Joy TITLE: Lovely War
by: Julie Berry SUMMARY: I couldn't recommend this book to anyone more, especially if you like historical fiction! It is definitely the best book I've read to date! I think I will be reading more of her works if they're all this good. It's hard to read about war times, but she did a masterful job; it wasn't too gruesome, yet it still painted a very realistic picture. One character (Collette) has her entire family ripped away from her by the Germans. (By the way, this takes place during World War I, & I haven't read much WWI literature.) The love stories of 4 mortals (Hazel & her beau, a soldier named James) & a black soldier named Aubrey who is also a very talented pianist falls in love with Collette is told by the gods; the god of war (Ares), God of death (Hades--who has a different sort of presence in this book), goddess of love (Aphrodite), god of music (Apollo), & the god of blacksmith/forgery (Hesphaetus, Aphrodite's husband who calls together the court to try his wife, who he catches being intimate with Ares.) A beautiful & heartwrenching story is told of darling Hazel as she goes off to volunteer in the YMCA to provide music (on the piano) which is how she meets Collette (also a volunteer.) James is a sweet gentleman, who like many in the war, is greatly impacted by it. He becomes a sharpshooter & suffers a lot of mental anguish from all the terrors of war he experiences in the trenches. The value placed on physical appearance & scarring becomes an important theme in this book as Hazel later tries to convince James that she's unlovable & ugly after a shell hits their train. James reminds her of how he was when he was sent to a hospital to recover after seeing his good friend get slaughtered in war; he had even pushed her away when she tried to come visit him & continued to distance himself. Their love story was very raw & perfected over time; it made me cry. SO good! I would definitely befriend a woman like Hazel; she's an amazing, resilient & loving individual. And in the end of the book, the goddess of love herself unfolds more of her personal story & background than the reader could have possibly understood in the confusing beginning of the story. FAVORITE QUOTES: "The first casualty of war is the truth." (After Collette glimpses Aubrey in her home, after believing him to be dead)- "Joy can do that. It can hurt as much as pain." "I am so often moved by souls whose first concern is not for their own lost years, but for the grief their passing will cause to those they love. It's more common than you might think. The most ordinary mortal bodies are housed by spectacular souls." (Hades) MY RATING: 5 STARS!!!
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Title: Thrive
Ariana Huffington Summary: Thriving is considered the third metric of success for the life we want; money & power are the first two metrics. There are four pillars of thriving: 1) wisdom 2) well-being 3)wonder 4) giving I liked the views expressed in her text about mindfulness & meditation; they are truly components for success & increased well-being..not so much "New Agey" anymore. Also, she discusses the importance of the sleep factor (famous author of the Sleep Revolution) in our well-being & counsels you to stop treating it as a flexible item that counsels you to stop treating it as a flexible item that can be moved around for work. She suggests starting with just adding 30 minutes a night by going to bed earlier. And then there's the discussion of the "hurry sickness" that we allow to creep into our schedule & we start pushing it off on our kids. Children are much more cognizant of being present in the moment than adults. Quote: "Death is not the sine qua non of life. As soon as we're born we're also dying. The fact that our time is so limited is what makes it precious." My rating: 4 stars Title: Slave Stealers, by: Timothy Ballard Summary: Timothy Ballard, founder of Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) goes back in time to visit slavery in the American South during the 1800s & then forward to present-day slavery. It is very much still an issue, even in the United States. "Slavery today is a big business. To illustrate just how big it is, imagine this: with the money made in human trafficking every year, you could buy every Starbucks franchise in the world, every NBA team in the nation, and every Target store across the globe." You will be amazed & appalled by the story of Harriet Jacobs & what she was willing to do to escape slavery & her awful master, Norcom. Ballard also became personally involved in rescue missions for children wrongfully stolen from their parents to be sold into slavery, when he met an influential father who lost his 3-year-old boy in Haiti. Tim Ballard left behind his job at the Department of Homeland Security & has since dedicated his life to rescuing children & women who have been sold into slavery & then delivering them to aftercare services to help these individuals heal & recover. It's truly an inspiring story, but it's also heart wrenching & disgusting that so many sex predators are out there in the world. We have to put a stop to this awful epidemic & you can help! Visit ourrescue.org/ to learn more <3 Favorite Quotes: "The original Underground Railroad is what inspired me to retire from the government and start a rescue foundation. After hunting traffickers and liberating children around the world for over a decade, I realized something. We can't do this alone. The problem is too big & growing too fast. We need everyone." "Sometimes heaven's medicine is not pleasant, but if it is given, it is necessary." "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke "The Declaration of Independence was the Founders' majestic interpretation of the Universe. This was their lofty & wise & noble understanding of the justice of the Creator to His creatures. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Divine image & likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on, & degraded & imbruted by its fellows." -Abraham Lincoln "Let's not wait until darkness hits us (like it did the Union soldiers) before we start seeking the light. Let's serve each other now, find peace now, enjoy happiness now. If we do, perhaps the darker parts of history won't repeat themselves. Perhaps we will stave them off. Lincoln and the abolitionists created the medicine and began applying it to the wound- & it had great effect. I fear we have stopped applying the medicine and the national wound, rather than healing, is opening back up." Book Summary:
This was such a moving, heartbreaking novel. It shed a lot of light on the child trafficking issues that are taking place & becoming a very real threat to our society. This young boy, named Chellamuthu, was stolen from his family, brought to an orphanage (the Lincoln Home Orphanage) & then sold to a family in the U.S. (the Rowlands) He is renamed Taj after living with the Rowlands because his mom is sick over how he is teased & mocked by the other kids at school. It takes him a while to adapt to a new culture, but then he becomes more American than Indian & as a young adult he starts to question his background & where he really belongs. When he dates & then marries his wife Priya, he gets a clue about his past at the orphanage through her family relation. He goes on a quest to find his original Indian family when he is back in India for his brother-in-law's wedding & he is determined to find someone who knows him or knows who he belongs to. A very heartwarming story & it's based on Taj's true experience! **If you've read the book, a neat resource to gain more insight into his actual journey is: www.theOrphanKeeper.com Favorite Quotes: "Sometimes, just focusing our view, taking a new perspective, makes all the difference." "Life will always be hard, but if we do our best, if we persist, we can make a difference --and good will win over evil, love will conquer hate." "He'd found that although darkness encourages introspection, it also distorts life's problems, makes them larger & more pressing than they need to be. Worries...compound in the dark." "Title: Salt, Sugar, Fat Summary: A good nonfiction book that presented the facts about foods we regularly consume in a convincing way-- it just took me awhile to finish reading this one. It was a bit dry in some parts, especially during some of the factory visits. Although I am fascinated at the concept of food scientists now, & if I could do that job as a hobby, I would. Reading this book may discourage you from eating certain brands (Oscar Meyer, Nestle, etc.) or certain foods (i.e. potato chips) ever again, but that's probably a good thing in some cases. Or it may pique your interest to learn more of the back story behind General Mills, Nestle or even how Stacy's Pita Chips originated. Very fascinating. Quotes: "....sugar, whose raw power in exciting the brain made it perhaps the most formidable ingredient of all, dictating the formulations of products from one side of the grocery store to the other." "Federal health officials who are fighting the obesity epidemic advise consumers never to enter a grocery store without a shopping list, which helps to ward off the impulse to load up on sugary, salty, & fatty snacks." Title: Option B
Summary: This was such a riveting memoir, but it also served as a self-help book to help us overcome grief. Sheryl Sandberg's grief specifically stemmed from losing her husband very suddenly; she shares a great how-to guide with suggestions for those of us who get overwhelmed when tragedy strikes. I've been searching for books this entire year that profile happiness or how to seek joy. This is a good one! I also enjoyed Sandberg's book "Lean In." She has come incredible & valuable insights about women in the workplace. Favorite Quotes: "Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity--and we can build it. It isn't about having a backbone. It's about strengthening the muscles around our backbone." "After undergoing a hardship, people have new knowledge to offer those who go through similar experiences. It is a unique source of meaning because it does not just give our lives purpose--it gives our suffering purpose." Title: The Read- Aloud Family
Summary: Sarah Mackenzie (whose podcast I love) expounds on the importance of reading aloud {in general} in this book....& she explains the benefits & even has a group of recommended books for each age group. I am happy that many of the books she put on her list for ages 0-3 correspond with mine. She gives great tips throughout the entire book, but especially in regard to how to make read-aloud time happen in your home. Favorite quotes: "By the time our children leave our homes, we don't want them to wonder whether their lives matter. We want them to know that they do. If we tell them enough stories, they will have encountered hard questions & practiced living through so many trials, hardships, and unexpected situations that, God willing, they will have what they need to become the heroes of their own stories." "If I don't take a few strategic steps to making read-aloud time easy to pull off, I'm probably not going to read with my kids nearly as much as I hope I will, either. If I strategically leave my read-aloud book on the {kitchen} counter, There's a good chance I will see it a bazillion times throughout the day. There's also a good chance that at one point or another, I'll end up deciding to read aloud." "The best stories naturally cause questions to bubble up within us. They spur more questions than answers & lend themselves to a casual, enjoyable, leisurely conversation." *Check out her website for a list of recommended read-aloud books: readaloudrevival.com/ Author: Gerald Lund
Summary: It's the New Testament Jesus/Messiah presented in this historical fiction, as viewed by a Jewish, Zealot family. Simeon is a fearless Zealot band leader, after the traditions of his mother (Deborah's) family. He is betrothed to Shana, who is the sister of his best friend & fellow warrior, Yehuda. Things really come to a head when Jesus has a great following of would-be disciples, and the Zealots and Romans are opposed to one another & a complicated scheme that has been put in place to incite a rebellion. Favorite quote: "The stroke of the whip maketh marks in the flesh, but the stroke of the tongue breaketh bones." - Second Epistle of Pontianus Title: The Point of Light
Author: Jon Ellsworth Summary: This World War II story was heart wrenching.....it was pretty hard to read at some points, especially once I suspected what would happen to Esmee (Claire's sister) after being captured by Nazis at the beginning of the book. I really loved Claire Vallant & what she stood for as a photojournalist who had joined the French Resistance & was searching for war crimes evidence in WWII. In the Afterword, I learned that Claire's testimony at the Nuremberg Trials is actually based on a real French, Auschwitz survivor named Marie Claude Vaillant-Couturier. Her story & the story of many people who fought against Nazi Germany & tried to protect or save Jewish people from genocide, is horrifying but also incredible. Even at great personal loss to herself, Claire consistently sticks to what she believes & makes every effort in that regard. Her love & concern for her family are what kept her going during those 4 war-torn years. Favorite quote: "Human affairs require more than a story, more than a telling. Human affairs require a conclusion. And where there has been strife, human affairs require resolution in the form of justice. There is a part of us that demands that evil be punished and good be rewarded." Title: Happy this Year!
Author: Will Bowen Summary: Imagine/envision your life as a happier person; resolve to be a happier person as a New Years Resolution & then stick to it all year long! Favorite quotes: “Develop a clear understanding of how your life will be different when you are happier. As you do, your new, happier self will emerge. Having this vivid image of how your life will be when you are happier is like looking at the picture on top of a puzzle box so you know where to put all the pieces of your life.” “Simply by becoming more aware, you become a powerful agent of change. There is no need to force anything, only to expand your awareness.” “To become a happier person, realize what you find upsetting about other people may actually be something within yourself that needs to be brought up, addressed & healed. Your greatest tormentors are your mentors.” |
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