For discussion Monday, February 13th and Wednesday, February 15th:

Another book I may not have picked up except for the fact that I was going to have dinner with the author and wanted to be able to speak intelligently about her work. But, never having been a parent myself, I generally am not terribly interested in memoirs about raising kids. But I ended up loving this book. Not only is it funny, interesting and eye-opening, it also got me thinking.

Amy Chua is a first generation Chinese American. Her parents came to the U.S. in the sixties and worked hard to provide the American Dream for their daughters including an Ivy-League education. When Amy and her husband had children, they decided they would be raised in the Jewish faith (honoring her husband’s family) but with the values and discipline of a Chinese mother. Their daughters, Sophia and Lulu, were not allowed to participate in play dates, sleepovers, or even school plays. They were expected to play a musical instrument and excel at school and the girls did both. Sophia was the model daughter — did everything as expected. Young Lulu was another story; she was just like her mother.

The book, at times, seemed a little scary. Chua’s daughters are amazingly accomplished girls (now teens), so is the Chinese-mother model the better way to raise a child? Even Chua is somewhat ambivalent; each child (and every parent) is different. But, ultimately I was intrigued and the book certainly made me think. Bottom line, I continue to believe parenting is the hardest job out there. ~Patti

For discussion Monday, April 9th Wednesday, April 11th:

From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era's most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope. They show how a little help can transform the lives of women and girls abroad. That Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. The Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS. Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women's potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it's also the best strategy for fighting poverty. Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen.

For discussion Monday, June 11th and Wednesday June 13th:

I don't know how this author can write so well on so many different subjects. Dr. Marina Singh is a pharmaceutical researcher from Minnesota who goes to the jungle in the Amazon to retrieve the remains of her fellow researcher who has died under mysterious circumstances. The lead researcher, Dr. Annick Swenson, who has been in the Amazon for seven years must be located first. Dr. Swenson is a well known gynecologist who is not only eccentric but difficult to find since she lives in the depth of the jungle doing her research. The book is full of such vivid descriptions of what life in the Amazon is like; the heat, humidity, the mosquitoes, snakes. Yet, the tribes that live there have such an appreciation and respect for nature. I like books that provoke me to think about the ethics of research and where it all leads and this story has left me with plenty to think about! ~Cindy