This essay caught my eye in the New York Times Magazine. I immediately added the book it was an excerpt from, Orange is the New Black: One Year in a Women’s Prison, to my summer reading list. It was the first book on my list that I tackled, so Summer had begun for me. That and Memorial Day had come and gone!In hindsight, I wish I had saved it for our beach trip. It would have been a great book for the beach, an easy engaging read, the kind of book I find hard to put down. I really enjoyed it, not to say it was an enjoyable topic. The author, Piper Kerman writes about her experience of spending a year in prison for a ten-year-old crime. She is not the typical prisoner, which seemingly worked in her favor more than not during her stay. I was at times surprised at incredibly easy it seemed for her to adapt, though I am sure that didn’t seem the case to her at the time. Her memoir of this time is full of relationships she would have never experienced elsewhere, opinions on the correctional system, details of bureaucracy and her own personal growth. She certainly has a multitude of advantages over the majority of the women she met during her stay, but that does not detract from her offering an intriguing account of her experience.
I was actually disappointed when the book ended. I wanted to here more about the experience. I hope she authors more books soon, particularly how she adjusted and dealt with re-entry into her life.Submitted to Booking It on Life as Mom.
Went right to the library – three doors down may I remind you – and of course they have no clue about author OR book. Inter-library loan kicks in!!! Sucks living in a small town sometimes!
I need to get back into the routine of getting my books from the library. They even let you set up your reading list and they email you when your book is ready. Could not be easier and I still can't get there!