River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh

The story of ultimate greed continues as the fog clears as the hapless destitutes come to Canton. The environment and atmosphere is very nicely presented by Amitav as the two opposing point of views are laid out for the reader to decipher.Is opium import justified under free trade and are the British and foreign traders exempt from Chinese law when trading in China? I cannot wait to read the third in this great trilogy.

The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker

Afghanistan cannot be conquered actually means that Afghanistan cannot be governed and evidence can be glimpsed in this great book by a woman journalist over her time spent in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The author has done a very good job of explaining her life as a White foreigner living an Afghan high, to a chaotic and confusing Pakistan to a monotonous India. Her clear favourite is Afghanistan which didn't surprise me as it provided the maximum kick for a war any junkie, followed by Pakistan which can provide second rate proxy war experience and least interesting for her was India, which can only be the poor victim of the high handiness of its ugly unruly bloodthirsty neighbours. Nothing is out of the ordinary here as Afghanistan has always been a pretty tumultuous place with a in-between Pakistan undecided with a  calm India  on the other end. Pakistan is unsure, one neighbour has a democratic tradition and the other is a lackey of the superpowers.  

The story seems a pretty candid view of the pretty interesting era in Pakistan and Afghanistan,  and her being a White woman in Pakistan has privileged benefits, as politicians and important people tend to open their hearts out so easily. Kim is not the first young woman to have experienced this very privileged position when professionally operating in Pakistan, there have been others like Emma Duncan for instance. But I am not complaining as the secret revelations are very revelatory indeed, like her friendship sight the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif. And for this reason only this book makes a very compelling read indeed.

Shadow behind the sun by Ramzeja Sherifi

I don't know what to make of this book, was it a story about the Kosovan civil war or asylum seekers in Glasgow? Bit of both I guess. The story promised a lot but delivered a lot less as the book presented little in detail, maybe I expected too much? The story revolves around the life if the author and her experiences as an asylum seeker in Glasgow. Both stories are presented from a very personal subjective angle set with occasional mentions of geopolitical context. There are details missing, like the relationship between Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia as all three are ethnic Kosovons. Do the people want a united Albania instead if three independent governments for instance? The book could have done a much better job of presenting Kosovo to the world, opportunity lost.