This is a story of such magnitude that it cannot be contained in one volume and represent all parts of the story equally and yet that is exactly what Giles Milton has done. This is not your typical history book overflowing with mindnumbing facts and figures. Instead, the author has taken this heroic Herculean effort of so many people and countries and made it personal. Every chapter is riddled with stories and actual accounts from the men and women, on both sides of the trenches. What they experienced firsthand becomes our shared experience. There is still plenty of gruesome and barbaric warfare and the loss of so many lives is staggering but you can't help yourself from having a better understanding of what happened through these eyewitness accounts. It makes what should be a reading challenge much more readable. You are left in awe of what they accomplished, grateful for your family members who served and hope that never again will so many perish in this way.
0 Comments
Three kids try to figure out their world and survive the toxic relationship between their alcoholic parents in upstate New York. Their dad tries to share some knowledge of nature before he gives up and leaves the family for good. Surprisingly, the three siblings grow up to be somewhat normal. One runs off to join the Navy, one goes onto college and into teaching, the last one gets a job, gets married and raises a family. Each of the kids continues to deal with the aftermath of dad leaving them, their mom's inability to cope and the idea of permanence. Terrance, their father, after moving to remote Montana, gets his act together and waits for the day when all the family can be together once more and he can make amends. This had me wondering how much of the novel is based on the author's own life story. Poignant and written with great heart, perhaps we should call this book, "Tiny Broken Americans" broken but nothing that a little family understanding can't glue back together.
This is a story of a Midwestern family of modest means - down to earth people who take care of their neighbors, do the right thing and live a good life. Lyle and Peg raised their daughter with these values until she left to gain her independence. She is back home with her young son and involved in a new church congregation, especially the young pastor. Her parents are thrilled to get to know their grandson and happy their daughter is home but worried about her involvement with this new church and its dangerous ties to their grandson. True to their ways, Lyle and Peg try to not rock the boat or risk upsetting their daughter until Shiloh pulls herself and her son away from her parents and into a dangerous situation. Heartbreaking as it is, the love they have for their daughter and her son means that they will risk everything to save them. A beautiful story of family, faith and the power of love that maybe can change the world, this quiet but powerful story will stay with you well after you close the cover.
College friends Jack and Wynn are on a canoe trip in Canada when their idyllic trip takes a turn for the worse. They spot and smell an approaching wildfire and then stop to help a crazed man find his lost wife. When they find the injured woman and return to find their campsite in ruins outrunning the fire might not be their only problem. Don't let the simple beauty of the deep woods and their friendship lull you into calm, this story quickly ramps up into an intense story that races towards a heart-pounding ending similar to a whitewater rafting trip without paddles. The author has such a love of nature and outdoor adventure that comes through as well as a clear understanding of the potential dangers. This book will resonate with lovers of outdoor adventure as well as those readers who like their nature in the pages of a thriller and within the protection of four thick walls.
Beautifully written story of star-crossed lovers in WWII Germany. Elise is a concert violinist but being a woman and a Jew prevents her from finding her place in the stage spotlight and realizing her dream. She falls in love with Max, a gentile bookstore owner with a secret. You know from the start that they are doomed but you keep wanting there to be a way for them to be together. The book jumps between Max and Elise's story and over a span of 10 years that Elise has blocked from her memory. This is a solid historical novel with a slight twist of time travel and memory loss added in.
This is the quintessential rock and roll band memoir-like novel of a fake band that you swear you have heard of before. It is a warning of sorts as well, of what happens to a talented group of musicians that team up with a very talented singer/songwriter only to have them fly to close to the sun and like Icarus, get badly burned. The memoir interview style makes the whole story more believable and it gets you into the heads of all the major players. Like watching "A Star is Born" you see the warning signs but you are unable to turn away- they were doomed from the start. Sex, drugs and rock and roll in 70's Los Angeles - the women rule even when the guys are convinced they do. One great read from beginning to end!
I always enjoy this author's unique spin on dark topics and this time it is the women who were committed to insane asylums for a variety of reasons including prostitution, infidelity, frail nerves or just because their fathers and husbands needed them out of the way.
Many of the medical staff sought to offer these women help but the cures seemed more harmful than the disease. Many of them were treated with less care and compassion than those in a prison. Charlotte and her sister Phoebe came from a well off family in San Francisco and led happy lives until their father needed to settle a debt by offering Charlotte to marry not the man she loves but his harsh brother. Phoebe who has suffered from some form of manic depression creates a diversion which lands her in an insane asylum. Charlotte has herself committed willingly, a la Nelly Bly, to save her sister but what they go through will change them both forever. An amazing tale of bravery, love, and one that will shock you to the core when you learn of the conditions these women faced under the auspices of help. The incredible story of the heroic Haenyeo sea women divers of the Korean island of Jeju and the horrors they faced at the hands of the various countries that occupied this small island. Generations of women free divers under freezing water conditions dove every day for hours to collect the sea's bounty and provide for their families. In their unusual culture, the men stayed home and watched over the young ones and cooked, while the women of the family from teens to the elderly would dive in the "wet fields" and tend to the "dry fields". The money they earned would be used to send the men of the family to school. The Haenyeo were very well respected and lived by a very strict code. Two of these women became friends when they were very young just beginning as "baby divers" and stayed the best of friends until tragedy and war forced them apart. The determination, family loyalty, work ethic and challenges these women faced and the hardships they endured makes for a fascinating story and one that only Lisa See can tell so well. She is a master at bringing the reader into a world so unlike my own and yet the characters are always those that you can identify with and learn from.
The birth of five tiny girls in Canada in 1934 was a medical miracle that caught the attention of the whole world and soon became a big circus sideshow worthy of Barnum and Bailey. Not only did the overwhelmed and child-laden parents think the quints wouldn't make it , but so did most of the medical community. They were taken away from their parents, made wards of the state and paraded around under glass, for all the world to see. Their story is told through the eyes of a 17-year-old living a sheltered life nearby who is asked to help at the babies delivery and stays on to become one of their long-lasting nurses. Emma tells this story through diary entries, newspaper articles, legal documents, and letters. There is a great deal of everyday information on the habits, routine, and general characters of the quintuplets but it gets a bit bogged down in Emma's story and her desire to become an established artist, fall in love and keep the friends she has found in the other nurses and myriad of background people. I enjoyed the "moment of truth" found in the author's notes that explains more about the girls and what happened to them later on in life.
Maurice Hannigan is a man at the end of his life and as people often do, he is sitting in an Irish pub reflecting on his life. Honoring the five most important people to him, he drinks a toast to each and reflects on why they influenced his life. With wit and Irish charm galore, Maurice's past begins to unfold. With every tip of the glass, we begin to understand what drove this man and the twists and turns his life has taken. Where some see a grouchy old man on a bar stool, we see a proud, ambitious man who quietly tried to help some around him and exacted vengeance who tried to wrong him. A man who loved deeply but couldn't show it to the ones who needed him most. Anne Griffin's debut gives a voice to all those Irish gents out there pushing through the day and then erasing it with a dram and a story at night.
|
I love to read good books and share the new books that are available and those that are coming soon
Adult Genres
General Fiction Historical Fiction Thriller / Mystery Fantasy / Sci-Fi Non-Fiction All Adult Genres Other Genres Young Adult Genre Kids Books Genre Follow Kim
Review Archives
April 2024
|