NEW SLANG

I usually don't mention books that I've been reading, but this past week I read a fantastic book that I am highly recommending.

The book is called "Beasts Of No Nation" by Uzodinma Iweala. It's a very short book, under 150 pages, telling the story of a young boy in a war-torn African nation being forced into joining a guerilla army, told from the boy's perspective. Its narrative is fairly straightforward, but the book is noteworthy because of the way it plays with language. The book is written in English, but it is also distinctly African. It seems that many of my favorite books mess with language, like A Clockwork Orange which created its own dialect, and The Lord Of The Rings which created its own languages and alphabets. Now, Beasts Of No Nation is joining that list.

Although I have serious problems with the book's ending (which I won't give away here), I highly, highly recommend Beasts Of No Nation. You should all read this book. I mean, any book that takes its title from a Fela Kuti song has to be awesome, right?

In addition, I've also recently read both Guns Germs & Steel and Collapse by Jared Diamond. One word can sum them up: GENIUS.

(and on a totally unrelated note, THIS DUDE is awesome!)