Non-Fiction Five Challenge

It must be the spring and the sense of potential. Because I have expanded my own "to read" pile I have been exploring other's "to read" piles. When doing so, I found the Non-Fiction Five Challenge and have decided to participate. Go to the link to find the rules and how to enter.

Here's my five non-fiction choices to read between May 1 and September 30. I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons a bit.

1. Measure of a Man by Sidney Portier
2. Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
3. Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila
4. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
5. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Here's why I these are challenges for me.

Measure of a Man is a spiritual autobiography written by Sidney Portier. Mr Portier is "before my time" but I recognize the name. I don't know him as a man. I don't read biographies either.

Children's Blizzard is a historical piece about a devastating winter storm which killed hundreds of people in South Dakota, where I grew up. While I grew up in South Dakota, when I left, I really left. It's where I'm "from". When I refer to "home" I'm often talking about Montana b/c that very much felt like home. So I'm adding this to my list to learn more about what came before me in South Dakota.

Interior Castle is questionable in the terms of "non-fiction". In my mind, it is non-fiction. St Teresa of Avila was a mystic I studied when I was in college. I was exposed to excerpts only of her work in a very short 6 week summer course on women mystics in general. Mystics reach a darkness and utter dispare during their lives. Lately, I've been somewhat down. On the flip, mystics then become enlightened. I'm going to look for some enlightment through the words of St Teresa of Avila.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a challenge for me because I normally like to read fictional crime because I don't like to imagine that some of the crime and murder stories I read our real. But this story is real. What a challenge to try to understand the mind of a killer.

Infidel struck me as I was roaming through the store because of the beautiful woman on the cover. But as I read the dust cover I found out the author is a Somali woman. Somewhat oddly, southeast Minnesota has a significant Somali immigrant population. I don't know a lot about their culture but I do know the reasons I end up meeting these people as patients is because of the horrible political unrest and violence in their country that has led to horrible, life changing injuries. I want to see this through the eyes of a woman willing to challenge the "system".

So there's my list. I have four of them already, I'll pick up the last when it's been out a while longer.