the Shack

The Shack by William P. Young


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
the Shack is a book that i had heard a lot about but hadn't had a chance to pick up. went to the beach with my folks last week and mom brought it along for us to read. finished reading it today and i think this is a book a lot of people need to read. the main character in the book, Mack, is a father of 4 children, one of whom is abducted on a camping trip before school starts. the police never find her but are led to believe that she was murdered based on evidence found in a shack in the woods. following the abduction, mack is a changed man with a constant Great Sadness hanging over him. four years later, Mack receives a letter in his mailbox that takes him on a journey back to the shack. here he faces a black woman, a middle-eastern carpenter, and a sparkly young woman in conversations and experiences where he learns a lot about what God is to him. the journey is an amazing one and this book can take misperceptions about God and turn them around.



i believe you can't take the book word for word as definite ways to imagine god, but i do believe the experiences told in the story are great explanations of how god works, at least how i've experienced him.



read this book, it's a great story and it's one you will learn so much from.


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the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a good but not great book. Written in letter form, it tells the story of Juliet, a writer from London just after World War II. She reeives a letter from a reader in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands (located in the English Channel) who is looking for books. The Channel Islands were occupied during the war and a relationship forms between Juliet and the people from Guernsey who continue to write to her. All of this occurs as Juliet ponders her next book topic through letters with her publisher, Sidney. When she finally decides that she wants to go to Guernsey to meet the people whom she is falling in love with, she's in the midst of a love battle with a man who wants to marry her. The story continues with Juliet finding out and researching about the people of Guernsey. A good book that has love, mystery, and tragedy all wrapped together. Easy to read, but not a knock your socks off book.


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first they killed my father

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
First They Killed My Father is an honest, harsh, but redeeming story of Loung Ung and her family in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge invasion in the 70s. Loung's story is heroic and gripping. This memoir is definitely worth reading.


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the glass castle

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Glass Castle is a memoir about Jeannette Walls' crazy, mixed-up, confusing, and disenfranchised family. It's a story about Jeannette's relationship with her father, Rex, who is a very intelligent man, but also an alcoholic full of unfulfilled promises. Jeannette's relationship with her dad is one that is hopeful and always believing until she grows up and realizes that his "Glass Castle" dream isn't going to happen.



Jeannette's story is almost unbelievable, but her storytelling ability is so strong and so captivating that I just couldn't put this book down.



I think everyone should read this book. It's an excellent memoir.


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sarah's key

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sarah's Key is a double-perspective WWII story about a much-neglected event within Paris in 1942. it's interesting that the vel d'hiv (the velodrome was an arena in Paris used for sporting events) is often overlooked when one speaks of the Holocaust. the main character, Sarah and her present-day counterpart, Julia Jarmond, are both telling the story from their perspectives in 1942 and 2005, respectively.



i enjoyed the relationship that Julia establishes with the history of Sarah and the apartment and the key, but at times it seems a big manic. i was happy to see that Betrand's father wasn't as crude and cocky as he seemed or as Betrand.



in the end, the book had some strong points and an alluring story that made you want to find out more.






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the Friday Night Knitting Club

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Friday Night Knitting Club is definitely not a work of literary genius, but it provides you with such a warm, happiness that it's definitely worth the read. Dakota, James, and Georgia are such an important rekindled family...Anita is a woman I would want to spend time with, and Walker and Daughter is a shop where I'd want to visit, even if I didn't knit. The stories for other characters, like Darwin, K.C., and Lucie could be more developed...but the overall story was very engaging...very warm...very snuggly. I wish it would've ended differently, but I'm still very happy I read the book.


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the Bell Jar

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think The Bell Jar is a very interesting novel. It plagues me in a way because it is a somewhat autobiographical account of what was going on in Sylvia Plath's life. I feel sad that the answer to her desparation was to attempt suicide and then eventually kill herself. She was an excellent writer. Just wish she was still alive today so we could've enjoyed more of her writing.


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the Last Lecture

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved reading this book. My mom had followed his last year of life because my parents live outside of Pittsburgh, so he was in the news often. I remember her calling me to tell me that Randy had died, and I was like, "Who?" She went on to explain that he was a professor at CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) and that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.



Nonetheless, it wasn't until I went to Jersey with Gregg to celebrate at his brother Don and sister-in-law, Rose's home, that I found out about this book, The Last Lecture. Rose read the book and passed it on to me, and then book club selected it to read for February.



I wasn't sure what the book would be like, and was hoping that it wouldn't be too sad, so when I read it, I had minimal hopes.



Much to my amazement, the book is an excellent read. It's not something that's going to give you divine points about life that you've never heard before. It's more about how Randy Pausch says the things we've all heard in our lives from our parents and from those wiser than us.



I recommend this book. It's a great passer-on.


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The Jungle

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have wanted to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair for a LONG time. I remember back in the 90s when my older sister read it in high school and she talked about how gross it was.



Anyway, when my book club decided that everyone was to pick an American classic to read for the month of January, I knew I would finally have the chance.



This book isn't really about the disgusting meat-packing industry's unbelievable conditions. It's more about the life of a man, Jurgis Rudkus, who is a Lithuanian immigrant to Chicago, or Packingtown, as he calls it.



The story is more about the Rudkus family's struggle to survive in a capitalist society that was ruled by just a few on top.



If you've never read this book, it's definitely a book worth reading. You'll become attached to Jurgis' attempts to make it when everything is against him.


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the Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Liesel Meminger is a very strong character. Her relationships with Rosa, Hans, Rudy, and Max are very likable and interesting. Definitely a good story and great for Nazi Germany interests.


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moloka'i

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
when I started reading Moloka'i, I honestly wasn't that interested. I didn't catch the cover with a lot of intrigue, and unfortunately, I do judge books by their covers.



anyway, book club decided to read it, and i finally finished (late, as usual) today. i loved this book.



Moloka'i, a Hawaiian island, was home to a leper colony in the late 1800s and into the 1900s, where many people were exiled to live with "leprousy" which was actually something later to be called Hansen's Disease.



the main character, Rachel Kalama, is torn from her family and sent to live at Kalaupapa on Molokai'i.



the book is the story of her loneliness, her love, her hope, and her life. it's a great book because it shows how much a person adapts to their surroundings when they have to.






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did you know...?

i'm reading the book, MOLOKA'I by Alan Brennert, a novel about a girl who is torn from her family and exiled to life on Moloka'i in a leprosy settlement...if you've never heard about the settlement and what was happening on this small island of Hawaii, then it's worth doing a little research about...especially because it only ended 40 years ago in 1969. pretty crazy.

run...run...run for the kites...

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
oooooooooh...soooooooo good. I'm so glad i had just read Three Cups of Tea before this because it made it that much more enjoyable. i'm kind of obsessed with pakistan and afghanistan now, I really want to go there.



this book is sooooo sad, so emotional, but such a good story. what a novel!



"For you a thousand times over!"


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STOP what you're doing and read this book

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Three Cups of Tea isn't a work of literary genius...something you'd pick apart for AP Literature classes in high school or writing classes in college...it's not Poe, Steinbeck, Orwell, or Shakespeare...but the words that are weaved together in this book that retells the ten years of Greg Mortenson's life when he went on his biggest adventure, reaching a summit far higher than that of K2, are maybe more valuable than any of the best classic literature or informative non-fiction in the world. The strides that Mortenson took after chance brought him to the village of Korphe in Northern Pakistan are amazing.



Three Cups of Tea chronicles both the eccentricities that become Greg Mortenson in his life in the U.S. as well as the footsteps he took, lessons he learned, and lives he changed while in Pakistan and parts of Afgahanistan.



Three Cups is filled with suspense at times when he's captured by unknowns, sitting to drink tea with Taliban leaders, or just barely escaping death in a tunnel in Afghanistan.



Three Cups is filled with emotion at times when Mortenson is building this one-of-a-kind father-son relationship with Haji Ali, the leader of the village of Korphe, sharing the best friend relationship that was built in just six days with his future wife Tara, and recounting the power that Jahan, granddaughter of Haji Ali, has received through her education and how her empowerment has given her high hopes for the rest of her life.



Three Cups is a book so full that everyone should read it. It's not a literary work of art, it's a humanitarian work of art.


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the number devil

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've always loved math and numbers...so when my friend Sarah gave me this book to read, I was excited to see what it was all about. I loved it! So much fun to twist mathematics into a story with a creative edge when math seems so cut and dry and uncreative. I loved it!



If you've ever had a hard time with math concepts or don't understand certain things numbers can do, try this book, you won't be disappointed!


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middlesex by jeffrey euginedes

I recently finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and am so excited about the book, I'd like to share my review. If you're not a member of goodreads, you should check it out!

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am SO into this book...I know I'm reading it ultra-late and missed the book club discussion, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the first half. I remember someone saying that there are too many details at club...but that's the part that I like. I feel a part of Cal's life...his family...his creation...I really really like it.





LATER...as I got into the meat of this story, i was humbled by facts about a type of person I hardly knew existed. i was CONSTANTLY going through different historical sections finding out what actually happened...the history of the fire at Smyrna in 1922, the history of the battle between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus in 1974...the history of hermaphrodites in the US and all over the world...



many people who have reviewed this novel comment on not being able to get into it at the beginning or finding it too detailed or being disappointed with the ending...however...i can't help but think so much of the detail of the geneaology of Cal was so necessary for the story.



i retold the book as i read it on my own to my boyfriend. i was reliving what happened to calliope and then cal with very vivid details because i felt as if i had become part of his life. gregg told me tonight that he was disappointed with the ending because nothing pivotal happened and a small argument ensued. i very firmly believe that the end of the story was quite monumental. many readers had forgotten about desdemona, but i kept wondering what had happened to her. i was so excited when cal mentioned her concerning the funeral...and to hear des come around...blame herself, understand, and continue to care about cal...man, that was the clincher for me. i was sitting at red light, reading the last 3 pages...tears rolling down my cheeks. i think of all people, after cal had felt like such a "monster" and ran away...to have desdemona accept him...i think that was monumental.



this story was definitely one of my absolute favorites. i loved this book.


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