Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Born in Somalia, raised a Muslim, the author denounced Islam after 9/11 and now fights for the rights of Muslim women in Europe, the enlightenment of Islam, and security in the West.

When Ayaan left Somalia, she went to Holland and she was impressed. She was offered assistance in finding a place to live and to work. However, before she got there, her belief was that Holland was in infidel country. According to muslims, they were to oppose and reject their way of life. But it was run so much better than the place muslims came from, ex. Somalia… shouldn’t the places where allah worshipped and his laws obeyed be peaceful and wealthy and the unbelievers poor and at war? This left the author torn between how she grew up and where she was currently living. She saw differences and tried to understand was what she taught really right?

Eventually, she came to believe that the quran is not a holy document, but a historical record, written by humans. Is it one version of events, as perceived by the men who wrote it 150 years after the prophet Muhammad died.

The author finds herself “on the brink of becoming an apostate”.

She became a member of Parliament in Holland in order to get her ideas across and to help people.

I definitely recommend this book for its first person perspective.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

Both book and movie were good. I enjoyed the book a little more than the movie. There were some book “scenes” that were done a little differently in the movie.

Meryl Streep played her character quite well. Even though she may have been tyrannical, I liked her and I understood her position on certain things. I didn’t understand things like the way she used to fling her coat down on the girls desk when she wanted them to hang them up for her. That was just plain rude.

The movie does bring up the point of how far would you go the get the things you want in life. Amanda, the main character, put her job first before her friends and family. Her job was high pressure and she had to be on call 24-7. So she sometimes missed things like birthdays, etc..