The Help

This book is wonderful! It's about black maids and hired help during the 1960s. It outlines the story of three main characters-two maids, and a white college graduate - who work together to write their stories. It was such a good read, and I definitely gained a lot of appreciation for that time period and the unspoken racial social rules. I really liked what they included in their stories to "give it insurance" against the high society socialites. I give it 5 stars!!

I Sit All Amazed: The Extraordinary Power of a Mother's love

Written by Steve Mikita, this book talks about his life in a wheelchair because of a muscular disease. He reflects back on all his mother did for him during her life and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has sustained him in his trials and hardships.

A very good read! It's neat to see how this man has progressed beyond the slim prognosis of life expectancy and has done so many things with the necessary assistance from his mom and others & shows how determined one can be and how they can succeed when they work toward it.

Peace Like a River

This book, by Leif Enger, was recommended to me by a friend. It's about a family who is searching after their brother who has broken out of prison after being convicted of murder. Each character in the family has a special trait of some kind; the father, who in some ways is a miracle worker. The brother, Ruben, an asthmatic, who learns from experience how to make decisions even when there's no clear line between right and wrong. And the younger sister Swede, whose literary creativity weaves a web through the entire story. It's an interesting book; to me it's like a cross between a Western and an inspirational almost religious type book. There's alot of values such as family loyalty, honesty, and love which play a huge role in the book.
Admittedly, this was a slower-read for me, and the ending at first seemed a little unfulfilling. But after thinking about it more (and reading the suggested questions for discussion at the back of the book), I came to understand how the ending was rather fitting. But I think I would probably appreciate the whole book more reading it again after having read the ending.

Moon Over Manifest

Well, funny thing. I have NO IDEA why I got this book from the library! It is technically a juvenile fiction, and that's not a section I just randomly browse through. I thought that I had requested it from the library because someone had recommended it on this blog, but I can see that no one has. Reading the back and the first 20 pages, it did NOT seem like my cup of tea. But, thinking that someone here had recommended it, I persevered... and ended up falling in love.

So anyway... should you decide to check it out, don't get turned off by the idea of a medium. She's not all hoodoo the way it appears at first; she's just a vehicle to be able to tell a second storyline in the book. And I really enjoyed watching the two story lines weave together by the end of the book. Plus, it was fun getting glimpses of history since the book is set in 1918 and 1936.

Anyway, brief plot overview: Abeliene's father sends her to live in Manifest, the town where he grew up. She spends the summer learning about the town's history (through her friend Miss Sadie the medium, as well as through town newspapers and old letters), trying to learn more about what makes her father the way he is. She ends up learning about him and about herself. Wonderful and sweet story!

The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry is set in a control-based society where all decisions are made for you. The size and type of your family, your profession, your friends, etc. In such a controlled society, a young boy by the name of Jonas receives the assignment to be "The Receiver" wherein he receives memories and feelings from on old man called The Giver. Discover with Jonas the meaning behind color, feelings, happiness and joy, and the decisions we must make because we know these things.
This is a short book, and it's quite the classic, but I really enjoyed it. There's lots of symbolism as to how you can perceive the ending, but that's another thing I like about the book; its open-endedness changes the whole tone of the book.

Time Lottery

Nancy Moser is the author of this wonderfully thought-provoking book. (It is Christian, and hence clean, but the preachy stuff is very minimal.)

The idea behind this story is that a company develops the ability for one to travel back to an Alternate Reality, or a place where some decision s/he made changed the course of his/her life. Since this is done using their memories, the person's body remains in the present for seven days while they experience life as it would have been, almost in a vivid dream. At the end of seven days, they experience a time of Dual Consciousness, where they are simultaneously aware of the realities of each world and are able to choose which reality to stay in.

The company holds a lottery and chooses 3 people to participate. In this first book, you follow these three people back through their memories to find out what they ultimately decide. (I promise, the book is much more about the people's lives than about the science behind the time travel.)

I loved it and really enjoyed the concept behind it; in fact, I am currently reading the sequel called "Second Time Around." I hope someone else can enjoy this book, too!

Persuasion

This is the last book written by Jane Austen, and it wasn't finished being edited when she died. But, I still love this book! Anne Elliot is the middle of three girls and fell in love with Captain Frederick Wentworth when she was only 19 years old. Because he had no money and nothing to call his own and she was so young, Anne was persuaded by her friend, Lady Russell, a fill-in for her deceased mother, that it wasn't a good match.

Years later, Anne and Captain Wentworth meet again and this time their relationship grows slowly because of hurt feelings, and because of other suitors.

Of course, the two end up together, (seriously....I'm not spoiling this for anyone, because this story has been around forever), but I just love the way Jane Austen uses all of her characters in her books to further the plots. There are hardly any inconsequential people in her novels.

So, really, read this. And then read all the other books written by her because I LOVE them all!