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Book Spotlight: Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo & Giveaway

February 14, 2012 by Darlene

To celebrate it’s paperback release today I am spotlighting Day of Honey:  A Memoir of Food, Love, and War by Annia Ciezadlo.  I literally can’t wait to fit this book into my schedule as it’s been on my need to read list for a good long while already.  It combines all the things that I love to read about into one book and it sounds like a very powerful novel not to mention that it has gotten some great reviews as well.  Let’s see what it’s about and don’t forget to check out the giveaway at the end of the post too!

 

About Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadlo

A luminous portrait of life in the war-torn Middle East, Day of Honey weaves history, cuisine, and firsthand reporting into a fearless, intimate exploration of everyday survival.

In the fall of 2003, Annia Ciezadlo spent her honeymoon in Baghdad. Over the next six years, she broke bread with Shiites and Sunnis, warlords and refugees, matriarchs and mullahs. Day of Honey is her memoir of the hunger for food and friendship—a communion that feeds the soul as much as the body in times of war.

Living in occupied Baghdad, Ciezadlo longs for normal married life. She finds it in Beirut, her husband’s hometown, a city slowly recovering from years of civil war. But just as the young couple settles in to a new home, the bloodshed they escaped in Iraq spreads to Lebanon and reawakens the terrible specter of sectarian violence. In lucid, fiercely intelligent prose, Ciezadlo uses food and the rituals of eating to illuminate a vibrant Middle East that most Americans never see.

We get to know people like Roaa, a determined young Kurdish woman who dreams of exploring the world, only to see her life under occupation become confined to the kitchen; Abu Rifaat, a Baghdad book lover who spends his days eavesdropping in the ancient city’s legendary cafés; Salama al-Khafaji, a soft-spoken dentist who eludes assassins to become Iraq’s most popular female politician; and Umm Hassane, Ciezadlo’s sardonic Lebanese mother-in-law, who teaches her to cook rare family recipes (included in a mouthwatering appendix of Middle Eastern comfort food). As bombs destroy her new family’s ancestral home, and militias invade her Beirut neighborhood, Ciezadlo illuminates the human cost of war with an extraordinary ability to anchor the rhythms of daily life in a larger political and historical context.

From forbidden Baghdad book clubs to the oldest recipes in the world, Ciezadlo takes us inside the Middle East at a historic moment when hope and fear collide. Day of Honey is a brave and compassionate portrait of civilian life during wartime—a moving testament to the power of love and generosity to transcend the misery of war.

Reading Group Guide

 

About Annia Ciezadlo

Annia Ciezadlo was a special correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor in Baghdad and The New Republic in Beirut. She has written about culture, politics, and the Middle East for The Nation, Saveur, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New York Observer, and Lebanon’s Daily Star. Her article about cooking with Iraqi refugees in Beirut was included in Best Food Writing 2009. Ciezadlo lives with her husband in New York.

Annia’s website
Find Annia on Facebook
Follow Annia on Twitter

 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have one copy of Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadlo up for giveaway.  To enter…

  • For 1 entry simply leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
  • For 2 entries, follow my blog.  If you already do, thank you, and please let me know so I can pass the extra entry on to you as well.
  • For 3 entries, blog or tweet this giveaway and spread the word.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will draw for a winner on Saturday, March 3/12.  Good luck!

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Filed Under: Book Spotlights

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Serena says

    February 14, 2012 at 3:04 am

    This sounds great. I’d love to be entered for this one. Thanks for the giveaway and spotlight on a book that’s new to me.

    I follow.

  2. debbie says

    February 14, 2012 at 7:22 am

    I would love to read this book, it sounds fascinating.
    twoofakind12@yahoo.com

  3. debbie says

    February 14, 2012 at 7:22 am

    I am a gfc follower
    debbie
    twoofakind12@yahoo.com

  4. Linda B says

    February 14, 2012 at 7:44 am

    I am so ignorant re. the culture of this part of our world. I would love to win this book.
    I’m a Google follower

  5. Ellie says

    February 14, 2012 at 7:58 am

    What a compelling giveaway. Many thanks. I am an e-mail subscriber.

  6. Anne says

    February 14, 2012 at 7:59 am

    A fascinating and wonderful book. Thanks for this chance. I subscribe via e-mail.

  7. Liz V. says

    February 14, 2012 at 8:13 am

    Thank you for the giveaway of what sounds to be a fascinating read.

  8. zibilee says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:17 am

    I just got this one and am excited about getting started with it! It sounds like it’s going to be a great story!

  9. Muzette says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:24 am

    Would love to be entered in this drawing! I follow your blog!

  10. Janine says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:31 am

    I’d like to enter. I follow your blog. : )

  11. Vicki says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:39 am

    I’m not a fan of historical fiction, but this book sounds fascinating! Thanks for the chance to win!
    irbratb(@)gmail(.)com

  12. Vicki says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:39 am

    I follow your blog
    irbratb(@)gmail(.)com

  13. Vicki says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:41 am

    I tweeted this book spotlight/giveaway
    https://twitter.com/#!/irbratb/status/169476059492921345
    irbratb(@)gmail(.)com

  14. Karen B says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:52 am

    This does sound fascinating – a part of war that we don’t hear much about.
    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

  15. Karen B says

    February 14, 2012 at 10:53 am

    GFC follower, email subscriber.
    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

  16. Margaret says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:31 am

    I love stories that combine food!

    Margaret
    singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com

  17. Margaret says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:31 am

    I’m a follower

    Margaret
    singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com

  18. Margaret says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:32 am

    Tweeted

    Margaret
    singitm(at)hotmail(dot)com

  19. rhonda says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:42 am

    really interesting book.lomazowr@gmail.com

  20. rhonda says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:43 am

    i am .email subscriber

  21. rhonda says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:44 am

    i will tweet at rhondareads.

  22. JJT says

    February 14, 2012 at 11:50 am

    Sounds great. jtretin at aol dot com. See tweet at link that follows https://twitter.com/#!/readsalways/status/169493592027574273

  23. Kitty says

    February 14, 2012 at 1:28 pm

    This is a must read. Adding it to my TBR and WL.

  24. Kitty says

    February 14, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    email subscriber

  25. Kitty says

    February 14, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    tweet
    https://twitter.com/#!/maynekitty/status/169519016031948800

  26. CassandraG says

    February 14, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    Sounds like a wonderful and interesting read.
    divavixenqueen(at)gmail(dot)com

  27. Staci@LifeintheThumb says

    February 14, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    I’ve never heard of this one until your spotlight…egads!! It sounds wonderful and absolutely up my alley!!!!!

    Throw me into your hat to win!!

    stacijoreads@gmail.com

  28. Linda Kish says

    February 14, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    I would love to read this book.

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

  29. Linda Kish says

    February 14, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    I am a GFC follower

    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

  30. Rachel R. says

    February 14, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    hi! I’m a follower and I’d LOVE to win a copy!

  31. Rachel R. says

    February 14, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    hi! I’m a follower, and I would love to win a copy!

  32. Susan says

    February 15, 2012 at 9:58 am

    This book looks so good. I would love to read it.

  33. Susan says

    February 15, 2012 at 10:00 am

    I follow by gfc. 1

  34. Susan says

    February 15, 2012 at 10:01 am

    I follow by gfc. 2

  35. Susan says

    February 15, 2012 at 10:04 am

    Tweet 1

    https://twitter.com/#!/Westwardd/status/169829185408335872

  36. bn100 says

    February 16, 2012 at 12:05 am

    Thanks for the giveaway.

  37. bn100 says

    February 16, 2012 at 12:05 am

    I follow your blog.

  38. marci says

    February 17, 2012 at 10:43 am

    I’d LOVE to read this!

  39. marci says

    February 17, 2012 at 10:43 am

    follow you (Marci) gfc

  40. Maureen says

    February 21, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    It looks like an interesting book.

  41. Maureen says

    February 21, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    I follow on GFC

  42. carla says

    February 22, 2012 at 9:13 pm

    It would be interesting to read about daily life in another part of the world.
    Please enter me too Darlene.
    I follow you with email.

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