Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris

After the last few books I read I was in the mood for something a bit lighter. I tried a few different books and ended up putting 3 down before I got through the first 50 pages. I'm not one for a lot of extraneous descriptions in my books. I like to be able to use my imagination a bit and when you feel the need to use soliloquy and metaphor to describe how someone's dress hangs, it's a huge turn off for me. That was why I took a pass on yet another book by Carol Shields, in this case - The Stone Diaries: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition). There was another book I passed on for the same reason, but I can't even recall what it was. Then I tried Patricia Cornwall. I hadn't read any of her books before I typically enjoy a good suspense novel. I picked up The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta) and gave it a try, but in the end I just found it way too dry.

After three failed attempts I finally settled on Dead Until Dark: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel . I'd had several people recommend both the book and the new tv show to me on multiple occasions. Oddly enough when I placed the order for this book, I did not realize it was the same one that the show was based on, or that so many of my friends had recommended it. It just looked entertaining so I ordered it.

The story begins with Sookie Stackhouse, a slightly strange young lady, discovering that there is a vampire in her bar (the bar she works in, that is). At this point in time Vampires have come out of the closet and have been "accepted" by society and are allowed to live among the living. It is believed that vampirism is a virus that these folks have acquired that causes them to be allergic to sunlight and garlic and need blood to live. She's been rather enraptured with the idea, and has been looking forward to her opportunity to meet one. So she was quite happy that night when one appeared in her bar. She's not the only one who is taken with him, though. As she watches another of her patrons begins to take an interest in him.

There's another little twist here, and that is that Sookie is a bit different herself. Most people think she is just strange, but the truth is she can read people's thoughts, or rather hear them. It's not that she tries, in fact she tries not to, but she can. As she watches, she allows herself to listen in on the thoughts of the couple who has taken an interest in the vampire and discover that they have ill intentions for him. When they leave with the Vampire she follows and ends up saving his life. Thus begins a very unique relationship between a mind reader and a vampire.

The story takes many twists and turns as murders begin happening in Sookie's small Louisiana town. At first it is believed that her new vampire friend is the culprit, but she doesn't believe that. However, after Sookie herself becomes the target of the murderer she takes a serious interest in what is going on and takes it upon herself to discover who the real murderer is and why they are going after the women in her town.

The story is endearing and fun and you can't help but keep reading. It's no wonder that they turned this series into a television show. After reading just one book, I've ordered the rest of the series, as well as the first season of the tv show. I look forward to enjoying many more adventures of Sookie (and Bill, her vampire).

3 Cups of Tea - by Greg Mortenson

This is a truly inspirational book, proving the ignorance is our true enemy.

Greg Mortenson set out in 1995 to climb the world's highest peak - K2. He failed on that endeavor but what he accomplished because of where that failure brought him was something far beyond any mountain climb. After getting lost in the Pakistan wilderness, Greg Mortinson found himself in the unfamiliar village of Korphe; a village not even on his map. This village treated him as one of their own and after seeing what they had and didn't have, he made them a promise. He would return one day and build them a school. The people of this region are used to foreigners making promises they don't keep so they were not surprised by this promise but they were surprised when Greg returned less than 2 years later to fulfill his promise.

In the time that fell between Greg tried anything he could think of to raise the $12,000 his research determined it would take to build the school for Korphe. He wrote letters to any person he would think to write to. In the end, his first donation came not from those letters but from other children, after his mother, a school principal, invited him to speak to her students. Those children, on their own started a campaign to donate just their pennies to Greg's cause, raising over $600. Eventually, he found other donors, one specifically who sponsored the bulk of Greg's endeavors which eventually expanded beyond just a school. When he returned to Korphe the village leaders informed him that before a school could be built they needed a bridge (how else would you get all the supplies to their village). In the meantime, he had several other villages fighting for those supplies and for his help.

It took him about 4 years from his original promise to finally get that first school built. But, after doing so, his original benefactor determined that this is what Greg should be doing and chose to make a difference with his own life by providing the funds to see that this work continued. In the years that followed Greg built many more schools, provided women's services, medical services, plumbing and just about anything the various communities of Pakistan needed through his foundation, the Central Asia Institute.

He saw first hand the changes that were occurring in Pakistan as the Taliban poised to take over and he was in Pakistan when the World Trade towers were attacked. While other ignorant Americans were putting bumper stickers on their cars that read "Kill them all, let Allah sort them out", Greg was fighting terrorism by returning to Pakistan and building more schools. He continued even as he saw his efforts being over-shadowed by the money that the Taliban was bringing into Pakistan by the suitcase full, and by the schools and maddrassas that they were building to teach, not language, math and science but extremism and war. While the American government was promises to rebuild the damage we had done in Pakistan, he was actively doing it.

As American's it is easy for us to think if they want change they should do it themselves, but through Greg Mortenson's story you see a different side of the Muslim people. A people who have been ignored by their own government, small villages so far away from their government that the government doesn't bother. It's not that these people don't want more it's that they have not had access to it. To think that $12,000 could build a school for an entire village and that just $100 could pay for the teachers for that school for a year. We as American's take so much for granted, our price to live is so high here and all these people really want is the basics of life, the things that we take for granted. This book really makes you think about those people and what they are struggling through. You realize where this war came from and how it came about and how many more people are suffering that we don't even think about because we just lump them all together as bad people.

We need many more Greg Mortenson's in the world; people who will step up and say that yes one person can make a difference IF THEY CHOOSE TO DO SO. It's easy to keep walking and pass by a person in need and think "it's someone else's job" or "if they want change they should just make it happen". It's not easy to stop and put out your hand and lift someone in need up. It doesn't matter if that someone in need is a school child in Pakistan or a your neighbor, or a stranger on the street. Sometimes the smallest thing can mean a lot, even when you think it's nothing or not worth bothering. We consider our own needs so much more important than someone else's, yet someone like Greg Mortenson and his family can make such huge sacrifices to help others. This book leaves you asking not "can I do something to help?" but "What can I do to help?" and "How can I not help, knowing what I know now."

Eat, Pray, Love - by Elizabeth Gilbert

I had passed this book by many times. I remember first hearing about it 2 or 3 years ago and thinking it just didn't sound like something I'd be interested in. Perhaps it just wasn't the time. I picked it up recently because it was a listed book for a local book club I wanted to join. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down and if you know me you've heard about it. I have recommended it to every female I know and talked about this book constantly for the last few weeks.

The book is a journey, a true journey in so many ways. It is Elizabeth's journey but it is also my journey and I believe most any woman can identify with it many ways. The journey begins with Elizabeth decides she no longer wants to be married, she no longer wants the life she had committed to. She'd told herself (and others) for many years that when she was 30 she'd be ready to have children. 30 came and she was still not ready, but she realized moreso that the life she was leading was not her own, and was not a life she wanted.

Following a horrendous divorce, she begins to explore what SHE really wants in life and the answers came. She wanted to learn Italian - so she did. She wanted to visit Italy and thus the journey began. Somewhere during this process she discovered God. Not the God most of us picture if we've been brought up in a religion but what I can identify with as being a real God, the god within and without. It's hard to explain. She decides to take one year and travel and explore herself, learning who she is and how she relates to the world; to accept herself and love herself, so that later she can allow another to do the same.

Her journey begins in Italy where she decides to explore the pleasure side of life. For her that is centered around food. She also increases her effort to learn the beautiful Italian language. She makes friends and she learns more about herself along the way.

In the second part of the book, Elizabeth goes to India and stays in an Ashram (religious retreat) for 4 months. This is the part of the book that touched me the most. In this section of the book she really explores God and religion, the idea that there is this "God" that society has created and the differences between that God and what God really is or should be. The same goes for religion as she examines how so many times people get caught up in the rituals of religion without really thinking about or questioning why they follow these rituals, why are they there, what do they mean and do they matter? She finds her own way to God during this time and more importantly finds a way to let go of those things that have held her back.

But, you can't live in an Ashram forever. I can imagine that even if you could it would be easy to eventually forget why you do what you do and lose your connection to god in all the rituals. She leaves and goes to Indonesia (Bali). There she learns more about spirituality from a Bali Medicine man, she explores the culture, relaxes, makes friends, and maybe most importantly allows herself to fall in love. This section of the book is made most interesting by her discussions and investigations into the Bali culture and how it works, how it differs from our own culture.

I would go so far as to say this book is "life changing" for me, at the very least it has allowed me to see things in a different way and to acknowledge that the reality as I have seen it is not just something I've made up but that others see it too. This book allowed me to ask questions within myself and find answers that I didn't know were there.

I discovered today that they are making this book into a movie (go figure), starring Julia Roberts (of all people). I imagined this would happen, but this is one of those books that is so internal you can't possibly convey the scope of the book or the books message (even remotely) on a screen. It's just not possible. On the screen we will see her physical journey, but we won't see her spiritual journey as it took place within her, nor will we really see her emotional journey.

I could write about this book for days, but I won't. Just go read it and when you do, I'd love to know what you think.

Next Book: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time