Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. © 2007 Free Press. ISBN 0743289689. Hardback. Memoir/Non-Fiction. 353 pages. $15.00 US. [ Purchase ] Source: local library

I would venture to say that this was one of, if not the, most important books I have read in quite some time. Ayaan Hirsi Ali ventures chronologically through her life, beginning with a youth in Somalia that was shaped by the experiences of her mother and grandmother. Both her family’s religious roots in Islam and the deeply tribal nature of Somalia (and many parts of Africa) heavily influenced her youth and life.

My attention held fast throughout the 350 pages as she struggled through female mutilation, living in Saudi Arabia where her mother sought the roots of the Islamic faith, returning not to the war-torn and Islamic Somalia but the safer and Christian Kenya. She strives to discover how to align her lineage of tribalism with devout Islam and the downcast women she encounters. Without downplaying the strife of her own life – being beaten by her mother and made to live up to unrealistic expectations, Hirsi Ali presents a reality that Western minds often try to ignore or write off as archaic and irrelevant. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sacred Blood by Micheal Byrnes. © 2009 HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780061781988. eBook. Suspense/Thriller. 279 pages. $10.19 US [ Purchase ] Source: Books on Board purchase.

Synopsis: When American geneticist Charlotte Hennesey examined what she believed were the bones of Jesus, the Vatican tried to stop word of her discovery from spreading. Now, her proof has vanished.

But the bones were just the beginning. In her tests, Charlotte discovers that the DNA extracted from the bones contains miraculous powers. Dying from cancer, the determined scientist uses herself as a human guinea pig to astonishing results. When she injects herself with this miracle DNA, the bone cancer that is slowly killing her doesn’t just go into remission, it vanishes completely. It seems the DNA has the ability to repair damaged genes, to heal the sick, to cure incurable diseases. And much to her surprise, Charlotte discovers that now she possesses these very powers. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sacred Bones by Micheal Byrnes © 2007 Simon & Schuster Ltd. ISBN 9781847370112. Paperback. Mystery/Thriller. 448 pages. $7.99 US [ Purchase ] Source: Amazon purchase.

Synopsis: At the crossroads of Christian, Islamic, and Jewish faiths, an ancient artifact is stolen from a long-hidden vault located directly beneath Jerusalem’s Temple Mount . . .

With the violent theft leaving thirteen Israeli soldiers and policemen dead, and the Palestinians up in arms over the desecration of sacred grounds, the tension between the two groups is dangerously high. Jerusalem is a stick of dynamite and the fuse has been lit. . . .

Across the Mediterranean in Italy, American forensic scientist Charlotte Hennesey has been hired by the Vatican to examine the contents of a newly discovered archeological treasure: a two-thousand-year-old ossuary containing the bones of an unidentified, crucified man—the first complete skeleton of a crucifixion victim ever found. Together with Italian anthropologist Giovanni Bersei, Charlotte makes startling forensic and genetic discoveries that lead her to wonder—could these be the bones of Jesus Christ? Read the rest of this entry »