February Books

Normally, I would have had this post ready for the first of the month, but frankly, March just came out of nowhere!  Here's what I managed to read in February:

I got my first book from Blogging for Books.

Life After by Katie Ganshert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Life After was an excellent read. I really enjoyed the characters in this story and the way that they came together. Autumn was a likable character to whom it was easy to relate. I enjoyed "watching" her grow throughout the story to overcome the tragedy that she survived.
I also liked that while the story had a Christian base to it, that it was not the sole focus of the story. The characters' faith is addressed by the narrator and the characters themselves, but it is done in a way that "regular" every day Christians can relate to.



My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I just love Sophie Kinsella. I've really been enjoying her books lately. They are fun reads with likable characters! This one did not disappoint. I loved it! I really loved Katie and it was great to follow her from start to finish.



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Books I did NOT finish this month:
Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

I got this one on Audible, and I just couldn't get into it.  I was confused.  Sometimes, there is something to be said for having a copy of the book in front of you.  I think I might be able to get this one as an eBook through my local library, so I may give it another go in the future.

July Books

Here we are, another month has flown by.  My summer is slowly fading away, and I'm both excited and dreading it at once.  I actually thought I would only get in two books this month because they were both very LONG (but wonderful!) books!  I managed to squeeze in one more, though.

Here's what I read this month:

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another great installment in the Outlander series! (Seriously, I know that's not deep, but I just loved reading another book in this series.  I don't want to ramble about all of the things I love about these books....)



An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am so sad that this series is drawing to a close!

As with the other Outlander books, "An Echo in the Bone" has many ups and downs in the lives of Jamie, Claire, Brianna, and Roger! The one thing I didn't enjoy as much is that in this book, Gabaldon includes many chapters about William. So as not to give anything away, William is a character that has been mentioned in or even part of other books, but I was annoyed that it took away from parts of the story about the other characters.

However, after finishing the book, William truly becomes an integral part of the plot.

I think I might take a break and put off reading the next (and final) book, as I am not sure I can bear to say goodbye to these amazing characters!


Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a surprisingly quick (and good!) read. I was a little unsure if I would actually enjoy this book, since it's out of my typical genre choices. But I actually really enjoyed it! As a science fiction book, there were some parts of the book that were a little confusing. When the author was talking a lot about certain aspects of physics, I was lost. There were also parts that were hard to wrap my head around, but Jason (the main character) was struggling, as well, which made me feel like I was supposed to be confused! Ultimately, I couldn't put this book down. I really wanted to know what would happen with Jason, Daniela, and their son, Charlie. Even if "science fiction" isn't your "thing," I would definitely recommend this book. There are a lot of twists and turns with an amazing, exciting plot!

I received this book for free from BloggingforBooks.com in exchange for my review, but all opinions are my own.



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I am currently "on track" with my Goodreads challenge to read 40 books this year.  My plan for August is to try to get ahead since things will inevitably slow once school begins.  (Also, I suspend my Audible account in the summer since I spend way less time in the car and don't need to have an audio book on hand.  But it will activate again near the end of August, so that will help, too!)

What have you been reading lately??

Blogging for Books! In a Different Key: The Story of Autism

As you all know (if you still stick around this space...), I usually post a book review each month.  BUT sometimes, I get a book from BloggingforBooks.org, and I write a special post to review that book.

Way back in January, I requested the book In a Different Key: The Story of Autism.  I didn't have a chance to pick it up to read until the end of April, and I just finished it on June 6th.

Yes, it took me that long to read.

Synopsis
     Nearly seventy-five years ago, Donald Triplett of Forest, Mississippi became the first child diagnosed with autism. Beginning with his family’s odyssey, In a Different Key tells the extraordinary story of this often misunderstood condition, and of the civil rights battles waged by the families of those who have it. Unfolding over decades, it is a beautifully rendered history of ordinary people determined to secure a place in the world for those with autism—by liberating children from dank institutions, campaigning for their right to go to school, challenging expert opinion on what it means to have autism, and persuading society to accept those who are different.  
     It is the story of women like Ruth Sullivan, who rebelled against a medical establishment that blamed cold and rejecting “refrigerator mothers” for causing autism; and of fathers who pushed scientists to dig harder for treatments. Many others played starring roles too: doctors like Leo Kanner, who pioneered our understanding of autism; lawyers like Tom Gilhool, who took the families’ battle for education to the courtroom; scientists who sparred over how to treat autism; and those with autism, like Temple Grandin, Alex Plank, and Ari Ne’eman, who explained their inner worlds and championed the philosophy of neurodiversity. 
     This is also a story of fierce controversies—from the question of whether there is truly an autism “epidemic,” and whether vaccines played a part in it; to scandals involving “facilitated communication,” one of many treatments that have proved to be blind alleys; to stark disagreements about whether scientists should pursue a cure for autism. There are dark turns too: we learn about experimenters feeding LSD to children with autism, or shocking them with electricity to change their behavior; and the authors reveal compelling evidence that Hans Asperger, discoverer of the syndrome named after him, participated in the Nazi program that consigned disabled children to death.
     By turns intimate and panoramic, In a Different Key takes us on a journey from an era when families were shamed and children were condemned to institutions to one in which a cadre of people with autism push not simply for inclusion, but for a new understanding of autism: as difference rather than disability.

My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book took me forever to read.

Sure, I started reading it at a busy time of year for a teacher, but often, I really just didn't want to even pick it up. I added it to my "want to read list" because the synopsis made it sound extremely interesting, and at first, I thought so. I actually read a good chunk of this book while sitting in a doctor's office for a few hours getting allergy testing done. I even jotted down a few notes and stuck them in the pages where the thoughts struck me!

But then, I started to just dread reading it. And then, out of sheer stubbornness, I would pick it up just to BE. DONE. ALREADY.

Yes, I'm still giving it 3 stars. It IS nonfiction after all, so it's not necessarily supposed to be an easy read. If this were fiction, I would give 2.

So what did I like? We'll head back to the couple of notes I wrote down while reading it.

At the very beginning of the book, the authors discuss words that were once used to describe mental illness. These words were, at that time, essentially clinical diagnoses. Today, these words are very "un-PC" slang terms that most decent human beings would never use to describe people with mental illness or disabilities. Words like, "...'ignoramus,'...'maniac,' 'lunatic,'...and 'spastic'..." are among them. I was just stunned that these words which are now used as insults in our society were being used in clinical terms.

Something else I learned was that many psychiatrists and others believed that autism was caused by mothers not loving their children enough. Some of the original treatments for autism, included supports for the child AND the mother. The mother would need to go to counseling sessions in the belief that helping her to love her child more would "cure" his/her autism. Fortunately, this theory was eventually put to rest as it was proven to be (basically) ridiculous.

I did enjoy this book at times for the little nuggets of information that I gained through reading. However, overall, the book just became tedious. There is a lot of history with regards to autism, and at times, it wasn't interesting to read about. With a history so long, many people are involved in the research and activism regarding autism, and at times, it was hard to keep track of who's who!

At the end of the book, the story comes back around to Donald Triplett, the first person diagnosed with autism. I enjoyed that the book did come full circle and end with the person with whom it began.

While I didn't love reading this book, I do feel that I gained a lot of information and insight into autism that I didn't know before. I would probably recommend it to others who work with people who have autism, but it's definitely not a book to sit down and read for fun.

I received this book for free from BloggingforBooks.org for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Blogging for Books: Avenue of Spies

Have I mentioned how much I love summer break?

One of the best things about summer vacation is that I have SO much more time to read.

Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alex Kershaw

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I received a copy of this book for free from Blogging for Books. All opinions are my own.

As I began reading, I immediately enjoyed that while this book is nonfiction, it reads like a novel.

After getting further into the book I found that it was confusing at time with many names and how they were connected to each other in order to be influential. There were times that I had to reread paragraphs or pages in order to piece things together. The sentence structure awkward at times, and I needer to reread to figure out what the author was stating. I think this occurred because Kershaw felt the need to explain people, places, or clarify French or German phrases. Sometimes, it was slow going because of the numerous French and German names of people and places. While important to tell the story, it took time to work out the pronunciation!

Nearing the end of the story, things began to really move me. It's easy to forget that Jewish people were not the only ones targeted during WWII. People who resisted the Nazis and many others were put to death in the most cruel ways. While I do wish the story would have focused more on the Jacksons and less on other details, in the end, I think it all came together to tell a remarkable story of one family's remarkable bravery in terrible times.

If you enjoy history or WWII stories, I would recommend this book.



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Blogging for Books: The Mapmaker's Children

Blogging for books is such a fun collaboration!!  If I could get through books as quickly as I would like (jobs and life just ruin everything! ;) ), I would have read and written WAY more reviews than I have.

In case you missed them, thanks to my sporadic blogging habits, here are the first two books that I've reviewed:

The Thirteenth Gift by Joanne Huist Smith

Flipped by Doug Pagitt

I just finished reading The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy, and I wanted to get my post about it done right way!  I'm happy to report that after an, "eh" experience with The Thirteenth Gift and not enjoying Flipped, I LOVED this book!

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First of all, if you've been around here for any length of time, I think you probably know that I am in love with historical fiction.  While my obsession has mostly centered around the English courts in Philippa Gregory's novels, I'm pretty much a sucker for all things historical fiction.  

The Mapmaker's Children weaves together the tales of Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist, John Brown, and Eden Anderson.  Sarah's story takes place in the late 1850's and early 1860's, and Eden's story occurs in 2014.  I was immediately taken with Sarah, and was disappointed when I had to leave the past and return to the present.  Eden was very unlikable to me, at first.  She was grouchy, mean, and kind of whiny.  One of the best parts of reading this book was following Eden as she grew and changed throughout the story.  I loved how McCoy connected the past and the present.  As details of the past unfolded, many things became clear in the present.  I ended up giving this book 5 stars on Goodreads.com because it moved me to tears.  That's an automatic 5 star rating to me!

After struggling to like Eden's character at the beginning, I was disappointed that her story seemed to end abruptly.  I wasn't completely satisfied with the resolution and conclusion for her.

Overall, I highly recommend this book!  I was left feeling mostly satisfied with its conclusion, and I am actually very curious to learn more about the real life of Sarah Brown!

What have you been reading lately?

Blogging for Books: Flipped by Doug Pagitt

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I chose this book because it basically lies outside of genres that I would normally gravitate to.  While I can't say that I hated the book, I can say that I disagreed fundamentally with mostly everything that Doug Pagitt had to say.  


There are a couple of main problems I have with this book:
1. I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person, but there were times during my reading where I was left pondering, "Uh. What?"  I just didn't "get" some of the points that Pagitt was trying to make.


2. This man stated that he was a pastor.  Maybe it's not very open-minded of me, but I feel that this pastor has missed the main point of the Gospel and what Jesus was trying to say.


I understand that Pagitt's point is to "flip" the traditional thinking of God and religion, and depending on your belief system this book may be wonderful or horrible to you.  There were some ideas that I did agree with.  I do feel that we should not be trying to hide or live with "If/Then" thinking.  God does not want us to simply do good in the hope that he will do something good for us.  That's not the point.  Bad things still happen to good people, and it's not necessarily God "punishing" them for their choices.  Sometimes bad things happen from bad choices.  Sometimes bad things just happen.  But I do completely disagree that we should just do whatever we want where ever we want with whomever we want.  We SHOULD be trying to live Godly lives based on Jesus' example, knowing that we will NOT ever be perfect because we're human.  We WILL make mistakes, and that's why we have a God who offers forgiveness when we mess up.  


While Pagitt didn't directly say anything like this, if we are ALL in God, does that mean it's okay to murder others, or live a life of addiction, or abuse your spouse or children?  It just makes me question his point.  Shouldn't those people be ashamed of their actions?  Shouldn't they want to repent?  
Overall, I felt that Pagitt wrote well, but I just can't get on board with this flip.