Seven Years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer. Read this for the Zollinger family book club. It was so interesting because I didn't know anything about Tibet. They practiced polyandry there when Harrer was there in the 1940s...one woman married to a bunch of different men. Also the Dalai Lama is cool.
Ross Poldark, Demelza, Jeremy Poldark, Warleggan - Winston Graham. Okay, so I might have gone through a *slight* Poldark obsession this summer. It all started by watching the BBC program first, and then when I finished agonizing over all the episodes I went to the books. But I first had to decide if I even wanted more Poldark in my life because I was SO MAD at the protagonist. Seriously, I have never been so emotionally involved in the decisions a bunch of fictional characters make in my life. Maybe Harry Potter. Anyway, the books added a lot of clarity and detail and background that just didn't fit in the show, but is it weird if I say I almost liked the show better?? Something so rich and so beautiful about how Ross and Demelza were portrayed on screen that I didn't feel in the books. Was it the music, the Cornwall scenery? Not sure. There are EIGHT more books in the series but I have only read up to the part where the show stopped. Don't worry, Season 3 is available in America on October 1. Anyway, I am thinking I will stop reading now because I would almost rather watch it than read it??? It's like I don't even know who I am anymore. I am so curious to see what happens next. There is a lot of potential to demonstrate real forgiveness and redemption here (YEAH ROSS YOU MESSED UP).
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood. Maybe the book that made me think the hardest since I did a bunch of analyzing and researching and writing on lit in college. Some may read this as a critique on Christianity but it's not. A few passages really hit home to me...Do we classify women based on their fertility? Hmm. Can't say I haven't thought about that before. Some really good characters here, and I like the fact that the book forces you to interpret so much for yourself.
The BFG - Roald Dahl. Another book club. I read this as a child but I don't think I appreciated the whimsical, funny, intelligent play with language before.
My Story - Elizabeth Smart. This book was so hard to read, because it is true and I remember it happening. I almost cannot believe that such evil exists in the world. I am amazed at how Elizabeth Smart handled this, and how she can write about it. When she came home, her mother told her not to spend time feeling sorry for herself, because that was just allowing her captor to steal more time from her. I think I would have been ticked if I had heard that. Sometimes we feel so justified in feeling sorry for ourselves. Um, I feel sorry for myself all the time. ALL THE TIME. But Elizabeth writes about how she just made a choice to find happiness, which is amazing after you read about the things that happened to her. It has given me new resolve to just not look for reasons to feel sorry for myself. It was also a beautiful reminder about how our God never leaves us comfortless.
