The Price We Paid

"The Price We Paid" by Andrew D Olsen

Goodreads Summary:
The story of the Willie and Martin handcart pioneers is among the most compelling in the history of America's western migration. Though tragic, it is also a story of triumph that scarcely has an equal. It is one of history's great witnesses of the power of faith and sacrifice.
Although this story is one of the most frequently told of all Mormon pioneer accounts, it is also among the least understood. This book provides the most comprehensive and accessible account of these pioneers' epic 1856 journey.
In addition to painting a broad perspective of the trek, it includes dozens of personal stories from the pioneers themselves. Woven into the larger story of the journey west, these stories inspire, build faith, recount miracles, and reveal how these pioneers were able to endure such adversity. The book also includes chapters on the lives of many of these pioneers after the handcart trek.
Immerse yourself in the challenges and miracles of this astounding odyssey as never before!

My review:
I am LDS and I have heard about the struggles of the pioneers my whole life. This year my kids went on Trek up to Wyoming and Martin's Cove and so I wanted to experience it with them by reading a book about the people who were in the handcarts. This book did not disappoint. It is amazing the amount of faith these people had. I kept asking myself if I could have done what they did. Great book.

Book: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" by Scott Fitzgerald

Goodreads Summary:
"In 1860 Benjamin Button is born an old man and mysteriously begins aging backward. At the beginning of his life he is withered and worn, but as he continues to grow younger he embraces life -- he goes to war, runs a business, falls in love, has children, goes to college and prep school, and, as his mind begins to devolve, he attends kindergarten and eventually returns to the care of his nurse.

This strange and haunting story embodies the sharp social insight that has made Fitzgerald one of the great voices in the history of American literature."

My review:
I am not quite sure why the summary says "haunting." I thought the story was quite a fun read. It is a short fun piece of work. I found myself laughing at some of the silliness and the irony. If you have an hour or two you should try this book.  It's just plain fun.

"Wuthering Heights"

"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte

Goodreads Summary:
"Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature."

Photo found here.

My review:
I did not like this book. At. All. It was disturbing. And it never got better. I kept waiting for something good to happen or for something to change with Heathcliff. Spoiler alert. He doesn't change. I just don't see why this is a classic and why people love it.

Book: Columbine

"Columbine" by Dave Cullen

 

Goodreads Summary
"The tragedies keep coming. As we reel from the latest horror . . . " So begins a new epilogue, illustrating how Columbine became the template for nearly two decades of "spectacle murders." It is a false script, seized upon by a generation of new killers. In the wake of Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech, the imperative to understand the crime that sparked this plague grows more urgent every year.

What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors

My review
I remember when this happened. It was horrible. This book helped to clear up some of the false stories that were relayed via the media. Not only that, we get a glimpse into the two boys who caused so much bloodshed. We get to hear, in their own words, what they were thinking at the time. This book is heavy. It is shocking and tragic and unbelievable and informative all at the same time. It is definitely PG-13 language. I wish there was a way to make sure that nothing like this could ever happen again.

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot" by Bill O'Reilly


Goodreads Summary
More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy—and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.

In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States. Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Alan Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody.

The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader. This may well be the most talked about book of the year.

My Review:
I really like Bill O'Reilly. He is a great story teller. But the great thing about his stories is that they are historically accurate. He makes learning history so very interesting and his books read like a story! This book is no different. Not only did I learn about the assassination, I learned more about JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, LBJ, Jackie Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Oswald's wife, MLK, etc. I also learned about the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Civil Rights Movement, etc. Because I didn't live when these events took place, it was helpful to understand the events that were happening around the time of JFK's assassination. It's just a good, informative book. Read it!

The Hands of My Father

"The Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Hearing Parents and the Language of Love" by Myron Uhlburg

Goodreads Summary:
With candor and humor, Uhlberg recounts a childhood spent largely as a bridge between his parents and the hearing world. Translating from sign language to spoken language and back again, he enables his father to communicate with local shopkeepers, awakens his parents when his baby brother cries, and even interprets at a less-than-glowing parent-teacher conference. At times, he's embarrassed by his parents, and hurt that his father is called "dummy." But in the end, his overwhelming love and compassion leaves a lasting effect. 

My Review:
Obviously this is a book that is near to my heart. I live a large part of my daily life wrapped in the Deaf world. I am married to a Deaf man and my children have a Deaf father. My children's experience is quite different in many ways than Myron's was, and yet very similar in many ways. In reading this book, you will get a small glimpse into what it is to live with a Deaf person. I loved this book!!

Another good book: In a Glass Grimmly

"In a Glass Grimmly" by Adam Gidwitz

Goodreads Summary:
More Grimm tales await in the harrowing, hilarious companion to a beloved new classic
Take caution ahead—
Oversize plant life, eerie amphibious royalty, and fear-inducing creatures abound.

Lest you enter with dread.
Follow Jack and Jill as they enter startling new landscapes that may (or may not) be scary, bloody, terrifying, and altogether true.

Step lively, dear reader . . .
Happily ever after isn’t cutting it anymore.

In this companion novel to Adam Gidwitz’s widely acclaimed, award-winning debut, A Tale Dark & Grimm, Jack and Jill explore a new set of tales from the Brothers Grimm and others, including Jack and the Beanstalk and The Frog Prince. 

My review:
I loved the first book in this series, "A Tale Dark and Grimm." I personally thought this one was even better than the first. Adam Gidwitz has a great has a great way of including humor in this adventurous book. I love that even though this is a continuous book of Jack and Jill and a frog's adventure, he starts each chapter as if it was the beginning of a new tale. This is a great read for both older and younger. I can't wait to read the next book.

A Book: Miracles From Heaven

"Miracles From Heaven" by Christy Wilson Beam

Goodreads Summary:
In a remarkable true story of faith and blessings, a mother tells of her sickly young daughter, how she survived a dangerous accident, her visit to Heaven and the inexplicable disappearance of the symptoms of her chronic disease.

Annabel Beam spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals with a rare and incurable digestive disorder that prevented her from ever living a normal, healthy life. One sunny day when she was able to go outside and play with her sisters, she fell three stories headfirst inside an old, hollowed-out tree, a fall that may well have caused death or paralysis. Implausibly, she survived without a scratch. While unconscious inside the tree, with rescue workers struggling to get to her, she visited heaven. After being released from the hospital, she defied science and was inexplicably cured of her chronic ailment.

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN will change how we look at the world around us and reinforce our belief in God and the afterlife. 

My Review:
I loved reading this book. It reminded me of the miracle that our own family went through when a piano fell on top of my 14 month old son. This is post for another time, but needless to say, miracles still happen. Today, they still happen. This book is about just that; a miracle. It feels impossible, meaning nothing that science can explain, and yet it happened. Such a good read!

2012 Favorites

Here is it. The easiest post of the whole year...right? Except that you have to read almost all your posts to choose your favorites. Well, here they are. Hope you enjoy them again.

 

If you don't have time to read them all again, just re-read Feb and Aug and Honorable Mention. Those are my mostest favs.

 

Jan: Wicked

 

Feb: If you're happy and you know it

 

March: Behind Closed Doors

 

April: You're not going to believe this

         Stupid Farmville

 

May: I don't think that's what it says

 

June: Some itches

 

July: Do you do it too?

 

Aug: When I grow up

 

Sept: Don't mess with Mama!

 

Oct The request

 

Nov: All in the name of pillows

 

Dec: You probably shouldn't stab your eye

 

Honorable Mention:

 

Love of my life