Ivanhoe’s a snooze, so read about some zoos

Unless you are absolutely starving for a book to save your sanity and it is the only one you can find, don’t read “Ivanhoe.” I would consider myself to be pretty high on the boredom scale, but I couldn’t even get through chapter three. The two main characters, who shall remain nameless because I can’t remember their consequence to the story, hadn’t even finished their leisurely stroll through the forest by the end of the third chapter. At this point, I fell asleep.\nSir Walter Scott, the author of the terrible tale, has a fondness for vivid descriptions. But, by a certain point, I really didn’t care what color shoes the swine herder was wearing and in what order everyone was standing. I wanted to read about sword fights. I decided to forsake “Ivanhoe,” watch the Disney movie instead, and began reading a book titled “Babylon’s Ark” by Lawrence Anthony.\nThis book, which was just released in March, caught my interest immediately after skimming the book jacket. I don’t typically enjoy reading non-fiction works and I am not up-to-date on current events, but this story of one man’s valiant efforts to save the Baghdad zoo in the middle of a war zone captivated me.\nAnthony, the owner of a game preserve in South Africa, decided that he would take action against the unspeakable cruelty toward animals during wartime. He had seen footage from previous wars of soldiers shooting caged wild beasts for fun and the conditions in which the animals were kept. Because of what he saw, he used several of his political connections to get into war-torn Iraq and began the backbreaking work of restoring the zoo. He wanted to save as many animals as possible, and also to help restore the Iraqi people to a state of normalcy. His work was, in fact, one of the first efforts toward rebuilding Iraq.\nAnthony and a team of a few native Iraqis and Kuwaitis had to struggle every day to bring water to the animals, feed the staff and protect the zoo’s few assets from looters. He received help from many American soldiers, but the majority of the responsibility fell on Anthony’s shoulders. In addition to his regular duties, he also had to go on many rescue missions, including one to Saddam Hussein’s palace. He relocated Saddam’s son Uday’s lion pride and his prize Arabian stallions.\nThe book is written in a very conversational tone, and I would go so far as to say that at many points, it is not well-written at all. He uses the last chapter of the book to plug his non-profit group, The Earth Organization. I suppose he has the right to do this, but the conclusion kind of lost my interest and was a poor ending to a wonderful story.\nI would recommend this book. It is a quick read and difficult to put down. It is also easy to understand if you are like me and oblivious to political affairs. Next week, I am reading a book from my favorite genre, historical fiction, from my favorite historical period – the Florentine Renaissance. The book, titled “The Birth of Venus,” follows the lives of a wealthy Italian merchant and his family.