Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy wins BBC Samuel Johnson Prize.

I have a list of 3 countries I really want to visit, and number one on that list North Korea. North Korea is fascinating in that it is now one of only two truly communist countries in our time and also the only country that is properly Orwellian, down to its worship of a Big Brother-type figure.

I've been reading in interest in how North Koreans live their lives, mostly from brief articles on the BBC News website, so when a book like Nothing to Envy, written by LA Times journalist Barbara Demick, gets published, my attention is piqued. But when it wins a prestigious literary prize, well! Consider that a must-buy then.

Check out a review at the Guardian, while I go to Kinokuniya and ask if they have it.

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Ted Mahsun

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