Reading Fool

Since I discovered Paperback Swap, I've been on a book tear! I heard such great things about the movie, I thought I'd read the book Charlie Wilson's War. It's SUCH A GREAT BOOK. Throw together a small-town Texas congressman, the flashy '80's lifestyle, Cold War communism, the powerful & secretive CIA, the high-power congressional committees and mix in a war in Afghanistan and you have a gripping tale. Don't forget reality- it was all true & unbelievable amazing story of how the US covertly supported the Afghan rebels against the Soviet invasion, which was one of the biggest ways we beat the Russians during the cold war.

On the recommendation of a friend, I picked up The Poisonwood Bible to read a little background on American missionaries going into the Congo in the 1950's. Since it was fiction, I had to shift gears a bit & it took a while to get into this novel where each chapter is told by one of the 4 daughters, complete with her own point-of-view and idiosyncrasies. Being on Oprah's book list, I think I was expecting a little bit more. However, it provided some great insight into the problems that still plague christian missionaries that arrive in foreign lands and attempt to force Jesus onto people who are simply struggling to survive everyday.

Back to non-fiction, after reading Infidel, a friend also suggested Between Two Worlds- Escape from Tyranny: Growing up int eh Shadow of Saddam. This was a fascinating auto-biography from a young girl who grew up in an Iraq which was very much like the western world. They went to school, danced, picnicked and lived a rather normal life until her father was promoted to be Saddam's pilot. She has an incredible story of what it was like to be so close to some one so evil. The constant fear that surrounded her life as the Iran-Iraq war began, and she began to see Saddam as not mearly an "uncle", but also the man responsible for so much of the world around her. Another fascinating read about Islam and the Middle East, and how many of the ordinary people are being held hostage by warped leaders.

Seeking to read more books about South Africa, I found the author Coetzee to be highly acclaimed, so I picked up his Age of Iron. It was an interesting tale of a dying woman's realization of the evils of apartheid, and who is sending letters to her daughter in America in her final days. It was just a strange story to me, and I never really got into it.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Going out with the family tonight for