On September 15, 2009 one of my (far too many) book groups embarked on a reading challenge entitled "Around the World in 80 Books."  Its object was to read 80 books from 80 different countries over the course of the subsequent 12 months.  Of the nearly seventy people who signed up to participate, six of us met the goal.  Sure, there's a sense of accomplishment, but far more importantly I've found that I've learned quite a lot over the past year, both about history and about my reading tastes in general.

The first thing I discovered was that when one is looking for books about a specific country or region, it's FAR easier to come up with non-fiction books than novels.  Most book sites don't allow you to search by a specific country.  (Ever try to find a novel about Qatar or Oman?  It ain't easy!)  At first, this intimidated me.  I've had an annual goal for as long as I can remember to read six non-fiction books a year, and most of the time I don't succeed.  I do a fine job of BUYING non-fiction books; there are many that look really interesting.  Somehow, though, they always seem to languish on my shelves longer than the novels I purchase.  I finally decided, though, that if I was going to participate in this challenge, I'd just have to bite the bullet and read some non-fiction (yikes!). 

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The Afghan Women's Writing Project is an online magazine comprised of writing by Afghan women. Our project is run by a team of volunteers, and our goal is to empower Afghan women to have a voice in the world by writing stories and poetry about their lives. The Afghan women write in English and students receive ongoing mentoring from women writers primarily from the United States.

I got involved in AWWP because I happened to hear Masha Hamilton, who founded the Project, on Minnesota Public Radio. I was inspired to read her book, Staircase of a Thousand Steps, which led me to read more of her books. I was curious about this woman who writes such compelling books about places that I'm not sure I would ever have the courage to visit. On her web site, I found a link to the AWWP and was impressed with the stories that I read.

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Say "preacher's wife" and see if a picture doesn't come immediately to mind. If your mind is anything like my mind, the picture will be of a woman with big hair and eyelashes clotted with mascara and a smile that can win her a toothpaste commercial audition. A hand (nails long, lacquered) gestures upward, while on her lap rests a gently used Bible (full of highlighted passages that are already committed to memory) and at her feet a cluster of fresh-scrubbed children. The words "Minister's wife" conjure a completely different image: see the postmenopausal woman wearing sensible shoes and a beige outfit putting the finishing touches to the potluck in the fellowship hall?

I can guarantee, either way you say it, what is not going to come into your mind is: me. My hair doesn't tease well, for one thing, and I have the musical tendencies of a barnacle. I still have trouble memorizing Scripture, and I'm usually late for church. Despite all this, I am somewhat of a curiosity to the parishioners of the church where my husband is the minister.

It's the things that church members find worthy of discussing about me that I find interesting. What I wear is a perennial favorite (note to self: never wear bib overalls to a church function, no matter how casual). Also what I eat. One week the gossip centered around what had been on my plate at the Fourth of July church picnic. "She's not a real vegetarian if she's got a great big hamburger on her plate."  You try defending yourself with the words "soy patty."

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Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review, just published his evaluation of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, which he called "a masterpiece of American fiction." He went on to say, "The family romance is as old as the English-language novel itself -- indeed is ontologically inseparable from it. But the family as microcosm or micro-history has become Franzen's particular subject, as it is no one else's today."

Ahem.

Allegra Goodman
Alice Hoffman
Barbara Kingsolver
Jhumpa Lahiri
Claire Messud
Sue Miller
Alice Munro
Mona Simpson
Elizabeth Strout

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First published in 1992, Daniel Pennac's The Right's of the Reader was retranslated into English and republished in 2008, with an introduction and illustrations by Quentin Blake. Passionate and funny, but never didactic, Pennac explores why we read, and most importantly, why we don't. His premise is summed up in his opening sentence... "You can't make someone read. Just as you can't make them fall in love or dream..."

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While stopped at a traffic light yesterday, I noticed a puttering station wagon next to me with a little old lady in a floppy gardening hat behind the wheel. I could just make out her profile as she peered out her windshield patiently waiting for the light to change.

My obstructed view was not due to her petite stature or an advanced stage of osteoporosis, mind you, but rather from the climbing stacks of old newspapers, rotting stuffed animals, cardboard boxes, blankets, and foils in differing states of decomposition; overall, a stockpile that threatened to bust out the windows and swallow her whole.

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