I loved this book …and it’s been 3 days since I have finished reading it and I cannot stop thinking about it. This is another WWII story but  not your typical story. Don’t get me wrong…the war is going on…there are atrocities for sure…and heart break, and the heroine of this story is a Jewish girl…but it takes a look at non Jews as well, and how the war effected everyone, even unborn babies. This novel takes us into the little known world of the Nazi Lebensborn, which were maternity homes for pregnant girls carrying German babies. These girls were treated so well…and fed so well…when so many people were starving during these times. But these young, unwed girls were important to the Germans…in fact many thought this was their job…to produce German babies for their country.

Cyrla, is a young Jewish girl, sent from Poland by her father, to live with her Dutch relatives in hopes of keeping her safe during these frightful time.Cyrla was lucky she had 5 wonderful years with her new family before everything changed. Cyrla had lived with her aunt, uncle and cousin Anneke, who was more like her twin sister then cousin. In an unexpected turn of events Cyrla ’s world changes completely and the journey she embarks on is one no one would expect. In the midst of all this uncertainly, heartbreak and unsafe condtions for the Jews an unexpected love story transpires, again one that no one would suspect, especially Cyrla. I highly recommend this book and it was one I just didn’t want to put down.

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For some reason this book took me forever to get through..but not because I didn’t like it. In fact I really enjoyed this book.  The story is about Alice Lindgren, a nice girl from a small Midwestern town. Alice is a typical teenager until one day a tragic accident changes her life and her path forever. After attempting to move on with her life,  Alice eventually meets her future husband and is swept off her feet into love and a whole new life.  The man she meets and falls in love with eventually turns to politics and becomes the President of the United States. Getting a glimpse into the world of the first lady is quite fascinating and what really will change how you view this novel is that the characters are loosely based on Laura and George Bush. This becomes more noticeable once the story moves into the White House days and the history of the Bush days are quite clear…the war…weapons of mass destruction etc.  I admit besides being the first lady I knew nothing about Laura Bush so getting a glimpse into her life and her early years was very interesting. The book is fiction, however the author did a lot of research on the first couple and those facts are what inspired the story. Fact or fiction…I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it.

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I love the bittersweet feeling as you are finishing a great book, when you finally find out the answers you have been waiting for….and you can’t stop turning the pages to put all the pieces together, and if you are lucky you even get a happy ending… but then you are done, and a bit sad, because you have completely enjoyed the story and characters and the book is finished. This is how I felt about Jamie Fords book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. This was an amazing love story…of first love…that took place during World War II. The story is about a young Chinese/American boy, Henry Lee and a Japanese/American girl Keiko Okabe during a time of great prejudice against the Japanese. During this time in America the Japanese were rounded up and sent to internment camps, taken from their homes and their lives. Keiko goes through this ordeal with her family and thousands of other Japanese and Japanese Americans. I learned about a new side of the war in this book and was also immediately drawn to the characters and the story. I highly recommend this book.

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Philippa Gregory and her stories of the Kings and Queens of England are truly 0ne of my favorite time periods to read about and her newest book does not disappoint.  This is the story of 3 brothers who turn against each other in order to obtain the throne of England that they each believe is rightfully theirs. It is amazing to see how people/family react and the choices they make to get what they truly feels belongs to them.  Family betrayal is one of the most shocking betrayals and most difficult to understand. In addition to the war between the brothers, there is the story of the newly crowned “White Queen” , Elizabeth Woodville.  She is an average citizen, who catches the eye of the young King and becomes his wife, and the Queen of England, and as you can imagine this upsets many. The story is actually written from Elizabeth’s point of view so really it is her story.

As in her other books you will find many similar themes…the urgency to produce an heir to the throne, warring sides of those who also want to be King, the daily court life, the gossip and sabatage of the times and of course the enemies and allies, who is on your side and who can be trusted. In this story the enemies and allies are constantly flipping and changing so trust is a difficult to achieve, and the people never quite know where they stand and who is standing with them. These familiar themes are exactly what continue to pull you into her books. This book , like the others is also a novel however written as factual as possible based on the research  from the time. This book begins in the Spring of 1464 and takes us through Spring of 1485.  This is the author’s earliest time period so far and  the record keeping of this time period is more difficult to distinguish compared to more recent years. Ms. Gregory has had to fill in some of the blanks more so in this book then some of her others.

As you can tell I loved this book and highly recommend it. The best news of all is that this book is the first in her newest series so I will be anxiously awaiting her next book.

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This story is one of the most intense, heartbreaking and inspirational books I have read.  The books main character is a teenage girl named Precious, who is physically, emotionally and sexually by both of her parents.  She is also illiterate.  Precious shares with the reader all the difficulties of her life and also how she manages to pull herself out of her horrifying situation and miraculously get her life back on track with the support of a good teacher and some unexpected friendships. Precious writes and spells her story exactly how she speaks. Through the book you watch her transformation not only in her person but also in her abilities as she learns to read and write. Thisis a fascinating story and although it is a novel you know these dreadful things are happening to real children which is the most devastating of all. It is really unimaginable that a parent could do these things to a  child and as you read this story I guarantee you will be shocked.

The book has been made into a movie that opens this November and is already getting rave reviews. The movie is called Precious and Mariah Carey has a role in it and Monique plays the abusive mother and I hear some of her scenes are academy award worthy. I can’t wait to see it. The book is small and can be finished quickly. I highly recommend it.

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There is something about the world of the Orthodox Jews that I just find fascinating.  To me the rules and laws make the religion so difficult to follow yet people continue to do so. This story gives you a very clear picture of how difficult it is to follow all the laws of Judaism and the amazing woman who  make it all happen. The story takes place in a small knit orthodox community in Memphis, that prides itself on all those things a small town has to offer. The women of the Ladies Auxiliary Club make sure of that. They are in charge or everything, holidays, events, schooling, taking care of each others children, watching out for each other, and of course the gossip. This community is so close there are no secrets and if you are not part of the group and following things exactly like they  like things done you are not “one of them”. All is going according to how the women want things to go until one day a new comer joins the neighbor and brings with her new ideas, an openess to new ways and learning, a freshness to how to do things and a free spirit. This sets the community into an uproar to not have things down “their way”.  In some ways they are inspiredby these new ideas and at times are having more fun than they have ever had before but when things start to change they know there is only one person to blame, a widowed mother who converted to become an Orthodox Jew.  I really enjoyed this story and the look into a small town community and all it has to offer. It was so frustrating to see the close-mindedness of these women and mothers and how controlling they tried to be over every aspect of everyone’s lives. On the flip I was inspired by the religious convictions of this young convert.  I really enjoyed this book.

This is the second book I have read by this author. The first one I read was  called “The Outside World” which was also about an Orthodox family and very enjoyable.

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Dragon House is the newest book from one of my favorite authors John Shors. The story takes place in Vietnam and tells the story of Iris and Noah, two Americans on the quest to help get some of Vietnams street children off the streets and into a safe environment, where they can get an education and be children once again. Iris is there to to fulfill her fathers dream of opening the center and Noah is there to try and help himself get  out of the deep abyss of being a wounded war hero and getting his life back together. It is a simple story compared to his other books that are more elaborate but it is a nice story which is quite inspiring.  I have to say at one time during the story I was actually quite moved by the authors words and found myself  literally crying at one of his descriptions and I have to say that rarely ever happens when I am reading.  I enjoyed the book and I recommend it.

I also want to share that this book is not only a good read but  it is also helping street children in real life.  The book has raised enough money to help support over 200 street children in Vietnam so far. If you want to find out more about those children you can visit the website www.dragonhousebook.com Also if you haven’t readit already one of my favorite books of all time is Beneath the Marble Sky by John Shors and it is about  the incredible love story behind the building of the Taj Mahal. I loved it and couldn’t put it down.

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There was something about this book that just had me captivated right from the start. There are seemingly 2 very different stories being told in the book that eventually do intertwine when you least expect it.  The first story takes place in 1992 with the tragic death of a young girl travelling through South America with her boyfriend. Eleni was the true love of Leo’s life and her death forever changes him.   After a difficult time and blaming himself for Eleni’s death Leo if eventually pulled out of his dark abyss with the help of a young handsome physicists of all people and a good friend.

The other story takes place back in 1917, when a young POW soldier escapes from a prisoners camp in Siberia and literally walks 7000 kilometers to get back to his home and his girlfriend who he left behind. The image of her and the promise of marriage it what gets him through this grueling and treacherous journey. The love in his heart cannot be distinguished and he never falters from his goal. The most incredible thing about both stories is that they are based on real events.

Now based on my description you can probably tell that the stories could be a bit depressing to say the least, however do not let that dissuade you  from reading this book.  It was a truly wonderful and  heart warming story and when you read it and get through the entire story you will understand how it all comes together beautifully.

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This book was not at all what I was hoping it would be. In all fairness though I had no idea what it was about only that people I had talked to loved it.  If a book doesn’t pull me in right off the bat I am not one to give it much of a chance and this is what happened with this book. I read about 25 pages and have no idea what I was reading so I felt like all I was doing was rereading and rereading what I had just read, so I stopped. I feel like I am the only one who did not like this book and am disappointed that I didn’t love it like so many others. Maybe for some reason I wasn’t in the right frame of mind and perhaps I can be convinced to try it again at a later date but for now I have moved on and I am happily involved in a new book. For those of you who have read this or are going to read it let me know your thoughts…was it really just me??? If you are one of the ones who did love it there is a sequel out called, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

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This was a great book! Not only did I enjoy the story but I also learned a lot and found the topic so interesting. There are actually 2 stories that take place, each centering on the 19th wife in a plural marriage, also known as polygamy, in the Mormon community. One story takes place in the 1800’s and is all about how the Mormon Church, also known as the Church of Latter Day Saints, came to be. The story starts at the very beginning when Joseph Smith, the founder of the religion, first received his calling. It goes on to show how he recruited thousands of followers from both the US and Europe and how they ended up in Utah. The story also describes how this one man, “The Prophet”, convinced his followers to accept the concept of plural marriage. The story focuses on one family, starting with the matriarch of the family, Elizabeth Churchill, how she came to be one of Josephs followers, how she did what the Church told her to do, how she managed to embrace plural marriage, and how it affected her and her family. The story is told by her daughter, Ann Eliza, who is very famous or shall I say infamous in the history of the Mormon Church. She is a real person who eventually becomes Brigham Young’s (one of the most well known prophets) 19^th wife. In the end, Ann Eliza was responsible for bringing Brigham Young down as well as attempting to rid the world of polygamy forever. It was interesting to see how in the beginning people did what they believed was the right thing to do for their eternal salvation but how it affected the woman and children and even the men of these times. The other story is a modern day story of polygamy in Utah also centering on the 19^th wife in a polygamous marriage. Jordan Scott is the son of this 19th wife, who is said to have murdered her husband. As a teenager Jordon was excommunicated and thrown out of his home and the community just for holding a girls hand. As you can imagine Jordan has some extremely bitter feeling towards his family and even his mother for kicking him out and forcing him to survive on his own at such a young age. After being away from the Mormons and this life for so long he does comes back to try and save his mother and prove her innocence. Again this is a fascinating look into this very private world of the Mormons and polygamy and how it affects everyone in the family. I highly recommend this book. The book is a long one, just over 500 pages, but well worth the time.

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