Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Author: Alex Haley

Pages: 729

Rating: PG-13 (Very intense scenes of violence, rape, and obviously, the N-word is scattered through practically every page of the last 2/3 of this book.)

Summary:
"Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a man-child was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte."

So begins Roots, one of the most extraordinary and influential books of our time. Through the story of one family—his family—Alex Haley unforgettably brings to life the monumental two-century drama of Kunta Kinte and the six generations who came after him: slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lumber mill workmen and Pullman porters, lawyers and architects...and one author.

A national and international phenomenon at the time of its original publication, Roots continues to enthrall readers with its masterful narrative drive and exceptional emotional power, speaking to us all with an undiminished resonance and relevance.

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage.... Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning no matter what our attainments in life."—Alex Haley

My Thoughts: Wow, what a book! I've wanted to read this for a long time and finally dove in. Honestly, the slavery portion of American history is not something I've spent a lot of time reading about. I think mainly because it's so hard to read about something so horrific and immoral happening in your own country. I flew through the beginning part, where Kunta is growing up in Africa, but my reading slowed considerably once he was captured by a slave trader.

I admit, I was shocked by what Kunta had to go through. Although this book is largely a work of fiction (obviously, the author wasn't there and doesn't have any detailed records of words that were actually spoken), Haley tried to make the events as realistic and as historically accurate as possible. And I was appalled. The horrible conditions on the slave ship, the fact that so many of them died before even reaching the US, and then, that they advertised, "Healthy, prime slaves" upon arrival, when in reality, most were horribly emaciated, extremely ill, weak, and covered in sores.

Then, once a slave, treated basically as no more than an animal would be. I learned so much from reading this, and it was so exciting to follow the author's path at the end as he searches out and eventually traces his roots all the way back to the African tribe that Kunta disappeared from back in the 1700's. Due to lack of records and the fact that slaves were bought and sold so frequently (and every time that happened, their last names were changed to their new master's last name), being able to trace a family all the way back to Africa is probably a unique occurance.

I was incredibly humbled by my reading of this book. Especially to note how religious the slaves generally were. They led terrible lives, and yet they clung to God sometimes more fiercely than their "Christian" owners. I also feel deeply grateful that I grew up in a time and place where I literally don't even remember noticing that some people have a different color skin than me. Looking back on my childhood, I can't remember a single instance where I thought less of someone because they didn't look like me. Roots doesn't go into much detail into the lives of the author's ancestors after they were officially freed from slavery after the civil war. But as we all know, the fight for freedom was far from over. We are still battling racism in so many ways, but it sure is amazing to see how far we've come. I was amazed to read that even many abolitionists, who felt that the slaves should be freed, did not believe that blacks and whites could live together in harmony, and many favored shipping all the freed slaves back to Africa.

This book was definitely an epic, but so worth the read!

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.

Everything Everything

Author: Nicola Yoon

Pages: 306

Rating: PG-13 (There is no language, but there is a 2 page sex scene. Not overly graphic, but still somewhat descriptive)

 
Summary: Risk everything . . . for love.
What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face . . . or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in next door . . . and becomes the greatest risk she’s ever taken. 

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read (I read it in less than 2 days). It definitely moved quickly, was exciting, and fun! Although, it was one of those books that I wish could have been told from several different perspectives. I wanted Olly's thoughts, the mom's thoughts, etc. It was really good though. I wasn't super satisfied with the ending. I had questions that weren't answered. I wished there was an epilogue. I have not seen the movie. I may have to reserve it. I did like the book though.  

Dear Reader

Author: Mary O'Connell

Pages:  293

Rating: PG-13 (There is almost no language EXCEPT for one page in which there is a letter that one of the main characters wrote in which the F-word is used profusely. But the rest of the book is clean. There are mentions of teenage sex but no graphic descriptions).

Summary:
For seventeen-year-old Flannery Fields, the only respite from the plaid-skirted mean girls at Sacred Heart High School is her beloved teacher Miss Sweeney’s AP English class. But when Miss Sweeney doesn't show up to teach Flannery's favorite book, Wuthering Heights, leaving behind her purse, Flannery knows something is wrong.
The police are called, and Flannery gives them everything―except Miss Sweeney's copy of Wuthering Heights. This she holds onto. And good thing she does, because when she opens it, it has somehow transformed into Miss Sweeney's real-time diary. It seems Miss Sweeney is in New York City―and she's in trouble.
So Flannery does something very unFlannery-like: she skips school and sets out for Manhattan, with the book as her guide. But as soon as she arrives, she meets a boy named Heath. Heath is British, on a gap year, incredibly smart―yet he's never heard of Albert Einstein or Anne Frank. In fact, Flannery can't help thinking that he seems to have stepped from the pages of Brontë's novel. Could it be that Flannery is spending this topsy-turvy day with her ultimate fictional romantic hero, Heathcliff, reborn in the twenty-first century?

My Thoughts: I still can't 100% decide how I feel about this book. Was it fun? Yes. Was it addicting and difficult to put down? Also, yes. But, after it was finally over I kind of felt let down. Like...I just didn't get the resolution I was expecting. And it's not that it was just a different kind of ending, but still good, it was that I felt like it all wrapped up so quickly and nothing was really resolved. Maybe I just didn't get it. I don't know. I've never read Wuthering Heights, so maybe that made the difference. If you love that book, you'll probably like this one. I also thought it was a little bit melodramatic. The reviews on GoodReads are mixed. Some love it, some hate it, as is the case with any book. And although I definitely didn't hate it, I didn't love it either. Enjoyable, fun, but not life-changing. And I'm not running out to recommend it to the nearest stranger either.

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?

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.

Behind Every Great Man: The Forgotten Women Behind the World's Famous and Infamous

Author: Marlene Wagman-Geller
Pages: 329
Rating: PG-13 (a few of the people profiled were very sexually open and into drugs, etc. But there is no language)

Summary:
From ancient times to the present, men have gotten most of the good ink. Yet standing just outside the spotlight are the extraordinary, and overlooked, wives and companions who are just as instrumental in shaping the destinies of their famous―and infamous―men.
This witty, illuminating book reveals the remarkable stories of forty captivating females, from Constance Lloyd (Mrs. Oscar Wilde) to Carolyn Adams (Mrs. Jerry Garcia), who have stood behind their legendary partners and helped to humanize them, often at the cost of their own careers, reputations, and happiness. Through fame and its attendant ills―alcoholism, infidelity, mental illness, divorce, and even attempted murder―these powerful women quietly propelled their men to the top and changed the course of history.
Meet the Untold Half of History, Including:
•Alma Reville (Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock)
•Elena Diakonova (Mrs. Salvador Dali)
•Winifred Madikizela (Mrs. Nelson Mandela)
•Ann Charteris (Mrs. Ian Fleming, a.k.a. Mrs. James Bond)
•Ruth Alpern (Mrs. Bernie Maddoff)
And 35 more!

My Thoughts: I felt that this book was really very interesting. I loved learning about the women behind some of these famous men. My favorites were Mrs. Gandhi,  Mrs. Schindler, and Mrs. Charlie Chaplin. I had no idea that Gandhi's wife fasted right alongside him, and usually was imprisoned with him as well. Schindler's famous list was a joint brainstorm between husband and wife. You always just kind of think of these men as single, you never consider that they had wife who was just as much involved in their rise to fame! Each chapter is only 4-5 pages long, so it's easy to read small pieces at a time. My biggest complaint is that sometimes the sentence structure is awkward, occasionally there's a phrase that doesn't seem to fit within a given paragraph, and it's a little disjointed. The author tends to jump from topic to topic without smooth transitions. I got a little lost more than once. Other than that, this was an informative, fun read.

Most Wanted

Author: Lisa Scottoline
Pages: 417

Rating: PG-13 (This is definitely an adult novel. I don't know that it would be easy for a teen to understand everything involved in this, but I also rated it PG-13 because there is a serial murder, and the crime scenes are described in detail. It's a tad gory. Very little language though, and no sex.)

Summary:
Donor 3319 Profile:
Tall. Blonde. Blue eyes.
Medical Student.
Wanted for Serial Murder.
Christine Nilsson and her husband, Marcus, are desperate for a baby. Unable to conceive, they find themselves facing a difficult choice they had never anticipated. After many appointments with specialists, endless research, and countless conversations, they make the decision to use a donor.
Two months pass, and Christine is happily pregnant. But one day, she is shocked to see a young blond man on the TV news being arrested for a series of brutal murders―and the blond man bears an undeniable and uncanny resemblance to her donor.
Delving deeper to uncover the truth, Christine must confront a terrifying reality and face her worst fears. Riveting and fast-paced with the depth of emotionality that has garnered Lisa Scottoline legions of fans, Most Wanted poses an ethical and moral dilemma: What would you do if the biological father of your unborn child was a killer?

My Thoughts: I thought this book was very interesting in it's premise, but I wasn't a fan of the style of writing. One thing that drove me nuts about this book was how every character's outfit had to be described in detail every time you met them (even if you only meet them once, for half a page). If Christine changed outfits for any reason, you get a full description. I read this for a book club and other people in the group actually liked the outfit descriptions, but I thought it was annoying. Sometimes it took forever to get places because of how much the author described things. Every time Christine enters or exits her car, the author specifies that she "chirps" the car either locked or unlocked. So unnecessary. There were also plot points that didn't really help the storyline in any way. For example, Christine briefly visits her parents and it's revealed that her dad has Alzheimer's and this has been very hard on the family, but this doesn't really further the plot and I feel like could have been something just mentioned, and not something to spend an entire chapter on. There are other instances like this as well.

Other than that, I did think it was an interesting story. And I liked that it was clean. After seeing the news report with the arrested serial killer that looks astonishingly like her donor, Christine and Marcus try to find out the identity of their anonymous donor. The sperm bank refuses to comply. They decide to sue, but Christine can't wait for a lawsuit, so she drives up to the prison to ask the alleged killer straight out. She ends up investigating the most recent murder on her own, because she begins to doubt the alleged killer's guilt. It's interesting, keeps you turning pages for sure. I wasn't a fan of how quickly it all wrapped up though. If you like detective TV shows, go ahead and read this one. I liked it, but didn't LOVE it.

I'll Give You The Sun

Author: Jandy Nelson
Pages: 371
Rating: PG-13 (probably 10-12 F-words in this book, but very little other swearing.)

Summary:
At first, Jude and her twin brother are NoahandJude; inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them.

Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways . . . but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor.

The early years are Noah’s to tell; the later years are Jude’s. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they’ll have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant, award-winning novel from the acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

My Thoughts: I really love this author. She is just so so amazing with words! I don't even know how she thinks up the things she says, but they make complete sense, even if it's something I never in a million years would have thought to say. For example, towards the beginning, Noah talks about how walking around in the art museum makes him feel like his skin fits, how "it didn't once bunch up at my ankles or squeeze my head into a pin." What great imagery! What an artistic way to explain how he felt free to be himself! I just love the way she writes.

All that aside, I also loved the story. I have never actually read a book where one of the main characters was gay. It just isn't something that interested me/it kind of made me uncomfortable. But Nelson does an amazing job of writing Noah. Noah is gay, but he's kind of afraid of it, as I'm sure most kids in his position feel. He wishes he wasn't like this, he's afraid of what his family will think if they ever find out, but he can't stop what he feels. Seriously, just such a great novel to create understanding towards kids who are struggling with their sexual identity. 

Another thing I love is in the end, Noah and Jude both realize that they never really knew their parents as well as they thought they did. They made assumptions, made too much out of innocent comments. Noah believes for years that his dad dislikes him and that they have nothing in common. He has completely forgotten the things they used to enjoy doing together, the amazing things they DO share. It's eye opening, for sure.

This book was not predictable. I wasn't sure where it was all going to end up or what was going to happen, and there was a twist towards the end that totally surprised me. This book was definitely worth reading. I hope Nelson writes more books because she is really incredible!

The Kitchen House

Author: Kathleen Grissom
Pages: 365
Rating: PG-13 - there are no graphic descriptions, but a girl is raped, and a boy is sexually abused (this is just implied but it's pretty clear what is going on). There's also some violence.

Summary:
In this gripping novel, a dark secret threatens to expose the best and worst in everyone tied to the estate at a thriving plantation in Virginia in the decades before the Civil War.

Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food, while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family.

In time, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the master’s opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart from Belle and the other slaves.

Through the unique eyes of Lavinia and Belle, Grissom’s debut novel unfolds in a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of class, race, dignity, deep-buried secrets, and familial bonds.

My Thoughts: I had kind of a hard time with this book. Sometimes I got so frustrated with the plot I had to put the book down for a while. It's one of those books where it just seems like bad things keep happening and nothing ever really gets better! And it definitely doesn't have a neat and tidy ending where everything is suddenly happily ever after. One slave that Lavinia is very close to ends up being sold, and you never find out what happens to her. She's just gone.

I thought it was definitely an interesting book - to be written mainly from the perspective of a white girl, who as an indentured servant doesn't really fit into either the world of the slaves or the world of the white family she serves, is an interesting perspective. But I felt frustrated because so many things would have worked out better if the characters had just communicated! If the captain had told his family Belle's true identity as his daughter, if someone had explained to Lavinia the status quo of black vs white. Lavinia is kind of naive and of course, since she is thrown in with the negro slaves of the household, she comes to love them as her family. But she never really understands the way things work, and what the slaves can and can't legally do. She just doesn't get it, and that causes some problems. No one ever properly explains it to her. I also felt like there wasn't enough of a wrap-up at the end. There's this big climactic crazy scene where the poop totally hits the fan, and then like 3 pages later the book is over. I would have liked more of an explanation of what happened next. And there is a sequel, but it's not about the same main characters. It's the next generation.

But I do have to say that the book was humbling to read, because I think the author very realistically described the reality that black slaves had to deal with during this time period. They could be sold at any time, for any reason. For that matter, they could also be killed at any time, for any reason, with no repercussions. Families were not guaranteed to stay together. They had no real say in anything. It was a terrible way to live. But what impressed me the most was the intense faith in God that the slaves had. They are always talking about how things are the will of the Lord, how the Lord is taking care of us, etc. How many reasons they had to believe God didn't love them, had abandoned them, or maybe even didn't even exist! But they held on, maybe because they had to believe there was something better out there. It was the only thing that kept them going each day. Just amazing, really.

In all, I probably would recommend this book, but just be warned, it doesn't leave you feeling warm and fuzzy.

Garden Spells

Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Pages: 286

Rating: PG-13 (this is definitely an adult novel. There were a few too many curse words, and I wasn't pleased with the descriptiveness of the sex in it. It's not extremely graphic, it doesn't go on and on for pages, but the little that there is I felt was too much. I like my sex references in books to be super vague.)

Summary:
The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures. A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants - from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys - except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before. When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down - along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy - if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom - or with each other

My Thoughts: I felt like this was a good story, I really enjoyed the little bits of magic laced in, and I thought the characters were well rounded, etc. As I said above, I wasn't comfortable with how descriptive the sex scenes got, even though it wasn't bad enough for me to close the book and say I'm done. I liked how the book switched perspectives several times so you get to hear from each character. I'm going to check out more by this author, because she came highly recommended, but I'm hoping her other books are better. I wasn't super enthralled by this one.

Me Before You

Author: Jojo Moyes
Pages: 369
Rating: PG-13 (There's one time the main character has sex with her boyfriend, but it's not descriptive. I was much more bothered by the fact that the F-word is in this book probably 10-15 times.)

Summary:
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.


My Thoughts: So this book, and it's accompanying movie, has been all the rage lately. I probably would not have picked this up except that my book club chose it for the month of July, so I read it.

I do have to say that it is very well written. I read the whole thing in 3 days. It never gets boring or tedious at ALL and it's very emotional. You really understand the way everyone is feeling.

That being said, I'm not sure if I particularly like the story. Will is not just wheelchair bound, he's a quadriplegic. Everything has to be done for him. He has to be fed like a baby, bathed, moved around, everything. He's totally helpless. And, the worse part is, even though he can't MOVE his body parts, he can still feel pain in them. Will wants to commit an assisted suicide. When Louisa finds out, she sets out to convince him that life is worth living, even if it's not the life he intended for himself.

Spoiler, Spoiler, Spoiler...if you don't want to know how it ends, STOP READING NOW!

Surprise, surprise, Louisa ends up falling in love with Will, despite his paralysis. And, Will falls for Louisa. However, none of this changes his mind. He still wants to commit suicide. It's heartbreaking to read how his mother feels about all this, how Louisa feels. And I agree with Louisa when she tells Will he is being selfish. He tells her that her love is not enough for him. He can't stand to live life like this even with the love of his family, of Louisa, and with so many things that he CAN do. It frustrates me because his brain is still there, the essence of who he is still exists. In the end, he does go through with the suicide, and everyone just has to accept it, because that's what will make him happy. The book is apparently supposed to be giving us an idea of why it would be ok for someone to commit an assisted suicide. And I don't really know how I feel about it, especially in a situation such as was presented in this book. I don't think you should end your life just because it didn't go the way you wanted it to. I think about how I would feel if a loved one of mine wanted to do something like that and I just can't even stand it. It's really horrible. 

So anyway, if you choose to read this book, you'll definitely not be bored, but I don't really know how I feel about the overall message of it.  
 

Call The Midwife: Farewell to the East End

Author: Jennifer Worth
Pages: 314
Rating: PG-13 (a few of the stories are rather mature in nature)

Summary:
Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End is the last book in Worth's memoir trilogy, which the Times Literary Supplement described as "powerful stories with sweet charm and controlled outrage" in the face of dire circumstances.
Here, at last, is the full story of Chummy's delightful courtship and wedding. We also meet Megan'mave, identical twins who share a browbeaten husband, and return to Sister Monica Joan, who is in top eccentric form. As in Worth's first two books, Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times and Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse, the vividly portrayed denizens of a postwar East End contend with the trials of extreme poverty—unsanitary conditions, hunger, and disease—and find surprising ways to thrive in their tightly knit community.

My Thoughts:  This was probably my least favorite of the three books, although I still found it very interesting. It was neat to hear what happened to each of the people the author worked with (Trixie, Chummy, Cynthia, and the nuns) and in case you care, almost none of them do what the show says they do, but we expect television to take some liberties with the storyline. This book was my least favorite because it seemed to be just made up of stories that didn't fit into the first two books, so it's kind of sporadic. But still interesting. This book includes the stories of Meg and Mave, twins who are married to the same man and who insist on following extremely old books about pregnancy and birth; the story of the woman who after finding out she is pregnant yet again with a child they can't afford gets a backstreet abortion and almost dies, the woman who naturally births triplets, The Master's Arms (old guy who is sick and has lost his entire family except one daughter, who comes to nurse him), and the story of the ship's woman who ends up pregnant (this one and the abortion story are particularly disturbing).

I have to say though, that in the end I highly recommend all three of these books. I wish there were more!

Call The Midwife

Author: Jennifer Worth
Pages: 319
Rating: PG-13 (There are a few chapters about a prostitute who ended up pregnant, and some of the descriptions of the prostitute life are quite graphic.)

Summary: In the 1950s, twenty-two-year-old Jenny Lee leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in London's East End slums. While delivering babies all over the city, Jenny encounters a colorful cast of women—from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lives, to the woman with twenty-four children who can't speak English, to the prostitutes of the city's seedier side.

My Thoughts: I've been totally addicted to the TV show on Netflix, and knowing it's based on a memoir, I decided to check it out. Guess what? This is just the first of THREE books! Which is awesome because when I finished it I was disappointed that it ended so soon! I found this book to be completely fascinating, especially because these midwives were pioneers in the work of taking care of pregnant women. It's amazing what they were able to do.

Not all the stories are about babies and pregnant women and it's really interesting to read about some of the history of the area. I was particularly struck by the descriptions of the workhouses, which is where the desperately poor used to turn when they had no other choice. The workhouses were honestly not much better than Hitler's concentration camps. Families were separated and children usually died. Seriously so depressing.

If you've been watching the show, you'll recognize the majority of the stories, although some of them don't end quite as happily, which is a bummer. Reading it makes one grateful for all the advances in medicine and laws that we have today that make things even better for mothers.

Highly recommend this one, especially if you're already watching the show!

The Storied Life of A.J Fikry

Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Pages: 258
Rating: PG-13 (several instances of the f-word, references to sex, although no graphic descriptions)

Summary:
A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over--and see everything anew.

My Thoughts: I felt like this book was just ok. While it was a nice quick read and entertaining enough to keep me reading it, I didn't fall in love with it completely.It also had a few too many swear words in it for my taste.  AJ is quite depressed at the beginning of the story. His wife has died in a car accident and he is quite alone. The "mysterious package" is an abandoned 2-year old girl, who AJ ends up adopting, and she helps him really turn his life around. I just felt like this story has been told before, in a million different ways. But I did like the underlying theme about how books and stories can bring people together, solidify relationships, and change the way we think about things. 

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Author: Garth Stein
Pages:  321
Rating: PG-13 (there is a little too much swearing for my taste, including probably about 10-12 instances of the F-bomb. Also, the dog does describe his master having sex with his wife twice, but it is not very graphic. This is more of an adult novel for sure.)

Summary: Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television and listening carefully to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Now in his twilight years, Enzo finds himself thinking back on his life with the Swift family, reflecting on all he has learned about the human condition and how life, like racing, is about so much more than simply going fast.

My Thoughts: I read this book in about 2 days. It was a really quick read, and you just don't want to put it down. I love that the whole thing is told from the dog's perspective. If you like dogs, you'll probably like this book. However, even though there is a lot about racing and different race car drivers, which is something I'm not remotely interested in, I never got bored with it. It was never so much that I felt like it took anything away from the story. In fact, it helped me love Enzo even more. By the end, I wanted him to be MY dog, and I'm not really a dog person!

A little more about the storyline - Denny is constantly torn between opportunities to further his racing career and being there with his family. A race car driver often has to be away from his family for months at a time. After his wife's death, Denny is sued by his in-laws for custody of his daughter, Zoe. All of this is told through the eyes of the ever loyal, totally understanding and helpful dog, Enzo. Enzo has complete and total faith in his master to be able to get through these difficult challenges and move on, just like he does during races when something unexpected happens.

I really enjoyed this sweet story. I could have done with fewer swear words, but overall it was a quick read with a feel-good ending One of my favorite quotes from Enzo is towards the end, when he knows he is on his deathbed. "Have I made a mistake by anticipating my future and shunning my present?" Such a good question for us each to ponder every single day.

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.

Fairest

Author: Marissa Meyer
Pages: 222
Rating: PG-13 (Levana is not a nice person and some of the stuff she does is rather awful)

Summary:
Pure evil has a name, hides behind a mask of deceit, and uses her "glamour" to gain power. But who is Queen Levana? Long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress in The Lunar Chronicles, Levana lived a very different story--a story that has never been told . . . until now.

My Thoughts: This book is a prequel to the Lunar Chronicles books, which I have also reviewed on here. It was a quick read, and definitely interesting. I thought it was nice to get some back story on Levana. Some people think this book is trying to garner sympathy for her, which I think it does to an extent, but still, by the end, she has done so many bad things, justifying them away as being "necessary" that you don't really feel that bad for her. She's the definition of a crazy person because every awful thing she does she feels as if she has a perfectly good reason for it and it needed to be done, even if it causes her pain and sorrow as well. I feel a little bit sorry for her, but it's also pretty clear that there's nothing that can be done to change the person that she is at this point. She's come too far. 

As far as order goes, if you haven't read any of the Lunar Chronicles books, I suppose you could start here, but I feel it kind of fits in anywhere. Having read the other books, there were things I already understood about Levana, but if you haven't read them it doesn't really matter. By the end of the book you're basically at the point where Cinder begins, so it starts of the series nicely.

All the Light We Cannot See

Author: Anthony Doerr
Pages: 530
Rating: PG-13 (There is a little bit of language from soldiers, and a group of girls gets raped by Russian soldiers near the end, but the description is very vague)

Summary:
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.
 
My Thoughts: I can't say that this book was life-changing, but it was definitely very interesting and enjoyable to read and it gave me a lot to think about. I felt like the author really knew each of his characters and what they were going through. Sometimes the descriptions of things were confusing and I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about. I will say that I loved that this is a work of historical fiction that seems as if every sentence could have been fact. I sometimes lost sight of the fact that this was a work of fiction and I wanted to tell people about it as if Werner and Marie-Laure actually lived.

The book is organized into very short, 2-3 page chapters that go back and forth between Marie-Laure's and Werner's perspectives, with an occasional interruption from another minor character. This I liked because it made the book easy to read in quick spurts. The book ALSO jumps back and forth in time. There will be several chapters in a row about the end of the war, and then several chapters in a row about Werner and Marie-Laure's childhood. I didn't feel like this was confusing, however. I kind of liked it.

I think my favorite part of this book was the perspectives it showed. I've read a lot of World War 2 books, both fiction and non-fiction and most of the time, the books I've read focused on those who ended up stuck in Germany's horrific concentration camps. This book tells the story of a young boy forced into service in the German military, and a young, blind, French girl dealing with the occupation of her country. I particularly liked Werner's story. Although fiction, it resonated with truth. Werner is happy that his skill with radios saves him from working in his town mines and allows him to attend an elite school for German youth. However, this school is not without its brutality and cruelty, as the boys are taught to hate any sign of weakness in anyone, even their own countrymen, and to believe wholeheartedly in the superiority of the Aryan race.

When Werner is finally sent to war, his skills with the radio again save him from any real fighting, as he is on a task force that travels through Germany's conquered countries and tracks down any illegal radio transmissions. Whenever they find anyone with an illegal radio that they are using to broadcast information, they kill them. Werner voices his discomfort about this, since he has been taught that these people are all ruthless terrorists and highly organized criminals, but all he ever sees are simple people in simple dwellings. I just loved that this book portrayed the fact that war is a terrible tragedy for everyone involved, no matter which side you are on. Not all Germans were bad. Not all German soldiers believed in what they were fighting for.

The ending of this book was sad, and surprising. I didn't think it was going to end in the way it did. But I feel like it was very realistic. War devastates countries and lives, and you just do the best you can to keep moving, to keep living and I felt like that's what the ending of this book portrayed. I would definitely recommend this book if you are interested in history.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Pages: 406
Rating: PG-13 (It's war. It's graphic. It's violent. It's mature. However, there is another version of this book that is written specifically with a teen audience in mind, if you want your kid to read it but don't think they can handle this version.)

Summary:
In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

My Thoughts: This book was FASCINATING! In the author's note at the end, Hillenbrand makes the point that when we learn about WWII in school, the main focus is on the European war, which is kind of strange considering that it was Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor that got the US into the war, and our atomic bomb drops on Japan that finally and officially ended the ordeal. How come we never really learn about the war in the Pacific? I had no idea all the crazy stuff that was going on. I mean, yes, Hitler and his minions were pure evil and they were doing terrible things, but crazy crap was going down in Japan and the Pacific Islands too. Here are some amazing things I learned that just shocked me.

1. "Between November 1943 and May 1945, 70% of the men listed as killed in action died in operational aircraft accidents, not as a result of enemy action." How sad is that? We lost tens of thousands of men before they even left for foreign soil, just in training accidents or routine practice flights. The book says that in the air corps, 35,946 men died in non-battle situations. So, so sad.

2. Being in the air corps back then was basically signing your own death sentence. An airman was required to fulfill 40 missions before finishing their tour of duty. There was a 50% chance of being killed before completing that tour.

3. Japan was a BRUTAL enemy. Their prison camps I think were actually worse than Hitler's concentration camps. Although Japan didn't have gas chambers in which they routinely gassed prisoners, they did have doctors conducting gruesome medical experiments on prisoners, and they had something called the "kill-all order." If it looked like the Allied forces were getting close to whatever island a Japanese POW camp was located on, the guards would murder every single prisoner. And in several camps, that's exactly what they did, sometimes in gruesome and sadistic ways.

Louie (from the book) made it farther than most airmen that crashed in the ocean. He survived being adrift at sea for over a month. But then he got stuck in a POW camp, and your chances of survival there were slim to none. One particular guard was so brutal that he would beat men until they passed out, then revive them by throwing water on their faces or patting their foreheads with a damp cloth, and then continue the beatings. Another time, when Louie was caught for a minor infraction, this guard required all the prisoners to punch Louie square in the face. If the prisoner did not punch hard enough, he had to keep punching until this guard was satisfied with the force. The only thing that saved Louie from the "kill-all" policy was the atomic bomb. The war ended just weeks before the prisoners in Louie's camp had been told they would all be executed.

It's just an incredible story, and I think everyone needs to read it. These men went through so much, and it continued after the war. We know a lot more about PTSD now than they did back then, and these poor men suffered without relief. Many turned to alcoholism or drugs. Some committed suicide. The war did not end in their minds and in their dreams. I can't even imagine having to go through such a difficult trial.

And we as Americans currently have no idea what it's like to be in such a crisis. We don't know what it's like to have everything rationed, because the war is taking over every resource. Back then, almost every family in America had lost a father, son, brother, uncle, or cousin to the war. I sincerely hope we never have to go through something like that again. But, we need to not forget what those people suffered. And Louie's story is repeated over and over again for each of the thousands of men that suffered through WWII, whether they survived or not. We don't even know the stories of many of the men who died, what horrors they experienced. It's very humbling.

As I said, I was thrilled to discover that there is another version of this book written especially for teens/young adults. I would highly recommend that to you if you have a teenager or if you just don't want to invest yourself in this longer version. But seriously, read it. It's incredible.