I purchased three new books today,
America’s Secret War by George Friedman, of which I have already read most of, but just never have owned a copy of my own. Friedman is the found of Stratfor (for Strategic Forecasting), a quasi, shadow CIA in the private sector. The website, Stratfor.com, is a great resource. To get full access, there’s a steep subscription fee of $40, but the free stuff that is there is definitely worth a peek. Keep this place in mind, because they are very important, will continue to be very important. They also have free podcasts, so go subscribe. It’ll be worth your while.

Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks, another book that I have already read a part of. It’s a good introduction to the debates about/amongst Muslim women for those unfamiliar with the issues, but is by no means conclusive. If you want to get to the heart of the matter, frankly you must read from Muslim feminists themselves, works that have been very underrepresented in terms of being translated and published here.

Scheherazade Goes West by Fatema Mernissi. I just finished reading Mernissi’s book Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood, and absolutely fell in love with it. Review to follow on that book as well. I read it for my Muslim Women class and to find something by the same author got me quite excited.

Anyway, I’ll review all of these books later. I was tempted to buy so much more, but, being a poor college student and all, I restrained myself. I suppose that’s why I love blogs and free internet here on campus, new media makes it so that I am never running out of things to read!