The books I read this October all seemed to delve into the deeper things in life – disaster, personal growth, the Holocaust, children with hard lives, coming to the realization that you’re not alone … I would really highly recommend just about every book I read this month!
In 1986, Reactor Four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant near the Ukraine exploded. Radiation poured out everywhere – sky, ground, underground. It was a disaster that no one prepared for and no one wanted to deal with. The USSR had a face it needed to present to the public and the world may not have known for a long time what really happened except that radiation traveled into Europe and was detected by sensors and traced back to the USSR. They eventually had to reach out after their attempts to fix the reactor and their own men failed. The entire event is detailed in Midnight In Chernobyl.
Elie Weisel was taken with his father to a concentration camp when he was 15. His father was a leader in their village and even though they had some warnings in the two years leading up to their capture, they couldn’t believe it would happen to them. At first, they couldn’t leave their village. Then people were sent away on trains. Then they were moved to the ghetto in their village. And, then, they were taken away. Night is a powerful memoir of a boy who faced the horrors of a concentration camp when he wanted to be studying Jewish Scripture.
In Cilka’s Journey, Cilka ends up in a concentration camp at the age of 16 and in chosen by the guards to serve them in a room with a bed. She gets to wear her hair long and gets extra food, but she is a prisoner living in a hell that not only isolates her from the outside, but also from the people trapped inside with her. They hate that she is given a special status and so she is alone to deal with her shame. That hate is what gets her sent to the Russian Gulags when she is “freed” because another prisoner says she provided comfort to the enemy. It was not her choice – her choice was to live anyway she could.
Do you ever wish you felt more in control of how you use technology? I think a lot of us feel we spend too much time on our phones, tablets and watching TV and movies. One way to tackle this situation is by becoming a digital minimalist. Digital Minimalism‘s philosophy does not mean having a goal of hardly ever using technology; instead, it means using technology for specific purposes and deciding when and why you use it. Instead of mindlessly surfing Facebook, a digital minimalist would use it for 30 minutes or so once or twice a week on their computer to catch up with friends. There is a purpose, intention and limit to their use.
Some children’s lives are so much harder than others. They crave stability and love. Kate DiCamillo does a good job of taking her readers into the worlds of children who face tough lives. In Beverly, Right Here, she continues the story of one of the girls from the Raymie Nightingale book. Beverly’s father left when she was young, but she remembers him and misses him. Her mother drinks a lot and Beverly doesn’t feel cared for. When Beverly’s dog dies, she no longer feels anchored to home and runs away at the age of 14.
If you don’t know why you’re doing something, then you are probably just spinning your wheels, getting nowhere. This especially applies in businesses. Everyone from the boss to the workers to the consumers should know the why behind the services or products. Start With Why is a book that examines the why and how every person and business should figure out they why behind what they are doing.
In When We Believed in Mermaids, Kit believes her sister is dead. Josie had died in a train wreck in France. Then both she and her mother see Kit on the news about a nightclub fire in New Zealand. They decide Kit should leave California and see if she can find if this person is Josie. Kit goes, knowing she will probably leave empty-handed, but can maybe finally enjoy a vacation. It’s been a lonely life, ever since the earthquake destroyed her family by killing her father and sending her mother and sister spiraling out of control in their own worlds. If only their semi-adopted brother, Dylan, had still been around to help take care of Kit, she maybe wouldn’t have felt all alone, but he had left their lives before the earthquake.
Friends Michele and Emily realized that women today are often feeling alone. Women need other women to help them in their journey whether single or married, but especially mothers. The Friendship Project focuses not just on how and why women need friends, but how to cultivate true, deep friendships. Made to be a book study more than a stand-alone read, The Friendship Project has something for every woman.
In To War, Sincerely, Sadie thought Sam’s time in the military was almost through and they could settle into life in a town and home she had grown to love in Santa Barbara. The Army, however, had different ideas and Sam feels called to use his expertise to help in a very important mission – one he can’t tell Sadie anything about. He signs the papers and they are off to Kansas. Sam is supposed to spend several months training and getting ready for a deployment once they get there, but after just a few weeks, he has to leave. Sadie has to figure her way around a new place and take care of her two young boys all by herself.
What did you read in October? Share on the blog! I’m always looking for good books to read!
