The first book I picked up was "Reviving Ophelia" by Mary Pipher, a therapist from Nebraska. The book was all about Pipher's experiences with adolescent girls and how they deal with pressure - the pressure the date, have sex, do drugs, drink, live, learn, have a plan, and succeed. I thought it was really interesting how she discussed these issues without sounding preachy or condescending. I worried, when I picked it up, that it was going to merely be her thoughts on why these girls were so messed up. But the majority of the book was her finding the strength in each of the girls she studied. And that made me proud.
Then, last week, I read "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers. It is the story of a Muslim family living in New Orleans pre-Hurricane Katrina. Midway through the book, the hurricane hits and the family is split up as Kathy and her children leave her husband, Zeitoun, to relocate temporarily in Baton Rouge. Zeitoun and Kathy continue to keep in contact in hopes that he will soon join them, but before they can make a plan, Zeitoun is arrested and taken to a FEMA-run prison, beaten, tortured, and left without contact. The book progresses and provides a lot of great insight on how President Bush managed to handle (or, not handle, in this case) the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina. I was so surprised that Bush couldn't even send in the National Guard effectively, and only managed to make a bad situation a hundred times worse.
These were both great books, so if you're looking for a good read, there's a couple!
This week I picked up a couple new titles:
Hope everyone's June is going really well!
I have a stack of books to take with me on vacation and I can't wait to be able to sit down and READ for fun and not for classes. (: I'll have to check out some of the titles you mentioned, too.
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