Sarah's Key

Sarah is a 10 year old in Paris happy with life...well that is until the French Police start making rounds gathering up the Jewish families.  She is taken with her parents in the middle of the night...in a a desperate moment Sarah wanted more then anything to protect her baby brother and locked him in the closet sure that she would be able to return later the next day to let him out when things are safer. 

Flash forward 60 years to Julia who uncovers Sarah and her story.  The people in Paris have tried to forget this ugly part in their history but Julia can't do that.  Julia's findings change her relationship with her family, with others and herself.  Thing won't be the same. 

It is a heartbreaking story...as most all of the stories from this time in history are.  It is gut wrenching to think that people could be so cruel and awful to other humans.  Disgusting really.  It is amazing the strength that people have as the endure things that I truly can't imagine. 

It is amazing story...one worth reading.

Flashback Friday

 

June 11, 2010

It has been a few years since I read this book...but I think I would still list it has one of my favorites.

 

Elantris

By Brandon Sanderson

I am the farthest thing from a SiFi fan. Up until now I have never even picked one up at the library to even look at the cover, in fact I pretty much stay away from that section...you know they are weird stories about weird people (if they are even people). But when a friend suggested I read this book, I thought "why not my last few books have been losers" figuring I would add to the list of books I never want to see again I went to that strange Science Fiction section and took the book home.

BOY OH BOY was I wrong. From the beginning the book caught my attention. If fact, this morning I was about 20 pages away from finishing and I almost skipped a shower to read. It has killed me this week to pay attention to my household duties and more than once Dave come home with no dinner ready, or even thought of. oops.

As far as SiFi goes its not as weird as you would think. In fact the weirdest thing were the names they came up with. It was such a fun book to read and I loved it right down to the last page. It is interesting and has a great moral.

 

I highly suggest you read this one! Even if Science Fiction isn't your thing, this is worth it.

*totally forgot that I read Ender's Game and the sequel in HS. It was long enough ago I should re-read them.

An Invisible Thread

I am on a roll for good books.  I feel like the last 5 books have been great...this book is no exception.  And one great thing about this story is that it is true.


Laura is a big time....business woman in NYC.  Lots of money very important always on the go.  One day as she was walking the streets she saw a little boy begging for change.  She continued walking since she was a very busy and important person and then after taking a few steps past the young boy she realized she had a cancelled meeting which meant some free time.  She turned around and took the little boy to lunch. 

And there is began.  A very unusual friendship between an 11 year old and a grown business woman.  The poor boy  had next to nothing, his parents were drug addicts and there was very little if any stability in his life.  I was shocked throughout the whole book that lives like his actually exist...and I have a sinking feeling that some kids have it even worse.  What a heartbreaking thought.

Laura has experienced her own kind of struggles and heartbreak and so I think that they really needed each other.  And it was through their friendship that they learned life lessons that made them the people they are today. 

It is a wonderful book to read and an amazing story.  take a minute...or a few days...maybe a week a read it.  I think you will be glad you did.

Read on.

A Mother's Book of Secrets

This is a book I would highly recommend.  It is written by a mother daughter team and it is simply what as worked for them in their families.

The Chapters are short and sweet (love that) and their ideas are plenty and awesome and totally realistic.  Some times I read parenting books and I laugh because the author has no clue.  But here the authors real.  Another reason I enjoyed it was the two perspectives that were offered.  The first being the experienced mother and the 2nd being a mom in the trenches of motherhood as we speak.  They both offer sound advice and encouragement.

For example they share ideas about being organized, traditions, family laws, dinnertime, the five-facet review (which I love.  the mom and dad go out to eat once a month I think and they talk about the five different areas of each of their children and how they are doing and what as parents they need to be focusing on or helping with.  It is so simple and yet helps both mom and dad be on the same page and so aware.).  There is a chapter about putting your husband first and learning that the kind of mom I am striving to be is MY BEST.  I don't need to compare myself to other mothers and try to be their best.  I can be my own kind of best mom.  It also discusses money, choices and cleaning-which I loved this chapter one of the authors as a toy monster that they named and the mom would pull it out and anything left out would go in the bag and kids could do chores to get their toy out.  Toys that went in more than twice went to DI.  Toys left in there too long also went to DI.  What a great simple idea.

This book is worth the price tag....which I don't know what that is since my sweet Mom gave it to me.  But let me tell you it was worth her money!  This is a book I will keep close and read when I am at a loss for ideas or feel like I need a pick me up...since the chapters are so short and the pictures so sweet it is very doable.

 I LOVE this book.  Buy it and read it!

Enduring Light

This is the 2nd novel of Carla Kelly I fave read...in the last couple of weeks.  Apparently I was starved for a good fiction story and read through this two novels rather quickly.  Enduring Light is the rest of Julia's story.  Well, I should say rest I am sure there could be more.  When you are living on a ranch I am sure the stories can be never ending


I suppose I should say that if you don't want me to ruin the first book for you...stop reading this review and just now that although this was a wonderful book to read I didn't enjoy it as much as Borrowed Light.  Maybe it is too much Carla at one time but I was ready for the story to end.  However, I say read this one too.


Okay...so the story line...sorry if you haven't read the first one but Julia falls in love for the cowboy.  But I think that is pretty obvious...I mean what kind of love story would it be if she dumbed her lame fiance moved to a ranch with a hunky boss and returned to the lame brain boyfriend after all.  So I guess I am not really ruining it.  right?

Well, this story had some interesting moments that included rocky mountain oysters some more yummy food (this book made me want to make something great for dinner) and a crazy stocker man.  It had potential to be an intense book that was gripping and had me on the edge of my seat but it just didn't quit get there.  However, Carla did enjoy writing about the joys of being a newlywed.  There wasn't anything dirty and the author still kept it clean, but it nearly ever chapter there was a reference to the obvious love the two newlyweds shared...almost to the point of making it unbelievable.  There were a few conversations that I thought would never happen between a Ranch Boss and his ranch hands...but then again I have never lived on a ranch so maybe they do sit around and laugh about how in love their boss is in real life.

This is a good follow up story, but if you have only time for one fictional book read the first novel.

Happy Reading

on another note, these were Carla Kelly's first LDS novels (bravo Carla).  I have ready to read one of her earlier works...I will let you know how it goes.  She is obviously leans more towards the romance writing...I will keep you posted.

Borrow Light

Lately it seems I have been craving a good novel that I could just sit and enjoy without thinking too much...especially since I do most of my reading the middle of the night and that is not the best time for deep thinking.  This was just a book I was looking for.  It is an easy read, the story isn't too complex, the characters are lovable, and it is clean.

And really who doesn't love a good cowboy romance?

Julia is a 27 year old Fannie Farmer Cooking School graduate engaged and living in Salt Lake City in the early 1900s.  Hate to say it be her fiance seems pretty lame.  Apparently Julia (I love that name) thought so too.  She broke off the engagement and took a job in the wild west as a cook for a rancher.  And from there the story unfolds so nicely.

I am have found that I am not a HUGE fan of LDS fiction...I am sure it is because I haven't found the right authors yet but so often I feel like some of the stories become very preachy and the Gospel undertones over take the story and characters.  That is not the case here.  The Gospel is woven throughout the lives of the characters in such a believable and sweet way.  I enjoyed seeing the development of Testimonies from different characters without it feeling like the author had was hoping to use the novel as a teaching manual.  The love story was pretty great too. 

It is just a sweet story that I really enjoyed reading...so much so that I read the 2nd book.

So there you have it...if you are looking for a nice summer read that than look no further I have found the book for you.

Happy Reading!

Killing Lincoln

What a great book!  It is a true story (obviously) about the assassination of President Lincoln, but at times I felt like it was a novel.  It kind of goes back and forth between novel like and strait up facts (text book).  But even the text book kind of writing was intriguing.

It was so interesting and so good to read that I honestly carried it with my all over the house (minus the bathroom...it was a borrowed book) so that if I had a minute I could stop doing what I was supposed to be doing to read a chapter (which were awesomely short!!).

There was a lot about Lincoln's assassination that I didn't know, for example I don't remember ever learning (although I bet I did) that it was a group thing...that there was a handful of men all with different leaders to kill and that it was probably MUCH bigger than that even...perhaps a conspiracy *gasp*.  I also didn't know that Lincoln felt his time was coming to a close; or what happened to Booth after words.  I knew he was apprehended but not how.  It was a lot of fun to read especially since I had been to many of the places mentioned in the book.  Another positive point is that I felt so smart after reading it...usually when I read non-fiction I really skip around but I read ever page.  It was that good! 

READ IT.  Learn something this summer!