If you would like to throw yourself into a richly detailed story about a quite exotic region andamp; culture, you can do no better than opening Aida Kouyoumjian's captivating new tome, Between the Two Rivers, a Story of the Armenian Genocide. Just make sure you have a clean slate with no other pressing duties, because you may be unable to put down this wondrous tale! This is the true story of the (local) author's mother, and her odyssey as a child following the now largely forgotten attempted extermination of the Armenian race by the Ottoman Empire of Turkey in the years surrounding World War I. Though this period is full of horrific details, Kouyoumjian chooses instead to focus on the more hopeful years following the initial crimes, as Mannig travels throughout different cities in Iran andamp; Iraq looking for a place to call home. You may feel as hungry as the main protagonist, and your feet may also hurt, as the emotions andsettings are conjured up with such passion and detail!
If this story whets your appetite to learn more about this genocide (the word genocide was, in fact, createdto describe this slaughter), you could also try the young adult novel, Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdassarian, a finalist for the National Book Award, about an innocent Armenian boy living with a well-to-do family in Turkey, forced to confront the horrors of his family members murdered, some right before his eyes, and subsequent struggles.
AND, if you want a more straightforward history of these histories, try the poet historian and chronicler Peter Balakian's book, The burning Tigris : the Armenian genocide and America's response
