Latest Reads

I have been reading a lot lately. Sometimes I get on a reading kick and I have a hard time slowing down. It is one of my addictions. (I'll detail the other addiction in another post).  This past week I read into the wee hours even with an aching head and throbbing throat. Once I am caught up in a book, I'll sneak into the bathroom to read late at night or early in the morning. S used to try to convince me go to bed, but I think he has given up. I need him to reign me in though. My inability to stop reading while in the middle of a good book is more than a little ridiculous. 

One of my new goals is to look at the clock before I start reading and set a stop time. I haven't been able to actually do it yet, but I'll report back when I have accomplished this goal!

Now on to a few of the books that kept me busy this past week:

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This is a great book. I feel totally immersed in Afghanistan now. I have a brother-in-law stationed there and feel tied to the country for that reason as well. I watched Kite Runner the night before I read this book. After reading this book, I couldn't stop thinking about how different my life is simply because of where I was born. Things that bothered me the day before suddenly were inconsequential. This book details the lives of two women who endure all that life throws at them from the time of the Soviet Invasion, through the Taliban rule and the post 9/11 events. This book brought me face to face with the unimaginable physical, emotional and sexual abuse women face in this part of the world. The Revolutionary Association for the Women of Afghanistan have a list of the rules women were forced to comply with. It's absolutely incomprehensible that this is all real.

I followed up on this theme with a book called "Princess: A True story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia". This book, while not as well written as a Thousand Splendid Suns, is amazing simply because it is true.  It details the ways that women in Saudi Arabia suffer simply because they are women.  While reading this book I began to understand why this vicious  and evil cycle of mistreatment of women continues. John Meyer sums it up with his song. Daughters.

This book explains that boys are treated as kings from the day they are born and follow the example of their abusive fathers, and that daughters are unimportant. The relationships of brothers and sisters were strained because of this tension. Boys don't have girls for friends and vice versa. Girls are be married off as young as thirteen. They then often endure in bad marriages and the cycle starts over again.

Well, this is a long post, but these books have left me with a lot to think about. I definitely feel that I will be much more grateful for my life and blessings and hope that I can find a way to make a difference for all of the people that suffer so much.