April Books

I do not know how I managed it, with the A/Z challenge and all, but I read 6 books during April.  I have to say I did really structure my time to make sure I was doing something constructive and not just scrolling through Facebook and the like, so I did a lot of reading on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and of course Monday through Friday mornings when exercising on the treadmill.

Here's the books I read in April (no particular order):

A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca.  

Taken from the web:  A Place to Stand is his memoir of childhood on small farms in New Mexico, his adolescence spent in orphanages and detention centers, his years as a drug dealer in San Diego and Arizona, and his extraordinary personal transformation under harrowing conditions behind bars.

It is a memoir and I usually don't read a lot of them.  I'm not sure why this particular book caught my attention to check out from our local library's e-book.  It was a fascinating story of the author who survived a traumatic childhood and adolescence and a 5 year prison time in a maximum security prison. During that time in prison he did learn to read and write (basically taught himself) and upon release from there did make a career writing poetry.  It was a hard read since there was a lot of tragedy within the pages, but redeeming at the end.  I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Heat Wave by Nancy Thayer.

From the web:  After her husband’s sudden death, Carley Winsted is determined to keep her two daughters in their beloved home on Nantucket. To ease the family’s financial strain, she decides to transform their grand, historic house into a bed-and-breakfast. Not everyone, however, thinks this plan prudent or quite respectable—especially not Carley’s mother-in-law. Further complicating a myriad of challenges, a friend forces Carley to keep a secret that, if revealed, will undo families and friendships. And her late husband’s former law partner is making Carley confront an array of mixed feelings. Then, during a late-summer heat wave, the lives of Carley and her friends and family will be forever changed in entirely unexpected ways.

I needed a book to read and none of the books I had on hold were available yet, so I found this book, again through my local library's e-books.  I had not read anything before by Nancy Thayer.  It was a light romance.  Very easy to read.  I read it over a weekend.  Predictable story with a few twists.  I give it 4 stars for a summer read on a beach, provided one is going to the beach for a summer vacation.  

Eli's Promise by Ronald Balson:

From the Web:   Eli's Promise is a masterful work of historical fiction spanning three eras—Nazi-occupied Poland, the American Zone of post-war Germany, and Chicago at the height of the Vietnam War. Award-winning author Ronald H. Balson explores the human cost of war, the mixed blessings of survival, and the enduring strength of family bonds.

It is a book about WW2 and the Holocaust but the story is actually told in 3 different time periods (as the war starts and the first few years, after the war, and 20 years later).  It is a story of promises made and broken and of betrayal.  I saw it on Sandy's blog.  Very fascinating story with a good plot.  Few surprises along the way.  I give it 5 stars.

The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom:

From the Web: What would happen if we called on God for help and God actually appeared? In Mitch Albom’s profound new novel of hope and faith, a group of shipwrecked passengers pull a strange man from the sea. He claims to be “the Lord.” And he says he can only save them if they all believe in him.

This was a short book and I read it over just a few days.  It was an interesting plot with some concepts to think about with life and faith.  Again, I give it 5 stars.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel:

From the Web:  After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Stunned to learn what’s happening in the outside world, she vows to teach the group all she can about surviving in the forest—and in turn, they teach her some surprising lessons about opening her heart after years of isolation. But when she is betrayed and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past and present come together in a shocking collision that could change everything.

This was a bit of a mythical/magical type of book.  As stated above, the main character is kidnapped from her parents and raised by an old woman who teaches her how to survive in the woods.  The young woman does help Jews who are fleeing from the Nazis survive in the woods.  There was a very interesting unexpected twist in the story that was a big game changer with how I thought things would progress.  Very well written book.  Again, I'll give it 5 stars.  

Three Sisters by Heather Morris:

From the web:  Against all odds, three Slovakian sisters have survived years of imprisonment in the most notorious death camp in Nazi Germany: Auschwitz. Livia, Magda, and Cibi have clung together, nearly died from starvation and overwork, and the brutal whims of the guards in this place of horror. But now, the allies are closing in and the sisters have one last hurdle to face: the death march from Auschwitz, as the Nazis try to erase any evidence of the prisoners held there. Due to a last minute stroke of luck, the three of them are able to escape formation and hide in the woods for days before being rescued.  And this is where the story begins. From there, the three sisters travel to Israel, to their new home, but the battle for freedom takes on new forms. Livia, Magda, and Cibi must face the ghosts of their past--and some secrets that they have kept from each other--to find true peace and happiness.

I had read a couple of other books written by Heather Morris including Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey.  All these books were written as fictional history but based on true life stories.  All are based in WW2 and the Holocaust.  This one was a good story, as the others.  I give it 4.5 stars.  At the end of these books are pictures of the people the books are based on and their families.  It is nice to see that from all the suffering they endured during the war and in concentration camps, they were able to go on and live a life, get married and have children, etc.  

So now I am at 20 books for the year of my goal of 50.  I think I'll get there!

What are you reading these days? Anything good to recommend?