Another reason for my disappearance, I've been shut in my apartment reading for four days. 6 books finished. I finally found some great ones. "The Color Purple" was good in a Steinbeck sort of way. I'd recommend "The Devil Wears Prada" as a great modern coming of age story. And "Exodus" is a great, lengthy, historical fiction work about the creation of the Israeli state. It has a decidedly pro=Jewish state stance, but is very compassionate in showing the average Arab community and how they've been manipulated by their environment and charismatic leaders. Almost no mention was made of Palestinian Christians...They're lumped in with the Moslem populations for most of the book, if mentioned at all.