La Petite Chinoise : LPC

I started an English-language reading group in 2005, with the hope of meeting English speakers with a passion for reading. The first group started with 4 women and today we are 10, from all walks of life, 6 nationalities. We meet once a month on a Sunday and discuss the book of the month.

The book for May 2006 is “The Place at the End of the World” by Janine di Giovanni, which is a collection of her essays on the wars she has covered as a journalist and correspondent in the past 10 years. Her trademark is to give a voice and human face to the people caught in wars. In this book she also writes about “forgotten wars” by the world press.

It was an exceptional reading group, as Janine joined us for the discussion. We were able to interact directly with the author and we fired questions away quickly. “What was the most heart wrenching story”, “What is the exit plan?”, “Why do you do this?”, “Were you scared?”, “Do you think less of mankind/ humanity?”…

For an hour and a half, Janine told us about her meticulous trip-planning, the “fixers”, the stories of friendships, of betrayals. We gasped and held our breaths as she recounted the incident in Kosovo, when very drunk solders captured her and two French photographers. They were held captive for a few hours and released when attention turned onto an American pilot who was shot down. We remember the good hot shower we had, as she talked about not having showered or eaten a fresh fruit for weeks, months, about not taking the simple basics for granted.

In our small ways, we can help through organizations like Hope and Homes for Children and Medicins Sans Frontiers.

I am personally grateful for her strength and courage to go to war-torn places, to bring the important stories to the world’s attention.

Janine is a writer for The Times and a contributing editor for Vanity Fair. She has also written for the New York Times magazine and many others. The Place at the End of the World is available at the Red Wheelbarrow bookstore [map], and WH Smith in Paris.