Choices

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I still can't quite figure out why I like this series. Not a great way to start a book review is it?

Tris, our heroine, struggles in this second book of the Divergent series. As we left her in Divergent, she had lost her mother, her father, her good friend Will. She feels responsible. She can't shake these feelings, and it causes some strain in her relationship with Tobias. As a matter of fact, they were having so many misunderstandings that it was becoming a little old to me, I was ready for them to move on or give up on each other.

I do think that part of the reason I like the book is because Tris does struggle with her choices. Like many of us, she can't let these feelings go, but at the same time, she doesn't seem to quite grow up. We make choices. Our choices affect others. This is a huge part of the story line. Evil exists. How do we respond?

I continue to think that this series, read with your teen, would make for great discussions.

I'm not quite sure what I think of the ending, and look forward to reading the next book in the series. Since I am 205 out of 205 on the waiting list, it may be a while!


View all my reviews

Bless the Women Who've Gone Before Us!

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What an interesting book!

First I'll tell you the shockers for me. Ladies, we are so lucky! We can do just about anything we want. We can complain about women's rights, but baby, we've come a long way. So, here are some of the facts:

"Beware the bookish woman" was an adage of the age"

. . . at George Brownell's school . . . those few girls who enrolled were allowed to attend only after the boys had finished for the day, and what they learned was different: boys learned to write; girls learned English and French Quilting, Imbroidery, Florishing, Plain Work, marking in several sorts of stitches"

In 1771, Massachusett's poor laws had, for the first time, required that girls be taught to write.

Jane was the sister of the famous Ben Franklin. She and Ben were close while young, and he is the one who taught her how to write. Jane was ashamed of her writing, as she knew she was a poor speller, and was always apologizing it in her letters to Ben.

Many of Ben and Jane's letters did not survive, but of those that did you were able to get a sense of her personality. She truly loved and admired her brother. She loved to read and scoured bookstores to find and read Ben's books. She loved her family. In short, she was a well rounded person who cared for herself and her family despite a fairly worthless husband and the restrictions of her day.

Although Ben was often away doing his thing for the fledgling states, he did stay in touch with Jane, and tried to see to her comfort monetarily. She really needed the help too. According to the author,

"In 1748, Jane turned thirty-six. She had been pregnant or nursing, almost without pause, since she was sixteen."

This book will not only give you a picture of Jane, but a picture of the times, and of Ben. This is what I thought of Benjamin Franklin. He was smart, he was an inventor, he was a philanderer. This book changed my opinion of him. He is really a rags to riches story--for someone of his class to become such a learner and have success is a really big thing.

So once again. I am so lucky. With never a thought I pick up a book, I read, I write. I work and enjoy every opportunity that I seek out. I really need to pay much more attention to Woman's History Month (March) and celebrate the women who paved the way for me!


View all my reviews

What Kind of Messenger are You?

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm giving this 4 stars because once again Zusak has given me something to think about.

A friend lent me this book (Thanks Lara!). I have to be honest, if I didn't respect her opinion about books so much, I would not have kept going. Like many of the other goodreads reviewers I find some of the beginning offensive. It's hard to talk about here without giving up some of the story, so I'll just leave it at that. But I encourage you to stick with it, if only for the pondering that will occur once you've finished the book. This is pretty much the same reaction I had after finishing The Book Thief. I didn't think I liked it, but it stuck with me, and I found I needed to talk about

I Am The Messenger revolves around Ed, and the messages he receives that are written on playing cards. Ed's job is to figure out what the message is, and then to do something about it. In essence, he has a mission to complete based on the clues on the cards. Sometimes the missions are scary, sometimes sweet, almost always they are hard. Ed is taken out of his passive life, and into an engaged life. He is forced out of selfish thinking, into unselfish thinking. He becomes a better person.

One of my favorite chapters is when Ed and his friends put in play a creative marketing plan to get people to Father O'Reilly's church. (I loved Father O'Reilly!) When Ed found the Father, he couldn't believe what an awful neighborhood he lived in. As Ed gets to know the father he thinks:

"...I now realize why he's chosen to live here. The church is too far away for him to really help anyone, so this is the best place for him. It's everywhere, on all sides and angles. This is where the Father needs to be. Not in some church gathering dust."

There is a great quote from Henri Nouwen that captures the essence of this book:

"We need to be Angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation because only when we fully realize the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow, but also a cup of joy, will we be able to drink it."

Ed became a sort of angel on his journey, and also realized that life is both parts sorrow and joy, and that he needs to be a part of it.

If your teen wants to read this book, I would recommend that you read it first, or read it together. You will be able to have some great discussions when you finish!



View all my reviews