Bittersweet: A Review
1920s Australia. Two sets of twins, Edda and Grace and Tufts and Kitty are about to head off to become nurses.
Being a nurse isn’t easy and for certain sisters, not something they desire. Marriage, love, friendship but most of all the bonds of sisterhood. All the sisters face hardship, choice, love, loss, and the Great Depression. These sisters are unique and yet understand each other completely. Add in a mother/stepmother that the three sisters have to protect Kitty against. But in the end even with marriage and children, divorce and widowhood these sisters never lose their bond.
While not a fan of love stories, much like Edda, it was well written and kept you interested.
A recommend, with reservations
The Feasts: A Review
Ever wondered why Catholics follow a liturgical calendar? And what’s with all those feasts and fasts and saints?
Cardinal Wuerl and Mike Aquilina give a good theological overview of the liturgical year. We get the why with references to Church documents and Scripture. It is not in chronological order though that doesn’t detract in any way.
A good quick read that covers why without it becoming a theological treatise. Short chapters, solid references, and clear explanations make this an easy read.
A definite recommend
A Quote: The End of Sex
“The stereotype that men are animals and will act like animals until a woman civilizes them is not only exploited in popular culture and the broader media. It’s also the kind of rigid view of gender common to evangelical books that give advice about dating, purity, courtship, and marriage to teens and young adults. Much of this literature teaches young men that they are naturally sexual predators…The presumption is that, when it comes to sex, men’s brains stop working, and all sorts of idiotic, unfeeling, hurtful, and jerkish behavior ensues – and that men can’t help this.”
-Freitas, Donna. (2013). The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy. Basic Book: New York.(p.99)
Cinderland: A Review
A piano teacher accused of the unthinkable. And what if you were one of his students who it happened to but you kept silent?
Amy Jo Burns covers just that plus growing up a girl in a dead mining town. We go chronologically through her life but the stuff with the piano teacher gets tossed in here and there. It makes sense if you understand how people hide their traumas and how these girls lied not just because of what happened to them but how the town affected their lives and how they lived in that town.
It was interesting but you don’t quite understand what the piano teacher, Mr. Lotte did except through small dribs and stand, a mention here. An off hand remark there. That was my biggest issue.
A recommend, with reservations
The Body Keeps the Score : A Review
Trauma is not impactless. We know it affects the brain but it affects the body too.
This book covers the science of trauma, how it effects us, and several methods of treatment. Trauma is stored in our bodies, affecting us in myriad ways and continued to hurt us after the initial trauma is over. Van der Kolk has spent the last several decades studying trauma and how it affects people. This book covers his work but also is a means of support and help for those who are dealing with trauma, have dealt with trauma, or want to help those with trauma.
A definite recommend
The Sun Is God: A Review
Murder at a nudist colony? In 1906 Papua New Guinea? Or was it?
A former English army officer is sent to investigate a death among the Cocovores, a group of German nudists on Kabakan. The death was suspicious to say the least and along with a woman writer and a German military officer, the former army officer visit the island. Not all is what it seems. And these three may lose their life in trying to find the truth.
It felt weak in places and you almost don’t what really happened. Not a lot of action except at the end and even though this was a real case that was never solved, this is fiction so liberties could have been taken. The story dragged in places.
A recommend, with reservations
Such Good Girls: A Review
We know about children who his and didn’t survive the Holocaust. But what about those that hid and survived?
This book covers the stories of tree girls that survived the Holocaust by hiding: one as a Catholic, one with her mother with a family, and another first at a convent then with a few families before being adopted. The author also covers what happens to these girls after the war well into adulthood. The last section covers how those who hid but survived had been dismissed or not even acknowledged to have existed. Everyone knows Anne Frank but these children were unknown.
A definite recommend especially those studying World War II and the Holocaust
The Delta: A Review
Africa. The continent made up of many different countries.
An assassination attempt goes.awry and Sonja Kurz is on the run. She returns home to the wildlife, park run by a man she used to love. Now she must find out the truth behind a new dam and those that want to destroy it. Along for the ride is her boss, who may not be who he says he is, her former lover, and a wildlife reality star. Mercenaries are not your friend and her own daughter may be in danger.
The plot was definitely moving. There were a couple of scenes that I felt where unnecessary to the story and didn’t need to be included, especially certain sex scenes. And Sonja and her relationship with her father later in the book was too contrived. Otherwise, it wasn’t too bad but having Sonja end up in another relationship was just over the too. She was her own free agent and then she wasn’t.
A recommend, with reservations
Third Rail: A Review
Eddy Harkness was made famous by a tragic incident. So now instead of working for Boston P.D. he works for Nagog, his hometown. But then he loses his gun and discovers a new designer drug after a man drives into the town Civil War monument. He can’t stop being a narcotics officer so in between family, a girlfriend that used work for a man he busted, and others involved in the underworld of drugs, Eddie embarks on an investigation that leads him to parts of his own past and to possibly stopping a major new drug cartel from forming.
It is not your typical mystery and not really a happy ending but the plot keeps moving and the characters are realistic.
A definite recommend
The Library Made Me Do It 