The Mole People

By Jennifer Toth

The Mole People was a very interesting book. Raw and frightening and honest. Toth, a New York City reporter and graduate student, studies a population many people wouldn't approach: the homeless who live underground in New York City's subway tunnels. The Mole people live underground for various reasons: drug addiction, mental illness, a feeling of alienation from society, or even personal preferance. People live down there because they are not able to function by the rules of the above-ground society. Some live underground in elaborate societies, with government, caring and functioning social roles. But for most, life underground is dangerous, with crime and lawlessness far more frightening than any big city slum.

Toth showed a great deal of courage to document the lives of such a disenfranchized population. With every trip she took into the tunnels, she risked her very life for the story. Through this effort she put a human face on people in a dehumanizing circumstance.

Eve and the Choice Made in Eden

By Beverly Campbell

The premise is that much of the oppression of women over the centuries comes from a misunderstanding of Adam's transgression, and especially eve's transgression. In the Garden of Eden, Eve was not tricked by the serpent into the action of partaking of the forbidden fruit thus dooming mankind to misery. She was thinking of humanity's greater good. If she had not partaken of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve would not have been able to have children, the entire population. They would not have been able to progress through trial and sorrow to know good from evil. They would still be in the Garden in an innocent state, and none of us would be here.

There have been studies about the difference in moral reasoning in men verses women. Men reason in terms of rules, laws, right or wrong, but women reason in terms of relationships with others and how a decision affects everyone involved. Adam's reasoning was correct in that he followed the law of God forbidding him to partake of the fruit. But Eve's reasoning favored the posterity of mankind. She broke one law for a higher good--the birth of humanity. Even an existence filled with pain and sorrow is better than a lovely stagnant garden existence.

Understanding the nature of Eve and her Choice Made in Eden can powerfully change the way societies view women. Women can instead be seen as valuable and wise, as opposed to corrupt and easily duped. The value of both men and women increases. Our various gender roles is enlightened. Our need to aid in each other's missions is informed. The belief that one gender is superior at the expense is eradicated.

This book can change your life.

The Stolen Child

By Keith Donahue

This book is based on the poem "The Stolen Child" by W.B. Yeats, and on the changeling myth from medieval Europe. "Faeries" are not flying cute "fairies" but changelings who play pranks on the village (they are the reason why you lose one sock in every laundry load, or why things go missing).
A seven-year-old boy runs away from home because he is unhappy with his family life.While he is gone, the changelings snatch him and replace him with one of their own, who assumes his appearance and lives his life. The boy is then changed into a faerie who will live as a perpetual child in the wilderness. The worlds of human and changeling are incompatible and should not mix.
The novel explores some questions such as: Which is better, growing up and experiencing difficulties or remaining an unchanging child forever? How much do parents really know about the mind of their own child they care for? Could there be something hidden? Is she really their child? Did the changelings do violence in taking a child away from his life or did they give him second chance?

A Single Voice

By Kristen M Oaks

Kristen Oaks was single until she was fifty-three years old, when she married the widowed Dallin Oaks. Her life was not what she expected: she didn't expect to get married in her fifties and she didn't expect to marry a general authority. Yet she remained faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of her circumstances.

She wrote this book to advise and inspire the single women of the Church.

Here are some points of the book that I found helpful:

1. It validated the feelings of loneliness, sadness, and longing for a family in a family-oriented church.
2. Remaining single is not an emergency--we don't have to marry someone wrong for ourselves just to be married. We will be ok, and can build a successful life.
3. Singleness isn't a sign that there is something wrong with us, maybe it means we haven't found someone equal to ourselves yet. In our religion, we believe that there will be an opportunity to marry in the next life if not in this life.
4. God might not save us from our trials in life. We may not get all of the things we long for in life. There are many with unresolved problems in life: remaining single, being childless, having a child with severe disabilities and living with a chronic illness are some examples. Though our trials remain, God will not forsake us.
5. People might make insensitive comments because they don't understand why we are single. We need not lose perspective because of well-meaning people who have it wrong, but learn to move on.
6. She gave advice about dating and self-improvement.

The Anatomy of Peace

By the Arbinger Institute

The Arbinger institute is an organization that gives self-improvement and leadership seminars.

I would recommend The Anatomy of Peace to anyone who wants to overcome conflicts between parent and child, husband and wife, employers and employees, even warring nations.

The story is told at a wilderness program for rebellious teens. After dropping off their children, the parents attend a class where they learn to confront their own problems. The wilderness program is run by two men: a Palestinian and an Israeli. Though their nations are enemies, they have learned to overcome enmity and become good friends with a mission of promoting peace.

The book teaches that peace can only be created within oneself. The only one I ultimately have control over, after all, is myself. Being a peacemaker is not just about passively accepting the cruelty of others. Sometimes it is necessary to go to war, sometimes necessary for parents to get tough. The difference is peace within oneself.

Abraham: A Journey into the Heart of Three Faiths

By Bruce Feilor

I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the roots of conflict among the three major religions : Islam, Judaism and Christianity. We have so much in common as far as roots and common ancestry and yet so much hatred. Feilor's book explains the manner that the conflict stems from Abraham. He tells of each religion's different mythology about Abraham, and what each story has in common. A knowledge of the sameness and differences, strengths and weaknesses of each religious category could lead us to greater peace and understanding among nations.



Other related books I would recommend:

(From my religion's perspective on Abraham)

The Book of Abraham, in The Pearl of Great Price (Latter-Day Saint Scripture)

The Women of Genesis trilogy by Orson Scott Card

Also:

The Anatomy of Peace by The Arbinger Institute

The Chosen by Chaim Potok



Anything else you would recommend?