On My Bookshelf

1) Nightwoods, By Charles Frazier 

“Nothing changes what already happened. It will always have happened. You either let it break you down or you don't.”-from Nightwoods 

Just got this book today, on an impromptu trip to the used bookstore and have read three chapters so far. I was attracted to the book because of two main reasons. The first is I read Frazier's most well-known book Cold Mountain for AP English Literature my senior year of high school and fell in love with Frazier's ability to construct his sentences and narratives. The second reason is I am in college in Asheville, North Carolina and Frazier's settings are always in the rural North Carolinian mountains, which intrigue me on a personal level. 

The book concerns itself with a far more intimate panorama than that of Cold Mountain (which is a Civil War, adventure epic) and focuses on the life of an isolated woman living in an out-of-business lodge in the Western area of North Carolina. So far I am enjoying the beautiful sentences and rich imagery. 

2) Poor Economics, By Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo 

“Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as a human being.”-from Poor Economics 

“Every year, 9 million children die before their fifth birthday. A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a one-in-thirty chance of dying while giving birth — in the developed world, the chance is one in 5,600. There are at least twenty-five countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where the average person is expected to live no more than fifty-five years. In India alone, more than 50 million school-going children cannot read a very simple text.”-from Poor Economics

Recently, I have been more compelled to do charitable work and I've also been intrigued by other cultures. I am highly considering joining the Peace Corps after college and perhaps going to Africa to work on a health or education related project there. 

Understanding poverty is a difficult task and I'm hoping Poor Economics, a highly-praised book concerning itself with determining the reason so many suffer in sub-standard conditions and going from there to solve this problem pragmatically. I hope that it will offer me (a definite realist on matters like this) some real hope for the problems we face globally. 

Check in later for full critiques on these books & to find out what I learned from them!