An Unnecessary Woman by Rabin Alameddine

I returned home and finished reading my current book while drinking the beer.  The book is An Unnecessary Woman by Rabin Alameddine.  It was nominated for several major prises and is really an interesting story of a woman in Beirut whose life has had lots of disappointments.  Over the years, she has created a life of please in books and music and does not think she needs human companionship.  She uses lots of quotes from well-known books by famous philosophers and novelists.  (I often get the impression that authors are constantly saving up favorite lines from books they have read and are looking for ways to insert them in their own works.)  The quality of the writing as well as the unique, interesting aspects of the character's life caused me to give the book a rating of 4 1/2 out of 5.