A Series of books and random thoughts

Here are some more books in my 52 books in 52 weeks:



Too stubborn to die by Cato Jarimillo. This book was given to me to be read as a true story of a holocaust survivor. I remember reading somewhere that someone was trying to debunk it. It is a story of a young girl living in Holland who is turned in by her Nazi sympathizing friends and spends 2 years in a concentration camp. Good story, not very well written. I've heard she tells a very good story when she makes a presentation in public.






The Book Thief by Markus Zusak This is a young adult novel, narrated by death. It is the story of a young girl left by a mother who knows she(the mother) faces a bleak future. This young girl, Liesel, can not read, but steals her first book on her trip to Germany. "the Gravedigger's Handbook". Her foster father teaches her to read and thus begins her life in Nazi Germany. I really enjoyed this book. The language is beautiful.. I fell in love in the first few pages. Just to quote from the first few pages.

"People observe the colors of the day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them."

After that first stolen book, her foster father teaches her to read. She then begins to steal books whenever she can. She steals from the piles of books at the book burnings, she sneaks into the library of the Mayor's home and steals books. She uses the skill she has learned to keep the children quiet as they hide in the basement of homes during the bombings of Munich. She even reads to a Jewish man who they hide in the basement.

"Summer came.

For the book thief, everything was going nicely,

For me, the sky was the color of Jews.

When their bodies had finished scouring for gaps in the door, their souls rose up. When their fingernails had scratched at the wood and in some cases were nailed into it by the sheer force
of desperation, their spirits came toward me, into my arms, and we climbed out of those shower facilities, onto the roof and up, into eternity's certain breadth. They just kept feeding me. Minute after Minute. Shower after shower."

Her neighborhood changes as men and boys go to war, as people disappear and as the Jew they have hidden tries to escape but is captured.



This is a riveting book with beautiful language that I would recommend to only those 12 and older. Perhaps even older than twelve. It is a dark book with no lasting happiness but alot of humanity.

It is only in hard copy and I have one and am willing to lend it.


Heartbeat by Sharon Creech.... I really enjoy her books and have read quite q few of them. This was written in a very unusual style, almost like free form narrative poetry. It was a joy to read and a very fast read.

This is the story of Annie. Annie loves to run. She learns that she loves drawing and while in her English class, she learns she loves footnotes(which she begins to use in her writing). She loves her family. Her mother is about to have a baby so she worries about her mother. Her grandfather is living with them and seems to be fading away and suffers from dementia. She has a good friend, Max who is running to escape form his current life situation.

Her grandfather was a champion runner. She loves to run and doesn't want to run with the track team. Max wants to run and "has to win". When he doesn't, he learns a secret from her grandfather, one her grandfather tells her she already knew...run for the love of running.

Doesn't that apply to almost everything that we choose to do. Granted ther are things that we all have to do. Some have to work, we all have to clean, cook, etc.... but what we choose to fill our free time with are those things which we love to do. At least that is what I would like to fill my free time with. I love spending time with people, going to the temple, reading and doing things to improve my home.

I was talking to a sister in my ward today and was reminded of a talk I had with someone when I was going through a very dark time in my life. She said "we must never SHOULD on our selves." in other words, we have a tendency to say ' oh I should do' this or 'I should have' done that. SO I have tried t adopt for myself the phrase " I SHALL NOT SHOULD ON MYSELF TODAY!" We all need to give ourselves a break! Talk about the things you are choosing to do or what you would like to do or what you have to do. Perhaps that is why I am not a good list maker and doer. It is a list of shoulds....

Book Review 4 These is My Words.....

is a wonderful love story. The voice of this book is amazing. This is the story of a young girl who is raised in the Arizona territories and spends her married life in the area. The hero of this book is wonderful, the romance sweet and the heroine is strong, down to earth and innocent to love. She is very uneducated to start, but loves reading and educates herself with her reading. As she first begins to write(it's written in journal form), her writing and her language are very rough. She finds a library of books(deserted on the side of the trail in a wagon) which become her education and as she reads more, her language and her writing change. She is a very strong woman. This book is based on memoirs and journals of the author's family. As you read the book you realize that this all couldn't have happened to one woman. The details which she writes of every day life are amazing and make you realize how very hard life was in the frontier of our country as people settled where no one had been before and built from nothing. There are some wonderful scenes in the book and some very heartwrenching scenes. This was my choice for our book group, Books Without Borders, for the month of February. An enduring Love Story. We had a wonderful discussion about the indomitable spirit of the woman, Sarah and her struggles in this 20 year period. This is a great read!

The Sunflower, Part 2

Wow! In rereading, I was quite harsh about this book, but still over all, must say it was a good book, but not a keeper or a reread. Quite light and "heartwarming" as they say on the book. But, having found my copy, I did want to post some of the insights that were given as quotes from Paul's journal as chapter headings.

"American culture is a curious thing. We fret over a sport star's twisted ankle or the ill-fated marriage of celebrities, yet lose no sleep over a hundred million children living in the streets."
(Britney Spears, Anyone?)

"A patient once told me that a trip to the mall was twice as effective as Prozac."
(I believe in and practice retail therapy!)

" The surest way to minimize your own burdens is to carry someone else's."

" Today I heard an American teenager comparing her deprivation to that of our children, because her aprents would only buy her a used car. There are none so impoverished as those who do not acknowledge the abundance of their own lives."
I think I see this everyday. We just don't realize how blessed we are to live in this country, to have the food that we need, a warm place to live, we all have great healthcare(speaking of those I know), we all have the opportunity to do what we want with our lives, the right to vote, the right to express discontent with our lives and our government. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the blessings He gives me. I try to make my evening prayers those of gratitude.

And Finally.....

"I have come to believe that the only true way we can serve God is to serve His Children."
Mosiah 2:17 "Behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

So, although it wasn't a book I would pick, nor a book I will read again, it did have some nuggets in it, which to me says you can find good in many things, if you look for it.

Book Review 3

My Third book was one I began while I was in Pocatello. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I have already given it away, so can not go into too many details with names and such. This was a compelling book in some ways, I can see why it is still a very controversial book. Although it points out the evil of slavery(moral, physical, etc.) it also treats the slaves ( or the slave population) as a bunch of children that need direction. Tom was one that embraced Christianity and touched the lives of a family he is sold to, the St. Clairs. He has the simple faith that I admire. He shows great love for those around him, no matter his circumstances. I see a great good vs. evil in this book with the evil of slavery juxtaposed with the love of Christ as manifested by Tom. There are 2 different story lines that I followed. Tom and the young couple who escaped, Eliza, George and their son. I do, however, have to admit that there were pages that I skimmed and pages that I completely skipped because they were sooooo wordy. When she started her explanations about the evils of slavery, I read it once but could not read it over and over. This was a point that she made very often in her writing of the action of the book. There were two points in the book where characters made very long speeches about it.

One of the most disturbing things about this book was the actions of Tom's original owner, who, because he was in debt and had property, had to sell property. He chose his most trusted slave, Tom, who had a family of his own and Eliza's child. So although Tom was a trusted and valued member of the household, in the end he was still property. So although gentlemen slaveholders wanted to think they were better than men such as Simon LeGree, they weren't.

This was a serialized book, released a chapter at a time and so I thought there was lots of details. Her writing style reminds me of Charles Dickens.

I am glad that I have finally read this book, more to say that I have (I can check it off my list)than because I enjoyed it. I would recommend it as a small way to gain knowledge of the slave trade and plantation life. I have begun reading another book which I believe will be a more through examination of the topic Slaves In The Family by Edward Ball.