Elsie May Has Something to Say

 

    I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.This book will be released in September. Elsie Mae Has Something to Say is about a little girl named Elsie Mae and her family who live in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. After hearing that the swamp may be in danger of being taken over by a shipping company, Elsie Mae decides that she needs to take action and writes the president a letter asking for help. After sending the letter, she goes to spend the summer on Honey Island with her grandparents, uncles and cousin, Henry James. While she is at the island, you learn about her family, the history of the swamp and friendship. Elsie's adventures also include the hunt for some hog bandits in the area.

      This is a nice piece of historical fiction, which has roots based on a true story. Although the book was a little predictable at points, I enjoyed the characters . Elsie Mae was spunky and I think many kids will enjoy getting to know her. Her spunk partnered with Henry's sincerity create a nice partnership. I liked the distinct "Southern" feel I got from this book. This would be a great book for the children's room at school or a library. I will ask my son to read it and tell me what he thought of it. Thanks NetGalley and Jabberwocky!

Life Without Limits

 

     Like some of the other reviews I've read, I really wanted to like this book a little more than I did. I have heard about Nick Vujicic and was really wanted to learn about his story and life. He is a man who was born without any limbs. He does have a small left foot and a very tiny right foot. The book tells about his life but is more focused on motivating people and explaining the power of God in his life. I am a Christian, so this message is incredibly important to me as well, but I just expecting something different in this book. This book could be a powerful giver of hope to someone going through trials or people who would like to learn more about faith in God.  

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley

  

     This is one of the NetGalley books I was most looking forward to reading. I think what surprised me most about this book is that I liked, and got attached to, characters that I normally wouldn't have. Samuel Hawley, a bit of a career criminal, has been living his life on the run with his daughter, Loo, for years. Eventually, they settle in Loo's mother's hometown, Olympus, Massachusetts. (Olympus is based on Gloucester, Ma, which is very close to where I live.) This book is a coming of age story that deals with loss, family, regrets of the past and the consequences of your actions. There is a roughness to many of the characters in this book, but also a tenderness between father and daughter that is really evident, despite their weird circumstances. The "twelve" in the title has to do with the explanation of 12 scars on Hawley's body, and where each bullet came from. This is a difficult book for me to explain for some reason. I would recommend it to many of my friends. I liked Tinti's writing style and may look to read more of her books. (This was the first book I've read that she has written.)

Something Beautiful Happened: A Story of Survival and Courage in the Face of Evil

 

     I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book tells the story of the author's grandmother, who helped to save a Jewish family from the Nazi's on the island of Erikousa, Greece. After hearing this tale, various times in her life, the author decides to see if she can track down the relatives of the family that were able to escape. As this is happening in the present, other relatives of the author are shot by a white supremacist. The author goes back and forth between the stories of all of the people involved with the book.
 

Things I disliked about the book:  I found this book a little difficult to read because it jumped around so much from person to person. I love books that are written from different perspectives or where all the characters meet together somewhere later in the book, but I just struggled with this one. It just felt a little disjointed. However, when I was thinking about how I might organize it to be clearer, I didn't really have many good solutions.

 Things I liked about the book:  With that being said, I thought the story itself was important and I enjoyed many of the messages in the book. In so many cases, tragedies are remembered by who committed a crime rather than survivors or people who did the right thing. Also, as a person who is involved with genealogy, I could really appreciate some of the frustrating issues Yvette encountered when trying to research all of these families. (I can't even imagine how devastating searching through Holocaust records are if you have a personal connection with those people and how frustrating it is to know that the people existed but not being able to find anything due to the destruction of records.) The creators of MyHeritage also helped in these searches, which made me appreciate their software and their story a bit more.  I enjoyed "getting to know" the family of the author and her kinship with the relatives of the Jewish family that her family helped protect. It is a good reminder that even if evil always exists, people can bond together in love and do good in the world. 

       Our 8th graders study the Holocaust in their curriculum. I know the teacher would not like how the book jumps around, but I know many of the students might want to read this book as supplemental material. I will recommend it to them. I might also see if our librarian would like to get a copy for our school library.

None Wounded, None Missing, All Dead- The Story of Elizabeth Bacon Custer

 

      I received this book from GoodReads in exchange for an honest review.  (Thank you!) It's not often that I really struggle to get through a book, but this one was one of those times. This book is about the life of Elizabeth Bacon Custer and her marriage to General George Custer. It is a short read and the author's research is well-documented. (In fact, about 1/3 of the book is a the citations of the research, which is okay with me since I would totally read that closely if I wanted to do more investigating.)   There are 10 chapters in this book and I thought I would read a chapter a day. I found that I struggled with that. I was bothered that I couldn't figure out why this book was so hard for me. Here are a few of my thoughts:

1) I was not as interested in the subject as I thought I might be. I did learn a few things from this book and I was able to see the life of George Custer from some perspectives that I hadn't known about before, but there was nothing that made me curious as to what would come next for the couple.

2) (Hold on to your hats for this one) The book often quotes letters and journals, but I think that was distracting to me.  It would be talking specifically about Elizabeth and then mention what was going on with her husband and then include a letter about her husband or relating to another thing and I just felt that the transitions were strange? Maybe the writing style of the author just doesn't appeal to me.  There was also a lot about 2 other men, who were important in the lives of the Custers but I either wanted them mentioned in the book, or wanted more information about their background too.

3) George took such and such position- Elizabeth went with him. Then George had to move here. Elizabeth didn't. Repeat. A lot.

4) I think the real reason I didn't enjoy the book is that I didn't get emotionally attached to either Custer. I know it is not the authors intention in a non-fiction work to convince a reader to like or dislike a main character and it is their intention to portray them as they actually were, but sometimes I felt that the author was a bit biased. (Sometimes I felt he liked the Custers and other times, not so much.) 

      If anything related to this book is interesting to you- life on the plains, military history, Native American relations in the West, etc- perhaps this book might be a good read, but I found it dry.

 Reading Challenges Stats:
Goodreads Challenge:  15/75 (2 behind schedule)
Monthly Keyword Challenge: 5/12 (on track)
Mount TBR 11/24- (Ahead of schedule)

The Inkblots review

  

       Have you ever heard of the Rorschach test? You know, the test that uses what people see in inkblots to help a psychologist identify aspects of your personality or how you function emotionally? Between seeing (Non-Rorschach) inkblots used in advertising, movies, Internet quizzes, etc. I'm sure you have heard of this test. However, do you know anything about the test or the man who created it? I didn't. Although I am not super into psychology, I thought I might learn something from this book so I applied to read from NetGalley it in exchange for a fair review. (Thanks Crown, Mr. Searls and NetGalley!)

      The first part of this book is a biography of Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychoanalyst responsible for creating this test.  I wondered why I hadn't really heard much about his life before reading this book. (The author states that his family were very private after Rorschach's death and that some of his things were lost in a fire after they were donated.) It was interesting for me to read about some of the beliefs of the times and places where he lived and worked. Rorschach died pretty young, at the age of 37. It would've been interesting to see what he would've accomplished had he lived longer.

       The second part of the book was basically a cultural history of the test- the strengths and weaknesses of the test, how it is scored, who it was used by and when, etc. To be honest, there were times that I found myself skimming some of these sections because psychology is not the most riveting subject to me, but there were definitely things I didn't know. I hadn't really considered that the whole aspect of "personality" is still a relatively new thought. While interpreting these tests, people used to think that some results were just dependent on how you were wired; now personality is a factor. Also, the interpretation of the test is skewed a bit depending on culture. Some of the scoring of the test has to do with colors- and some cultures associate colors to other objects or representations. I also didn't know how this test was used by the Nazis or in military screenings. It was an interesting read overall.

Mount TBR- book 10 The Letterbox by Layton Green

    

     I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.  Layton Green also signed it and wrote me a note. Thanks! This book is about a box that is found buried in the English moors.  It is procured by a man in New Orleans who then hires a team of people to go searching for answers regarding its origin and purpose. The team visits ancient sites across Europe in their quest to find "the pathway to God." I always looked forward to reading the book and seeing what was next but there were a few parts of the book that I found a little predictable. With that being said, the book kept me guessing at other points and still left me with some questions at the end of the story. There was also a theme of religion running through the book. The 4 person team looking for answers were all at different points in their faith (or lack thereof) and I enjoyed thinking about some of the questions that some of the characters were concerned with or motivated by.  I would recommend it to friends who I know enjoy this type of book. I would also be interested in reading more from Layton Green.