Fever 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson

Title: Fever 1793
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: 2000
Length: 243 Pages
Summary: (from book)  During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out. 
Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather,. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.


My Thoughts:  I feel dumb for not even knowing there was a huge outbreak of Yellow Fever in late Colonial America. This book was great for telling me otherwise. I've seen this book around for a few years, but never picked it up because the cover kind of freaks me out. But I was at the library and spotted it as a quick read to help me get to my book quota for the year. I'm glad I read it.
Mattie was a likable female protagonist and her story very believable. I admired her love for her grandfather and her persistence on survival and independence.

What I learned: It taught me a lot about the innate sense we all have for survival and made me wonder what I would do in a situation like hers.

Things To Be Cautious Of:  The Lord's name taken in vain I think...twice. And the nastiness of disease and how they treated it and the sick patients.

The House I Loved, Tatiana De Rosnay

Title:  The House I loved
Author: Tatiana De Rosnay
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publishing Date: February 2012
Length: 222 Pages
Summary: (From book)  Paris, France: 1860's. Hundreds of houses are being destroyed, entire neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann has begun a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, molding it into a "modern city."  The reforms will erase generations of history, but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.
Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end, even while others flee to new houses on bigger streets. She stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that march closer and closer each day. And as she waits, she escapes in the past, writing letters to her beloved late husband, Armand. By delving into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years.
My Thoughts:  Well....this book was nothing like the cover promised. I'm guessing the picture is supposed to portray how Rose and Armand looked as a young couple-but they didn't live in some mansion down a tree lined  drive, so I'm missing the point here...
I liked the writing style. It was elegant and too the point, but the story overall fell a little flat for me. I saw the movie Sarah's Key, and have had that story impressed on my mind for quite some time, so when I saw a new book by this author, I wanted to give it a try.
Rose is a widow living in the cellar of her house waiting for the destruction of her neighborhood. She does't want to let her house go, and is planning on staying until the bitter end. It wasn't a public protest, just her alone by herself, so the fight was more personal than rallying.
While she waits, she writes letters to her dead husband, Armand. I have to say I felt like she was a little selfish. She talks about how her mother paid little attention to her and her brother growing up, but then justifies not loving her own daughter in favor of their son. It's like an abuse cycle.
The big secret she carried around for thirty years wasn't something I wanted to read about, and I didn't feel like it was necessary to the story, but it works.
I have never wanted to visit Paris; it's always felt very pompous and...French. But I get the impression I would have liked to visit the old Paris before the renovations; that sounds more like something I'd love. So for giving me an interest in the old city, the book did it's job. For plot and characters....not so much.

Things To Be Cautious Of:  *MAJOR SPOILERS*  Rose's secret is that she was taken advantage of in her home and that is where her son comes from. I found it awkward and not necessary to the book and really wished I hadn't read that. After the son, *SPOILERS,* dies, the husband writes her a letter and says the way to overcome their grief is to love each other. ....Right.   There's hinting at romance lovey stuff, but nothing obscene, just married couple things. I really don't care for adult fiction since that seems to be an underlying theme.

What I Learned:  Old Paris sounds amazing. I don't want to be an old widow waiting for my house to cave in on me.

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

Title: Between Shades of Gray
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Philomel
Publishing Date: 2011
Length:  338 Pages
Summary: (From book) In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother. They are being sent to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp.  All is lost.
Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing. She risks everything to use her art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?

My Thoughts:  This book made me cry. Repeatedly. I bawl through every story of the Jews in Germany during WWII, but I had absolutely no idea about the people of Latvia. What they were put through was horrific and should never have happened. Lina's voice tells the story of her people in an unflinching and truthful manner. It was a wonderful coming of age story that balanced well the concerns of a growing teenage girl growing up in a prison camp. Every character was memorable and emotionally poignant.  This book will become a classic.

Things To Be Cautious Of: It's the story of the horrors of prison camps. While none of it is excessively violent or crude, there is mentioning of the reality of what really happened. Some of these stories may be hard for sensitive readers. (Example, me.)

What I learned: Love is important. Stand for what you believe in and never back down. Family is the dearest thing you will ever have in life.

The Musician's Daughter, Susan Dunlap

Title: The Musician's Daughter
Author: Susan Dunlap
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publishing Date: 2009
Length: 317 Pages
Summary: (From book) Amid the glamor of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy's court in eighteenth century Vienna, murder is afoot. Or so fifteen-year old Theresa is convinced when her musician father is found dead on Christmas Eve, his valuable violin missing and the only clue to his death is a mysterious gold pendant found around his neck. 
Her father's mentor, the acclaimed composer Franz Joseph Haydn, takes pity on Theresa and makes her his copyist, giving her an income so that her family will not go hungry. 
Determined to solve the mystery of her father's death, Theresa is stunned to learn about the secret life he led-along with a trail of blackmail and extortion that extends from the splendor of the imperial halls to the shadowy tents of a Gypsy camp. Yet it's the stirrings of love for a man she only thought she knew that might prove the most astonishing discovery of all.

My Thoughts:  Well, for starters, I bought this hard cover book for four dollars at the used book store. I actually put this one aside to devour the last book I just reviewed. It's not that this book isn't good, it was just....hard to get into.  Maybe it was the fact that everyone's names are so hard to pronounce and half the time they aren't calling Theresa her real name, but some term of endearment (I think) so it's very confusing. I wouldn't really label this a mystery or historical fiction. I didn't understand any of it.
And this romance they hint at isn't much of a romance at all-it's more like she has this hopeless crush on a guy much older on her. I didn't feel much of it returned on his part.
I like the Gypsies though. I've written a bit of a gypsy before and have always found them fascinating, beautiful people.
Things To Be Cautious Of:  Ugh...The Lord's name is taken in vain once, she talks about becoming a woman, she uses her low cut dress to advantage (not willingly), her uncle is a pervert, this old guy thought she was a 'lady of the night' *gag* and light mentioning of prostitution.  Someone is shot, not fatally, and a person is to be executed; mentioning of torture and torture methods...
What I learned: I'd much rather be the rockin' cool gypsy girl.

A Mystery For Thoreau, Kin Platt

Title: A Mystery For Thoreau
Author: Kin Platt
Publisher: Farra Strauss Giroux
Publishing Date: September 30, 2008
Length: 162 pages
Summary: (From book)  Sixteen year old Oliver Puckle, news gatherer for the Concord Freeman, has lived his teenage years by his uncle's creed: Avoid alluring company. This makes him all the more vulnerable when he meets an undeniably alluring young lady-the beautiful Miss Margaret Roberts, newly arrived from Boston under questionable circumstances. Oliver hardly has a chance to recover, however, before she just as quickly vanishes. When news arrives of a gruesome murder at Walden Pond, Oliver fears the worst. Suddenly all of Concord is in an uproar, and the only citizen who isn't a suspect is the recluse poet Henry David Thoreau, who spent the night locked in the local jail for refusing to pay his poll tax. Can the man who contemplates pond ripples and pine trees help uncover the true identity of the murderer?
As Oliver leads the charge to unravel the mystery, one thing becomes certain: the summer of 1846 will certainly prove to be his most newsworthy to date.
My Thoughts:  This book was a dollar read from my grandma and was actually pretty good. I love the cover and historical novels are always my favorites. I had no idea that Alcott, Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau all lived in the same town at the same time.
As for the plot and writing style of the book, I was a little disappointed. I had a hard time getting into it, I've been rather distracted, but Oliver just seemed a little shallow in general. He goes from being uptight to suddenly breaking all rules in a matter of seconds. I would have enjoyed a longer plot with more time to get to know the characters.
I did love the personality for Thoreau though. It really made me want to go pick up some of his work.
Things To Be Cautious Of:  Two swear words, mentions being taken advantage of, murder.
What I learned:  Thoreau sounds pretty cool.

Review: The Key On The Quilt, Stephanie Grace Whitson

Title: The Key On The Quilt
Author: Stephanie Grace Whitson
Publisher: Barbour Publishing
Publishing Date:  March 1, 2012
Summary: (From book)   From a distance, the  building may resemble a castle, but it's the last place Jane Prescott, Mamie Dawson and Ellen Sullivan thought they'd be, and the last place they expected to see love grow.
Broken in spirit and wondering if God has abandoned her, Jane is serving a ten-year sentence at the Nebraska State Penitentiary, even as she hides a startling secret. How will one caring physician help unravel the hidden meaning behind Jane's courthouse steps quilt?
Mamie told God she'd go anywhere, never dreaming He'd send  her to nurture women the world had forgotten as a prison matron. But while helping those around her, will she stubbornly keep the attentions of a kind guard at arm's length?
Ellen was never going to leave Kentucky, but then marriage made her a Nebraska warden's wife. Can she reach past uncertainty and fear to find God's purpose in it all?
Together, these three woman form an unlikely friendship that takes them to the ends of themselves and ultimately, on a journey that proves prison walls can neither frustrate God's plan nor keep love out.

My Thoughts:  
Wow, what a beautiful novel. It was thought provoking and touching and managed to convey a wonderful message without being overbearing or extremely sappy.  I find myself looking forward to the sequel and whatever else this author has written.
I became  very invested in Jane's story, and madly in love with that doctor of hers, Max Zimmer. (But then again, I fall for every doctor I ever read about, and to be far, he did have grey-green eyes)
The touch of mystery to her story kept me interested and the love the other 'friendless' women had for each other made me realize that I should not judge others. It makes me reconsider the way I view people and I need to be better at treating everyone as equals.
Her writing style was flowing and easy to get into and clearly well researched. I found myself right there in the scene with the characters going from one emotion to the next.
As a Christian novel, it was kept clean, aside from a few mentionings of 'feminine wiles' and couple romance, but nothing at all like what is considered acceptable for even teen and children fiction.
What I learned: 
This book has made me realize I need to include God more in my life. I am at a point growing up where I really need His influence and I admired the way Mamie went to Him for everything. I need to remember to say my 'thankfuls' and be watchful for the 'grace notes' God pours out on us when we need His help.
God is truly no respecter of persons and if He loves those women in the Nebraska State Penitentiary regardless of their pasts, then He must have a little room in His heart for me.

Review: The King of Mulberry Street, Donna Jo Napoli

Title: The King of Mulberry Street
Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Publisher: Random House
Publishing Date: 2005
Summary: (From Amazon.com) In 1892, nine-year-old Dom’s mother puts him on a ship leaving Italy, bound for America. He is a stowaway, traveling alone and with nothing of value except for a new pair of shoes from his mother. In the turbulent world of homeless children in Manhattan’s Five Points, Dom learns street smarts, and not only survives, but thrives by starting his own business.


My Thoughts: Wow. What a way to look at immigration to America. The summary does not do it justice. The first person narrative of the main character, Dom, as he is come to be called, gives life to this story in a way that was believable and moving.  
I have long had a soft spot for the little orphans and street children in history and this book only further increased my compassion for their plight. The concept of a padrone   is just horrific. The fact that such things existed, that such men, if they could call themselves that, would take advantage of poor boys unable to speak English and just trying to support their families is staggering. It makes me sick to think that for a long time, this is what America was built on.
Dom's story is partly based on the life of the author's grandfather, and that makes the story all the more heart wrenching. These are the sort of things that people ought to be reading, to realize, to understand that this is where people came from, how many things started....
Dom is an imaginative boy who takes charge of his situation and quickly figures out how to thrive on the American Dream. I worry about what happened to him though: if he ever went back to Italy, contacted his family....or if he became successful in America and really prospered in the way so many coming to Ellis Island hoped for.
I'd have to say the message I learned from this book is the need for compassion. The way Dom and his friends lived was unimaginable. It was such a relief that he found a way to push through it all and find kind people who cared for him. Their is no end for the need for service and Christlike love we can show to people and I will try harder to give generously to others.

Review: Inside Out & Back Again, Thanhha Lai

Title: Inside Out & Back Again
Author: Thanhha Lai
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publishing Date: 2011
Summary: (From book)
"No one believes me,
But at times
I would choose
wartime in Saigon
over
peacetime in Alabama."
For all the ten years of her life, Ha' has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by....and the beauty of her very own papaya tree.
But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Ha' and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed towards hope. In America,  Ha' discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape...the strength of her very own family.

My Thoughts: What a beautiful book.  I was first attracted to the cover, and then the style of the book. I have never read a book written entirely in prose. Hats off to the author, my lack at writing poetry really left me in awe of her style.
Part of what made this book so interesting is that this story is written from what she remembers happening to her as a child. It really makes the story all the more real. The characters may be fictional, but the circumstances and story are not.
It was a short read, about an hour to finish, but well worth it for the beauty of the words. Ha's story was touching and I found a soft spot for her older brothers that tried so hard to protect her. It was devastating to see how rude people can be just over different cultures and backgrounds.
The idea of Ha' and her family being baptized into Christianity with no concept of its principles or even giving their consent was shocking.
We are all God's children, and He loves us no matter what we believe or where we come from. Part of our journey here on earth is to use our agency to turn to Him.  This book is the halfway mark to my goal for the year, fifty two books, and I think I'd like to start doing some things different on this blog.  My motto for this has been: Gaining life perspective through a literary lens,  and I'd like to start posting what sort of lesson or overall message I get from what I read that will help me in my life.
The message I received from this book is a bit of a recap from what I said above. We are all God's children and He loves us no matter what our skin color, backgrounds or social status. The change I am going to make from having read this book is to be more Christlike to everyone.
Happy Half Way Point!

Review: I'll Be Seeing You, Jerry Borrowman

Title: I'll Be Seeing You
Author: Jerry Borrowman
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Publishing Date: 2006
Length: 386 Pages
Summary: (From book) As the Depression worsens, a distant war draws near. Dan O'Brian finds he is once again embroiled with the inner conflicts he had hoped were far behind him after returning from World War I. Dan holds a strong conviction that the United States should stay out of this new war-because this time it is his son, Cory, whose life could be threatened by a foreign menace. But convictions can change.
Through his work as a musician, Dan finds an unlikely friend in Josh Brown, a man who challenges Dan's view of the world. And though both men share a common tragic link to the past, events of the future will soon forever bond the two men's families together.
In an era where the future is as uncertain as it is exciting, Cory O'Brian and Nathan Brown know they must defend freedom, just as their fathers have done. What they don't yet understand are the human costs of war-to those in the battle and those at home.
My Thoughts: Augh...why do these books make me cry so hard? I seriously sobbed towards the end of the book. Something in these stories really get to me and I will be finding the rest of the series as soon as I can to  keep the emotional roller coaster going.
I guess my only issue with this one is that I got a little bored with the technical, explaining of the submarines and war machines, but I guess that's because these books are more boy-centered in that regard. It's just so nice to find good series of books that uplift and inspire while teaching about important facts in an interesting and touching manner.
This is a series that I am going to recommend to anyone interested in the Great Wars.

Review: 'Til The Boys Come Home, Jerry Borrowman

Title: 'Til The Boys Come Home
Author: Jerry Borrowman
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Publishing Date: March 2005
Length: 407 Pages
Summary: (From book) At fifteen, Danny O'Brian dreams of being something different than what his union-leader father has become-and now that the Richards family has moved to town, maybe it's possible. The Richardses have everything that the O'Brian's seem to lack-education, money, social standing-and best of all, they and their son are truly kind to Danny.
Everything changes, however, when war takes the two young men far from the peaceful streets of Pocatello, Idaho.  Danny must fight in the trenches, reluctantly using the one skill he was taught by his father. Meanwhile, Trevor battles the enemy in the skies. But war will not  be kind to these two men with a brotherly bond.

My Thoughts: Why is this author so amazing? Again, I literally sat there and cried for the last one hundred pages of this novel. What a beautiful, sweeping story of the pain of the war to end all wars. I fell deeply attached to both boys, and cheered and cried with them. The plot got a little slow right before the pre war dive, but other than that, this story was engaging and hard to put down. Borrowman is truly a gifted word weaver and I am going to eagerly dive into his other two historical fiction novels, but not after I've given myself a bit of a breather-I need to find more tissues.

Review: One Last Chance, Jerry Borrowman

Title: One Last Chance
Author: Jerry Borrowman
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Publishing Date: April 2009
Length: 267 Pages
Summary: (From author's website)Artie Call can't get a break. Orphaned during the Depression, he steals food to survive. When mischief lands him in juvenile court, he's offered a home by fellow ward member David Boone, but then suffers under Boone's unkind and unyielding treatment. And after Artie helps the victim of a robbery gone bad, he's abandoned by Boone and is almost sentenced to juvenile hall.

Then his luck and life suddenly  change.

Mary Wilkerson, the feisty widow who was robbed, sees potential in Artie and takes him into her custody. Ray McCandless, the wise yet firm chauffeur, teaches Artie about cars, life, and the connections between the two. Under their care, Artie develops the desire and the ability to leave his past behind and grasp the hope in his future, which shines like Mary's luxurious Duesenberg. But when cornered by old enemies, will he defend his honor with his life?

My Thoughts:  Yes,  the cover is slightly creepy with his distant, half smile and all that, but this book was wonderful. I cried through the entire second half and then started bawling again at the last sentence. This author clearly has a talent for weaving beautiful, emotionally connecting stories.  The hero of the story, Artie, is a character dear to my heart; truth be told, this entire story is something I feel very strongly about.  For over a year my head has been filled with the stories of orphan children and their struggling to make a home in a place where it feels like they are not wanted because of their backgrounds. To have a story so closely tied to the one I am writing be put in front of me was like finding a dear friend. 

As this is a historical fiction novel, the attention to detail was beautiful, though a little tedious at times. I enjoyed reading about a subject where the author had clearly taken his time in careful research.  The characters were dominant personalities and quickly lovable. I laughed and cried and worried with them. 

It was so refreshing to sit down to a story and have it be clean and well paced. Not once did I cringe or find anything to be obscene or suggestive.  I have picked up another historical fiction novel by this author about the two World Wars (cue the water works) and am quite excited to see what heart touching tales he weaves in that new series.