For Self-Inventory and Progression

This is my book of choice. I can't find a description for it, but there are bazillions of customer reviews all over every site I know of that rant and rave about the life-changing effects of this book. My mission president had us all read another book by the Arbinger Institute (Leadership and Self-Deception) and I loved that as well. I learned to think differently about myself and how I reacted to the situations (and people) I found myself dealing with. So, I really hope this will be a good experience for us all. The introduction offers a suggestion to keep a journal of our life experiences that we are reminded of as we read the experiences of others, and I'm definitely going to do that. I'm going to make this book my little personal project for the next month. :) The author, Brother Warner, taught at BYU for a long time, and my sister-in-law still has the notes she took during his class a decade ago because she liked his ideas so much. I hope you all enjoy this!

Non fiction, anyone?

I'm taking two classes with intense reading loads (over 20 books between the 2 of them) and I'm kind of sick of fiction for the moment. I'd like to know if, since it's my choice next, you'd be interested in non-fiction. It's fine if you're not, be honest for heaven's sake, but there's a book my brother says changed his life that I'd love to read with you girls. How's that for a hook? :)

Tell me what you think: are we strictly fiction or not?

Am I Really the First One Finished?

Actually, I know I'm not because I saw Emilee's review of this book on goodreads. (Speak up Em!) I'll just give my quick review.
I'll start with the postive. Of course there was the really important and empowering message about individuality and not being afraid to be yourself, even when facing risk of ridicule and being shunned.

I don't really have anything to criticize per se. I mean, it is supposed to be youth/adolescent lit so I can't really judge it too harshly for being predictable. Who cares? I can even suspend disbelief about some of the more fantastical aspects of the book. However, I think there are certain elements of the story that the author meant to be realistic, that really weren't. For example, the fact that pretty much every student in that school shared the same collective mind. They narrator uses "we" when referring to himself and speaking for every other student, i.e. "we all became obsessed with winning," and when he was the odd person out with Stargirl, using "they" to denote every other person.
I grew up in a small high school that was about the same size as the one described in the story, and even in that little population there was a lot of diversity, if not in appearance at least in attitude. Either the students hated Stargirl's guts/thought she was weird/shunned her, or they pulled the 180 degree change and completely absolutely loved her/wanted to join her. It kind of displaces any room for indifference and apathy, which are also common traits in teenagers. However, I'm keeping in mind that the story is told from the point of view from a fellow student, and that may have just been his perception.

I came to appreciate Stargirl by the end, although I admit, she was a little hard to take sometimes.

Overall I enjoyed the book. It's a great light-hearted read with a meaningful message. Good choice!

Star Girl

Okay, so I am picking a book I have not actually read yet but it comes highly recommended and it has been in my to read pile for a while. My husband read this book a year or two ago for a class and actually liked and he is not a reader.


The book is called Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli.

Synopsis (as posted on BarnesandNoble.com)

Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out--under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes--for Leo and for the entire school.

I also thought I would take a minute and introduce myself. As Mandy said I met her in DC while completing my student teaching there. I am now happily married for four plus years and had a beautiful six month old daughter. We are currently living in Minnesota (I grew up here) and my husband is hoping to be a nurse someday really soon. We are waiting to see if he has been accepted into a nursing program. Our fingers are crossed. I stay home all day and play with my daughter. Some of my hobbies include reading (dah), walking/hiking, violin and I don't know what else. I love being outdoors and I not am not too excited for the snow this year and bundling up but oh well.

Okay I hope you enjoy the book!

Next...

I have been loving the posts, updates, comments and books! Sorry my commenting has been MIA... my home computer died and my days at work have been shockingly busy. I did enjoy SPEAK. I think it addressed difficult topis in an appropriate and insightful way. Books where there is triumph even in the face of great adversity are often favorites for me. Great pick Mare.

Ok, so next up to pick a book is..... Catherine Ross. Catherine and I lived together here in DC at the BYU Barlow center. Now she lives with her adorable husband and gorgeous baby girl in Minnesota. So...Catherine R....what book are we all reading next??

(I will try to be better about commenting in the near future, probably when Congress decides what to do about the bail out bill)

SPEAK

I'm done. Liked it a lot, but it made me cranky. I don't like rape stuff. Not that it's not hard, or sad, or that people should know about it ... But sometimes I wonder if we should really write about subjects like these even if they are real. I can see, though, how a girl who was raped might read this and feel (maybe for the first time) that it wasn't her fault and she needn't be ashamed. But still, I'd never have a daughter of mine read it. There are other ways of teaching lessons and making points. There's just so much literature out there with terrible subject matter ...

I'm glad she finally found her tree, though.

This post is almost as long as the the book itself

So it is time for the unveiling of my book selection, I know you've all been eagerly awaiting my choice. However, first I want to put in my quick two cents about Odd Mom Out. (If you aren't interested, go ahead and scroll past it, I'll never know).

I thought this was a fun read, and definitely generated some interesting discussion. It wasn't exactly what I expected (I think the cover is misleading becauseI don't ever recall the the main character dressing in fishnet tights and stilettos). I think it's definitely a book of extremes. I don't believe all working moms are tough, relationship-avoiding women in combat boots anymore than I believe all stay-at-home moms are catty, spoiled Stepford-Wife-like clones of one another. (Although an interesting side note: I read some reviews on amazon.com in which one or two of the readers claimed Bellevue women were just like that). For the story, juxtaposing these two very different types of women made a stronger impact. I found the relational aggression aspect interesting as it is displayed in both the mother and daughter generations. Why do so many girls and women psychologically torture each other?

I think what's attracts us to this type of story is that as most of you have mentioned, we can all relate to feeling like the odd person out at one time or another. Em feels that way with her sisters, Heather with all the Oregon free-spirits, and for me, I currently feel like the odd one out whenever I'm with my in-laws. My husband and his two brothers were all married within 7 months of each other, so 3 of us girls joined the family at once. Guess which one is having the hardest time fitting in? But I digress.

**********

Quick story. My original intention was for us to read the Pulitzer Prize winning, Oprah-recommened, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I was going to break the current trend and suggest a book that I myself hadn't read yet. However, the more I read about it, the more hesitant I was to pitch it to you gals, not because I myself don't want to read it, it's just one of those bleak stories that I don't think I should force anyone to read. I would come up with an idea, then go on Mandy or Heather's Goodreads page and found one of them had already read it, and I wanted to choose something none of you has read before! Last night I was in a panick about what book to choose. I called my mom, and my sister-in-law, and couldn't get any suggestions I was really jazzed about. My husband, who is an avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy suggested a few, but no. Although I have to admit I cracked up trying to picture Mandy reading a couple of those titles. :)

SO. . . I was sitting as my desk at work this morning, and the inspiration struck. This is the form my inspiration took:

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

I've always had a soft spot for adolescent literature, as I know many of you do too. This is adolescent lit with depth though, and it's a pretty serious subject matter- great for those of us who love psychology. In summary it is about a girl who is about to enter high school, has something traumatic happen to her, then learns to cope by expressing herself through art. It's been a couple of years since I read this book, but I remember really enjoying it, and I hope you do too. It shouldn't be too hard to find in most libraries. (I hope!)

(Oh, and as a side note, after you read it you may want to check out the movie. The main character is played byKristen Stewart, who is set to play Bella in the upcoming Twilight movie.)

Now go forth and READ!