Vacation

I've been on vacation for two weeks now, and I have to admit, I am not getting nearly as much reading done as I had hoped. I had been trying to read the Poisonwood Bible, but I just couldn't get into it. So today I started Flies on the Butter by Denise Hildreth. It's a much lighter read, and I'm flying through it. Not bad for a book I found on the freebie shelf in front of the library. Hopefully it will help me get back on track. I need to finish it and read three more in the next two weeks to stay on track. Wish me luck! Will post a review soon...

Mother Teresa

Four and five down...

After finishing Don Cheadle and John Predergast's Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond, I started the equally motivating and inspirational book by Mother Teresa, A Simple Path. The book is about Mother Teresa's work all over the world (120+ countries), especially in India, where she ran homes for lepers, TB patients, the mentally handicapped, the destitute and dying, and orphans. She worked with the poorest of the poor, while treating everyone with respect and dignity and judging no one. Her writing is as simple as her life, but just as special. Her words have a way of making you feel good inside and closer to God, and I feel blessed to have chosen this book. It's going to be a tough act to follow... I'm not sure what I'll read next, but I leave tomorrow for five weeks in the States, so I'm sure I'll do plenty of reading on the plane. I know I always say this and never actually do it, but I think I'll try to find something light and fun to read next...

Never Again

"A President will not necessarily act alone to do the right thing. In fact, failure to act is the rule, not the exception. But if citizens, through their actions, show that they support stronger U.S. action to end genocide, our leaders will be more confident to take actions." (p. 184)

This book is an eye opener for anyone who is not aware of the genocide taking place in Darfur. Don Cheadle and John Prendergast are so honest and down-to-earth in their writing, and that is what makes this book, along with the power and emotion of the events taking place in Darfur, so moving and inspirational. They offer straight-forward, simple solutions that we can all be doing to help stop the genocide... I remember when I first learned about the Rwandan genocide, I was shocked that it had happened during my lifetime. To me, genocide was what happened during the Holocaust, and that was sixty years ago. I never thought it could happen today, but it has, and it is, and this book offers solutions to stop the genocide today and make sure it does not happen in the future.

Here are some websites to check out to learn more about the crisis in Darfur:

www.enoughproject.org

www.savedarfur.org

www.darfurscores.org

www.standnow.org

www.genocideintervention.net

www.sudanreeves.org

www.darfurisdying.com

www.crisisgroup.org