Prayers for Sale

by Sandra Dallas
3 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: Breckenridge, Colorado
305 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
This is my second book I've read by Sandra Dallas, and both novels had the themes of female bonding, quilting, and a newcomer wanting acceptance.  Prayers for Sale is based on life in the mining town of Breckenridge, Colorado (called Middle Swan in the book) in 1936.  I found this aspect of history quite interesting since I tend to think of Breckenridge and other towns in Summit County as ski resorts with expensive real estate.  Life in the high country was quite rough for the miners who established the towns, and I enjoyed hearing about the life from a woman’s perspective.  The main character, Hennie, is a great story teller and provides a broad picture of the town and the times by sharing her numerous stories of herself and others.  This was a enjoyable, quick read.

Book Summary
Hennie Comfort is eighty-six and has lived in the mountains of Middle Swan, Colorado since before it was Colorado.  Nit Spindle is just seventeen and newly married.  She and her husband have just moved to the high country in search of work.  It's 1936 and the depression has ravaged the country and Nit and her husband have suffered greatly.  Hennie notices the young woman loitering near the old sign outside of her house that promises "Prayers For Sale".  Hennie doesn't sell prayers, never has, but there's something about the young woman that she's drawn to.  The harsh conditions of life that each have endured create an instant bond and an unlikely friendship is formed, one in which the deepest of hardships are shared and the darkest of secrets are confessed.  Sandra Dallas has created an unforgettable tale of a friendship between two women, one with surprising twists and turns, and one that is ultimately a revelation of the finest parts of the human spirit.

Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resiliance, and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand
5 Stars
WWII, Nonfiction: Memoir
Setting: USA, Japan
473pages
Published 2010

Ellie's Review
While I enjoy historical fiction because it’s an interesting way to learn, Unbroken astonished me with true facts of the World War II experience of Louis Zamperini.  His story is so astonishing that fiction would not have been as fascinating.  Across the globe from the Nazis, Zamperini’s World War II service was in the Pacific fighting the Japanese.  I learned so much about this part of the world during WWII and realized I had previously focused on Europe.  Zamperini is an incredible man who was described quite aptly by my friend as someone who possesses the “Viktor Frankl gene” to stay strong and survive under horrendous circumstances.  The first 90 pages of the book were a bit slow for me, but once Zamperini’s plane went down in the ocean I was enthralled.  While I am horrified at the cruelty of the Japanese prison guards during WWII, I am inspired by Zamperini and others' ability to survive.

Book Summary
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.  It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a lift raft and pulling himself aboard.  So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant's name was Louis Zamperini.  In boyhood, he'd been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.  As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile.  But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to the doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion.  His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit.  Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

I used the discussion questions on Lit Lovers for my book club.

I made the cupcakes on the right to snack on while we discussed this amazing book.  On top of the blue wave frosting were gummy fish, life savers (powered sugar mini donuts with licorice), buoys (two spice drops skewered with a toothpick), and shark fins (Thin Mint cookies cut and dipped in gray frosting).  These brought some nice humor into an otherwise serious conversation!

Nefertiti

by Michelle Moran
4 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: Egypt
463 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
I’ve always been fascinated by Egyptian culture and love visiting the pyramid exhibits at museums.  However, reading Nefertiti has given me such a better understanding of the Egyptian culture and religious views.  Michelle Moran expertly creates a fascinating novel told from Nefertiti’s sister’s perspective.  I was transported into ancient Egypt and learned about the main gods worshiped, afterlife beliefs, and how the pharaohs were linked to the gods.  If you enjoyed The Other Boleyn, try out one of Moran’s historical fiction novels.  While we know what Nefertiti looked like from various artifacts, this spins a fascinating story around an overlooked sister and some of the dynamics in a kingdom where the pharaoh changed the main god of Egypt. 

Book Summary
Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries.  Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh.  It is hoped by all that her strong personality will temper the young Amunhotep's heretical desire to forsake Egypt's ancient gods, overthrow the priests of Amun, and introduce a new sun god for all to worship.

Love, betrayal, political unrest, plague, and religious conflict - Nefertiti brings ancient Egypt to life in vivid detail.  Fast-paced and historically accurate, it is the dramatic story of two unforgettable women living through a remarkable period in history.

Ellie's Review of Michelle Moran's novel Madame Tussaud

The Story of Beautiful Girl

by Rachel Simon
4 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: USA
346 pages
Published 2011

Ellie's Review
While reading this novel, I was fascinated by the treatment of handicap and even deaf people back in the 1960’s in the US.  That wasn’t too long ago, yet thankfully our country has changed so much in our views and treatment!  This story about a mentally handicapped girl (maybe autistic?) and a deaf black man is incredible.  Author Rachel Simon has a sister who has an “intellectual disability” and greatly researched the treatment and “schools” for similar people – I loved learning that the book was greatly founded on truth, yet it also sickened me.  This look at people who were often overlooked is amazing, and I really loved and grew attached to the characters in the novel.  I’m excited to discuss this at book club as I feel like the book has many themes and lessons to discuss in addition to the historical aspect.

Book Summary
From the author of the memoir Riding the Bus with My Sister, a moving, uplifting novel about a woman who can't speak, a man who is deaf, and a widow who finds herself suddenly caring for a newborn baby.

The Story of Beautiful Girl gets right under the skin and into the heart with the story of Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability that hinders her ability to speak, and Homan, an African American deaf man with only his home sign language to guide him.  Both were institutionalized in the mid-twentieth century, when people with disabilities were routinely shut off from society and left to languish without attention, forgotten.

One night, Lynnie and her sweetheart, Homan, escape.  They find refuge in the farmhouse of the widow Martha, a retired schoolteacher.  But the couple is not alone; Lynnie has just borne a child.  The authorities catch up to them; Homan escapes into the darkness and Lynnie is caught.  But just before she is gruffly taken back to The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, she utters two words to Martha: "Hide her." And so begins the tale of three lives desperate to connect, yet kept apart by seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

The Language of Flowers

by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
4 Stars
Setting: USA
336 pages
Published 2011


Ellie's Review
While so much attention has been given recently to international adoptions, foster care here int he USA is ignored.  Vanessa Diffenbaugh is a real foster mom and wrote this novel about a girl in foster care, Victoria, who turns 18 and is on her own.  Yes, that's what happens in real life.  While Victoria figures out how to live on her own, she flashes back to her experiences growing up and you learn about her life.  Victoria learns to express herself through flowers, which was fascinating to me (what did your wedding bouquet represent?).  This book looks at several types of mother-daughter relationships and makes the reader think about what families are.  This was a great book club discussion!

Book Summary

A mesmerizing, moving and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past. 

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love.  But for Victoria Jones, it's been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude.  After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.  

Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own.  Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them.  But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what's been missing in her life, and when she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

by Michael Pollan
4 Stars
Nonfiction: Other
205 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
I recently realized that as the main grocery shopper and cook for my family, I determine most of what my children and husband (in addition, obviously, to what I eat). With that pressure, I decided to read this book to learn about eating healthy.  I feel bombarded with new information that I've just recently heard about including antioxidants, gluton, partially hydrogenated oils, triglycerides, etc.  After reading this book, I am not so overwhelmed and know some great ways to provide a healthier diet for my family.

Pollan's first main point is to "eat food".  Go away from processed foods and stick to whole foods.  Pretend like you're grocery shopping with your grandmother or great-great-grandmother and only buy things at the grocery store she would recognize.  The movement of Nutritionism that focuses on individual nutrients is in favor of adding vitamins, etc. into foods such as cereal rather than eating a whole food that is healthy.  That does not yield the same benefits.  Food science is always changing what is good or bad for you.  Just eat whole foods.  His second point is the eat "not too much" food.  His third point is to eat "mostly plants".  I learned about various studies of diets around the world compared to the Western Diet and how the differences might be responsible for drastically different cancer and other disease rates among the populations.

This book taught me some basic ways to buy healthier food for my house.  For the first time, I now have a desire to plant a garden and grow some organic, fresh foods for our consumption.

Book Summary
Michael Pollan's last book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time.  Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat Food.  Not too much.  Mostly Plants.  Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution

by Michelle Moran
5 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: France
446 pages
Published 2011

Ellie's Review

Although I've never toured a Madame Tussauds wax museum, I've walked past the NY location numerous times not knowing how this tourist attraction claimed its name.  Who is/was Madame Tussaud? 

I stumbled upon this novel and soon became engrossed in the French Revolution, which is a war I previously did not understand nor not have an interest in.  This historical fiction tale tells of the French Revolution from a girl who makes wax sculptures of famous people in her uncle's salon - this tourist stop started long before I had realized.  She mingled with both sides of the war and was brought into the midst of it.  I learned so much about this turbulent time for France, and I loved being engrossed in this wonderful woman's life.

If you enjoy historical fiction, this is an amazing read!  I'm excited to read other historical fiction novels by Michelle Moran.

Book Summary
Spanning five years, from the budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax modeling saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.


Smart and ambitious, Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire.  From her popular model of the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie's museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, and even politics.  Her customers hail form every walk of life, yet her greatest dreams is to attract the attention of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI; their stamp of approval on her work could catapult her and her museum to the fame and riches she desires.

Ellie's Review of Michelle Moran's novel Nefertiti