Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #71 - Cujo

Today's review is for

Cujo
Author: Stephen King
Pages: 497



This is the story of Cujo - a friendly, 200 pound Saint Bernard that was bitten by a rabid bat.  Cujo had not received any shots against rabies, so he immediately gets sick.  He is owned by a young boy, named Brett, who does not know Cujo is sick before leaving on a vacation with his mom.

Another family - the Trentons - are in the same town.  They have met Cujo when Brett's dad has worked on their car in his garage.  Mrs. Trenton's car starts to give her trouble while her husband is away, and she and her young son go to have it fixed and come face to face with a now rabid Cujo.

This book was not that great.  I am a big Stephen King fan, but this one was just a bit....boring.  It had intense sections - yes.  But the in between banter between the characters seemed all over the place.  It was hard to hold my interest.

This one was just....eh.  I don't recommend.

Stars: 2


Saturday, May 26, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #70 - Newtown

70 books down since January.  A new personal record

Today's review is for

Newtown
Author: Matthew Lysiak
Pages: 289



The author takes us into the story of the tragic day of December 14, 2012 where 20 children and 6 educators were killed during a school shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.  Adam Lanza shot his mom, then went to the school on a killing spree, then killed himself.  But not before changing the lives of everyone in this town forever. 

The author discusses the children, the tragedy, and the aftermath in the year following the tragedy.  Drawn from first hand accounts, emails, police reports, and interviews, the author pieces this horrible tragedy together.

I had a hard time with this book.  And not because it was written poorly (the writing was okay), but the story is incredibly tragic.  I didn't live far from Newtown when the tragedy happened, and my youngest two children are the same age as the children killed that day.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of those children and think what they would now be like as 12 year old children.   On how much my children have done in the last 5 1/2 years that these children will never get to experience.

I cried with each chapter.  The story is very very hard to read.  The details of the day and how those children suffered and the children who survived - what they saw and heard - is almost too much to comprehend.  They were babies. 

Since Sandy Hook, there have been many more school shootings.  Too many.  And nothing changes.  I have always said - if nothing changed after 20 innocent 6 year olds were killed - then nothing will.

Take a look at this story.  Make sure you have your kleenex near by.

Stars: 4

Thursday, May 24, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #69 - The Things We Keep

Today's review is for:

The Things We Keep
Author: Sally Hepworth
Pages: 351



This is the story that takes place in a home for folks who have Alzheimers.  Anna is only 38 years old but has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers.  After she found out, she left her husband and moved in with her brother.  But when she accidentally starts a fire that harms her young nephew, she asked to be moved to a facility. 

In the facility she meets another young person with Alzheimers named Luke.  Luke and Anna begin a relationship as their memories slowly slip away.  Eve - a new cook with a checkered past - comes to the care home to work and care for the patients.  Her young daughter, Clementine, who has been uprooted from everything she knows, tries to make sense of her new life. 

Around them swirls a life that neither Eve or Anna ever expected.  Both trying to hold on to what they knew yet knowing that they cannot.  And when a tragic accident forces Anna and Luke's families to separate them, Eve tries to figure out a way to bring them back together.

I have mixed feelings about this book. first - it is a fast read.  The story moves quickly and the chapters go back and forth between different characters.  The story is heartbreaking to think of a woman as young as Anna having dementia and quickly losing her ability to remember anything. 

What I didn't like about the book was the whole involvement in Eve in Anna and Luke's love story.  Eve is a cook - not a nurse or a doctor - yet she feels she is a bit of an expert on what Anna and Luke need.  She doesn't know their whole story, doesn't know why the tragedy happened, and yet she feels it is her responsibility to make sure these two get to spend time together since they are "in love"?  I don't buy it.  IT was just too unrealistic, and I found myself rolling my eyes at that part of the story.

I cannot say to skip the book.  This piece above is not the biggest part of the book, and so I think it is worth a read.

Stars:  3 1/2


2018 Challenge - Book #68 - Shift

Today's review is for:

Shift
Author: Hugh Howey
Pages: 580



This is book two in the Wool Trilogy.  This book takes us back in time to the year 2039 when the silos first became an idea.  The main charater - Donald - is a senator who has been brought on the project to help build the silo.  He was an architect before we ran for government office, so he is to design something that can go underground for over 100 floors.  He spends months and months profecting the design.  When it is finally put into place, he finds out that it wasn't just for one silo, but for 50.  And that instead of them being used "in case", they would be used to save the human race.

The book starts to jump forward a century at a time.  People who were placed in the silo in 2039 are being woken for 6 month shifts to keep the silos running.  Donald is awake and starting a shift, but his memory has been wiped and he thinks he is a man named Troy.  He is given a daily pill to keep his memories at bay, but as he starts to refuse the pills, he starts to remember who he was and what happened.  Each time he is awake, he remembers more and tries to solve the mysteries of why the silos exist, what happened to his wife, and what is happening in the other silos.

I liked this book as much as the first.  It opened the world and gave us an insight on how it all began and who is running the silos.  We learn the reason they were put into place and see how they evolved to where they were during the first book in the year 2300.  We also get to see how Jimmy (aka Solo) started alone at the age of 16 until he was found by Juliette.

I encourage you to read this series.  I am looking forward to reading book 3

Stars:  4 1/2

Sunday, May 20, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #67 - A Mother's Reckoning - Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy

Today's review is for

A Mother's Reckoning - Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy
Author: Sue Klebold
Pages: 338



19 years ago Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher and injured 24 others before they shot themselves.  This story is from the point of view of his mother - Sue Klebold.  In 2016, she wrote this story about the grief and heartache she has dealt with in the wake of what her son, Dylan, did.  She claims she didn't know what he was up to.  That he was a loved child and she a hands on parent. 

Since that fateful day, Sue has become an avocate for brain health, suicide, and children in distress.  She hopes that her book, and her story will help other parents recognize when their children are in trouble to hopefully prevent one more child from doing what Dylan did.

I have mixed feelings about this book.  First - I commend her for writing it.  Last year I read a hefty book about Columbine, and leanred many things I never knew about the 1999 tragedy.  We all thought the same thing - these kids were bullied loaners who decided to get revenge.  It turns out, that wasn't true.  It was more likely mental illness that was the center of this tragedy and without help, the tragedy occured.

Second - I don't think that Sue is being completely honest with herself.  She makes a lot of excuses for Dylan in this book.  In the beginning she talks about nothing but Dylan's blame and that nothing will make him blamelss in all of this.  But as the book goes along, she starts to make excuses for his behaviors and why he did what he did.  Dylan's Junior year was reaked with clues that he was in trouble.  But Sue and her husband excused many of the behaviors as "boys will be boys" and that "he wouldn't have gotten help even if we asked him to". 

I am trying not to judge too harshly because I am not in her shoes.  I was not in Dylan's house every day.  I cannot say how I would have reacted myself if Dylan was my child.  We all say we would have done things differently, but would we?  We always want to portray our children at their best because we love them.  But making excuses for their bad behavior is part of the problem.  You cannot brush off a kid who gets arrested, and defaces school property, and is showing signs of depression.  These are all things Dylan did during his junior year.  He grades dropped.  He stopped participating in activities.  The clues were blaring.  Yet nothing was done.

In fairness, 1999 was a different time than today, in the awareness of mental illness.  In Columbine, a lot of people missed the clues.  Not only his parents, but his friends, his school, his co-workers.  He fooled them all.

I cannot recommend or not recommend this book.  Did I gain more insight into the Columbine tragedy by reading it?  No.  But you may be interested to hear what Dylan Klebold's mother has to say.

Stars: 3


Wednesday, May 16, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #66 - Achtung Baby

Today's review is for

Achtung Baby
Author: Sara Zaske
Pages: 244



Sara tells her own story with this book about how she and her husband and young daughter move to Berlin Germany from Oregon.  Sara finds herself in a country where parents give their children a great deal of freedom - much different than she was used to in America.  Achtung (means caution in German) is how Americans react to many things their children do.  Sara sets out to discover what it is like to raise children in a culture that lets kids think and act for themselves from a very young age.  She speaks about differences in schooling, play, and freedom compared to children in America.  She finds that German parents are raising their kids to have self-reliance.  Something she feels is lacking with American parents.

I loved this book.  I was introduced to it by a friend over here where I am living in Switzerland.  My family is living in Basel which is right on the German border.  Here the Swiss speak German (although it is their own dialect) and take on many of the traits of Germans when it comes to parenting.  I was fascinated with this book because I see the exact same behaviors here in kids and adults that Sara saw in Berlin.

I have to admit I was a bit of a helicopter parent before moving to Switzerland last year.  I have a daughter that is legally blind, a teenager who I wouldn't even think of letting go to the movies alone, and an 11 year old son who I still picked out clothes for on a daily basis.  I quickly saw here that I could let go.  I was introduced to a culture where 5 year old kids walk, ride bikes, or take trams/buses to school by themselves.  I see kids playing at all hours of the day in playgrounds throughout the city and also riding their bikes after school without supervision.  My eldest daughter has been shopping in the city with friends, alone.  My legally blind daughter rides the tram to and from school each day without me as her escort.

And you know what I found?  They didn't die.  I let go, and they thrived.  I see them making more and more decisions for themselves, and not relying on me to save them when they get into a sticky situation.  (like getting lost or missing a tram).  My 11 year old son takes the tram to and from school alone each day and walks about 10 blocks from the tram to his school.  Without guidance.

Kids play outside here more.  They aren't tied to their phones or their electronics.  I don't see kids immediatetly pulling them out when they are together, or even alone on public transportation.  I see them talking and laughing with each other.  They are outside every day, no matter the temperature or the weather.  And their parents are not with them.

We could learn a lot from other cultures about making kids into strong adults.  One day - soon - I want my kids to live without me.  I want them to be able to make decisions and not crumble and ask for help.  I want them to be wordly and not sheltered.  And I am thankful for the opportunity I was given to break free of helicopter parenting and letting go.

Check out this book.  Especially my American friends.

Stars:  4 1/2

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #65 - Salt to the Sea

Today's review is for

Salt to the Sea
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Pages: 221 pages



This book takes place in East Prussia at the end of World War II.  Refugees are trying to get back to their home countries and the families they left behind.  Among them are Joana, Florian, Emilia.  Their paths cross and as they travel together with a few others, the discover they are all harboring secrets from the last four years of the war.  They and their traveling party end up on a boat called the Wilhelm Gustloff that is sailing to Keil.  A boat - built to hold 1500 people sets off with more than 10,000 passengers.  Among those passengers are soldiers and families and children.

Tragedy strikes and everyone on board has to fight for survival.  People show their true colors in the face of danger, and true heros emerge.

This was a great book.  Really great.  I seem to be stuck on WWII novels this year - keep going back to them - and this one ranks near the top.   (I think I am stuck because we are now living in Switzerland and German history is all around us).  Each chapter is told by a different main character - seeing the scene through their eyes.  Each one has secrets they are not sure they should share.  All feel that some part of what happened to their families is their fault.  And none of them think they will ever find their way back home.

All the characters are well developed and for the most part - likable. (apart from the character Albert, but he isn't supposed to be likable) The Wilhelm Gustloff was an actual boat that carried 10,000 refugees at the end of the war.  But you will have to read the book to find out the fate of this boat and the people on it.

Check this book out.  It is a quick read and you will not be disappointed.

Stars: 4 1/2

Sunday, May 13, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #64 - Wool

Okay - I have been slacking off in the reading department this month.  The weather has turned beautiful, and we have gone on a vacation, and I am falling behind.  I also started a book and wasted 4 days on it before chucking it to the side, so that didn't help.

Today's review is for:
Wool
Author: Hugh Howey
Pages: 523



This book is set in the post-apocolyptic future where people have been driven into silos due to the air on earth becoming toxic.  The silo has 130 levels and holds thousands of people.  They have been underground for over 100 years, so the people in the silo have no idea that any other way of life.  The Silo is run by a mayor and when someone "gets a little mad" they are sent outside to a "cleaning".  These cleanings are to make the outside window of the silo clear for people to see out into the world, and at the same time - the person who is sent out, dies from the exposure to the earth.  No one has ever survived a cleaning punishment.

One day, a girl named Juliette is sent out to do a cleaning - sent out for crimes she didn't commit - and she is the first person who doesn't clean the lense.  Instead - she walks over the hill and can no longer be seen.  Her disappearance starts an uprising among the people in the silo that the people at the top are finding hard to control.  Unanswered questions about their existence start to come to the surface and secrets will be revealed.

This was a pretty good book.  Warning - it is a TRILOGY - so be prepared for a cliff hanger ending.  Most of the characters are likable.  There are parts that were a bit technical and drawn out, but overall, the story was unique.  I enjoy dystopian/post-apocolyptic future books, and this one was very different from others I have written.  I was trying to picture how the silo would work.  There was no elevator for the 130 floors - the people walked.  The people in the "down deep" didn't go to the top floors more than 1-2 times a year, and sometimes not even that often.

Check it out.  I am anxious to read the next two books to see where the story is going.

Stars:  4 1/2

Friday, May 4, 2018

2018 Challenge - Book #63 - The Orphan's Tale

Today's review is for

The Orphan Tale
Author: Pam Jenoff
Pages: 369



This is the story of two women.  Astrid - a nearly 40 year old woman who returns to life in the circus after her marriage falls apart.  She is a Jewish woman during WWII, and the circus hides her from the Nazis.  Noa - is a young teenager girl wbo finds herself pregnant and cast out from her family.  Her baby is taken from her after his birth and she never sees him again.  One day, while working in a train station, she hears a baby cry from a train car, and finds a car full of babies - some alive, some dead.  She makes the decision to rescue just one, and runs.

She falters while running away and is discovered by the circus leader where Astrid is an acrobat.  Noa is taken in and trained to be a member of the circus, and in return she and the baby are protected.  An on and off again friendship develops between Astrid and Noa while the circus travels during the war.

Tragedy strikes and the women must make a choice.  Do they flee, or save each other?

This book was not that great.  I read it after I saw a few friends had enjoyed it, but I found the written awful.  I rolled my eyes several times.  The relationship between Astrid and Noa was juvenile at best.  The story did not flow well, and I didn't find a connection with any of the characters.  It was wordy and repetitive, and down right poor.

I don't recommend it.  There are so many good historical fiction books out there about WWII, and this isn't one of them.

Stars: 2