What Have You Been Reading?

I am reading two books that take place in Africa right now: _What is the What_ by Dave Eggers and _Say You're One of Them_ by Uwem Akpan. These stories are eye opening! I cannot imagine the level of poverty and hardship portrayed in these pages. I have never read anything like either of these two books. The Akpan book is a collection of stories and the first story floored me. I know in a remote way that people in the world live in such extreme poverty that they go hungry, but this story brought me up uncomfortably close to the experience.