I am continuing to read the book The West, A New History in Fourteen Lives by Naoíse Mac Sweeney and it is still so good. Right now I am on chapter 9 which is talking about Njinga of Angola, a smart and powerful albeit ruthlessly savage West African leader who negotiated against Portuguese colonialism and stayed strong. There is an additional narrative about her converting to Catholicism, but it is unclear whether her doing so is a story written by a Catholic to serve the Catholic narrative.
My other book is Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk, and it is surprisingly atmospheric, engaging, and relatable. It involves the politics of the Turkish/Greek world in the early 1900’s and it appears to give some human perspective for both the Orthodox Christians and the Muslims of that time.
Lest Occasion Be Given 