杏吧原创

If you vowed on the eve of the new millennium to never smoke a cigarette

again, do not read The Smoking Book by Lesley Stern. Her evocation of

the sensuous delights of the evil weed is seductive 鈥渟moke like

life-giving mist that purifies and reinvigorates the weak and wards off evil

spirits鈥�. This series of historical essays and personal reflections is itself an

ex-smoker鈥檚 cathartic attempt to control her craving for nicotine. Tagging

along, we inhale her fragrant memories of growing up on a colonial tobacco

plantation in Zimbabwe and are introduced to the women of the Tonga tribe, who

smoked the nefuko or calabash pipe on the banks of the Zambezi.

Published by University of Chicago Press, $22, ISBN 0226773302.