My Antonia

One of those books I was supposed to read back in High school and chose to go the Cliff Notes route instead. My book club read it this time around so I needed to be able to participate in the discussion and I really enjoyed it. I'm racking up quite a list of "settling" books, but they each cover a different time period so they've been interesting. I had thought this book was about Antonia (obviously got the idea from the title), but the narrator used Antonia more as a way to convey the world in which he grew up. It was also interesting to note some commentary on the author as prefering to write from a male perspective so she could admire the females in the story fully since was supposedly a lesbian. Anyway, the book was about various families settling in Nebraska from different European countries as well as the main family who was already established there. It talks of their interesting relationships and their hardships. I really liked the grandpa of the narrator, but I kept hoping Antonia's mother would die. She was just a bitter, selfish lady. Antonia was certainly to be admired for the life she made for herself and her family despite the extreme poverty.

The Shack by William Young

WOW!!!  A well written, fictional book that really makes you think.  A friend gave this to me last week and I flew through it.  The actual story is sandwiched in the middle of a very sad circumstance (abduction and brutal murder of a 6 year old daughter) but it could be applied to any difficulty in our lives.  It wrestles with the age old question of "Where's God when horrible things happen?"  There are some areas I had difficulty with, but it wasn't fair to judge them before finishing the book and they really didn't detract from the story.  It did a great job summarizing so much of what I've been wrestling with and learning over the past few years.  If you're trying to figure where God fits or if He even really does fit in this world and your life I would highly recommend this book.  It doesn't answer all the questions, but it definitely gets you started thinking.  I don't want to give away the whole thing so that's all I'll say for now.

Mrs. Mike

A GREAT book, written by Benedict and Nancy Freedman.  This book takes place in the late 1800's through WWI with a young girl (16) moving from her city home to her uncle's ranch in Canada to help her breath better.  She falls in love immediately, with Mike, of course,marries him and follows him to the upper reaches of Canada where he is assigned as a mounty.  The majority of the book is spent following their lives in this harsh and unforgiving environment as they make a home with various Inuit tribes, Mrs. Mike being the only white female around.  I don't like romance books and this is a love story, but it is so much more than that as well.  You get a good feel for the pleasantly simple life they lived, but the harshness of it all affects everyone so deeply.  Another good historical fiction novel.  

As a side note, this book was written 30 years ago, by the authors, before kids entered their lives.  It had such continued success that they have just recently written a sequel to this book now that their kids are grown.  It takes place during WWII and follows one of the daughters of Mrs Mike.  It's on my book list for the future.

The Kite Runner

A wrenching book by Kahalid Hosseini.  I knew the movie was coming out soon and wanted to get this read beforehand in case I decided to see the movie.  The book was well written and a good read, but it was very disturbing.  I'm not sure I could sit through this movie, depending on how graphic they choose to be with it.  It's about a rich boy coming of age in Afganistan when the Taliban take over.  He grows up with his dad's servant's boy as his best friend.  He slowly learns to see this boy as more than his servant's son, but it takes a long while with some difficult turns.

The Dead Don't Dance

A good light read for bedtime, but with some good messages throughout.  It's fairly predictable and can bring some tears, but a good first book by Charles Martin.  I actually had another book of his on my list, but since that wasn't in at the library I chose this one instead.  It's about a young couple experiencing some trials in life and their interaction with those around them while going through it.  It is hard to put down once you start it.  Andy was just checking it out in a moment of boredom before bed and ended up finishing it in 3 days.

Giants In The Earth

This is an old book originally written in Norwegian and then translated into English by OE Rolvaag.  I enjoyed the story of Norwegian emmigrants traveling from their home country to settle in the Dakotas.  I did feel like I was constantly waiting for something to happen throughout the book and  nothing real big happened until the final paragraph of the 532 page book.  Disappointing at first, but when I found this was the first of a trilogy I was ok with it.  I look forward to reading the next book in this series when I get time and have a warm fire to curl up by - those Dakota winters are brutal.  Historical fiction has been a favorite of mine for some time now so this book was right up my alley.