Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino by Kurbain Said
Thoughts: The book flap compares this to Doctor Zhivago, which I sort of dismissed, but after reading it, I can’t think of a better comparison. It’s a love story, but isn’t particularly erotic and people seem more like ideas than people. I probably wouldn’t have read it except for my reading around the world quest, but it was a decent book even if, like many novels from Russia and Central Asia, people give long-winded soliloquies about politics, religions, human nature, etc.
I feel sorry for the Harlequin romance readers – this book was classified as Romance at the Ottawa Public Library, which it is in the same was Zhivago or Anna Karenina or Jane Austin is romance. Someone who is used to ripped bodices and Fabio is going to be mighty bored when they pick this one up 🙂
Rating: 4/5