Summertime is the chance for me to get some reading done – reading that isn’t about topics I’m writing about, but just things I am interested in all for selfish me. Each Monday I will be sharing what I’m reading this summer.

Plus, I would love to hear your recommendations this summer – we may not have the same taste in books, but other of my reader may just love what you love!

Book Recommendation – Orange is the New Black

It may seem a little weird that I’m recommending a book about a women doing a year in jail for a 10 year-old drug charge.

But I have to tell you – this is a very compelling, can’t-put-it-down read.

Here is the books description from Booklist:

Just graduated from Smith College, Kerman made the mistake of getting involved with the wrong woman and agreeing to deliver a large cash payment for an international drug ring. Years later, the consequences catch up with her in the form of an indictment on conspiracy drug-smuggling and money-laundering charges. Kerman pleads guilty and is sentenced to 15 months in a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Entering prison in 2004—more than 10 years after her crime—Kerman finds herself submerged in the unique and sometimes overwhelming culture of prison, where kindness can come in the form of sharing toiletries, and an insult in the cafeteria can lead to an enduring enmity. Kerman quickly learns the rules—asking about the length of one’s prison stay is expected, but never ask about the crime that led to it—and carves a niche for herself even as she witnesses the way the prison system fails those who are condemned to it, many of them nonviolent drug offenders. An absorbing, meditative look at life behind bars. –Kristine Huntley

Prison is something I have only had a brief brush with – I had a male friend from college who was in prison and I had the opportunity to visit him once – so this was a topic I had no familiarity with. but once I started reading this book, I was presented with a world I never knew about – and it challenged some of my thoughts about our prisoners in the US and our prison system.