In this week’s edition of “Inspired By,” we are featuring one of our wonderful interns, Megan Conner.  Megan is a junior at Arizona State University studying Journalism and Public Relations at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.  Here, Megan narrows down her five most inspirational reads.

 

To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Scout Finch is a tomboy who lives in a small Alabama town during a crisis in 1935.  She admires her father Atticus and how he copes with the issues of racism, injustice, intolerance and bigotry, his courage and his love.

 

 

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Growing up with stubborn and non-conformist parents, Jeannette and her family lived like nomads.  When the money officially ran out, the romance of the wandering life faded and the family retreated to settling in a West Virginia mining town.  With an alcoholic father, Jeanette and her siblings had to fend for themselves, finding the resources and will to leave home.

 

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry

In Jonas’ world everything is perfect because everything is under control.  There is no war or fear or pain, and there are no choices.   Every person in the community is assigned a specific role, and when Jonas turns twelve he is singled out to receive special training from the Giver.  The Giver teaches Jonas the truth of life.

 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A portrait of the Jazz Age, Jay Gatsby falls in love with Daisy Buchanan before serving overseas.  While he is away Daisy marries the brutal, bullying and extremely wealthy Tom.  When Gatsby returns he devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means to swoon over Daisy. 

 

 

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

This story is told by the wife and four daughters of a fierce evangelical Baptist named Nathan price.  He takes his family and missions to the Belgian Congo in 1959.  They bring everything they think they might need in Africa but quickly learn it is calamitously transformed on African soil.

 

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