Unbroken: a World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption -- Laura Hillenbrand

Louis Zamperini was a rabble-rouser in his youth, known in the neighborhood for beating kids up, stealing, and defying authority. Though he was nothing like his older brother Pete, Louis practically idolized him. And so, over time, and with the help of Pete, Louis eventually worked to channel his rambunctious energy into something more productive and less destructive: running. Louis had a talent for speed, and by the time he was 19, he was competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Though Louis did not go home with a gold medal, he knew the future was bright for him; so he set his eyes on winning in the 1940 Olympics.

But Louis would never run in those Games. The Games would be cancelled as a result of World War II; and Louis would instead find himself a bombardier in the Army Air Corps, flying over the Pacific in the war against Japan.

As part of the crew aboard the plane known as "Super Man", Louis was responsible for many successful missions. And like the others in the crew, he sometimes miraculously escaped serious harm and death in spite of the many precarious situations they flew into. Such was the case on "Super Man's" last mission -- the mission in which the crew's pilot Allen Phillips managed to nurse the plane home riddled with almost 600 bullet holes and multiple mechanical failures.

While "Super Man" would never fly again, and some of the plane's crew would be replaced due to injuries, the crew would not be so lucky. One day in May 1943, the crew was called up on a rescue mission and given "The Green Hornet" to fly, a plane in which none held much faith. And so it was, aboard "The Green Hornet" that Louis' luck seemed to run out. The plane went down over the Pacific, killing all but 3 of the crew. Louis, pilot Allen Phillips, and a crewman named Mac survived. With few survival supplies, the 3 men floated on rafts in shark-infested waters, hoping -- and eventually praying -- for rescue.

But rescue did not come. Instead, after nearly 50 days drifting at sea, surviving on raw albatross and tern, infrequent rain water, and the very rare fish, the rafts reached land. Only when the survivors realized they had landed on a Japanese-occupied island and began experiencing the horrors faced by Prisoners of War in Japan did they realize they would long for the days in the raft.

Over the course of the next two years, Louis and Allen Phillips would endure torturous beatings, starvation, interrogation, and humiliation. They faced guards full of cruelty who ignored the rules of the Geneva Convention regarding POWs, and learned just how much they could endure before they would break. It seemed the war would never end -- and if it did, that it would not be soon enough.

Still, Louis and many other POWs held onto the hope of America winning the war. Though beaten and practically broken, these men pushed through the horrors of being Prisoners to the Japanese. And one day, the war ended. Louis and his fellow POWs were able to return home. But their lives were forever changed. Their dreams were haunted, and sometimes, most cruelly, their waking hours were as well as they flashed-back to the horrors of the past. For Louis, who had tried everything he could think of to escape his nightmares, the only thing that released him from the grasp of terror was finding Christianity and realizing the worth of his soul. His dignity was restored, and he was able to face the future with hope and optimism once again.


***I knew, just by reading the prologue, that this would be an intense book. I found myself talking often of it to my husband. At once appalling and enthralling, this book is an amazing read. I feel Hillenbrand handled a lot of sensitive topics with tact. I was horrified, still, by all that the POWs were forced to endure. Sometimes shocked by the cruelties human beings are capable of inflicting. But the book held hope throughout. A great read, indeed. I am glad to have added it to my "read" library.

The Girl Who Came Home -- Hazel Gaynor

In 1912, following the death of her mother, 16 year old Maggie Murphy is to leave her home of Ireland and the man she loves to live in America with her aunt. Along with several others from her little town of Ballysheen, Maggie is to travel aboard the great Titanic on her maiden voyage. What she experiences on that fateful journey is not ever forgotten; but only 70 years later does she choose to share the events of that those tragic days with anyone. And the person she chooses to share them with is her great-granddaughter Grace.

Grace is a young woman who walked away from college and her boyfriend on the day her father was killed in an accident, so that she could take care of her ill mother. A talented writer, Grace had been on the cusp of a great career when the events unfolded which would change the direction of her life. But not for forever. For Maggie's keen eye could see what Grace truly needed. And when Maggie gives Grace her story, Grace is given the opportunity at the chance she thought she'd forfeited those two years previous.


**It was a good story. I liked the flash-back style of writing. I can't say it was the best novel I'd ever read, but it was good and it left me feeling happy. That's always a good thing.

Allegiant -- Veronica Roth

Now that the factions have fallen and the truth about their society has been made known, a small group, including Tris and Tobias, seeks to fulfill the wishes of the originators of the experiment.  This group calls themselves the Allegiant.  And their plan is to defy the leadership of Evelyn Johnson and leave the city, hoping to help those on the outside as they have learned they were meant to do.

Though the plan is successful, and Tris, Tobias, and several others make it outside of the city, what they face turns their world upside down again.  They enter a world of "Genetically Pure" and "Genetically Damaged."  They learn about air travel and other modern things which had been hidden from them in the city.  And they find that they still don't know where the truth lies.  Being in the "real world" forces them to face new life-altering decisions -- and make decisions on behalf of those they left behind.


**Eh...  It was okay.  I mean, I committed to reading it when I continued the series.  But definitely not as fantastic a read.  Which is why it took so long for me to get through it.  I will say I liked some of the "morals" the main characters offer the reader toward the end of the book.  But there are also a lot of other subtle things I didn't like.  So, I'm glad I'm done with it and can move on to something else.  I may or may not read the new one:  FOUR.  Depends on how desperate I am for a book at the time.  But I feel no tie to it.

Miracle Cure -- Michael Palmer

Dr. Brian Holbrook is trying to get back on his feet after 18 months of recovery from a prescription drug addiction which began in his youth. With his medical license revoked, he doubts he'll ever have the opportunity to work in the medical field again. But fate has other plans for him. When his father suffers a minor heart attack and is taken to White Memorial Hospital, Brian helps a former friend there diagnose a rare condition in a patient, saving the patient's life. When word of his rescue spreads through the hospital, Brian is suddenly given some unexpected opportunities, including a chance to join the staff of White Memorial's Boston Heart Institute (BHI).

The news only gets better, because Brian learns more about the miracle drug being researched at BHI: Vasclear -- a drug that miraculously heals arteriosclerosis, giving people a new lease on life. So encouraged by the Vasclear study results, Brian is determined to get his father on the drug with hopes to save his life. But the more Brian tries, the more he is discouraged. And soon, he encounters patients who were put on Vasclear in the initial trials -- and he begins to notice a troubling pattern about them. With his interest piqued, Brian begins digging into the research on Vasclear -- and meeting up with dangerous opposition all along the way. He is even threatened with a "doctored" positive drug test (and assured subsequent job loss) if he doesn't back off his search.

Undaunted, Brian continues onward after personal tragedy strikes. His gut tells him something is wrong with Vasclear, but can he find the truth before the drug is approved by the FDA? And more importantly, will he manage to stay alive?


***This book just seemed fake to me. The scenarios were too convenient and most of them unbelievable. Like towards the end when he and another doctor are speaking in a sort of code and he manages to figure out everything she is trying to tell him. Yeah right. Pretty sure this just turned me off of Palmer's books. I can't remember the last one I read by him and what I really thought of it, but this one was pretty ridiculous, in my opinion.

Speaker For the Dead -- Orson Scott Card

For most of the human race, it has been 3000 years since the Bugger Wars. 3000 years since Ender Wiggin became notorious for the xenocide of the Buggers. But for Ender Wiggin and his sister Valentine, who have spent the intervening years between his worst nightmare and the present day traveling from planet to planet at speeds near the speed of light, it has only been a couple of decades. Everyone believes -- no, knows -- that Ender is dead. And Ender is happy to leave them in ignorant bliss. His name has become profane, and feeling the guilt of his actions and their result, Ender accepts the burden of his infamy as well-deserved. In time, he authors the story of the Buggers, revealing to the humans the real intentions of that alien species. And humans come to understand the horrors enacted by the human race. To prevent the same events from ever occurring again, the Starways Congress enacts laws governing interactions between humans and any other intelligent life they may find on distant planets. Strict rules which, when broken, are a sign of absolute rebellion.

And so it is that, when intelligent life is discovered on the planet of Lusitania, the humans colonizing the planet are allowed to send only their xenologer outside their colony gates, who studies the species -- a pig-like species many thousand of years behind humans technologically, without asking many questions and without sharing any human knowledge. When one of the xenologers dies at the hands of the piggies, the humans begin to fear. When a second one dies, the fear begins to turn to terror. And someone on Lusitania calls for a Speaker for the Dead -- to speak the death of the first killed xenologer. The nearest Speaker is none other than Ender Wiggin, the original speaker. His arrival on Lusitania (two weeks later for him, 22 years later for Lusitanians), stirs up secrets for humans and piggies alike. And soon, nothing will ever be the same.

**An excellent read. I was very enthralled.         

Heart in the Right Place -- Carolyn Jourdan

Carolyn Jourdan is used to a life of lavishness. She is used to rubbing elbows with some of the Nation's dignitaries. She is accustomed to being "in" on the latest cause -- and she enjoys feeling like she is making a difference in Washington, D.C. But when her mother has a heart attack, and Carolyn returns to her backwoods Tennessee roots, Carolyn begins to realize that maybe, just maybe, making a difference back home is more important than making a difference in Washington.

Filled with stories of her father's patients in a rural doctor's clinic, this memoir follows a year of Carolyn Jourdan's life working as her father's receptionist. She discovers what life is about, and she learns that her father is a true hero to so many. And little by little she finds out what it feels like when her heart is in the right place.

**This was a cute memoir. I enjoyed the stories and laughed at a few. Others were touching and poignant.

The Shade of the Moon -- Susan Beth Pfeffer

It has been 2 years since the Evans family left their home in Pennsylvania and headed for the enclave in Sexton, Tennessee. Much has changed in those 2 years for the family. Matt and his wife Syl moved out on their own and Matt became a courier. Miranda married Alex Morales and became pregnant. Jon moved in with his step-mother Lisa and his 3 year-old half brother, using Alex's slips to permit them entrance into the enclave where food was as plentiful as the privileges they enjoyed. Their father died on the journey to Sexton, and their mother lives in White Birch, just outside of Sexton, with Alex and Miranda, working at a school teaching "grub" children -- those not fortunate enough to be "useful" outside of doing grub work for the more fortunate "clavers."

Two years of living a life of privilege, even when most of his family isn't, gives Jon a sense of entitlement. He sees nothing wrong with the way he lives: the abundance when those around him hunger and live in ignorance; the ability to satiate all his physical desires anytime he desires. But then he meets Sarah, the girl who moved into the enclave with her father, the town's new doctor. While most of the clavers dislike her, Jon is drawn to her. And he is soon forced to choose between her and her ideals and his friends. His comforts and those of his step-mother and little brother are at stake.

But the more Jon hears what Sarah has to say, the more he sees what he ignored before. And when riots break out in White Birch and life changes drastically again for Jon and all his family members, Jon has to choose which side he is on for good -- and deal with the consequences.


*Wow... I was incredibly disappointed in this book. I loved the series... Until this book. The characters seemed shallow and not well thought-out anymore. The book was full of every horror imaginable (which, frankly, disgusted me). And many of the situations and dialogue seemed fake and forced. The author mentions at the end that she isn't sure if there will be a 5th book. Well, I hope there isn't. Because if it gets any worse than this, I don't think I would be willing to slog through it. Very disappointing.