A Bookworm's Book Reviews

Guest Post – Book of Lost Friends

Thank you Jess of Beauty in Humble Places for this book review.

Title: The Book of Lost Friends

Author: Lisa Wingate

Genre: Historical fiction, women’s fiction

Plot: This book is told in parallel narratives: one takes place in Louisiana in 1875 in the years of reconstruction, the other takes place in Louisiana in 1987.

Louisiana, 1875: In the upheaval of Reconstruction, three women set off on a journey. They begin as unwilling and untrusting companions: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the heir to a plantation that has seen better days; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. The group heads for Texas, each carrying their own secrets and troubles. Lavinia and Juneau Jane are hoping for information on their stolen inheritance and freedom from their desperate financial situation, but Hannie is hoping that the pilgrimage will lead her to information on the family she was torn from. Along the way, they encounter other freed slaves hoping for information on the families they thought they had lost forever. The three women begin keeping a list of names and information in an effort to help reunite people with their loved ones.

Louisiana, 1987: First-year teacher Benedetta Silva hopes that by taking a subsidized job at a poor rural school she will finally be free of her hefty student debt. When she finds herself in a tiny Mississippi River town that is suspicious of new ideas and new people, she begins to have second thoughts. On top of that, Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students and struggles to connect with them in a meaningful way. When Benny discovers the story of the three girls from 1875, she finds a way to not only engage her students, but her entire new community.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Opinion: I had previously read Lisa Wingate’s book Before We Were Yours and absolutely loved it, so I was eager to read this one. Now, I do not usually enjoy books told from multiple storylines. I either find myself more engaged with one story line than the other, or the story lines and characters start to get mixed up in my head and I lose interest entirely. That was not at all the case with this book. I found the writing itself to be fluid and enjoyable, and the characters to be relatable even if they weren’t always likeable. I think what I enjoyed the most was knowing that this book was based loosely on real events – there were real “books of lost friends” during Reconstruction, individuals placing ads looking for the families and friends they had been separated from. Knowing that made reading this story even more poignant. I couldn’t help but put myself in the characters’ place as they dealt with various difficulties on their journey. I also thoroughly enjoyed the way Wingate wove the two storylines together. I was deeply appreciative of the fact that the author tied up all the loose ends, and not in a way that felt trite or forced. The characters felt alive to me, not stagnant as they sometimes do, and the obstacles they faced were used as opportunities for character growth and development. What I really loved was that each of the women changed dramatically from the time they were introduced, each growing in a way that felt appropriate for both the time period and who they were as people. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, with a focus on women’s historical fiction.

Dragons Love Tacos – Adam Rubin

Title: Dragons Love Tacos

Author: Adam Rubin

Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri

Genre: Children’s Book, Picture Book

Plot: Did you know that dragons love tacos? They do. They love all things taco, except for spicy salsa. Whatever you do, do not give them spicy salsa on their tacos. This book tells you how to give dragons the best taco party ever.

Rating: 3.4 – a silly book for kids

Opinion: This is a cute kid’s book. The kids get a kick out of it. They love the dragons in it. They’ll point out which dragon is doing what and tell me which ones are their favorites. The kids also find it funny that dragons like tacos. It introduces them to the idea of an interactive narrator. It confuses the younger kids I’ve read it to, but they’ve gotten the hang of it after a few times. This is a good book for kids who need a laugh and who enjoy dragons.

Chrysanthemum- Kevin Henkes

Title: Chrysanthemum

Author: Kevin Henkes

Illustrator: Kevin Henkes

Genre: Children’s Book, Picture Book

Plot: It’s Chrysanthemum’s first day of school. She’s grown up loving her name. But the other kids laugh and make fun of her when they hear her name. Chrysanthemum returns home dejected. She no longer loves her name. But something happens when they go to music class. Will her classmates stop teasing her? Will Chrysalis learn to love her name again?

Rating: 4.5 – a cute book with a good lesson

Opinion: This was one of my favorite books growing up. I’d forgotten about it until I took a children’s literature class in college. It’s super cute. It also has a great message in it about bullying. It’s also a good book to talk about celebrating uniqueness and about being yourself. I haven’t gotten a chance to read it with the kids at work yet. I’m sure they’d love the idea of flower names. It’s another great classroom book. I hope it stays around for a long time.

Caps for Sale – Esphyr Slobodkina

Title: Caps for Sale

Author: Esphyr Slobodkina

Illustrator: Esphyr Slobodkina

Genre: Children’s Book, Picture Book

Plot: A cap peddler, who carries his caps on his head, has trouble selling caps one day. He takes a walk to the countryside and takes a nap. When he wakes up, his caps are gone. Where did they go? How will he get them back?

Rating: 3.2 – a fun kids book

Opinion: I’ve read this book to the kids at work. They enjoy saying the lines along with me, especially the parts with the monkeys. The kids also like stomping their feet and shaking their fingers along with the book as well. They ask me for the monkey book every once in a while. They also like ‘reading’ to each other in a big book version. Some parts of the book are a bit repetitive so I skim a few parts. During those parts, I encourage the kids to say what I’m pointing to in the book. The books states the cap colors a lot, so I’ll ask them to say the colors. I’ll also ask them where the caps are, as the book does. This is a simple little story that the kids really get into. It’s a fun little addition to the classroom library.

The Book with No Pictures – B.J. Novak

Title: The Book with No Pictures

Author: B.J. Novak

Genre: Children’s Book, Picture Book

Plot: This is a different sort of children’s book. There are no pictures. But the strange rule is the adult reading the book has to read all of the words, no matter how ridiculous the words are. Be warned of the craziness when you start this book.

Rating: 3.5 – a hilarious children’s story

Opinion: I’d heard of this book years ago, but never got around to reading it with the kids I work with. That changed when a coworker got this book as a gift. She read it to her class. The kids loved it. They thought it was hilarious. We’ve read it to them a couple times now, and they still laugh all the way through it. They’ll quote it to me, each other, and my coworker. Though it doesn’t have any pictures, it doesn’t need any. The words are big and colorful. Some of the words are nonsense words, so it makes it harder for the adults to read at first, but the kids don’t care. It’s a great book for kids who need a good laugh. One of the writer’s of The Office (the American version) wrote it, so it really helped the book’s hilarity. I’d highly recommend this book for all elementary classrooms.

Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

Title: Murder on the Orient Express

Author: Agatha Christie

Genre: Mystery

Plot: Hercule Poirot is on his way home. With some help from his friend, Mr. Bouc, he finds bunk on the Orient Express. Everything changes when the train is delayed because of snow. Some time after, Poirot learns a passenger, Ratchet, has been murdered. Bouc begs Poirot to take the case. Poirot agrees and questions the passengers. Each passenger in the compartment has an alibi and generally confers on the time of death. But something in their alibis doesn’t add up. On top of everything, all of the passengers seem to have a connection to the murdered man. To shake things up even more, not even the dead man was who he said he was. Can Poirot solve the case? Is the murderer still on the train? Or did they find a way to escape?

Rating: 3.5 – a very logical telling of a mystery

Opinion: This was a lot more straightforward than I was expecting. It was more of ‘let’s get the facts first,’ then ‘oh look, a clue!’ then ‘we learn some more information.’ The last third of the book was when the twists and turns started. For most of the book, Poirot was gathering all the facts. It was kind of boring. Part of that was because I’d seen the movie a couple times before I read the book. Cheating, but I took the time to see how the book was different. The movie was pretty consistent with the book. Some of the characters had different ethnicities or different jobs. There was only one character who didn’t make it into the movie, but was absorbed into another character in the movie. I also noticed a few more clues in the book. The movie glossed over them, but it delved into the clues more. The other part of why it was a little boring was because it’s a different mystery style than what I’m used to. The style was from a different era, so I adapted quickly. I’m used to mysteries with more twists and turns throughout. This book is a classic, and I still enjoyed it. It’s great for anyone who enjoys mysteries and enjoyed the movie.

Acts of Faith Trilogy – Davis Bunn & Janette Oke

Titles: The Centurion’s Wife (book 1), The Hidden Flame (book 2), The Damascus Way (book 3)

Authors: Davis Bunn and Janette Oke

Genre: Historical Fiction, Biblical History

Plot: The Centurion’s Wife (book 1) – A Roman Centurion, Alban, is ordered by Pilate to find out what happened to the rabbi called, Yeshua, three days after his burial and death on a cross. A servant of Pilate, Leah has been asked by Pilate’s wife, Procula, to find out what happened to Yeshua as well. Procula thinks her headaches and visions have something to do with him. Behind the scenes, Herod and Pilate are talking about what to do with the disciples and Jewish leaders. While Alban and Leah are searching for what happened to Yeshua, Alban asks Pilate to marry Leah. Pilate accepts, so long as Alban finds out exactly what happened to Yeshua. When he does that, he can take Leah for his wife. Both slowly become accepted by Yeshua’s disciples. They tell Alban and Leah what happened to them. Leah and Alban start to accept to Yeshua as the Messiah. But the Jewish leaders, Pilate, and Herod are closing ranks on the disciples. They want the matter of the ‘dead’ rabbi to come to a nice and neat close. They don’t want to accept the fact that he’s still alive and the Messiah. When Alban gives his report to Pilate and Herod, they are furious, but let him take Leah as his wife. Leah and Alban have grown close over their time searching for what happened to Yeshua. But Herod and Pilate decide to capture Alban so he can’t spread the word. Will he be captured? Or will he find a way to escape with Leah?

The Hidden Flame (book 2) – Leah’s friend Abigail has stayed in Jerusalem to help the believers there. She’s caught the eye of two men, Linux (a Roman soldier) and Ezra (a Jewish merchant and part of the Sanhedrin). Abigail doesn’t wish to marry either of them as they desire her but don’t love her. Neither of them of are believers, as well. Both men try to convince the leaders of the believers that they are a good match for Abigail. But they must wait until Abigail’s guardian, Alban can return to Jerusalem. As they see the signs and miracles the disciples preform, their hearts are changed, one for the better, one for the worse. When Alban arrives, he sees the men’s desires and declines both of their claims to marry Abigail. Her relief is short lived when she is asked to marry Stephen. Abigail agrees. With tensions between believers and the Jewish leaders growing stronger every day, will they be able to stay in the city? Or will they need to flee?

The Damascus Way (book 3) – Julia and her mother live on the outskirts of they city, away from prying eyes. She’s not well accepted in either the Jewish or Roman communities, as she’s Samaritan and Greek. Her world starts to come apart when she learns her parent’s are married and her father has a legitimate family in Damascus. Then she learns that her mother’s servant is a believer. Slowly, Julia learns about the Messiah and becomes a believer. She tries desperately to tell her mother about the Messiah, but her mother won’t listen. Jacob is a guard in her father’s caravan along with Alban. He agrees to protect them along the way to meet a suitor for Julia. But everything changes when they encounter a sandstorm along the way. Her mother has a change of heart. Jacobs starts to learn more about the trading Julia’s father does on the side. Both Jacob and Julia start passing secret messages between other believers. Will that keep them safe? Or will delivering secret messages and supplies put them in great danger? Especially when they are asked to accompany Saul of Tarsus to Damascus. What will happen to them along the way?

Rating: 3.8 – a good historical fiction trilogy

Opinion: This was a sappy romantic, biblical history trilogy. While this wasn’t the most action packed trilogy, I did enjoy it. Though I knew some of the things that were going to happen, because it’s common biblical knowledge, I still found myself learning new things. It was easy to relate to some of the characters because they had the same doubts that modern Christians had. They struggled with the some of the same problems as well. I was a little confused that most of the characters did end up becoming believers. I know more obvious miracles were being performed back then, but it still had me confused on how easily people were becoming believers. Maybe it’s because I’m used to people brushing off things they see and hear much more than they used to. That and maybe I haven’t seen as many people come to Christ as others have. This was still a good trilogy. I loved all of the biblical history and Roman history in the series. While it was slower than the books I normally enjoy, I found myself wanting to know how the characters would overcome their challenges. This is a slow and steady trilogy that’s great for anyone who loves historical fiction with a little sappy romance thrown in.

Guest Post – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Thank you Ali from Share to Inspire for this review.

Title: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Author: Mark Manson

Genre: Self-help book

As the author itself said, it’s a self-help book, and it’s for people who hate self-help books. The book is all about improving yourself. Although the approaches are counterintuitive, you will find them useful and powerful. In the quest of improving ourselves, problems are inevitable. But this book won’t tell you to look for the bright side and keep pushing yourself. It is the opposite, stop trying and believing in yourself. Mark’s suggestions are rare, vulgar, and different from every self-help book I have read but I found them to be profoundly true and helpful.

The subtle art of not Giving a fuck is a page-turner and life-changing. Reading once is not enough for me, it is worth rereading it. Mark Manson emphasizes that everyone cares about something. Everyone gives a f*ck about something. And you gotta choose wisely what those are. Another underlying message in this book is to be comfortable with what you lack. Embrace what is uncomfortable and sometimes pursuing the negatives results in positive. For example, our failure makes us realize our shortcomings. If you want to be liked by people, you have to be comfortable with the fact that not all people will like you. If you want to be successful, then you have to befriend failure.

Truth is problems and problems never go away. They will always be replaced with a new one. And the question from the book that will give you the insight to improve your life is “Which struggles are you willing to take?” The author takes relationships as an example. A lot of people want a perfect-looking relationship but they’re not willing to take the struggles of building one. These include awkward and hurtful conversations, failed dates, and rejections. You can’t have your desired result, without choosing and going through your struggles.

I could go on and talk more about the book, but I will leave the thrill to you. I am always left in awe every time I put down the book, so go ahead and read the whole book.

The Divergent Trilogy – Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent (book 1), Insurgent (book 2), Allegiant (book 3)

Author: Veronica Roth

Genre: Dystopian Future, Young Adult

Plot: Divergent (book 1) – Beatrice (Tris) Prior lives in a world divided by factions. Everyone takes a test that determines where you live based on your choices on the test. Test options are limited to Candor (who value honesty), Abnegation (who value selflessness), Dauntless (who value bravery), Amity (who value peacefulness), and Erudite (who value knowledge). Those who fail the test or their initiation are cast into the factionless are homeless and do the jobs no one else wants. If you get more than one faction on the test, you are Divergent. If you’re discovered as Divergent, you disappear. Tris discovers she is after taking the test. Her test proctor doesn’t rat her out and lets her pick at her choosing ceremony. Tris choses Dauntless. But can she remain hidden with Dauntless? Or will she be discovered?

Insurgent (book 2) – War has broken out among the factions. Those in Erudite want total control for themselves. Those closest to her are deciding who to fight with. Dauntless are asked to be soldiers. Everyone is unsure of what to do. Then she is pulled into the resistance with the factionless. She starts learn more about what’s going on behind the scenes. Tris is asked to help infiltrate the government and take down the Erudite leader. When things go sideways, Tris and her friends must find a way to leave the city. But nothing is supposed to be outside the city. What will they find? How will they survive?

Allegiant (book 3) – Tris and her friends find sanctuary somewhere in the wasteland beyond their city. They learn of a broader world than they ever thought possible. Tris learns her city was set up as experiment of sorts and her mother was a part of it. This sends Tris reeling. Then they learn the city they grew up in isn’t going to make it. What will Tris do? Will she help destroy her home? Will she stay with this new place? Or can she find a way to save everyone?

Rating: 3.0 – a good idea, but wasn’t as enjoyable as others like it

Opinion: Yes, I know I’m late to the game with this trilogy, but I thought I’d share my thoughts. This trilogy started out well. I liked the ideas behind the way things were set up. Then things started getting weird for me in the second book. After that the books changed directions completely. I didn’t like the changes. The books had a good thing going for them. I can see some of the reasons why but not enough to really enjoy where the trilogy went. I was confused on the direction the books went. It was too much for a change in direction. It almost felt like the author ran out of ideas for that first idea and tried to add in a different idea, but didn’t quiet make it work. I finished the trilogy cause I thought it might be redeemed. The ideas also kept me interested. Another thing I didn’t love about the books was the on again off again relationship Tris has with Four. It got really annoying quick. That and love triangles is why I’ve taken a long break from young adult books. Overall this isn’t a bad trilogy, I just think it could’ve been done better, or a little differently.

Illusion – Frank Peretti

Title: Illusion

Author: Frank Peretti

Genre: Science Fiction

Plot: Danny and Mandy have been a magician duo for almost 40 years. That all changes when Mandy dies in a car crash. While Dan mourns, something has happened to Mandy. She wakes up in the hospital, as her 19 year old self. She is transferred to a mental ward. That is, until she finds a way to escape, by passing through the walls. She learns to adapt to her new life. Mandy uses her newfound abilities to earn some cash. Then Dave finds her in a coffee shop while she’s performing. He recognizes her instantly, but she doesn’t recognize him. Dave recognizes her talent and decides to take Mandy under his wing, despite the heartbreak. Through their mentor/protégée partnership, they start to figure out how Mandy’s powers work. But Mandy’s powers start to draw unwanted attention. Others seek what she can do for their own purposes. On top of that, Mandy’s powers are growing. Can she learn to control them? Can Dave keep Mandy safe? Or will this new unseen enemy capture her? Will Dave be able to get his Mandy back? Or will she be this new Mandy forever?

Rating: 3.5 – an interesting take on time travel

Opinion: Magicians have always intrigued me. Learning some behind the scenes tricks on how they work made me enjoy the book even more. This was the first book I’ve read that was truly about time travel. While it was a great book, the mechanics of it were super confusing. The book tried to explain the mechanics of how time travel worked. That about broke my brain. While I didn’t mind that, that plot information was kind of dumped on me. It would have been nicer if the information had been broken up more. Also, the book was pretty descriptive as well, not that it was a bad thing, it just got to be a little much. Also there wasn’t a ton of action either. I liked the idea of time travel and its added capabilities in this book. That kept it interesting and kept me reading. Even though some things weren’t so easy to understand, it was still a good read. This is a good read for those who love magicians and time travel.