tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60470369155602240202024-03-13T02:58:51.068-07:00All Things BooksBrenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.comBlogger154125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-22024212618688307662017-01-10T14:35:00.003-08:002017-01-10T14:35:49.149-08:00Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham<br />
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_QsD79QRMjo/WEOTGcWFthI/AAAAAAAAJTo/tO4ZXm3BZog/s1600-h/Lauren%252520Graham%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Lauren Graham" border="0" height="486" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BdWvbvkW9z8/WEOTGm6mLjI/AAAAAAAAJTs/wha3hhLfZTs/Lauren%252520Graham_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Lauren Graham" width="308" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I discovered Gilmore Girls after I turned 60. And it’s no secret that it is my favorite show – TV or Movie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I loved the dialogue, the quickness, the wit, the characters and the wonderful actors that played these characters so very well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">So, of course when I became aware that Lauren Graham – Lorelai Gilmore on the show – wrote a book I pre-ordered, received it this week and finished it today!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">It was a fast read – she writes like Lorelai talks!! Quick, witty and with lot’s and lot’s of charm.</span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8RkpxC8Gcas/WEOTGx5A5nI/AAAAAAAAJTw/FxA_7DWRLcE/s1600-h/lauren%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img alt="lauren" border="0" height="535" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fFUgDfJ02-M/WEOTHIxocKI/AAAAAAAAJT0/ylJZPyY4RS4/lauren_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="lauren" width="393" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I hope you can read the description on the back. Lauren Graham tells us what it was like being on Gilmore Girls the first 7 seasons and also she tells us about the revival – and how emotional it was for her. She talks about being on Parenthood and meeting her mate!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">She also gives some great tips on writing. This is her second book – the first being fiction “Someday Someday Maybe.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">It’s a great book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope you will pick up a copy and read it – especially if you are a Gilmore Girls fan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">She really is just as cool as Lorelai Gilmore! Much more “with it” than OLJ – Old Lady Jackson. (whom she tells about in the book!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">And please – if any of my beloved readers accidentally picked up Lauren’s blue coat from the Gilmore Girls set – please return it – no questions asked!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"></span>Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-57941767042197498132016-12-05T07:14:00.000-08:002016-12-05T07:14:44.729-08:00The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald<br />
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5o2cpqMaSXs/WDM6w8-LOXI/AAAAAAAAJRA/8bkNSN3b-fg/s1600-h/The%252520Readers%252520of%252520Broken...%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img alt="The Readers of Broken..." border="0" height="484" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m3_C3QMpQSE/WDM6xX2OqoI/AAAAAAAAJRE/pleSGCJ4q9A/The%252520Readers%252520of%252520Broken..._thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The Readers of Broken..." width="368" /></a><br />
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<strong>“The <em>New York Times</em> and <em>USA Today</em> Bestseller</strong> </div>
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<strong>Once you let a book into your life, the most unexpected things can happen...</strong> </div>
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Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her book-loving pen pal, Amy. When she arrives, however, she finds Amy's funeral guests just leaving. The residents of Broken Wheel are happy to look after their bewildered visitor-there's not much else to do in a dying small town that's almost beyond repair. </div>
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You certainly wouldn't open a bookstore. And definitely not with the tourist in charge. You'd need a vacant storefront (Main Street is full of them), books (Amy's house is full of them), and...customers. </div>
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The bookstore might be a little quirky. Then again, so is Sara. But Broken Wheel's own story might be more eccentric and surprising than she thought. </div>
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A heartwarming reminder of why we are booklovers, this is a sweet, smart story about how books find us, change us, and connect us.” Amazon </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">My Book Club read this book for November. We had read two heavy – deep – depressing books in September and decided our books for October and November should be more enjoyable and in both months we hit it out of the ballpark!!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">Who doesn’t enjoy books about books? Books about Bookstores? Too much fun!!!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">Readers will understand the last line on the book’s cover:</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">“A heartwarming reminder of why we are booklovers, this is a sweet smart <strong><em>story about how books find us, change us and connect us.”</em></strong></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">In our discussion of this book we talked about books that had changed our lives – or they at least gave us what we needed at the time we read them.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">So many books have made an impact on me over the years – as they have for most readers. As a child I always had my nose in a book – well, actually, my whole life I’ve had my nose in books!! But when I was young – an only child until 12, living in the country with no children living anywhere near us – I spent my days reading and then acting out the books. The adventures I took! I filled those summer days on boats, rafts, on southern plantations, and so many places I can’t even remember and as I do remember I know I could go on and on.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><em><b>The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend</b> </em>brings to life many characters you will love but it also shows how books connect us in ways we could never imagine!</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">If you want a feel good book about books. About a very special book store – pick this one up. It’s also GREAT for book clubs.</span> </div>
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<br />Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-61064585715470808962016-11-30T08:40:00.000-08:002016-11-30T08:40:48.931-08:00A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman<br />
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HF-y9kwjNpQ/WDNB0w_ksrI/AAAAAAAAJRU/sE9-ujoTSPM/s1600-h/A%252520Man%252520Called%252520Ove%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img alt="A Man Called Ove" border="0" height="484" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gN7OIy0nm4k/WDNB1Pe_oaI/AAAAAAAAJRY/KMKHPWjdNFc/A%252520Man%252520Called%252520Ove_thumb%25255B7%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="A Man Called Ove" width="363" /></a><br />
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“A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.</div>
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Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him<b> </b><i><b>the bitter neighbor from hell</b></i>, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?</div>
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Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.” Good Reads</div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">I am not sure where to begin! Does this give you an idea?</span><br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7sS1wwGEEm8/WDNB1ukWsdI/AAAAAAAAJRc/7H_Q5E05nw8/s1600-h/Tabs%252520in%252520A%252520Man%252520Called%252520Ove%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Tabs in A Man Called Ove" border="0" height="364" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-znqg9NLC2As/WDNB15GCAII/AAAAAAAAJRg/JUx56j9bRTU/Tabs%252520in%252520A%252520Man%252520Called%252520Ove_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Tabs in A Man Called Ove" width="644" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">I have NO IDEA how many tabs I have in this book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">I laughed – out loud laughing – and sometimes with tears!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><b>I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">It is my favorite book of 2016 – hands down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">“He’d been a grumpy old man since he had started elementary school” is one description of Ove.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">In the beginning of the book – I wasn’t convinced I was going to like it. In fact the first of my many tabs don’t show up until page 36. So <strike>if</strike> when you read this book, <strong>which I highly recommend you do</strong> – Be patient in the beginning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">I’ve reached an age that if a book doesn’t grab my attention pretty quickly I put it down – I don’t have time for books I don’t enjoy – but I am so glad I stuck this one out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">Please – put it in your <em><strong>To Read Pile</strong></em>. And then take the time to read it! – A great read for your Book Club. My Book Club read it in October and I'm so glad we did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can read more about Fredrik Backman</span> <strong><u><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Fredrik-Backman/411545926">H.E.R.E.</a></span></u></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"></span>Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-56337301369479112602016-09-10T13:57:00.000-07:002016-09-10T13:57:11.261-07:00Lydie’s Ghost by Bob Perry<br />
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TXApaRfwv5Q/V9RzGmJQePI/AAAAAAAAJPI/CfARpr3Gt1I/s1600-h/Lydie%252527s%252520Ghost%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="Lydie's Ghost" border="0" height="484" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xbdTT82d5TM/V9RzHFx2SUI/AAAAAAAAJPM/py3b_2Y4arU/Lydie%252527s%252520Ghost_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Lydie's Ghost" width="315" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">In 2010 Randy and I made a trip to Ponca City, Oklahoma and toured the Marland Mansion. It was fascinating, the Marland’s captured my interest and I’ve been fascinated ever since. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">The first book I read about this interesting piece of Oklahoma History – most of which was left out of my Oklahoma History Book in High School <img alt="Smile" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hWZVhJeiDmU/V9RzHdPPDXI/AAAAAAAAJPQ/5VnJ6IJmVLI/wlEmoticon-smile%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none;" /> - was “Marland Tragedy” by Kim Brumley. I reviewed that book <strong><a href="http://allaboutbooks2.blogspot.com/2013/01/marland-tragedy-turbulent-story-of.html">H.E.R.E.</a></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">This last week I made a trip to Ponca City and had the opportunity to visit Brace Books and More. I picked up a copy of “Lydie’s Ghost” by Bob Perry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">This book is totally different from “Marland Tragedy” because it is fiction. Very fast reading and still very interesting story. Perry did a great job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“Jordan Bennett’s life rages with uncertainty when her mother and brother move to the small house on 13th Street. The 12 year old girl does not understand her life and everything she once trusted seems to be slipping away. When Jordan goes to find her brother at an ominous old mansion a few blocks away from their house, Jordan meets a mysterious old woman named Lydie with secrets of her own.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I really enjoyed Perry’s fictional depiction of the way things may have been for Lydie Marland while leaving this historical character with much respect and understanding.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">For those of us who respect privacy, Lydie Marland may not be that much different than us. Well – except of course – marrying her “father,” being very very wealthy, disappearing for years – living on the streets and all that!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">If you get an opportunity to pick up Bob Perry’s fiction of Lydie Marland – you should take advantage. I am impressed and I plan on buying his other work of fiction about this same time in history “The Broken Statue.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Oh, and I even started Pinterest board on my fascination with the Oklahoma Marlands!!! You can find it here: <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/bsbooks/marland-fascination/">Marland Fascination</a>.</span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-9038505562360849802016-07-25T10:14:00.000-07:002016-07-25T10:14:40.805-07:00All the Light You Cannot See by Anthony Doerr<br />
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p_XHRp10T68/V5ZFRkgPnZI/AAAAAAAAJOk/ovHkbp_k554/s1600-h/All%252520the%252520Light%252520We%252520Cannot%252520See%25255B3%25255D.png"><img alt="All the Light We Cannot See" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fcTn12GCCBM/V5ZFSEzyihI/AAAAAAAAJOo/oDqDfVM8Jus/All%252520the%252520Light%252520We%252520Cannot%252520See_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="All the Light We Cannot See" width="160" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">“WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times.)” From Goodreads</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Where does the title come from?</span></span></div>
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The author explains in his own words: "The title is a reference first and foremost to all the light we literally cannot see: that is, the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that are beyond the ability of human eyes to detect (radio waves, of course, being the most relevant). It’s also a metaphorical suggestion that there are countless invisible stories still buried within World War II — that stories of ordinary children, for example, are a kind of light we do not typically see. Ultimately, the title is intended as a suggestion that we spend too much time focused on only a small slice of the spectrum of possibility." - Anthony Doerr</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I’ve read many books and watched many movies about WWII. The stories that come out of war – any war are endless.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is a reason Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize for this book. It is unforgettable. Parts of this story will be with me always.</span></span> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">After reading many war stories, it isn’t </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">often an author can come up with details, descriptions we haven’t already been made aware of – but Doerr does.</span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No matter what we’ve been taught about this war, Doerr is able to add to my information – not so much the bloody part that we often hear about but the “mind” behind all of Germany at that time. </span></span><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">His description of raciological exams was very interesting to me. Hitler was so precise on what he wanted this “perfect” race to be like.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
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</div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Also, as Doerr shows throughout his book there were Germans who were good people. This is something that is often forgotten when studying this war.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<div align="justify">
</div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It always seems to begin with a very few who hate, then like a snow ball rolling down a snow-covered hill it grows so large it’s hard to believe there are actually those who don’t hate.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
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</div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Doerr’s style of switching characters and switching time back and forth confused me a bit.- I really had to be careful to watch the dates on each new section so as not to get more confused. (I confuse easily!!) But I never got so confused that I wanted to stop reading. At first I kept thinking “why does he (Doerr) keep doing this – by the end of the book I didn’t care that he did it.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
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</div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you like reading about WWII – this book must be added to your library.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-6040659248057859262016-04-19T09:44:00.001-07:002016-04-19T09:44:54.303-07:00Brunette Ambition by Lea Michele<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJXiwYtDDrc/VxZc8KxbEEI/AAAAAAAAJEA/OtI6J5pk0WgGPS_Vhj_R6hP42A3EqVP2wCLcB/s1600/Lea%2BMichele.jpe" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJXiwYtDDrc/VxZc8KxbEEI/AAAAAAAAJEA/OtI6J5pk0WgGPS_Vhj_R6hP42A3EqVP2wCLcB/s1600/Lea%2BMichele.jpe" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(notice all my tabs!)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">From the Cover:</span></div>
<blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“This book is the story of
how I got to where I am today. My hope is that something from it will inspire
and motivate you, and also make you realize that anything you want to accomplish
in your life is completely possible.” Lea Michele</span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“In <em>Brunette
Ambition</em> – an illustrated book that’s part memoir, part how-to, and part
style guide – Lea reveals the lessons and advice that have worked for her, from
how she keeps comfortable on the red carpet and maintains flawless hair and
makeup all night, to how she stays motivated to work out (even when she just
wants to sit on the couch!). Lea shares her favorite recipes – for the hair
masque she uses to restore fried ends, the comfort soup she eats to unwind on
Sundays,…and many more. Most important, she reflects on the ways she remains
grounded,centered, and true to who she is.”</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">In reading the synopsis above
the most important sentence, is the last one – which speaks volumes “…she
reflects on the ways she remains grounded, centered and true to who she is.” </span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">In
a world full of “child stars gone wrong” this is so very refreshing. I realize
she is still young (to me! She was born in 1986) but she has a great – strong – solid
foundation!</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“Be you – It’s so cheesy, but
there’s no one better at being you than </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: medium;">you.”</span></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“Be proud of all the things
that make you different.”</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"> Lea Michele</span></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Lea Michele writes to young
people. Encouraging them to be themselves and to be their very best. To work
their hardest. To be their very best.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">This beautiful author shares
tips on caring for yourself, eating right (with recipes), keeping fit, style and
her life.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Even at 63, I picked up some
fabulous tips from her.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I enjoyed reading about her
“low-key” lifestyle. Her practical style of living seems odd in this age of
outlandish “stars” trying to shock. But even
in her low-key lifestyle she offers us a glimpse of her glamorous life on the
red-carpet.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">We see no crazy extravagance
in her life, she seems to be very wise in all aspects.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I like that about her. About
her book. It shows her readers that being authentic, being sincere is the best you can do for yourself. – Even if your life is without
glamour! After all, we aren’t all created to be on a red carpet!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Beyond the book:</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">On Rachel Berry,</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I loved Rachel Berry in Glee.
She is my favorite character. I am always shocked when I hear people say “Rachel
is so annoying!” So I am quick to defend her by explaining her behavior!!
</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">On Lea Michele,</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">None of us should be defined
by our tragedies or our successes. Because it is adding all of our tragedies,
mistakes, successes together that makes us a whole. Together they define us,
they all work together to make us the person we were always intended to be.
Whether we understand or not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">It’s no secret that I can’t
carry a tune. I’ve always wanted to be able to “belt it on the fly” as Rachel
was able to do but there is a reason God made me without a beautiful voice (one
that should never be heard outside of a shower). </span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: medium;">- It’s because He knew I
would let it completely take over my life. I would let it define me.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Lea Michele is – in my
opinion – one of the best singers – performers I have ever heard. But I don’t
get the impression she lets it <u>completely</u> define her. She has a very well
rounded life outside of her singing voice.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Maybe I see more in this
beautiful woman than is actually there – but I don’t think so. I like
her!</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I liked the book. I’m buying
copies for my grand girls!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"><b>I am very glad Lea Michele
wrote<em> Brunette Ambition!</em></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://leamichelemusic.com/">http://leamichelemusic.com/</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-45572296785099733112016-04-12T09:33:00.000-07:002016-04-12T09:34:04.203-07:00Bel Canto by Ann Patchett<div align="center">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tcv6Im6Lt8Y/Vw0hpDC8ZAI/AAAAAAAAJDs/xpf4JhD88fU7DrP-5sBcUDYYkq0KXFpOQCLcB/s1600/Bel%2BCanto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tcv6Im6Lt8Y/Vw0hpDC8ZAI/AAAAAAAAJDs/xpf4JhD88fU7DrP-5sBcUDYYkq0KXFpOQCLcB/s320/Bel%2BCanto.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"In an unnamed South American country, a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese industrial titan. His hosts hope that Mr. Hosokawa can be persuaded to build a factory in their Third World backwater. Alas, in the opening sequence, just as the accompanist kisses the soprano, a ragtag band of 18 terrorists enters the vice-presidential mansion through the air conditioning ducts. Their quarry is the president, who has unfortunately stayed home to watch a favorite soap opera. And thus, from the beginning, things go awry.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">..............................</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3455193788053430635" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">Joined by no common language except music, the 58 international hostages and their captors forge unexpected bonds. Time stands still, priorities rearrange themselves. Ultimately, of course, something has to give, even in a novel so imbued with the rich imaginative potential of magic realism. But in a fractious world, <em>Bel Canto</em> remains a gentle reminder of the transcendence of beauty and love. <em>--Victoria Jenkins"</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><em><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5826.Bel_Canto">Good Reads Review</a></em></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">I liked this book. I started
reading it while flying home from a trip – once I got home, I put it down for a
couple of weeks – busy! Then picked it up without having to review
it. Very memorable and full of wonderful quotes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"> <em> “For a man to know
what he has when he had it, that is what makes him a fortunate
man.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">Funny quote:</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"> <em> “Maybe there would
be a bad outcome for some of the others but no-one was going to shoot a
soprano.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><em> “It’s easier to love
a woman when you can’t understand a word she’s saying.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">The quote that immediately
reminded me of my husband:</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"> <em> “But together they
moved through the world quite easily, two small halves of courage making a brave
whole.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">The reader continually hopes
for the fairy tale ending. If one is thinking logically one knows it can’t turn
out well for everyone, but there is still hope.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">It’s so easy to see the
Stockholm Syndrome at work and how one could easily (?) fall into the thinking
of acceptance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">Music lovers will especially
enjoy the “Lyrics” of this book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">You can read about Ann
Patchett <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Patchett">H.E.R.E.</a></span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-36263060022438158132016-04-04T10:58:00.003-07:002016-04-04T10:59:08.761-07:00The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath<br />
<br />
"Sylvia Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel which was first published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The Bell Jar has become a classic of American literature.<br />
<br />
The book is based on her own experience yet one has to be careful not to confuse this novel with an autobiography, it has been written with a certain audience and effect in mind, 10 years after the actual events.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Content</b></i><br />
<div align="justify">
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Esther, an A-student from Boston who has won a guest editorship on a national magazine, finds a bewildering new world at her feet. Her New York life is crowded with possibilities, so that the choice of future is overwhelming, but she can no longer retreat into the safety of her past. Deciding she wants to be a writer above all else, Esther is also struggling with the perennial problems of morality, behaviour and identity. In this compelling autobiographical novel, a milestone in contemporary literature, Sylvia Plath chronicles her teenage years - her disappointments, anger, depression and eventual breakdown and treatment - with stunning wit and devastating honesty. --Penguin Books "</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.sylviaplath.de/plath/belljar.html">http://www.sylviaplath.de/plath/belljar.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">I picked
up this book for only one reason – It is mentioned several times on the Gilmore
Girls. Lorelai and Rory are warming up in front of their gas oven
and Lorelai says,”Did anyone ever think that maybe Sylvia Plath wasn’t crazy,
she was just cold?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">This statement intrigued me
so I did some research on Sylvia Plath which led me to her book, “The Bell
Jar.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">“The Bell Jar” is described
as the Memoir of Sylvia Plath and her descent into mental illness. It was
during the era of electrical shock treatments. It is a sad book. – but not
depressing. </span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">{over the last year I have discovered the difference between
sadness and depression.}</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">It’s a short book – easy to
read. </span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">The comment made by Lorelai
on The Gilmore Girls referred to the fact that Sylvia Plath did indeed stick her
head in the gas oven and commit suicide on February 11, 1963. Her book “The Bell
Jar” was published under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas on January 14,
1963.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">You may read about Sylvia Plath <a href="http://www.sylviaplath.info/biography.html">H.E.R.E.</a></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">A passage worth noting from
“The Bell Jar” -</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"> “A girl lives in some
out-of-the-way town for 19 years, so poor she can’t afford a magazine, and then
she gets a scholarship to college and wins a prize here and a prize there and
ends up steering New York like her own private car.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: medium;">I’m glad I read it.</span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-15828953562937769622014-10-19T10:52:00.000-07:002014-10-19T10:52:42.781-07:00Winter Butterflies by Kenzie Janzen<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dNDzacr5TDQ/VEPMMndSUJI/AAAAAAAAIUc/AwVjbPCc6-0/s1600-h/DSCN9672%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img alt="DSCN9672" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-AlHcJZy_N8o/VEPMNbMUQNI/AAAAAAAAIUg/k4hriljlJbQ/DSCN9672_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="517" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="DSCN9672" width="407" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua;"><i>Winter Butterflies</i> by Kenzie Janzen was published in 2014 by </span><a href="http://www.hoyalcreekpublishing.com/home.html"><span style="font-family: Antiqua;">Hoyal Creek Publishing, LLC</span></a></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Antiqua;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>“Winter Butterflies by Kenzie Janzen is a daunting but often amusing pursuit of motherhood. This book takes you on an unimaginable journey. When all hope seems lost, her incomprehensible God makes great changes. Winter Butterflies gives you a new perspective on the unexplained trials in this life. It inspires courage when strength seems fleeting. A cliffhanger story of tribulation, perseverance, and hope … and it’s all true.” <span style="font-size: x-small;">Fro</span></strong></span><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">m the back cover.</span></strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua; font-size: medium;">You can’t make this stuff up!! If it had been fiction I would have scoffed at all of this happening to one family – but truth is always stranger than fiction. </span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua; font-size: medium;">Janzen speaks honestly and passionately about her years of yearning for more children. – And how God leads, guides and holds her in His arms during all that happens in this family and the family they are forever connected with.</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua; font-size: medium;">One of the main ingredients that stood out to me while reading <i>Winter Butterflies</i> was the honesty in which Janzen speaks. I had a tear in my eye as I thought of the lost babies in our family and of the miracle baby my friend Carol has as her grandson. God always speaks, always reaches out to us – we just don’t always listen. Anytime I read a book and can compare it to my life it is a “win.”</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua; font-size: medium;">When Janzen ends the book with “Loving God is sometimes not easy. Understanding God is impossible, but He will provide a rainbow after the storm… In His time” I thought this is so true for all of us. No matter what trial we have gone through or are going through we don’t understand and often look up and say, “Really, God. Now what?” But He does prevail – in His time.</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua; font-size: medium;">Kenzie Janzen is a busy mom to Kate, Brody, and Laney and helps maintain the family farm in Oklahoma. She received her BS in Biological Sciences from Oklahoma State University and a MEd in Secondary Education from Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Before becoming a stay at home mom, Kenzie served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. She also taught secondary science and math in several rural schools in Oklahoma. <span style="font-size: x-small;">From her book</span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua; font-size: medium;">You can learn more about the author here <a href="http://kenziejanzen.com/">Kenzie Janzen</a></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Antiqua; font-size: medium;">I highly recommend this book.</span></strong></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-69345560694615818392014-07-23T14:01:00.000-07:002014-07-23T14:01:49.485-07:00I Am a Church Member by Thom S. Rainer<br />
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">Sunday, Pastor Brad mentioned this book. I needed something to read and he said the keyword for my life lately – short. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">“I Am a Church Member (based on an idea originally taken from author <strong>Thom S. Rainer's daily</strong> blog) discusses the attitudes and responsibilities of church members. Rainer addresses in detail what congregations should really be focusing on — praying for church leaders, being a functioning member, treasuring church membership, and more.” From Lifeway website.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">I got the book on my Kindle about three hours ago and I've already finished it. A perfect example of “good things come in small packages.” It was a small jewelry box filled with huge gorgeous diamonds! This book is a keeper and one I am sure to use for many future references.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">Easy to read, convicting and so very practical. I can see a new Christian enjoying it as well as a seasoned Christian</span><span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">. It’s a great “teaching” guideline for new believers and a very great reminder for those of us who have been around churches for several years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">I not only recommend this book for you as an individual but I highly recommend this as a small group study. If you are not a part of a small group, this book is an excellent way to have a 6 week study with a group of friends. - Invite them to your home, have someone volunteer to bring a simple snack, and go through the book. It teaches itself, all you need to do is facilitate. An added bonus is that the discussion questions are already included!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">From the book:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">"We may discover that the reason our nation is in such bad shape is because our churches are so unhealthy." (</span><span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">If I take this comment a step further - I may discover that I am an unhealthy church member.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">“God did not give us local churches to become country clubs where membership means we have privileges and perks. He placed us in churches to serve, to care for others, to pray for leaders, to learn, to teach, to give, and in some cases, to die for the sake of the Gospel.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">“Thom S. Rainer is president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. He is author of more than 20 books including <em>Simple Church</em> and <em>The Millennials</em>. Prior to coming to LifeWay, he served as pastor to churches in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Indiana and was founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.” From Lifeway website.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">Follow Thom S. Rainer on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Thom.S.Rainer">Facebook</a> or on <a href="https://twitter.com/thomrainer">Twitter</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">His <a href="http://thomrainer.com/">Blog</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.lifeway.com/">Lifeway</a> – where I’ve been able to get some great Bible Studies and Bible Helps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Bookman Old Style; font-size: medium;">I highly recommend this book.</span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-26429779228254670082014-05-16T09:11:00.004-07:002014-05-16T09:11:53.287-07:00The Devil in Pew Number Seven<br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“The Devil in Pew Number Seven” by Rebecca Nichols Alonzo with Bob DeMoss was published in 2010 by Tyndale House Publishers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>“2011 Retailers Choice Award winner!</b><br />Rebecca never felt safe as a child. In 1969, her father, Robert Nichols, moved to Sellerstown, North Carolina, to serve as a pastor. There he found a small community eager to welcome him—with one exception. Glaring at him from pew number seven was a man obsessed with controlling the church. Determined to get rid of anyone who stood in his way, he unleashed a plan of terror that was more devastating and violent than the Nichols family could have ever imagined. Refusing to be driven away by acts of intimidation, Rebecca’s father stood his ground until one night when an armed man walked into the family’s kitchen . . . And Rebecca’s life was shattered. If anyone had a reason to harbor hatred and seek personal revenge, it would be Rebecca. Yet <i>The Devil in Pew Number Seven</i> tells a different story. It is the amazing true saga of relentless persecution, one family’s faith and courage in the face of it, and a daughter whose parents taught her the power of forgiveness.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Once I started reading Rebecca Alonzo’s story, I couldn’t put it down. It is mesmerizing. I am amazed at the trauma this family endured.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">The author has shown a forgiveness that few of us will ever have to show. – Thank God for that. And I’m so very thankful she has been healed from the trauma of her childhood. God truly is able to accomplish anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">One of the quotes from the book from her Daddy during a newspaper interview. “During the interview, Mr. Cheek learned about Daddy’s days playing football, his four years in the Navy, and his reputation as a former brawler. I am quite sure Daddy wasn’t kidding when he said, ‘Those boys – I know who they are and they know who I’m talking about – just better pray to the g</span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">ood Lord that I don’t backslide. Because I have never met a man I couldn’t whip.”</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Rebecca’s Momma was teaching her that :</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"> “Forgiveness is close to the heart of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"> Forgiveness is the language of heaven. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Forgiveness should be a way of life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Even when it was humanly inconceivable to do so.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">This is a book that will keep your interest and show you that forgiveness is attainable. – no matter what. I hope you will pick up a copy and read Rebecca’s story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Rebecca Nichols Alonzo is a speaker on betrayal and the power of forgiveness. She has been involved in ministry for over a decade. If you Google her name, you can be busy for hours reading about this amazing woman’s life!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Bob DeMoss is a New York Times best-selling writer and has collaborated with numerous authors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">This book is well worth your time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Please consider reading “The Devil in Pew Number Seven.”</span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-92131252058459209862014-05-16T09:08:00.002-07:002014-05-16T09:08:41.561-07:00Continuing With My Empty Shelf Challenge<br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">28 Books so far. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Have you accepted the Empty Shelf Challenge?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">How many have you read this year?</span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-31317542532623312182014-03-03T09:28:00.003-08:002014-03-03T09:28:45.722-08:00Saturday Night Widows by Becky Aikman<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-kDCdOruk8t8/UxS7AQ-QrVI/AAAAAAAAHtY/w5nrJ4l7WCk/s1600-h/DSCN5902%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="DSCN5902" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Oret2BJZDQo/UxS7BsFfZzI/AAAAAAAAHtg/gCAAB4hgbMg/DSCN5902_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="500" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="DSCN5902" width="349" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"> This book was a surprise for me. It wasn’t at all what I thought I was buying. I thought I was getting a feel good book about friendships – which I enjoy reading.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"> Instead I got a true book about six women trying to find their way after the death of a spouse. At first I was disappointed, but their lives drew me in and I learned from the book. Very well written and brings an understanding to the term “widow.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"> First and foremost, the “widow” can’t be put into a box. Not all are alike and not all can be treated the same. – Everyone, grieves in their own way and everyone is an individual. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">“In her forties – a widow, too young, too modern to accept the role – Becky Aikman struggled to make sense of her place in an altered world. In this transcendent and infectiously wise memoir, she explores surprising new discoveries about how people experience grief and transcend loss and, following her own remarriage, forms a group with five other young widows to test these unconventional ideas. Together, these friends summon the humor, resilience, and striving spirit essential for anyone overcoming adversity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"> Meet the Saturday Night Widows: ringleader Becky, an unsentimental journalist who lost her husband to cancer; Tara, a polished mother of two, whose husband died in the throes of alcoholism after she filed for divorce; Denise, a widow of just five months, now struggling to get by; Marcia, a hard-driving corporate lawyer; Dawn, an alluring self-made entrepreneur whose husband was killed in a sporting accident, leaving two small children behind; and Lesley, a housewife who returned home one day to find that her husband had committed suicide.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"> The women meet once a month, and over the course of a year, they strike out on ever more far-flung adventures, learning to live past the worst thing they thought could happen. They share emotional peaks and valleys – dating, parenting, moving, finding meaningful work, and reinventing themselves – while turning traditional thinking about loss and recovery upside down. Through it all runs the story of Aikman's own journey through grief and her love affair with a man who tempts her to marry again. In a transporting story of what friends can achieve when they hold each other up, <i>Saturday Night Widows</i> is a rare book that will make you laugh, think, and remind yourself that despite the utter unpredictability and occasional tragedy of life, it is also precious, fragile, and often more joyous than we recognize.” Synopsis from Amazon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">I thought of my friend Debra many times while reading this book. She is a widow and meets with other widows when her busy life allows and I am glad. I've watched her adjust to a new life, while not at all “easy” she has done it. And done it gracefully. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">A great book and one I hope you will take the time to read and share with others.</span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-17034853443036328452014-02-20T06:25:00.003-08:002014-02-20T06:25:58.704-08:002 Great Books!<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-fFc61lvmYho/UwT2AAbB-fI/AAAAAAAAHkE/j-emhD5sFXk/s1600-h/2%252520Great%252520Books%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img alt="2 Great Books" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qFwgz7z_Cug/UwT2BH9lvGI/AAAAAAAAHkM/RwXc0jELzK8/2%252520Great%252520Books_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="500" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="2 Great Books" width="660" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">While I was dusting the book shelves (which I do once in a while! - whether they need it or not!) I ran across two books that I often reread and pulled them out to reread again!! I love both of them and highly recommend them. </span></div>
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-BmblMdjolfo/UwT2BqrjKbI/AAAAAAAAHkU/qnTwWeYdjAI/s1600-h/And%252520The%252520Ladies%252520of%252520the%252520Club%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img alt="And The Ladies of the Club" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Pj6nHtS9XIk/UwT2CAv4rbI/AAAAAAAAHkc/LMtbyXrKMZY/And%252520The%252520Ladies%252520of%252520the%252520Club_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="276" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="And The Ladies of the Club" width="220" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">“…And Ladies of the Club” by Helen Hooven Santmyer was recommended to me by a very dear friend, Beth in 1980 something! It was first published in 1982 and spans from 1868 to 1932. The author, Santmyer was 88 when her book was published.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">The book tells the lifetimes of two women in a small Ohio town and the other members of the Waynesboro Ladies Literary Society. One time, when I hadn’t read it in years, I picked it up and thought, “I wonder if it’s as good as I think it was.” I reread it – and it was! I could never get my book club to read it because the size was too daunting for a couple of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">This hardback is a copy I found at an estate sale and I replaced my paperback with it. It’s a thick book so you have to commit to it! Every once in a while I want to pick up a book that will take me awhile to read. – you know, a thick one! And this one is that.</span></div>
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Jx9c3co4-Lc/UwT2C4b8-3I/AAAAAAAAHkk/7pjFQPwffSY/s1600-h/And%252520Ladies%252520of%252520the%252520Club%252520%2525281%252529%25255B9%25255D.jpg"><img alt="And Ladies of the Club (1)" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ToGfBgP1pck/UwT2DQgnKEI/AAAAAAAAHks/wq_nqbbdfNE/And%252520Ladies%252520of%252520the%252520Club%252520%2525281%252529_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="200" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="And Ladies of the Club (1)" width="260" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">The next one, “The Ladies of Missalonghi” by Colleen McCullough is one of my favorites. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">This book is very thin!! It was published in 1987. McCullough is also the author of “The Thorn Birds” – which I admit, I have never read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">“The Ladies of Missalonghi” is set before World War 1 in Sydney, Australia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">From the cover flap:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">“Missy was a part of the Hurlingford clan and she was ‘manless’, she was bullied, pitied, exploited, patronized, and utterly unimportant in the clan’s scheme of things.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">No sensible mentor would have dreamed of advising Missy to consult a wildly romantic novel for the answer to her plight. But luckily Missy’s mentor was a librarian with a taste for purple prose and a scandalous past, who understood that beneath Missy’s drab exterior there beat the heart of an enchanting and adventurous woman.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">This is a light hearted and warm book. </span><br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-i1YWpSsUJPE/UwT2FiSWV1I/AAAAAAAAHlE/eflPyQJsX84/s1600-h/The%252520Ladies%252520of%252520Missilonghi%252520%2525285%252529%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img alt="The Ladies of Missilonghi (5)" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5KPLPN5KRXw/UwT2GKxmYqI/AAAAAAAAHlI/ahfYbm4vQOM/The%252520Ladies%252520of%252520Missilonghi%252520%2525285%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="200" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The Ladies of Missilonghi (5)" width="260" /></a><br />
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<br />Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-49327683204780422782014-02-19T10:30:00.001-08:002014-02-19T10:30:18.720-08:00Empty Shelf Challenge<br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">I’ve started several book over the last few months that I just couldn’t get “into.” Trust me – it’s not the books – it’s the reader! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">So I’ve been rereading. That seems to be working right now. I started the year with Agatha Christie and then moved to “The Cat Who….” series and have read 10 of those. I’m comfortable with Qwill and his 2 Siamese cats so that’s what I’m reading right now. I’ve done many reviews on these books so am not going to rehash them here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">However, I do have a couple of quotes from “The Cat Who Sniffed Glue.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Qwill was talking with a bibliophile and their conversation went like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Qwill: How many of these do we have to dust? (talking of a HUGE personal library)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Eddington: I do a few hundred each time. I don’t hurry. I enjoy handling them. Books like to be handled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Qwill: You’re a true bibliophile, Edd.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Later in the day:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">Qwill: I’m amazed at your k</span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">nowledge of books, Edd. I wish I could remember everything I’ve read and come up with a trenchant quote for every occasion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Eddington: (looking guilty) I haven’t done much reading, I took Winston Churchill’s advice. He said, ‘It’s a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Love both of these.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><strong>And remember your books like to be handled.</strong></span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-21863119652169052562014-01-21T07:00:00.000-08:002014-01-21T07:00:11.715-08:00The Cat Who Could Read Backwards<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">by Lilian Jackson Braun</span><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7zW9CZrqs2E/Ut3wC0oG8WI/AAAAAAAAHB8/1DDy2-U9ZDI/s1600-h/The%252520Cat%252520Who%252520Could%252520Read%252520Backwards%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="The Cat Who Could Read Backwards" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-EGwiU0eeri0/Ut3wDkTIIyI/AAAAAAAAHCE/gAZFicMIH1w/The%252520Cat%252520Who%252520Could%252520Read%252520Backwards_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="500" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="The Cat Who Could Read Backwards" width="321" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">“The world of modern art is a mystery to many. But for Jim Qwilleran, it turns into a mystery of another sort when his assignment to the art beat for The Daily Fluxion leads down the path to murder. A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalized paintings, a fatal fall from a scaffolding--this is not at all what Qwilleran expects when he turns his reportorial talents to art. But Qwilleran and his newly found partner, Koko the brilliant Siamese, are back in their element--sniffing out clues and confounding criminals intent on mayhem and murder.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">Synopsis from Amazon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">I’ve been a fan of Lilian Jackson Braun since my friend Kris introduced her to me many years ago. I had seen her books around for years but to be honest I thought they sounded “silly.” Then Kris recommended them so I tried one and was hooked. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">I’ve done another review on Lillian Jackson Braun <strong><em><a href="http://allaboutbooks2.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-cat-who-series-by-lillian-jackson.html">H.E.R.E.</a></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">If the first three seem v.e.r.y. different from the rest the reason is because Braun wrote the first three books between 1966 and 1968 then she disappeared from the publishing scene for 18 years. In 1986 a publisher reintroduced her books to a new generation of readers and within the next two years she wrote four more books. Her 29th book was published in 2007. She died at age 97 in 2011.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;">If you like cozies this is a great series. I’ve read them several times and will probably read them several more. – but I’m a rereader! – and I like cats! Especially the ones in Braun’s series. </span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-23655994984936636502014-01-11T09:50:00.000-08:002014-01-11T09:50:23.329-08:00The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie<br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I have been an Agatha Christie fan since the early 70’s. I believe the first Christie book I read was “Murder On the Orient Express.” I was hooked. My favorites are the books with Miss Marple. I do have a secret crush on Hercule Poroit but Jane Marple – LOVE that woman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">In the past few months, I’ve had a hard time finding good books that keep my interest. (it's not the books - it's me.) This is a bit concerning to me because of my love of reading. So, I decided to revisit some of my old favorites that I have enjoyed in the past and I dubbed 2014 my year of “cozies.” I plan on revisiting some of my old favorite authors and introducing myself to some new ones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Cozies are a sub-genre of crime fiction in which sex and violence are downplayed or nonexistent. The crime and detection take place in a small intimate community. I prefer cozies over the more graphic crime and detection books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">So, I began 2014 with “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” when Hercule Poroit was first introduced to the world. This book was first published in 1920.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“The heiress of Styles has been murdered, dying in agony from strychnine slipped into her coffee. And there are plenty who would gain from her death: the financially strapped stepson, the gold digging younger husband, and an embittered daughter-in-law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Agatha Christie's eccentric and hugely popular detective, Hercule Poirot, was introduced to the world in this book, which launched her career as the most famous and best loved of all mystery writers.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Synopsis from<strong><u> </u></strong><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16343.The_Mysterious_Affair_at_Styles"><u>GOODREADS<strong>.</strong></u></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">One thing I enjoy about Christie’s books is that they move quickly. She doesn’t get bogged down in unnecessary information. She doesn’t over explain. Sometimes I can figure out who the murderer is – sometimes I can’t. </span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">In “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” I was looking for a murderer that wasn’t too obvious. I was a bit surprised to find – Oh well, I don’t want to give it away. You may want to read it. So I’ll stop here.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">"Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend," observed Poirot philosophically. "You cannot mix up sentiment and reason.” From “The Mysterious Affair at Styles.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I hope you will try a few cozies this year. I think you will find them easy to read and fun.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I recommend any books written by Agatha Christie.</span> </div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-36150294887170317392013-12-27T11:29:00.000-08:002013-12-27T11:29:46.768-08:00The Empty Shelf Challenge<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jon Acuff put a challenge on his blog that I love! It's "The Empty Shelf Challenge 2014." Read about his challenge <b><a href="http://acuff.me/2013/12/empty-shelf-challenge/">H.E.R.E.</a> </b>You can also check this out on Pinterest <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/jonacuff/empty-shelf-challenge/"><b>H.E.R.E.</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The challenge is to empty a shelf in your home and as you read a book in 2014 place it on this shelf. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is my shelf.... I haven't put away Christmas decorations yet!! But, this will be my shelf for 2014! Then I will also have my Kindle "shelf."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hope you will join me - and Jon Acuff for this reading challenge. I'm ready to start reading!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Let me know if you are joining the challenge! </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Send me a picture of your shelf to share on my blog!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Expand your life - Read!</b></span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-26604136579458876602013-10-21T08:33:00.001-07:002013-10-21T08:33:37.948-07:00The Story<br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">We are going through this study in our Life Group and it has been an excellent study. I highly recommend it for personal use, small group study, Sunday Schools, or sermon series. You can get the curriculum for all ages - from nursery through adult for all areas of your church. I would even use it for personal use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I just want to share with you that this study has generated more good discussion than any study we have done. God is truly in this project and He truly speaks to those who study it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">This is what we bought for our Life Group:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><strong>The Story</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“God goes to great lengths to rescue lost and hurting people. That is what <em>The Story </em>is all about – the story of the Bible, God’s great love affair with humanity. Condensed into 31 accessible chapters, <em>The Story </em>sweeps you into the unfolding progression of Bible characters and events from Genesis to Revelation. Using the clear, accessible text of the NIV Bible, it allows the stories, poems and teachings of the Bible to read like a novel. And like any good story, <em>The Story </em>is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption – and this story’s true!” </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: medium;">(from the back cover) </span><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: medium;">The forward is done by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><strong>The Story, Adult Curriculum 31 Sessions</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;">by Randy Frazee and Sherry Harney</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><strong>The Story DVD </strong><span style="font-size: medium;">by Randy Frazee</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">“The story video curriculum gives groups of all sizes the opportunity to learn, discuss, and apply what they have experienced during The Story 31-week church-wide experience. Pastor and author Randy Frazee presents 31 10-minute teachings on how the story of Scripture intersects with the story of your life, and this participant’s guide will help you record your journey and reflect on the powerful message of God’s story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Through 31 video sessions, <em>The Story </em>will open your eyes to The Lower Story, our story, which is actually many stories of men and women interacting with God in the daily course of life; and the Upper Story, God’s story, which is the tale of his great, overarching purpose that fits all the individual stories together like panels in on unified mural.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Discover the heart of God’s Upper Story – his master-plan unfolding in the lives of the Bible’s characters as well as in your own life – and experience the joy that comes as you align your story with God’s.” (from the cover of the Adult Curriculum)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I have read and studied my Bible most of my life – but I have enjoyed this study more than most others I’ve done. (maybe part of that has to do with our <u>wonderful</u> Life Group!!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">Each week we watch the DVD, then discuss the questions in our participants guide. I really have enjoyed the “personal application” questions that are included in each lesson. These are very practical, doable and personal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: medium;">I ordered our two books with the DVD for small groups from amazon.com for $44.50. There is a web site that will give you more information on what’s available for your whole church plus kits you can purchase. You can find that<strong> </strong><strong><a href="http://www.thestory.com/home">H.E.R.E.</a></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS; font-size: large;"><strong>I will add again, I highly recommend this study.</strong></span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-17189540281424417452013-09-12T06:26:00.000-07:002013-09-12T06:26:57.074-07:00The House Girl by Tara Conklin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">"Virginia, 1852. Seventeen-year-old Josephine Bell decides to run from the failing tobacco farm where she is a slave and nurse to her ailing mistress, the aspiring artist Lu Anne Bell. New York City, 2004. Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in an elite law firm, is given a difficult, highly sensitive assignment that could make her career: she must find the “perfect plaintiff” to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves.</span></div>
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It is through her father, the renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers Josephine Bell and a controversy roiling the art world: are the iconic paintings long ascribed to Lu Anne Bell really the work of her house slave, Josephine? A descendant of Josephine’s would be the perfect face for the reparations lawsuit—if Lina can find one. While following the runaway girl’s faint trail through old letters and plantation records, Lina finds herself questioning her own family history and the secrets that her father has never revealed: How did Lina’s mother die? And why will he never speak about her?</div>
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Moving between antebellum Virginia and modern-day New York, this searing, suspenseful and heartbreaking tale of art and history, love and secrets, explores what it means to repair a wrong and asks whether truth is sometimes more important than justice."</div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reading about the underground railroad has always fascinated me. Conklin goes back and forth from the 1850's to 2004. When reading the chapters in 2004, I found myself wanting to get back to the 1850's. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conklin also fascinated me with the relationship of Josephine and Lu Anne. I found myself wondering if there were actually many slaves and owners that had a relationship like they did. I hope so. I always feel so helpless when reading about the slaves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The story line is very good but the book dragged for me in a few places. I did like it though and would recommend it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #2d1012;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Tara Conklin is a writer and lawyer currently living with her family in Seattle, WA. Most recently, she worked as a litigator in the New York and London offices of a corporate law firm but now devotes herself full-time to writing fiction. Prior to law school, Tara worked in a variety of jobs in a variety of locales. She dealt cards at a casino in Costa Rica, planned events at a press center in Moscow, taught English at a school in Madrid and waited tables at a hotel in Montana. Her short fiction has appeared in The Bristol Prize Anthology and Pangea: An Anthology of Stories from Around the Globe. Tara was born in St. Croix, USVI and grew up in Massachusetts. She holds a BA in history from Yale University, a JD from New York University School of Law and a Master of Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School (Tufts University)."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">From her website that you can find here: <a href="http://www.taraconklin.com/" style="background-color: transparent;">http://www.taraconklin.com/</a> </span></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-37811822359449050242013-09-10T07:19:00.000-07:002013-09-10T07:19:19.447-07:00The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I read "The Harbinger" a couple of months ago and have hesitated to do a review because I'm not sure I can do this book justice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.390625px;">"Is it possible... </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.390625px;" /><div style="text-align: justify;">
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<b style="line-height: 22.390625px;">That there exists an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America s future?</b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 22.390625px;">That this mystery lies behind everything from 9/11 to the collapse of the global economy?</b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 22.390625px;">That ancient harbingers of judgment are now manifesting in America?</b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 22.390625px;">That God is sending America a prophetic message of what is yet to come?</b></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.390625px;">Before its destruction as a nation, ancient Israel received nine harbingers, prophetic omens of warning. The same nine harbingers are now manifesting in America with immediate ramifications for end-time prophecy.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.390625px;">Hidden in an ancient biblical prophecy from Isaiah, the mysteries revealed in The Harbinger are so precise that they foretold recent American events down to the exact days. The revelations are so specific that even the most hardened skeptics will find it hard to dismiss or put down. It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller with one exception... IT S REAL.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22.390625px;">The prophetic mysteries are revealed through an intriguing and engaging narrative the reader will find hard to put down. The Harbinger opens with the appearance of a man burdened with a message he has received from a mysterious figure called The Prophet. The Prophet has given him nine seals, each containing a message about America s future. As he tells of his encounters with The Prophet, from a skyscraper in New York City, to a rural mountaintop, to Capitol Hill, to Ground Zero, the mystery behind each seal is revealed. As the story unfolds, each revelation becomes a piece in a greater puzzle the ramifications of which will even alter the course of world history." Back of book</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I didn't read this book in a day or two. It took me awhile. I thought it was very well written, keeps your attention - because of the subject matter - but I did get bogged down once in a while.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It can be a life changing book. It compares America to the struggles of the Israelite's. Some will argue that America is not in a covenant with God whereas Israel was. However, in referring to America, Cahn is going upon the belief system of our founding fathers and what they intended for their country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have read many reviews of this book. I have come to the conclusion that "Christians" can be the most critical group of people on this earth. We shout loud and long about the persecution we receive from the secular world, then we turn around and do the same to one another.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am a believer in accountability but I also like fiction and this was written as a fiction book. - no matter how much it parallels with our world today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I did like the book. I liked the research Cahn has done to write the book. I think it gives much to think about and to ponder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most Christians will agree with me that Jesus is returning - and He is returning soon. We have no idea when this will be but we should be living each day as if He is returning in 2 hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good book. Challenging Book. Controversial Book. I liked it and I recommend it.</span></div>
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<span class="style2"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Jonathan Cahn is President of [Hope of World Ministries,] Senior Pastor and Messianic Rabbi of the the Jerusalem Center/ Beth Israel in Wayne, New Jersey. He is also the author of the best selling book ["The Harbinger."] His teachings are broadcast daily over hundreds of radio stations throughout the United States and the world and on television. He ministers, as did the first Jewish messengers of the Gospel, sharing the message of Messiah to Jew and Gentile, Israel, and the nations. He has ministered before mass gatherings in India, Nigeria, Cuba, Mizoram, Honduras, Haiti, & throughout the world. His teachings are widely known for revealing the deep mysteries of God’s word and for the restoring of the new covenant message to its original biblically Jewish richness and power." </span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="style2"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">found here: <a href="http://www.bethisraelworshipcenter.org/aboutjonathan.htm">http://www.bethisraelworshipcenter.org/aboutjonathan.htm</a></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is Jonathan Cahn's website: <a href="http://www.hopeoftheworld.org/">http://www.hopeoftheworld.org/</a></span><br />
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-72314811159046136272013-08-31T07:10:00.001-07:002013-08-31T07:10:01.900-07:00Labor Day Weekend and Reading<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>A 3 day weekend!!! F.U.N.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Be sure and spend some time reading!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>If you have children around - take time to read to them! </b></span><br />
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-83064617058639423132013-08-26T12:41:00.000-07:002013-08-26T12:41:01.798-07:00True Sisters by Sandra Dallas<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"In a novel based on true events, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Sandra Dallas delivers the story of four women---seeking the promise of salvation and prosperity in a new land---who come together on a harrowing journey.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 1856, Mormon converts, encouraged by Brigham Young himself, and outfitted with two-wheeled handcarts, set out on foot from Iowa City to Salt Lake City, the <i>promised land</i>. The Martin Handcart Company, a zealous group of emigrants headed for Zion, is the last to leave on this 1,300-mile journey. Earlier companies arrive successfully in Salt Lake City, but for the Martin Company the trip proves disastrous. <i>True Sisters</i> tells the story of four women whose lives will become inextricably linked as they endure unimaginable hardships, each one testing the boundaries of her faith and learning the true meaning of survival and friendship along the way: Nannie, who is traveling with her sister and brother-in-law after being abandoned on her wedding day; Louisa, who’s married to an overbearing church leader who she believes speaks for God; Jessie, who’s traveling with her brothers, each one of them dreaming of the farm they will have in Zion; and Anne, who hasn't converted to Mormonism but who has no choice but to follow her husband since he has sold everything to make the trek to Utah.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sandra Dallas has once again written a moving portrait of women surviving the unimaginable through the ties of female friendship." from amazon.com</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This book kept my attention! I read it in one day. Very well written as is the norm for Sandra Dallas. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I got angry while reading and was excited that Dallas produced a book that will make you angry - I laughed a couple of times and was close to tears but was too angry to cry. THIS is what makes a good book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You may not learn to "love" the characters in this book but they will fascinate you. They are each at a different place in their faith - much like we see daily within our churches. I was glad Dallas was able to portray this rather than lump them all together in the same level of faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While I believe much differently than Mormons they are a big part of our history such as the "handcart" era. This book caused me to head to my computer and do some of my own research on the handcart trips and this trip particularly. Many more Mormon's died in the trip Dallas based her book on than in the Donner party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I read a few reviews of this book on <b><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">Goodreads</a> </b>which were interesting because several highly criticized it and then added that they were, in fact, Mormons. However, while reading the book myself, I did not feel like Dallas was highly critical of the Mormons, I believe she took that page in history and added the personalities to it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I usually try to add a quote but as I looked at my flagged pages, I realized taken out of context, I'm not sure they would be as interesting as they were to me as I read them. Such as:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"She wondered if Brigham Young were calling the people to the valley to build up his own kingdom, not God's."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"You will marry of course. Your salvation depends on it. There are no spinsters in Utah."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And said to the non-mormon in the group while giving childbirth:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Converting won't help you. The Lord makes childbirth as hard for Mormons as Gentiles - or apostates, for that matter." </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I have been a Sandra Dallas fan since I read "The Persian Pickle Club" in 1996. She makes history through fiction very interesting to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #28282a; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">"New York Times</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #28282a; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> best-selling author </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #28282a; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">SANDRA DALLAS</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #28282a; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">, the author of ten novels as well as ten nonfiction books, was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #28282a; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Vogue Magazine</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #28282a; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">. Sandra’s novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films." from the author's web site which you can find <b><a href="http://www.sandradallas.com/index.php">H.E.R.E.</a> </b></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I do recommend this book. </span><br />
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-20764183279972591552013-08-24T10:13:00.002-07:002013-08-24T10:13:41.707-07:00Searching for Home by Martha Nelson Vogt & Christina Vogt<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A week ago, I read and reviewed "The Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline and you can read that review <b><a href="http://allaboutbooks2.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-orphan-train-by-christina-baker.html">H.E.R.E.</a> </b>The next sale-ing day for us I found "Searching for Home" by a mother and daughter team, Martha Nelson Vogt & Christina Vogt. This is the true story of that time in American history and as so often happens, I found it more interesting than the fiction.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"I will never forget my children. I have carved you on the palm of my hand." Isaiah 49 "The best adventure stories often turn out to be real life, more gripping, touching, and life-changing than any other kind. This book -- "the one that started it all" -- is the only true narrative of three families of orphan train children: orphaned, half-orphaned, and abandoned, creating a unique microcosm of the long-hidden story of Orphan Trains. From 1853 to 1929, nearly 100,000 children were brought from the East to small towns and farms in the Midwest. Yet nothing about this segment of American history has been captured from those who experienced it until "Searching for Home" was first published in 1979. This book has timeless appeal, for it shows lessons of overcoming adversity, of forging new family life, and examples of courage, character, love and commitment. Six years of primary research from these families, neighbors, friends, and other sources resulted in this unique touching family story and historic document. "Searching for Home" is a tribute to the human spirit, for it shows even young people working to survive, to fit in, to be loved, in new surroundings, and among strange faces and accents. The story also reveals the faith that many of these children found, to strengthen them in the hardest times and make their sense of belonging complete." (From the back cover)</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The mother and daughter team Martha Nelson Vogt and Christina Vogt did a wonderful job of letting us understand better the attitude from all sides of the orphan trains. The orphans, the families who took them in, the communities in which they became a part of. 100,000 children are a lot of young ones to bring into the mid west and find homes for but Anna Hill and the Children's Aid Society did the best they could in placing these children in good homes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Vogt's have told the true stories of three families of children who rode the orphan trains, the adjustments that had to be made in their lives and the lives of the families who took them in. This 75 year period of American history should not be lost. We need to make sure our children and grandchildren learn about it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After reading "The Orphan Train" (fiction) - which I greatly enjoyed, this book just seemed to add the extra ingredients. Interviews with real people that lived through this. A few pictures - all in all a very good book that I highly recommend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I did begin to get characters confused and suggest you make a list of the orphans - their brothers and sisters and the families with whom they were placed. - Unless of course you do better at keeping people and places straight!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was impressed with the Kansas modern educational system in 1911. After Bill and Ida met their new parents, they were shown where they would go to school. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">" 'We are unifying the country school districts. You'll be going to Union 5 - one of the three best in this area...' she (their new mother) pointed to a two-story brick building surrounded by a large playground. 'A team of horses and a wagon called the 'kid hack' will pick you up at the end of our lane.' This school also had a bathroom inside the building!"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"The authors Martha Pat Nelson Vogt and Christian Lynne Vogt are Mother and daughter. Pat is a retired journalist, editor and feature writer for newspapers and magazines in KS, NE, and MI. She holds a degree in Humanities from Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI. Christina holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law, Lincoln, NE and has worked as an attorney specializing in nuclear power litigation. Both authors enjoy historical research. The authors may be contacted c/o Triumph Press, Box 93, Hillsboro, KS, 67063." (from the back cover) (this book was published in 1979 - my note)</span></blockquote>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6047036915560224020.post-44849009980456679642013-08-15T15:36:00.000-07:002013-08-15T17:41:48.451-07:00The Orphan Train By Christina Baker Kline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><em>"Orphan Train</em> is a gripping story of friendship and second chances from Christina Baker Kline, author of <em>Bird in Hand</em> and <em>The Way Life Should Be</em>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to “aging out” out of the foster care system. A community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life – answers that will ultimately free them both.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rich in detail and epic in scope, <em>Orphan Train </em><em>by</em> Christina Baker Kline is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I pick up books for my granddaughter, there are often books for early teens about the orphan train. This book is written for adults and is very well written. It flows on the page and keeps you turning the pages quickly. I finished it in just a couple of days.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kline goes back and forth from the orphan train and Vivian's life to modern day and her relationship with Molly, a teen in the foster care system. Lot's of history included - the orphan train, the Indian's - just a very interesting book. Lot's of drama and actually just real life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am a person who likes constancy, stability. This book was interesting to me as I read about others who want the same stability in their lives. It's not unusual for people who have moved around a lot or who have had much upheaval in their lives to want this same stability.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Molly is part Wabanaki Indian. For years this group of Indians traveled only by canoe - protaging from one body of water to another. Everything they owned needed to fit into their canoe so they learned how to "travel light." They quickly learned "what to keep and what to discard." Molly learned this art quickly in the foster care system as she was shuffled from family to family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have any interest at all in this page in the history of our country, I highly recommend <i>The Orphan Train. </i>If you are just looking for a good read - I highly recommend this book.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">"Christina Baker Kline is a novelist, nonfiction writer and editor. In addition to </span><a href="http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/orphan-train/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(83, 94, 94); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #535e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Orphan Train</em></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">, her novels include </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><a href="http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/bird-in-hand/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(83, 94, 94); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #535e5e; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Bird in Hand</a>, </em><a href="http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/the-way-life-should-be/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(68, 78, 78); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #444e4e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Way Life Should Be</em></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">, </span><a href="http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/desire-lines/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(83, 94, 94); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #535e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Desire Lines</em></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"> and </span><a href="http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/sweet-water/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(83, 94, 94); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #535e5e; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sweet Water</em></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1b1b1b; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. She served as Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University from 2007 to 2011 and was the on-staff editor and writing coach at the social networking site </span><a href="http://www.shewrites.com/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.shewrites.com/</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">." </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">from her website</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can learn more about Christina Baker Kline at her web site <a href="http://christinabakerkline.com/"><b>H.E.R.E.</b></a></span><b> </b></div>
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Brenda Cohornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00383747375588189032noreply@blogger.com0