Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive

 

Author: Stephanie Land

Summary:

At 28, Stephanie Land's plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree, and began to write relentlessly.

She wrote the true stories that weren't being told: the stories of overworked and underpaid Americans. Of living on food stamps and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) coupons to eat. Of the government programs that provided her housing, but that doubled as halfway houses. The aloof government employees who called her lucky for receiving assistance while she didn't feel lucky at all. She wrote to remember the fight, to eventually cut through the deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.

Maid explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it's like to be in service to them. "I'd become a nameless ghost," Stephanie writes about her relationship with her clients, many of whom do not know her from any other cleaner, but who she learns plenty about. As she begins to discover more about her clients' lives-their sadness and love, too-she begins to find hope in her own path.

Her compassionate, unflinching writing as a journalist gives voice to the "servant" worker, and those pursuing the American Dream from below the poverty line. Maid is Stephanie's story, but it's not her alone. It is an inspiring testament to the strength, determination, and ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

 

My Thoughts:

This book made me feel ALL the emotions. Frustration, anger, sadness, hope, faith, helplessness, and so many more. I loved the fact that this book took all the stereotypes of a "poor person on welfare" and turned them on their heads. As I read this book, I felt such deep compassion for Stephanie, and then angry that it was so difficult for her to survive. Yes, it all started with an unexpected pregnancy with a man she was not in a committed relationship with, but her struggle to survive could apply to women who end up raising a child on their own due to many different circumstances. Stephanie writes about how she ended up leaving her child's father and living in a homeless shelter with her daughter because he had become abusive. The choice between financial stability with abuse or freedom from abuse but living in poverty is one that so many other women have had to make. Women end up as single parents for a variety of reasons, and it's not easy for any of them.  Stephanie even relates how difficult it was to gain custody of her child. It broke my heart to read it. "While judges were rumored to say 'I don't care if the child sleeps on a concrete floor! They will have overnight visitation with their father,' mothers fighting for sole custody had to provide a sort of life that was simply impossible to obtain...I had to fight for the ability to mother my nursing infant, the infant Jamie (her boyfriend) had screamed at me to abort. I had been ground to a pulp by that judge. Like I had been in the wrong for leaving a man who threatened me."

 

One of the most important themes of this book was how there is a general stigma against those on government assistance in our society. There's this feeling that these people are lazy, just looking for handouts, unwilling to work and better themselves. And there may be SOME people who are that way, but I don't think it describes the majority of those living in poverty. Stephanie describes in the book how her lack of experience made it difficult to find a good job, and many of the jobs available to her would require her to work non-standard hours, hours when day care for her child wasn't an option. She relied on government assistance because she had no other choice. She worked as many hours as she could at the backbreaking and low-paying job of house cleaning. Several times in the book she mentions the hoops she had to jump through to get government assistance. She says "I was overwhelmed by how much work it took to prove I was poor."  She mentions the shame she felt as she used EBT cards and WIC to buy groceries, and others in the line would say things like "You're welcome!" or roll their eyes at her. She talks about the misconception that undocumented immigrants are using taxpayer money to qualify for free health care and free food (that's actually something that is only available to citizens). 

 

Another quote "Anyone who used food stamps didn't work hard enough or made bad decisions to put them in that lower-class place. It was like people thought it was on purpose and that we cheated the system, stealing the money they paid toward taxes to rob the government of funds...When people think of food stamps, they don't envision someone like me...Someone like them...Maybe they saw in me the chance of their own fragile circumstances, that, with one lost job, one divorce, they'd be in the same place as I was."  

Stephanie talks about how although her daughter qualified for Medicaid, she did not. So she was completely unable to afford any doctors visits at all, even though she desperately needed them. Add that to the fact that she was severely traumatized from her abusive relationship, homelessness, and the Herculean struggle to just make it to the next day and keep herself and her daughter alive and safe, and she was in desperate need of some mental health services, which she also couldn't access or afford. 

When she describes the temporary shelter she lives in that doubles as a halfway house, she says "I thought of how many times the police, firemen, and paramedics had come to our building in the last couple of months; of the random checks to make sure living spaces were kept clean or to make sure broken-down cars in the parking lot had been repaired; to patrol us so that we weren't doing the awful things they expected poor people to do, like allowing the laundry or garbage to pile up, when really, we lacked physical energy and resources from working jobs no one else wanted to do. We were expected to live off minimum wage, to work several jobs at varying hours, to afford basic needs while fighting for safe places to leave our children. Somehow nobody saw the work; they saw only the results of living a life that constantly crushed you with its impossibility." 

She also says "When a person is too deep in systemic poverty, there is no upward trajectory. Life is a struggle and nothing else." I will admit that I have been one who used to think that people who were poor just didn't try hard enough, that they just needed to find a better job and work on a budget. This book cleared the last of those lingering prejudices from my mind. Stephanie kept the tightest budget I've ever heard of. She lived on coffee and peanut butter sandwiches in order to make sure her growing daughter had enough to eat. She worked out a trade with the owner of a local kids consignment store - cleaning after hours in exchange for clothing for her daughter. There is this general idea in the world that government assistance keeps people poor. It provides no incentive for them to improve. And this is actually true, but not in the way you would expect. In the book, Stephanie says "The most frustrating part of being stuck in the system were the penalties it seemed I received for improving my life. On a couple of occasions, my income pushed me over the limit by a few dollars and I'd lose hundreds of dollars in benefits....There was no incentive or opportunity to save money. The system kept me locked down, scraping the bottom of the barrel, without a plan to climb out of it." 

Every time I put down this book I was some combination of intensely sad and incredibly angry. It's just absolutely not RIGHT that people in this country should have to struggle so much just to survive. Survival is a bare minimum goal! We want people to thrive. We should want people to be able to enjoy their lives and their children. One quote towards the end of the books really hit me hard. "The [other mothers] at Mia's day care..limited screen time, scheduled craft projects, limited sugary snacks, and served appropriate servings of fruit and vegetables at every meal. [They were mothers] with the privilege, time, and energy to mother well and who might judge me for not doing the same."

Basically everything I do as a mother to ensure that my children grow up in a safe, supportive, emotionally and physically healthy environment is largely only possible because I don't happen to live in extreme poverty. Even the year of our life where we struggled more financially, I was still able to provide a pretty good home environment for my kids. I left this book feeling like there are most certainly some sound policy decisions that could be made that will help kids be able to grow up in better environments than their parents can provide on their own. And for me, the argument that "some people will take advantage" is not a good enough reason to allow all the rest to just keep languishing in poverty, with little to no hope of making it out. 

Please read this book. It is so good. It helped me gain a better perspective on those who are living in poverty, and I will think twice before I start jumping to conclusions about the person at the store paying with food stamps.

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them

Summary: As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States for more than a century. Alarmed by the pervasive rise of fascist tactics both at home and around the globe, Stanley focuses here on the structures that unite them, laying out and analyzing the ten pillars of fascist politics—the language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” He knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations. He makes clear the immense danger of underestimating the cumulative power of these tactics, which include exploiting a mythic version of a nation’s past; propaganda that twists the language of democratic ideals against themselves; anti-intellectualism directed against universities and experts; law and order politics predicated on the assumption that members of minority groups are criminals; and fierce attacks on labor groups and welfare. These mechanisms all build on one another, creating and reinforcing divisions and shaping a society vulnerable to the appeals of authoritarian leadership.

By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—charged by rhetoric and myth—can quickly become policy and reality. Only by recognizing fascists politics, he argues, may we resist its most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals.

My Thoughts:

 I found this book to be completely fascinating. It's not very long, and it's a pretty easy read, very accessible and not too philosophical. Simple enough for the average person to comprehend. I just checked out his earlier book "How Propogranda Works" and it is much thicker and denser, so I'm not sure I'll end up slogging through that one. 

I thought this book was really important to read, especially in today's world where most of us can agree that there is a large amount of division going on in our country. The author pointed out how incredibly important it is that we not allow ourselves to get sucked into the "us vs them" rhetoric. I have been worried about that myself, as I have seen a lot of stuff on Facebook and even directly stated by political commentators about how "all" members of certain groups are "evil" "criminals" "rapists" "drug dealers" etc. It's really important to be aware of these tactics so we can prevent truly evil things from happening here in the United States. We have to leave our hearts open with compassion to those who are different from us. There are bad people EVERYWHERE, it's true, but we cannot lump all the bad people into one racial, ethnic, or political group and just be able to make blanket statements that condemn them all. 

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

 

Summary: Americans have lost touch with their history, and in Lies My Teacher Told Me Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying eighteen leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past.

In this revised edition, packed with updated material, Loewen explores how historical myths continue to be perpetuated in today's climate and adds an eye-opening chapter on the lies surrounding 9/11 and the Iraq War. From the truth about Columbus's historic voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.

Thought provoking, nonpartisan, and often shocking, Loewen unveils the real America in this iconoclastic classic beloved by high school teachers, history buffs, and enlightened citizens across the country.

My Thoughts:

I thought this book was fascinating and SO good. I was lucky to have a really great history teacher in high school who did his best to teach us actual history and not just white-washed, feel good history, but there was still so much I didn't know. For example, did you know that Woodrow Wilson was actually super racist, that as President he SEGREGATED areas of government that had previously been integrated? Did you know that at the beginning of post-Civil War Reconstruction, things were actually going pretty well race-relations wise, and Black people were seeing greater equality, until Southern Whites got back the reins and made things awful again? Did you know that Helen Keller as an adult was a strong supporter of socialism? Did you know that Columbus and basically everyone else at the time already knew the earth was round and the whole point of his expedition was to see if he could get rich somewhere? Did you know that the pilgrims likely would not have survived to colonize America if it hadn't been for previous explorers bringing diseases that decimated Native populations? Did you know that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were motivated not because Osama bin Ladin just hates freedom, but as retaliation for what he saw as way too much meddling in the Middle East on the part of America? Did you know that although we like to present the picture of the US being this "international good guy" we've actually stuck our noses where they don't belong many times and completely screwed things up?

I highly recommend reading this book. I thought it was incredibly informative and I think it presented a really important look at how we teach history and how we can do better. I think many of the problems of today stem from a complete lack of accurate understanding of our history. We are taught all our lives half-truths and sometimes outright lies, is it any wonder we still believe them and act as if these things are true (sometimes to our own detriment) as adults? A lot of people think they know history, and they would probably be wrong. Seriously, read this. I am begging you. It was so worth the time. 

Jefferson's Sons: A Founding Father's Secret Children

 

Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

 Rating: PG - I feel like this book would be really good for about 7th grade and up. There's nothing overly graphic in it, a man is publicly whipped twice but that's about the extent of the violence. 

Summary:
Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston are Thomas Jefferson's children by one of the people he enslaved, Sally Hemings, and while they do get special treatment - better work, better shoes, even violin lessons - they are still slaves, and are never to mention who their father is. The lighter-skinned children have been promised a chance to escape into white society, but what does this mean for the children who look more like their mother? As each child grows up, their questions about slavery and freedom become tougher, calling into question the real meaning of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Told in three parts from the points of view of three of the children enslaved by Jefferson - Beverly, Madison, and a third boy close to the Hemings family - these engaging and poignant voices shed light on what life was like as one of Jefferson's invisible offspring.

My Thoughts: I LOVED this book. I felt like it did an incredible job addressing the disconnect between Thomas Jefferson, the great patriot and American president who wrote the Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Jefferson, a man who enslaved his fellow human beings. I love how the story was told through the eyes of children, who are trying to understand what slavery means, what freedom means, and why people think it's ok to enslave their fellow human beings. For instance, at one point, the children have a conversation with their mother about whether or not Thomas Jefferson is a good person. They are conflicted, because they can see how he is kind, how much he has done for the country, but they are also living in slavery and they know that is not right. The mother says to them "all of the good things about him - patriot, president, gentleman, educated and intelligent man - those are all true too. he's done many great things. I hope you can be proud of that part of him." But she also tells them that although she has had a very good life, she has never been mistreated and her children are safe "it's not freedom. Sometimes it looks pretty close to freedom. Sometimes it feels okay. Then something happens...and I'm reminded all over again that we live in a prison on this mountain. It's a prison no matter how comfortable it may feel." I thought this was so profound because there is this idea sometimes that "At least some slave owners were nice to the people they enslaved. Some of them were kind." As one of the characters declares in the book, "There isn't such a thing as a nice slave owner. Slavery is bad. It's evil. All slave owners are bad. If a person would own another person, you can't trust a word they'll say."

In another place in the book, two of the boys are looking at the framed Declaration of Independence on the wall in the hallway of the main house, and they read the first lines "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The younger boy is confused. He asks, "If Master Jefferson wrote that, how come he doesn't believe it?" The older boy replies, "He does believe it. At least, he thinks he does." They go on to discuss that the Declaration says "All men" not "all white men" and that self-evident means everyone knows it because it's so obvious. The younger boy says "But people don't know it." The older boy says, "I didn't read it to tell you that. I read it so you'd understand what those two old men (Jefferson and Lafayette) were crying about. They believed this a long time ago, when almost nobody else did, and Master Jefferson wrote it down, and they made a whole new country around it. And now they're so old they're almost dead and they're crying for what they did a long time ago." The younger boy says "But they didn't really do it" and the older replies, "I know. But they think they did." 

There were so many good moments in the book where I had to set it down to ponder for a bit. I thought the author did an excellent job writing this story and helping the reader (via the characters) come to their own conclusion about how to reconcile the amazing things the Founding Fathers did with the fact that many of them were also slave owners. I highly recommend this book.

What Is a Girl Worth?: My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics

Author: Rachael Denhollander

Pages: 323

Rating: Due to the subject matter and the sometimes graphic descriptions, I wouldn't allow anyone below probably 15 or 16 to read this.

Summary:
Rachael Denhollander’s voice was heard around the world when she spoke out to end the most shocking US gymnastics scandal in history. The first victim to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor who sexually abused hundreds of young athletes, Rachael now reveals her full story for the first time. How did Nassar get away with it for so long? How did Rachael and the other survivors finally stop him and bring him to justice? And how can we protect the vulnerable in our own families, churches, and communities?

What Is a Girl Worth? is the inspiring true story of Rachael’s journey from an idealistic young gymnast to a strong and determined woman who found the courage to raise her voice against evil, even when she thought the world might not listen. This deeply personal and compelling narrative shines a spotlight on the physical and emotional impact of abuse, why so many survivors are reluctant to speak out, what it means to be believed, the extraordinary power of faith and forgiveness, and how we can learn to do what’s right in the moments that matter most.

My Thoughts: I haven't written a post on this page in a while, but this one is worth it. I've learned so much over the last few years about how if you want to understand someone, you need to listen to their personal story. And this book does just that. Denhollander walks all of us through the questions many people ask when accounts of sexual abuse are brought forth. Why didn't the victim report earlier? Could they have misunderstood? But the alleged abuser is so NICE! This book was seriously incredible. At the beginning the author tells us that her parents were very involved, very open about sexuality, they taught their children about safety, but that still didn't protect her. We have to be so, so, careful, and even then, it might not be enough.

One of the points she brings up that I loved the most is how people were so unwilling to believe that this man was capable of such depravity, because of how "kind" he was and how many good things he had done. He was involved with charity work, volunteered so many hours to "treat" girls at his own home. He was so personable. But, Denhollander points out that it doesn't matter how much good he did. That DOESN'T cancel out the bad! You can't just erase your crimes by doing lots of other good stuff. It doesn't work that way.

I learned so much reading this book, especially about how difficult it is for victims to be believed, gain justice, or stop their abuser. Society just brushes these things off way too easily and it's not ok. My favorite quote from the book is this, "Why don't victims report? Because most of the time, the only thing reporting accomplishes is heightening the trauma to almost unbearable levels. It invites an audience to view your sexual assault. It's choosing to have no voice in the process after having it stolen from you. That's why victims don't report."  (pg 271).

This book was good. If you have ever thought, "Abuse will never happen to me/my children/the people I love because we are careful/teach them about their bodies/don't go to bad places/we're vigilant" then you need to read this book. If you're in any sort of position where you have the opportunity to listen to children or anyone who may possibly report to you about abuse, you need to read this book. The consequences of failing to take abuse allegations seriously are astronomical. By the time Larry Nasser was brought to justice, numerous girls over several decades had attempted to report him, only to be either completely ignored or find that the investigation was not taken seriously enough. I'm hoping and praying that our culture and practices will keep heading in a positive direction of change, but we all have to keep speaking up.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Author: Donald Miller

 
Summary:

After writing a successful memoir, Donald Miller's life stalled. During what should have been the height of his success, he found himself unwilling to get out of bed, avoiding responsibility, even questioning the meaning of life. But when two movie producers proposed turning his memoir into a movie, he found himself launched into a new story filled with risk, possibility, beauty, and meaning.
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years chronicles Miller's rare opportunity to edit his life into a great story, to reinvent himself so nobody shrugs their shoulders when the credits roll. Through heart-wrenching honesty and hilarious self-inspection, Donald Miller takes readers through the life that emerges when it turns from boring reality into meaningful narrative.
Miller goes from sleeping all day to riding his bike across America, from living in romantic daydreams to fearful encounters with love, from wasting his money to founding a nonprofit with a passionate cause. Guided by a host of outlandish but very real characters, Miller shows us how to get a second chance at life the first time around. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is a rare celebration of the beauty of life.

My Thoughts: I feel like that summary doesn't do a good job describing this book. It was AMAZING. I wasn't sure exactly what I was getting into but I finally decided to check it out after one of my favorite podcasters repeatedly recommended it and then did an entire podcast episode based on it. This book was worth all the hype she gave it. Seriously. If I had been reading a personal copy instead of a library one I would have been highlighting stuff all over the place. It was that good. The author starts with talking about how a couple of filmmakers want to make a movie out of a memoir he wrote. They have to write this screenplay and have to change a few things in order to make it a good story that people will enjoy watching. So Don kind of goes on this journey finding out what makes a good story, and then figuring out how to make his actual life into one. And here's the thing - we all can do it.

I think one of my biggest takeaways is that challenges and difficulties in our lives are some of the elements of good story. We won't have a good story to tell our children, grandchildren, or even God someday if nothing really ever happens to us. And we don't have to wait for things to happen. We can go make them happen. We can create amazing stories in our lives, if we want to.

This quote is one of my favorites. "Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller."

Whoa. That got me thinking so hard. We sometimes get so mad at God for putting us through this or that or the other thing, but...he's just helping us create an amazing story that we can be proud of one day.

Here's another good quote. "If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. If I got any comfort as I set out on my first story, it was that in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another."

If I haven't convinced you to read this book yet, just google the title and "quotes" and keep reading. So many little gems, so much to think about, seriously....SO GOOD. Go read it. 

I Thought it Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame

Author: Brene Brown

Pages: 285

Rating: PG-13 - There is a bit of language on occasion.

Summary: We live in a culture that tells us we must reject our bodies, reject our authentic stories, and ultimately reject our true selves in order to fit in and be accepted. After talking to hundreds of women and therapists, Dr. Brown illuminates the myriad shaming influences that dominate our culture, and explains why we are all vulnerable to shame.

Outlining an empowering new approach that dispels judgment and awakens us to the genuine acceptance of ourselves and others, I Thought It Was Just Me begins a crucial new dialogue of hope. Through potent personal narratives and examples from real women, Brown identifies and explains four key elements that allow women to transform their shame into courage, compassion, and connection. Shame is a dark and sad place in which to live a life, keeping us from connecting fully to our loved ones and being the women we were menat to be. But learning how to understand shame's influence and move through it toward full acceptance of ourselves and others takes away much of shame's power to harm.

It's not just you, you're not alone, and if you fight the daily battle of feeling like you are -- somehow -- just not "enough," you owe it to yourself to read this book and discover your infinite possibilities as a human being.

My Thoughts: I really loved this book. As a person who has always struggled with connecting well with others, this book gave me some of the reasons why that might be, and some ideas on how to connect even when I don't feel like I know how. It also really opened my eyes to some of the things from my past and my childhood that I may be harboring shame about, which can negatively effect the way I interact with people now. I took screenshot after screenshot of pages of this book so I can review much of it. SO good. Want to know how to respond with empathy when you haven't had the same experience as someone else? Read this book. Want to know how to deal with it when you have a shame experience? Read this book. Want to know how to get better at dealing with shame? Read this book. Want to learn the difference between guilt and shame? You got it, read this book.

Many of us probably think that shame is a good thing, especially when it comes to teaching and parenting. Don't we want our kids to feel shame when they do something wrong? The answer is actually no. We want them to feel GUILT, not SHAME. Guilt is "I did something bad" and shame is "I am a bad person." We don't want to make anyone feel like there is something inherently wrong with them.

This book explores 12 categories where women typically experience shame: appearance and body image, motherhood, family, parenting, money and work, mental and physical health, sex, aging, religion, being stereotyped and labeled, speaking out and surviving trauma. Then Dr. Brown gives you some tools and ideas of what to do when you are experiencing shame in any one of these areas. There are also sections discussing addiction and shame, religion and shame (and how being a spiritual person, connected with God, helps with shame, regardless of whether or not you are a member of an organized religion).

There was also a brief section towards the end that explored how men experience shame about different things and how that works for them. I searched but didn't find that she has written a separate book about men quite yet, but I hope that is eventually coming! I found this book enlightening, empowering, and so helpful in my quest to love and accept others and myself more freely.

Winter Garden

Author: Kristin Hannah

Pages: 391

Rating: PG-13 (There is some language, some sex is discussed as well. Mostly, it's just a very mature subject matter, I would rate it high school and above.)

Summary:
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family business; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, these two estranged sisters will find themselves together again, standing alongside their disapproving mother, Anya, who even now offers no comfort to her daughters. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise: Anya will tell her daughters a story; it is one she began years ago and never finished. This time she will tell it all the way to the end. The tale their mother tells them is unlike anything they’ve heard before—a captivating, mysterious love story that spans more than sixty years and moves from frozen, war-torn Leningrad to modern-day Alaska. Nina’s obsession to uncover the truth will send them all on an unexpected journey into their mother’s past, where they will discover a secret so shocking, it shakes the foundation of their family and changes who they believe they are.

My Thoughts: A good historical fiction novel always leads me to do my own research on the time period to learn more than I could from the book. This novel was no exception. I found myself on Google many times during and after my reading, looking up pictures, stories, facts, etc. This book is about Stalin - controlled Russia going into World War II, specifically the siege of Leningrad. I knew next to nothing about this subject before I started reading. Now, my curiosity has been awakened and I want to learn more!  I knew Stalin was bad, but I never really knew HOW bad. I had never read any accounts of what happened. Although this book is a work of fiction, it is historically accurate as far as the author could make it, and many (if not almost all) of Anya's experiences are things that happened to real people.

This book was truly moving, inspiring, all the other really good words you can use to describe a book. It was thought-provoking and it caused me to ponder and reflect on my life experiences and how they related to the lives of the characters. I almost always put this book down with a profound feeling of gratitude for the freedoms and luxuries I enjoy just because I live in the United States in the 21st Century.

This book is also about forgiveness, understanding, and being unafraid to love. It was just so so good. Highly recommend it.

Catch Me if You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

Author: Frank W. Abagnale with Stan Redding

Pages: 293

Rating: PG - I was pleasantly surprised at how clean this book is. I had been worried that it might go into detail about some of his sexual encounters, but it never ever did. The most detailed it gets was once he says "We stopped at a cabin for the night and in the morning she was no longer a virgin." That's it. Also there is almost no language that I can remember.

Summary:
Frank W. Abagnale, alias Frank Williams, Robert Conrad, Frank Adams, and Robert Monjo, was one of the most daring con men, forgers, imposters, and escape artists in history. In his brief but notorious criminal career, Abagnale donned a pilot's uniform and copiloted a Pan Am jet, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a license, passed himself off as a college sociology professor, and cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks, all before he was twenty-one.

Known by the police of twenty-six foreign countries and all fifty states as "The Skywayman," Abagnale lived a sumptuous life on the lam--until the law caught up with him. Now recognized as the nation's leading authority on financial foul play, Abagnale is a charming rogue whose hilarious, stranger-than-fiction international escapades, and ingenious escapes-including one from an airplane-make Catch Me If You Can an irresistible tale of deceit.

My Thoughts:  I devoured this book in just a couple of days! I have seen the movie several times and even still, the book was fascinating and held some surprises. Obviously, the movie embellished and changed a few things. A lot of it is very true to the actual story but some of it is different and there is also a lot MORE in the book. You can't cover everything in a 2 hour movie.

As I said above, I was pleasantly surprised by how clean this book is. There are no graphic sexual descriptions, and I don't remember encountering any language other than the occasional "damn".  This made the book incredibly addicting to read because I never got uncomfortable. There is also a neat little interview in the back where you learn even more inside information.

Not only was Abagnale smart, he was also incredibly lucky. He escaped more times than he should have done, flew under the radar for years, and just managed to always be in the right place at the right time. He even pulled off a bank robbery, completely alone, without guns or weapons of any kind, and without anyone even noticing until he was long gone.

Honestly I want to just start back at page one and read it again! Highly recommend this one.

The Bookshop on the Corner

Author: Jenny Colgan

Pages: 332

Rating: PG-13 (there is sex at the end but it is not graphically described. I think 3 instances of the F-word, and one or two other swear words, but they are rare.)

Summary:
Nina is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile — a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. 
From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

My Thoughts: I highly enjoyed this book! Nina is a girl after my own soul. She loves to read, and basically has lived her life buried in books, until the library she works at closes, and she no longer has a job. So she follows what some feel is a ridiculous dream, and she moves up to Scotland with a big van full of books to sell. (She lived in England before). I have always wanted to visit Scotland, and the descriptions of the landscape, the people, and the view made me want it even more! There is quite a commentary going on about how living in a city we get too caught up in our own lives, in the screens in front of our faces, and fitting in. Out in the country, things are different. It makes one long for a visit!

At the bottom of it all, this book is really a romance, because as Nina learns more about herself and comes out of her shell, she does find love, but I won't give anything else away.

The one thing I don't like much about this book is the title. "The Bookshop on the Corner" makes me think of a little shop tucked away on a quiet corner of a busy street. But really she has a van and she calls it "The Little Shop of Happy Ever After" so...I'm not sure why that isn't the title of the book.

Also, so many other books are referenced in this one that it made me want to look all of them up! Although I did look up the most frequently referenced book, "Up on the Rooftops" and I don't think that's actually a real book. I think it was fabricated for the purpose of the story.

Anyway, it was a good read. Not too deep, but not boring, and how can you go wrong with a book about someone who loves books?

Orphan Train

Author: Christina Baker Kline
Pages: 273
Rating: PG-13 at LEAST. The F-word occured about 10 times, on one occasion a couple is making out and the boy touches the girl's breasts under her shirt (the makeout session is not the real point of the scene, there's dialogue that is totally unrelated) and one character is sexually assaulted. The book is not FILLED with inappropriate conduct, but I did want to mention that those scenes are in there. Other than what I mentioned, it's really quite clean overall. Interestingly enough, there is another version of this book "Orphan Train Girl" that was adapted for a younger audience.

Summary:Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or would they face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude? As a young Irish immigrant, Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.

My Thoughts: I love historical fiction. Especially when the book is about a part of history that I'm unfamiliar with. I loved that this book connected the experiences of a girl who rode one of the orphan trains with a modern day story of a girl who had been in and out of foster homes most of her life. The stories were both so easy to connect with, and all the choices that each girl makes are so clear and easy to understand. I feel like I do this a lot lately, but I don't know what else to say about this book without giving too much away. Super interesting, worth the read. =)

Moloka'i

Author: Alan Brennert
Pages: 384
Rating: PG-13 (There is no foul language, but there is some sex. The descriptions, however, are very short and sweet, usually only lasting a few sentences.)

Summary:
This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai'i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place---and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.
Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Here her life is supposed to end---but instead she discovers it is only just beginning.

My Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A good historical fiction novel is written in such a way that you forget the characters aren't actually real people, and this book certainly fit the bill.I just love that you can imagine that someone just like Rachel really did exist and a lot of those same things probably happened to someone. The book basically covers Rachel's entire life. I feel like I can't accurately describe it without giving too much away. All I guess I can say is that there really was a leprosy colony on the island of Moloka'i during the late 19th century and into the 20th. I was fascinated to learn about it and also a little of the history of Hawaii and their relationship with the US as well. I found Rachel's life to be an amazing reflection of the thought "Bloom where you're planted" and after I read the book I did a bit of research about Kalaupapa and found that the people there truly had a spirit of kindness and family. In their exile, they made a paradise. This book is definitely worth reading at least once in your life.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Pages: 200
Rating: G  - This is a very short book, and is entirely suitable for children

Summary:
Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who adored him completely. And then, one day, he was lost. . . .
Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. Along the way, we are shown a miracle – that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.

My Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this sweet story. It only took me a few hours to read, and although it is technically a children's book I felt it had some very thought-provoking themes. Edward is a very self-centered, prideful, and selfish rabbit. He does not really care for anyone but himself. Although he is deeply loved by Abilene, he does not really love her back. And then one day, as the summary states, he is lost. Over a period of many years, Edward has several owners, all who love him deeply, and he learns to love them back. It's extremely touching to watch Edward change over the course of the book. I felt that the overall theme of the book is that love is the entire point of existence. In fact, there is a quote towards the end that really encapsulates the whole thing, "If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless." How true that is! 

The People Code

Author: Dr. Taylor Hartman
Pages: 301
Rating: G

Summary:
In his life-changing book, Dr. Taylor Hartman introduces you to the People Code and why people do what they do. The concept of Motive is a fresh method for analyzing your own innate personality as well as that of those around you. You then have the ability to utilize that knowledge to improve workplace and personal relationships. As an author, psychologist, and leadership coach, Dr. Hartman offers a remarkably astute system for segmenting everyone into specific Motive-types denoted by a color: Red (power wielders), Blue (do-gooders), White (peacekeepers), and Yellow (fun lovers). He then explains how to ensure that all possible alliances between them function at optimum effectiveness. If you struggle with self-acceptance and have questions about why you and others act the way you do, Dr. Hartman and The People Code can help you maximize your life success by improving your day-to-day relationships.

My Thoughts: I have read a lot of books that claim to be able to tell me all about my personality and why I act the way I do (Birth Order Book, anyone?). However, I must say, this is the best so far. I felt like I actually really resonated with my color (blue) and can see how my actions throughout my life have reflected my driving motive (intimacy). I love how after you figure out your color, there's a full description of the positive and negative traits of each color so that you can really see who  you are. Even if the quiz at first is inconclusive, reading through the descriptions helps a lot. At first I was unsure what color I truly was, but after reading more, I realized I am definitely blue. I thought it was just fascinating, and gave me so many insights about how to interact with others and what to expect from various relationships. I can't give this book enough thumbs up. Like I said, I've read MANY personality analysis books, and I've done those "color tests" they make you do in school or sometimes the work place, and nothing has helped me understand myself better than this book has. You can take the test for free online, if you want. I highly, highly recommend this book. It has a chapter in the back for employers and another one for educators to see how these concepts can be applied in a work setting. I think it's also invaluable to parents. Give this a try! 

The Nightingale

Author: Kristin Hannah
Pages: 438
Rating: PG-13 (It's war, it's intense, there are 2 F-bombs, and a few other scattered bad words, but not many, most of the swearing is done in French, so unless you know French swear words, it's not a big deal. A woman is raped, there is some torture and of course, people are killed.)

Summary:
In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.
FRANCE, 1939
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

My Thoughts: I loved this book. World War II is my favorite period of history to read about because I am just constantly amazed at the bravery and toughness that carried these people through such a difficult time. I loved this book because it was all about the "women's war." Towards the end of the book there is a quote that I thought was so awesome. "Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over." I just loved that. Men went out and fought the war, but women fought in their own way. The war was terrible for everyone, not just those who had to fight or who got sent to camps.

I love the realistic-ness of the characters. I felt that they were real people with real stories. Vianne's story is so heart wrenching because she is forced time and again to make the choice over whether to protect her family or try to save her friends and others. She does her best, and sometimes her choices are difficult and cause her a lot of guilt.  Nazi-occupied countries were not fun places to live. The Germans took all the food and resources for themselves and left the people of the countries they occupied to starve and freeze. It was no picnic.

Then there's Vianne's little sister Isabelle, who is determined to do ANYTHING to resist the Nazi's and help free France. She sometimes makes rash decisions, but she is so incredibly brave. She ends up helping to create an escape route for downed Allied airmen that allows them to get safely into Spain and from there, back to England or another Allied country. The one thing I missed in this book was an afterword explaining which parts of the story were true, so I looked it up. It seems as if Isabelle's story was loosely based on a woman named Dedee de Jongh, who really did help hundreds of airmen escape from France. You can read about it here. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501218.html

This book is also about love, and about families. Vianne, Isabelle, and their father have never had great relationships with each other. But the war teaches them what is really important and that they truly do love each other and want to help and protect each other.

I highly recommend this book. It's so good you won't hardly be able to put it down, and when you finally do, you'll have a new appreciation for how good your life really is. You'll wonder if you could have been so brave, if you could have endured the kinds of things Vianne and Isabelle had to endure in this book. Even though they are fictional characters, the events that transpired are real, the things they endured really happened. We can't ever afford to forget that.

Until We Meet Again: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Holocaust

Author: Michael Korenblit and Kathleen Jander
Pages: 300
Rating: PG-13 (It's the Holocaust, some scenes are a little traumatic but there was nothing I considered to be overly graphic)

Summary: 1942. A small town in Poland. Two Jewish families flee to hiding places, hoping to evade deportation by the Nazis. At the last moment, 17-year-old Manya makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave her family and join her sweetheart, Meyer, also 17, with his family. For three long years, Manya and Meyer endure the loss of their parents and siblings, separation from each other, and the horror of concentration camps, including Auschwitz - but are helped at key points by courageous Polish Catholics and are constantly sustained by their faith and their love for each other. Co-authored by the couple's son Michael, this absorbing and suspenseful narrative reads like a novel, yet tells a true story of love and horror, sacrifice and courage, with a conclusion that is truly miraculous.

My Thoughts: I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK. I believe it was one of the first Holocaust books I ever read, and got me completely hooked on reading survival stories. I was just so amazed at this incredible story. Manya ends up bringing her brother Chaim with her to hide with Meyer's family, saving his life. Her family's hiding place is discovered and her entire family killed. The really miraculous part is that Manya loses contact with Chaim and neither is able to find each other after the war. For 30 years, they each assume they are the only surviving members of their family, until Manya's son stumbles upon Chaim living in England. Meyer's family also goes through several losses, and he retains only one brother. Their story is so incredibly amazing. In a time where so few Jews were lucky enough to stay alive, somehow, this pair manages it, and they find each other in the end. I can't even imagine going through something so terrible, losing my entire family, and wondering if I will ever see the people I love ever again. It's just incredible. If you're going to read any book about the Holocaust, seriously, read this one. Manya and Meyer beat the odds when the odds were unbeatable. And it never ceases to amaze me.

The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak
Pages: 550
Rating: PG
Summary:
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

My Thoughts: First of all, whether you've seen the movie or not, GO READ THIS BOOK! I have not seen the movie, but I already know I don't have to see it to know the book is absolutely worth reading. This is one of those books that while the story itself is moving and captivating, you read the book for the way it is written. Zusak is a master of figurative language, and he spins sentences so beautiful you have to read them twice just to make sure you are absorbing the full meaning of it.

"The words were on their way, and when they arrived, Leisel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain."
"Two giant words were struggled with, carried on her shoulder, and dropped as a bungling pair at Ilsa Hermann's feet. They fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight. Together, they sat on the floor, large and loud and clumsy."
"The reply floated from his mouth, then molded itself like a stain to the ceiling. Such was his feeling of shame."
"The guilt was already there. It was moist. The seed was already bursting into a dark-leafed flower."
"Her nerves licked her palms."
"The wind showered through her hair. Her feet swam with the pedals."
"A graze struck a match on the side of her face, where she'd met the ground. Her pulse flipped it over, frying it on both sides."

See what I mean? You just can't get that from a movie. It's incredible. As for the actual story - I really enjoyed reading about World War Two from the perspective of a young, relatively safe German girl, whose family ends up hiding a Jew. She and her best friend end up really hating Hitler, because their lives are miserable. They are poor, hungry, and their fathers are forced into service because they don't always agree with everything the Nazis say. Leisel is a foster child, who watched her brother die on the train on the way to her foster parents' house in another part of Germany. When she arrives, she does not know how to read, but her foster father Hans painstakingly teaches her until she is obsessed with books and reading. She lives an extremely difficult life, but in the process she learns kindness, love, and selflessness. She never buys in to the German propaganda that Jews are the enemy. After all, the Jew they are hiding in the basement has become one of her closest friends.

Another favorite thing about this book is that Death is the narrator. It's a different perspective that's for sure. He is not vindictive or gleeful. He is simply an observer, and he sometimes is quite sorrowful at all he is required to observe. He says that war is not his friend. It is more like a boss that keeps demanding that you work even harder than you ever have before, and is never pleased with your performance. Also, Death doesn't believe in suspense. He pretty much tells you the ending multiple times before it happens. The ending isn't important, it's the journey to get there that he wants to tell.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Don't just watch the movie. You MUST read this book. It's incredible.

These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901

Author: Nancy E. Turner
Pages: 384
Rating: PG - it's the wild west, there are shootings, train robberies, and twice Sarah narrowly escapes rape, but nothing is overly graphic or inappropriate

Summary:

A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon—from child to determined young adult to loving mother—she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her, and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose.
Rich in authentic everyday details and alive with truly unforgettable characters, These Is My Words brilliantly brings a vanished world to breathtaking life again.

My Thoughts: Wow. I really really ended up loving this book, recommended to me by several people, and so I finally read it. If you're looking for a strong female character who feels as real as real can be, read this book. The book is largely fiction, and is only loosely based on the experiences of the author's grandmother, but I don't feel like that ruined the book for me at all. You can easily imagine that Sarah's experiences were not at all unusual to a woman living in the Territories during that time.

Sarah is an extremely strong-willed, sensible, and brave woman. She's a quick shot with a rifle or pistol, she works hard every day of her life and thinks nothing of it, she yearns for knowledge and does everything she can to read all sorts of books in order to further her learning, and she's smart too. I absolutely loved her character. Even though she has many moments of vulnerability, she is mostly someone who just takes whatever life gives her and just keeps moving on with it. She's completely in the dark when it comes to love though, and goes for years without realizing that someone is trying to secure her affections. She also doesn't know what it feels like when she's in love, and thinks that said man is frustrating and cruel.

Reading this book definitely alerts you to how many blessings you have and how easy you have it. I know I found myself more thankful in my daily prayers as I read this book. By the time Sarah is 18, she has lost two family members, several close friends, has witnessed the deaths of several people, and has actually killed a dozen men herself. Life in the Arizona Territories back in the 1800's was rife with Indian violence, and death was much more common of an occurrence than it is now. Sarah experiences so many trials and difficulties I hope I never have to deal with, and it makes me grateful for modern medicine and hospitals and the fact that we have cures or vaccinations for so many things that plagued Sarah's family.

I highly recommend this book. You will be amazed by Sarah's life. Throughout it all, she hardly ever complains, and then only for a moment or two. And I just know that there were women just like her that lived back then. They were amazing people. READ THIS BOOK! =)

Control: Exposing the Truth About Guns

Author: Glenn Beck
Pages: 162
Rating: PG-13 (he talks about a lot of the gun massacres that have happened in the last several years, and also describes in detail some of the violent video games out on the market)

Summary:
When our founding fathers secured the Constitutional “right of the people to keep and bear arms,” they also added the admonition that this right SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.

It is the only time this phrase appears in the Bill of Rights. So why aren’t more people listening?

History has proven that guns are essential to self-defense and liberty—but tragedy is a powerful force and has led many to believe that guns are the enemy, that the Second Amendment is outdated, and that more restrictions or outright bans on firearms will somehow solve everything.

They are wrong.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. In doing so, he takes on and debunks the common myths and outright lies that are often used to vilify guns and demean their owners:

The Second Amendment is ABOUT MUSKETS . . . GUN CONTROL WORKS in other countries . . . 40 percent of all guns are sold without BACKGROUND CHECKS . . . More GUNS MEAN more MURDER . . . Mass shootings are becoming more common . . . These awful MASSACRES ARE UNIQUE TO AMERICA . . . No CIVILIAN needs a “weapon of war” like the AR-15 . . . ARMED GUARDS in schools do nothing, just look at Columbine . . . Stop FEARMONGERING, no one is talking about TAKING YOUR GUNS AWAY.
Backed by hundreds of sources, this handbook gives everyone who cares about the Second Amendment the indisputable facts they need to reclaim the debate, defeat the fear, and take back their natural rights.

My Thoughts: AWESOME BOOK! Back when I was a teenager, I don't think I really had an opinion one way or the other about guns. But as an adult, I am completely pro-gun. Regardless of how you may view Glenn Beck, this book is full of full-out FACTS. Basically, he takes quotations from various political and media public figures, quotes that many people just take for granted to be true, because it was said on the news, and then shows you how those claims are completely false and how half the time these people really don't know what they are talking about. He quotes numerous official studies (not paid for or backed by the NRA, as many liberals claim) and he also presents plenty of anecdotal evidence that taking away guns is actually not going to solve anything. It's extremely informational. One of my favorite quotes is towards the end of the book when Beck says this:

"If a boy stabs a cat to death with a steak knife, society doesn't debate the knife, it debates how the boy got that way. We look at his life, his upbringing, his schooling, his friends, his medications, and what he does in his spare time. But if that same boy uses a gun to kill that cat, everything changes. All of a sudden it's not about the boy, it's about the weapon. What kind of gun was it? How many rounds did it hold? how did he get it? Why didn't it have a trigger guard? While there are certainly legitimate questions to be asked in the wake of a violent act, gun crimes seem to divert attention from where it should really be: on the person committing the act."

Awesome. The first 2/3 of the book deals with debunking all the claims made in support of more gun control. My favorite was the quote from Piers Morgan, a famous anti-gun person, who said "In the last 30 years there have been 62 mass shootings. Not a single one has ever been thwarted by a civilian despite America being a heavily armed country." Well, DUH. If it had been stopped then it wouldn't be a mass shooting! Then Beck lists several accounts of killings that COULD have become large-scale if they had not been stopped by...someone with a gun.

Beck calls guns "the great equalizer." Basically the idea is that if you're an older person or a female, and some young, strong male (the normal profile of criminals) comes at you trying to hurt you or kill you, whether or not he has a gun, you're pretty much toast. However, if said senior citizen or young female has a gun, the chances of survival are WAY better. I love this quote from the book. "Consider for a second that you felt threatened for some reason and then ask yourself this: would you feel safer with a sign on your front window saying 'This house is a gun-free zone' or with an armed guard on call whenever you were home? If you wouldn't put this sign on your home, why would anyone think it's okay to put them in places where young children gather nearly every day?" Right you are, Mr. Beck.

The last 1/3 of the book focuses on the real reasons why Beck thinks we are having so many issues with violent crime lately. And it all starts with society and our acceptance of violence. He lists several studies that found that children who were exposed to violent television and/or video games were more likely to show aggressive behaviors later on in life. I have always been against violent video games, and now I'm even MORE against them. Beck describes the storylines of several of the more popular games out there right now, and I promise you, you will be SHOCKED! Oh and by the way, the rating M for Mature basically means that it's probably a really horrible game but the manufacturers got it past the raters by selecting specific less violent clips to show to the people in charge of giving ratings. He basically makes the argument that when we let kids spend hours playing games in which they are rewarded for being violent and for basically committing heinous acts, it starts to affect the way their brain perceives the world around them. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is already pro-gun and wants a bit more ammo to use during "discussions" with your anti-gun peers, or to anyone who hasn't really formed an opinion about them yet and wants to get some really good, fact-based information. (By the way, everything in the book is backed up with sources at the end. That you could go check out on your own if you're that interested.)

The Survivor's Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life

Author: Ben Sherwood
Pages: 337
Rating: PG - some of the things that happen to people in this book are a bit frightening, but there is no language, and nothing too horribly graphic.

Summary:
Which is the safest seat on an airplane? Where is the best place to have a heart attack? Why does religious observance add years to your life? How can birthdays be hazardous to your health?

Each second of the day, someone in America faces a crisis, whether it's a car accident, violent crime, serious illness, or financial trouble. Given the inevitability of adversity, we all wonder: Who beats the odds and who surrenders? Why do some people bound back and others give up? How can I become the kind of person who survives and thrives?

The fascinating, hopeful answers to these questions are found in THE SURVIVORS CLUB. In the tradition of Freakonomics and The Tipping Point, this book reveals the hidden side of survival by combining astonishing true stories, gripping scientific research, and the author's adventures inside the U.S. military's elite survival schools and the government's airplane crash evacuation course.

With THE SURVIVORS CLUB, you can also discover your own Survivor IQ through a powerful Internet-based test called the Survivor Profiler. Developed exclusively for this book, the test analyzes your personality and generates a customized report on your top survivor strengths.

There is no escaping life's inevitable struggles. But THE SURVIVORS CLUB can give you an edge when adversity strikes.

My Thoughts: This book was actually referred to me by my husband, who is not reader. He read it so fast, that I figured it must be worth the read. It was fascinating, let me tell you.

I have always been one of those people who is pretty much terrified at the thought of what life might possibly throw at me. I know we all usually have to face something majorly difficult in our lifetime, and I can give myself anxiety attacks wondering what that trial is going to be for me.

However, this book taught me that the more prepared you are, the better you'll fare (leading me to want to have more discussions with my husband about what we will do in various disastrous situations), and that people are almost always stronger than they think they are. The most fascinating chapter to me was the one on resiliance, where it explains that the majority of people who have some kind of traumatic experience do NOT experience severe PTSD and they actually recover quite well. Also, most people who have been through a difficult trial are grateful for the experience, and feel like they came out on the other end a better person than they were before.

My husband's favorite chapter was the one about plane crashes specifically. That one was also really interesting. I learned that it's very important to pay attention to the safety briefings, and also be aware of the exits and how you might be able to get out if there was a crash. Contrary to popular belief, most airplane crashes are NOT 100% fatal, and most people actually end up surviving. Also interesting is the fact that it doesn't much matter where you sit on the plane, as long as you are ready to jump into action in the face of an emergency. Plane crashes have been analyzed and found that people who died were sitting right next to people who lived. Those who died simply froze out of panic and therefore made no effort whatsoever to escape.

I would highly, highly recommend this one. It is so super interesting, and it gave me more confidence in myself. Also, you can take the Survivor Profiler test online and find out what your strengths are, and they might surprise you! I didn't think my results were accurate, but the test is pretty well put together, and it's really hard to get the wrong result. So maybe I'll surprise even myself in the event of a disaster!