Shattered Dreams by Irene Spencer

Just like my Buffy phase, I also recently went through a phase where I read a multitude of books and memoirs about life as a Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint (FLDS) you know, a polygamist Mormon, like the kind on Big Love. Now, if you know me, you know that the one "religion" that I truly hate is scientology, but I also think FLDS' are pretty crazy. I can't imagine being married off to an eighty year old man who already has six wives, but reading these books help me do that a little! Shattered Dreams tells the tale of Irene Spencer who was:

raised strictly in the Principle as it was lived secretly and illegally by fringe communities of Mormon Fundamentalists- groups that split off from the LDS Church when it abandoned polygamy more than a century ago. In spite of her mother's warnings and the devotion of a boyfriend with monogamist intentions, Spencer followed her religious convictions-that living in polygamy was essential for eternal salvation-and became a second wife herself at the age of 16 in 1953. It's hard to tell which is more devasting in this memoir: the strains of husband sharing with - ultimately- nine other wives, or the unremitting poverty that came with maintaining so many households and 56 children. - Amazon.com

This whole thing is so messed up to me. Far be for me to judge someone based on their religious beliefs, but this doesn't seem like that to me. What is seems like is a way for a few select older men to completely dominate everyone in their lives, treat their families like dirt, and rape innocent little girls. Also, I feel awful for the young boys who get thrown out into the street, because the older men want to keep all the young girls for themselves. Disgusting. I was so happy when the government raided that compound and took out all of those children, but I wasn't surprised when they wanted to go back. It's hard to compete with years of torture and brainwashing. Other really great books that deal with this topic are "Stolen Innocence" by Lisa Pulitzer, "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop and "The 19th Wife" (which is fiction and has an awesome history of how the LDS church came to be) by David Ebershoff. I really urge people to read more about this topic and educate themselves about the horrors that are going on in this country, pretty much right next door.

The Blinde Side by Michael Lewis

I read half this book. The reason is because while I really enjoyed the story of Michael Oher and the Tuhoy family, the rest was about the specific reason the left tackle (Oher's position) is so important to football, and the evolution of how it become one of the most highly paid positions in pro football, second pretty much only to the quarterback. So that part was pretty boring and I skipped most of it, but what I basically gleaned from what I did read was that the left tackle is superimportant because he protects, you guessed it!, the quarterback's blind side. So he can prevent an awful thing happening like Tom Brady getting tackled and ripping his acl and sitting out from a year and coming back and the Patriots never being quite as awesome as they once where. Bitter much? Yes. (I had to watch the Patriots/Giants superbowl in New York, with all my Giant's fans friends, while I had the stomach flu. )

So this position is muy importante. But I don't really care about that, what I care about is the feel good story of a bunch of white Christians rescuing an African American teenager from bitter poverty and then turning him into the "next big thing" in pro football. Ok, that's a little unfair but it's basically what the book boils down to. I haven't seen the movie yet but I'd like to because Sandra Bullock is awesome. The story was feel good and heart warming and the Tuhoy's are an amazing family and Michael Oher is a great example of a "rags to riches" success story, so yay for everyone involved, and Michael Lewis: next time please focus more on the heart of the story and less on the boring analysis-y stuff. K? Thanks.