Evil in Literature

I need some ideas for books that can be read for a relief society book club. I've gotten in trouble before for suggesting "inappropriate" books. The last book I suggested was "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. The books deals with the aftermath of a young girl's rape and how she finally finds her voice again.

I think the book does an amazing job of showing how painful high school can be for some teenagers. In fact, although, I've never gone through anything nearly as traumatic as what the protagonist experiences, her feelings of alienation in high school is one that I could relate to. I was hoping that maybe some of the women could read it and then pass it on to their daughters. I though that it could promote some discussions of some very important issues that may go undiscussed among church members.

I wouldn't have had a problem if it had been vetoed because someone had read it and thought it wasn't any good, but to say that it is inappropriate for a church sponsored group really bothers me. I completely disagree that we need to avoid all mention of evil in our reading. Evil exists in our world whether we like it or not. We need to confront it for what it is, and learn how to combat it, not close our eyes to its existence. In my opinion, as long as a book shows evil for what it is, and does not try to glorify it, excuse it, or portray it as good, it can be something we can learn from. After all, isn't that what the scriptures do?

Instead, the books chosen for the book club so far have been ones like "Little House on the Prairie" (an actual choice). I loved that book as a child, but for the book club, I want something with some meat to it. To me, the whole point of the home and family activities, is to allow the women in the ward to move beyond the superficial interaction we have when we meet on Sundays and find real connections with each other.

So, anyway, and book suggestions that won't be vetoed by the RS presidency would be greatly appreciated;

I pledge allegiance to Texas?

Did you know that Texas has its own state pledge" Every morning my student turn to the US flag to say the national pledge of allegiance, and then they turn to the Texas state flag and say "Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible."

For some reason, I find this funny, odd and a bit pretentious at the same time. I'm not sure why.

let's try this again...

So, I move to Texas, and I immediately stop blogging. Not on purpose, but it does seem to follow my on and off again journal writing habits. But, many years ago I stopped beginning journal entries with apologies for not writing, so I think I'll keep that policy here as well. Instead, I'll just press forward and try again!