Gender Issues

The Underground Girls of Kabul:  In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan was one of those "no way" books, in that while I listened to it I found myself saying, "no way!"  a good many times.  And it got me thinking a lot and so I found myself having to go back and rewind and re-listen, but that was not because I found it uninteresting, on the contrary, it is a book that makes one think.  Here is the website for the book.  I read this book for the nonfiction book group that I am in and again it proved that just because one HAS to read something, it doesn't always mean it is terrible!  Very, very thought-provoking.

Bravery

The Breadwinner was one of those books that I didn't really love when I finished it.  Yesterday when it was over, I was "meh" about it but now, overnight, I have come to see it a bit differently, as it is still with me.  I moved it from 3 stars to 4 as a result.  I didn't know it was a series until I started reading it and checked in on goodreads.
A few months ago I was at a school when a Marine was talking to a group of kids about his time in Afghanistan.  I admit, ashamedly that I didn't know much about the horrible conditions under the Taliban, except that they were horrible.  This book is the story of an 11-year old girl, Parvana, who is growing up in southern Afghanistan when it was under control of the Taliban.
When the Marine came to talk, he said that girls and women in southern Afghanistan, where he was stationed, where rarely seen and it was because of the culture of the country.  He said that it was not like that in northern Afghanistan.  It got me thinking then, well, the Taliban isn't in control anymore, so why did the Marine experience this?
It is still like that, even though the Taliban isn't in charge.  Here is a good article.  Oh man...and here is a take on gender identity that is so...beyond words?  Sad?  I don't know the right words at all..
Parvana's bravery is really incredible here.  Girls who don't live in a country where women are treated as poorly as they are treated in Afghanistan can relate to her though, as she can be saucy and mouthy to her mom and sister, just like anyone from anywhere.  I recommend it for and may or may not read more in the series.

I Don't Know...

It's not so much that I don't believe Jon Krakauer's criticisms of the Three Cups of Tea guy, Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute.  Mortenson's antics have been well documented elsewhere and Mortenson himself has publicly confessed.  It's just that Three Cups of Deceit, I don't know...there was just something off about it.  I don't mean that it didn't tell the truth or that Krakauer lied or anything, no, not at all.  It was more like a personal attack or criticism or something.  Which I know it was, but the reviewer on goodreads who said, "the moral of the story is, don't f*&k with Jon Krakauer's money."  seems to have said it best.  Krakauer himself gave money to CAI and when he found out that there were lies in Three Cups of Tea he went on an investigation and did a piece for 60 Minutes and this ebook came out of it.  The good part of the book was that it was super short, unlike those that you need to listen to quickly to get through them.  I still sped this one up though.  I never read Three Cups of Tea, it is really not my thing at all.

Andrew Clements

has won me over, for awhile now.  Extra Credit is my favorite of all of the Clements books that I have read so far.  This one has a girl main character, Abby.  She isn't really into school, though she is a bright kid, she just doesn't like to study and do homework and all of the stuff that school requires.  When she is faced with having to repeat sixth grade, however, she decides to get series about school.  Her teacher gives her the extra credit assignment of taking on a pen pal and reporting back on what she learns through the experience.  Because she lives in the very flat state of Illinois and has always longed to climb a mountain, she decides to write a student in Afghanistan.  When her letter is received in a small town near but not too near Kabul, the town leaders decide that they need to have a girl write to Abby, because it wouldn't be proper to have a boy do it.  The thing is, they want to make sure that the letter writer does a really good job with the English, so that folks in America don't think that they are just a bunch of dummies.  Amira Bayat will be the offical pen pal but her other brother Sadeed will be helping.  Sadeed finds a way to communicate directly with Abby, and the way that the two correspond is touching and brilliant.  I completely fell in love with Sadeed.  Such a great, great, great book.  Abby is wonderful, too.