the War of 1812 (with footnotes and everything). And anyone presuming to read it on the beach will probably grow increasingly uncomfortable as the narrative details the dire effects of sand and sun and the attendant thirst. But it does have something of a happy ending, and goes some way to explaining the nature of the West's relationship with Africa, Arabs, and Islam at a time when those things were supposedly more alien to us than today (though maybe not). One of my students recommended this to me, and I'm glad he did as I enjoyed encountering a world that I knew little about and was gratified to discover how even among the "savages" (as imagined by the crew members) basic elements of humanity were hardly unknown. Let me pass the recommendation on to you if you are looking for a gripping story of grace under the most intense of physical and emotional pressures.