14. The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky, Fyodor. I started this book in November, but then I got distracted. Then, upon losing my internet privileges after we released the Customs Mission to the ChAirForce, I resolved to get to the end of the whole mystery. And Lo! Over a week in late March, I put paid to this master story teller. I decidely like Dostoevsky's literary style. His villains are (to me) likeable; his characterization so realistic and his delivery so... engaging. His whole approach comes across as though he is simply talking to you, including the rambling asides, irrelevant prognostications, and certain philosophical sorties that unnecessarily and unsuccessfully delay the real matter at hand. Whatever the case, The Brothers Karamazov is one reason why I am entirely opposed to capital punishment, but it is also why I am so enamoured of the Russian people. Such pride, such intrigue, such mystery. Pondering the issues of affection, the law, and the misapplication of justice - all the while portraying simple village life in such detail... brotherly rivalry, the adventures and personalities of young people, idealism colliding headon with realism, conflict and misfortune - this could well be a tale of any peoples, Russian or Mauritanian. The Four Brothers Karamazov. Religion. Power. Just Dues. Wow.

15. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand. I finally got around to reading, and completed, Atlas Shrugged. As a cogent though fictional celebration of capitalism, I have to say that I am in agreement with Ayn Rand. She is verbose. I suspect many welfare workers would disagree with Ms. Rand’s theories, but I don’t see why. As far as I am concerned, blind philanthropy is extremely destructive – see the case of Africa’s debt-laden countries, or, worse still, the case of Ethiopia’s reliably predictable famine. I am not suggesting that philanthropy has no place in capitalism, it does. The price at which one supports philanthropy is the defining factor. On another note, I think a lot of the things Ms. Rand expounds on in this book are intuitive – for a long time, I have espoused what she speaks of, though not in such articulate or concrete terms – but I wish I had read this book when I was younger, perhaps shortly after reading David Copperfield. Suitable for the IMF, WorldBank, European Commission, and, especially, the A.U.

16. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom. This was a quick read. Death is dense, difficult, and dumbfounding. And I do not handle its definitiveness well. I did not care for this book at all. I learned nothing new, and it did not make me resolve to any type of action. I guess I am not a sentimentalist, seeing as I know death first hand – having lost my grandpa and by brother to its torment. Enough said.
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