Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

This book was a bestseller for many weeks. This book is a must-read for any American. It is inspiring. In 1993, Mortenson gets lost after attempting to climb the mountain, K2 in Pakistan. He ends up in a tiny rural village, Korphe where he meets an elderly man who nurses him back to health. Mortenson promises to come back and build a school when he sees that the Pakistani government hasn't been able to get to their village yet. It takes Mortenson about 3 years to get all of the funding and building materilas, but he manages to build a school for this village. He especially wants the young girls to have an opportunity at a secular education.

In no way does Mortenson push his Christian beliefs on the Muslim peoples in the rural regions of Pakistan. He believes that if we educate the girls it will build a strong foundation in these countries. Girls will bring their sons up to get a good education and not resort to the madrassas (the training schools for the Taliban and the like).

The book takes us through the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mortenson was kidnapped by the Taliban for 8 days in a rural area in Afghanistan. This was prior to 9/11 however it must have been a hair-raising experience that he will never forget.

Mortenson has founded the Central Asia Institute of which he runs and has built schools all over this region of the world. He has accomplished so much in 15 years it's unbelievable.

A must-read.

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner and The Shack by William P. Young

This was the sequel to "Good in Bed", Weiner's first book. I have to say I was a little disappointed by the ending. There's a twist that I wasn't expecting and I didn't feel like it furthered the plot along, however all in all I enjoyed where Weiner took Cannie and her character. It was fun to see Cannie as a mom and to see how she meanders through life with an almost 13 year old daughter.

The Shack was about a man, named Mackenzie having an experience finding God. He turns out to be a middle-aged large black lady named "Papa". Jesus is a Middle-Eastern young man who is a you-guessed-it carpenter. The Holy Spirit is an Asian woman, Sarayu who you can't really see or tell if she's hugging you. It was an easy read and very interesting point of view of the Trinity and Young's version of Christianity. I did feel like he was saying churches shouldn't be relevant in your relationship which to a certain degree may be true. Maybe Young was saying that it doesn't matter which church you go to which I do agree with. It was a good read--I would recommend it.