Three Cups of Tea Allegations

Recently it's come to the forefront that Greg Mortenson and his organization, Central Asia Institute, which has built schools for girls throughout Afghanistan, may be stretching the truth. I thought Mortenson's two books, Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools were fascinating, and Three Cups of Tea made my own top 10 for 2009. In fact, I was so moved by that book I felt called to take some action, but never ended up writing that check and sending it to the Central Asia Institute headquartered in Montana. It's a good thing I didn't, because Mortenson, whether guilty or innocent, sure is acting squirrely. 60 Minutes recently featured a segment on the investigations into the schools Mortenson has supposedly built, as well as the accounting practices of his organization. My guess is that if he had nothing to hide and if he knew that he and his Institute were 100% in the clear, he would have accepted 60 Minutes' invitation to appear and clear his own name. Instead, he refused to be interviewed with the program, and at the end of their segment, when he was approached, he looks like a deer in the headlights. Isn't it disappointing to think that someone who professes to do so much good may not have done all the good he says he has?

Feeling Inspired

Last week in one sitting I read Sapphire's novel Push, that has become the movie, Precious. It was very hard to read, but I'm glad I read it. I kept holding out hope that something would click and the narrator's life would improve. How could it possibly have been any worse? I felt particularly grateful to Blue Rain, Precious' teacher, who helps her take control of her life and move forward.

Maybe it's because I also just finished Stones into Schools (Greg Mortenson), but there seems to be a pattern here for education as a means of propulsion, among other things. It has brought to mind other books and movies with similar themes that make me feel inspired.

Here's a list I've come up with:

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson with David Oliver Relin
Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Dead Poets Society (1989)

There must be more. What have I left out?

Three Cups of Tea

I take for granted that I have the freedom and ability to read anything I can get my hands and eyes on. It takes books like Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson with David Oliver Relin to remind me that not everyone has the freedoms I'm privileged to enjoy. I read Three Cups of Tea about a year ago. This morning I just finished the follow-up, Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson.

I was just as fascinated by this book as I was Three Cups of Tea a year ago. Some interesting facts from the new book include:

• Girls' education leads to increased income for the girls themselves and for nations as a whole. Increasing the share of women with a secondary education by 1 percent boosts annual per-capita income growth by 0.3 percent.
• Educated women have smaller, healthier and better-educated families.
• The better educated the women in a society, the lower the fertility rate. A 2000 study in Brazil found that literate women had an average of 2.5 children while illiterate women had an average of six children. Also, the better educated the women, the lower the infant mortality rate.
• Educated women are more likely to insist on education for their own children, especially their daughters. Their children study as much as two hours more each day than children of illiterate mothers and stay in school longer.
• Educated girls and women are more likely to stand up for themselves and resist violence.
• Studies show that education promotes more representative, effective government.

(Source: Pages 399-401 of Stones into Schools.)
These two books are fascinating tales of how Mortenson performs extraordinary tasks with limited resources. If you haven't read these books, I highly recommend that you do so. You can also learn more about Mortenson and his projects with Central Asia Institute at http://www.ikat.org/. Also, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a San Francisco Chronicle review of the book a few weeks ago. You can read it by visiting here. Last month, USA Today interviewed Greg Mortenson. You can read that article here.

A Review of 2009

In thinking ahead about what I want to read in 2010, it seems like a good thing to do to reflect back on what I read in 2009, which included 69 books either read or listened to. Some of my favorites were:

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
Souvenir by Therese Fowler (a classmate of mine in the English department at NC State)
Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson with David Oliver Relin

Last week, USA Today marked the end of the decade and listed the bestselling books of the 2000s. I have read them all. See the article here.

100 Best Beach Books Ever

Recently, over 16,000 people voted in National Public Radio's online poll, "100 Best Beach Books Ever." Today, they revealed the results. I've read 38 of the 100, and many that I haven't yet read are ones I'd like to read.

I've done a lot of beach reading myself and here are a few of my favorites:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor by Brad Gooch
A Painted House by John Grisham
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman

Summer Reading Programs

Many incoming college freshman will have required reading this summer even before classes begin. Currently, I'm reading Unbowed by Wangari Maathai, the Summer Reading Program selection for 2009 for Meredith College freshmen. Here are what other colleges and university rising freshman are reading this summer:

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: A Home on the Field by Paul Cuadros
Indiana State University: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Appalachian State University: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Clemson University: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
Queens University: In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro: My Freshman Year by Rebekah Nathan
Texas Tech University: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

What will you be reading this summer?