A book I recommend.

If I was asked, "what would you do with a spare hour?" my list would be long and practical. Do the dishes. Fold the laundry. Play with my kids. Get a head start on dinner. Send an email that's been long overdue. Really, though if I was honest with myself, I'd say I'd read a book, but I rarely choose this option because it's hardly practical or efficient, two attributes that gnaw at me with persistence (thanks mom!).

I have a stack of books, mentally lined up in my head, of which I'm dying to read. I love the idea of books, probably more than books themselves. I'm bibliophile, always have been. That is, I like the comfort of knowing that books are around me, even if I don't read every one. I like to fall asleep with a stack of books lying next me, resting on my nightstand. Whenever I go to library, I practice active restraint, so that I end up checking out only 10 books for myself instead of 20, even though I usually end up only reading one.

Recently, the one book that I managed to read (it only took me a month!) was, Wild Swans, a memoir by a Chinese woman who tells her story and her mother and grandmothers story growing up in communist China. It's frightening, eye-opening, honest, and beautiful. The author, like a rose in a desert, somehow managed to intellectually survive and even flourish amidst absolute totalitarianism, where brutality and force was the way of life. Independent thought, freedom (academic and otherwise) were shunned and condemned. I can say that this book has changed me, opened my eyes. I have a renewed appreciation for what it means to live free, and this has helped me to appreciate being an American woman, free to choose my path. So if you have a spare hour (or two) consider reading this book.