In the Garden of Beasts, a review

I recently finished reading In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin.

I picked it up a few weeks ago to read on a trip, and just got around to finishing it.

The book is about William Dodd, who became the the U.S. ambassador to Germany on the eve of World War II. Dodd and his family were at first enchanted by the Nazi party. The atrocities they were committing were not widely published, and life was fairly normal and predictable in Berlin. In cities around the country the Nazi party was starting its campaign against the Jews, they were beating Americans in the streets, and began to reveal their true character to the world.

The book focuses a good amount of time on the life of Dodd's daughter, Martha. She was a young woman in a new city with a known father. The city was her playground, and she had the time of her life dating young Gestapo and SS officers. She had illicit affairs with some of the most powerful men in the country. Eventually, she met and became lovers with a Soviet who was a secret agent, and she was recruited to spy of the Soviet Union.

The book covers a few years prior to the war and the political and social changes that occurred prior to the war, and prior to Hitler taking full power of the country.  We all know what happened in the war, but it was enlightening to read about the events that occurred within the country prior to the outbreak of war.

For me, I find that I am often drawn to reading and learning about life in German before the war. In part, this is due to my family. My grandfather's family lived in Germany prior to the war. In the run up to World War II, his family, Jew's, experienced persecution. They were able to flee the country before the real horror began. Unfortunately, his extended family didn't get the chance to leave, so numerous members of our family perished at the hands of the Nazi's.

For my grandfather and his family, they could not get into the USA directly. They were able to secure passage into Mexico, and eventually made their way North into Texas. Their story of survival is nothing short of miraculous. As my grandfather ages, it is becoming more and more important to me that I embrace my heritage, and am a keeper of the family history. I want to share and pass down my families history.

To read in depth about the place where my great-grandparents lived, and the turbulent times they endured makes me long for them. Though I never met them, I wish I had. I wish that I had been born to hear the stories from them, to learn more about their language, life, and culture.

This book is non fiction, but reads like one. It is a great book full of intrigue, mystery, and political motives of the operatives. I highly recommend it!

Talk it out: Where is your family from? What is your heritage? How did you get to where you are now?

Books that have changed my life

The other day I was browsing in 1/2 Price Books and as I was looking at all the books, I kept searching for some oldies, but goodies. I found so many books that I have read and loved over the years, and the ones that I love the most,the ones that really changed me, challenged me, I always seek them out in book stores just to see if they are still on the shelves. Here is my list of books that have radically changed me. 

The Bible- I read this book everyday on the train. It never ceases to amaze me all the wisdom, guidance, love, rebuke, and testimony's. It is a love story to us. I pray that I will continue to love the word of God, and long for it every moment of my life.

 I read this series of books back in high school.  This book opened my eyes to the reality of spiritual warfare and the many injustices in the world. Growing up in small town America before the internet took over, I was not exposed to much, and when I read this, it really gave me a sense that not all is right and well in the world.

 P bought me this book a few years ago, and it is one that I cherish, and one that I learned so much from. Before reading it, I was pretty ignorant about Nelson Mandela and his struggle. He is an amazing man. His life is a true testament to peace, love, and forgiveness.

 Probably the most prolific book that I have ever read. Her story is one of struggle and survival. I have read this book at least 10 times over the years, and it always takes my breath away. She was the daughter of a military leader in Morocco who tried to overthrow the king. After the failed attempt, she and her family were put in jail for almost 15 years, and they had no contact with the outside world. They were able to dig a tunnel out of jail using a spoon and a sardine can lid. If you have not read this book, you must pick it up and read it today.

 Finally, this book was aggressive and powerful. It is in your face and unapologetic. I read this book back in graduate school and it opened up my eyes to the freedom I have in Christ.

There are many many more books that I love and will read over and over again, but these are the ones that I cherish, and have changed me. They have changed how I see the world and how I feel about the world.

Your turn. What books do you love? What books have changed you and impacted you?

I am kind of embarrassed to admit this

I mentioned it the other day on the blog, but I am actually really embarrassed to admit it.....I am totally into the Twilight books. I read the first 3 books this week, and I just picked up the fourth book. 

There, I told you and now I feel better. 

I know these are books are for teenagers, and I am far far removed from my teenage years, but o my gosh these books are like crack. I cannot put them down. I read on the train, I read at lunch, I read before bed. I read while I do my make up. I read while I do my hair. I read while I cook. Cannot stop reading. 

I was telling my mom how good they were the other day about how good they were and she was really skeptical, and told me she would just stick to reading her type of books. So frustrating. When something is this good, you want to share it. I got her hooked on the Hunger Games, but she still wont give these a try. 

Why are these books so good? Has anyone read them? What do you think of them? Are you team Jacob or team Edward?

I am totally team Jacob. 

3 out of 4

Over the Christmas holiday I read 4 books and 3 of them were AWESOME.

I read Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling and The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay all 3 by Susan Collins.

I am pretty behind the times with the Hunger Games series, but I finally picked them up and read them all. O my word, they were so good. The first book was probably one of the best books I have read in the last 2 years. Intense, mind blowing, suspenseful, and AMAZING!
I could not put the first 2 Hunger Games books down. All I wanted to do is read. I became irritated and annoyed when I had to do things like, talk to people, go to the bathroom, or sleep because I wanted to do was read these books. I read the first one in about a day, and I read the second one in an afternoon. The third book in the series was just ok, and I didn't think it was nearly as good as the first two. They basically rocked my world, but in a really good way.

Once I finished the Hunger Games, I moved on to Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, and this is hands down one of the funnest books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. This was side splitting, laughsohardIalmostcriedandpeedmypantsatthesametime, clutch my chest, and bowl over funny. Mindy Kaling is hilarious, and her stories are genius. Simply genius. This book is so funny that sometimes as I am walking down the street or hall, I think back to something I read and I am that weird person who just busts out laughing when no one is around.

Has anyone read any of these books?

What are you reading now?

A Naked Outing

I waited patiently all day for it to get dark. I kept looking at the windows all evening. At 7:40 I turned to P ans said "It's dark."
I even opened the door to show him--but nope--the sun was just setting, and it was not dark enough for him.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity- it was dark, pitch black outside.
I looked at P and said "let's go."
He sighed, got off the couch and started getting ready to go.
As he was getting ready, he looked at me and said--"Why are we doing this again?"
I responded with "You promised to come with me."
He replied with "I need to start asking more questions."
In the dark of night we drove about 1/4 of a mile (not the location I would have chosen, but I went with it.) We scaled the 7 foot fence and found ourselves alone on an empty golf course in the dark.
It was time for P to get naked-as I was already going tribal myself.
Standing under a tree in the dark, P did it! He took of his sandles and joined me.
We went running without shoes--but with our clothes. We ran for about 20 minutes barefoot on the golf course, then we did a couple of build up sprints.
We finished about 9, scaled the 7 foot fence again and went home.

I finished Born to Run, and it inpsired me to give naked running (running barefoot) a try.
The book was so great. I could not put it down. I have already reread a few of the sections again, because it was so dense with information.
I will do a full book review on the blog, but if you have not read it, go out and READ it now!

On My Book Shelf

I have heard about this book for years, and I was at Whole Foods a few weeks ago and decided to finally bit the bullet and pick it up.

I want to see the documentary about this book, Forks over Knives. I cant find a place that carries it. I am really interested to see how a plant based diet can change our health.

I saw the movie first, which is something I never do. The movie made me laugh and cry, so I just had to pick up the book to see what it was all about.

I cannot put this down. Some friends came to stay with us a few weeks ago and gave us this book as a thank you. I started it on Thursday, and Iam over half way done. It is awesome!!!

This I picked up today at B&N. I love Paris, and I have been aching to go back. Well, the next best thing is to read about it I guess.

It is funny that I have purchased so many books in the past few weeks. Usually, I don't buy books, I check them out from the library. Being new to the city, I have not found the libraries yet, so I have been buying them. Not exactly frugal, and most of my fun money has been dissappearing into the books. I think I need to put a stop to the book buying, and get back to the book borrowing.

What are you reading these days?

Maya

photo credit: fenixrysing

I cannot get enough of Maya Angelou right now. I have never read her works, but these past few weeks, I have been fascinated by her. I think because football season is over, P is gone, and I am making my own schedule these days, I have been turning off the t.v. more and more. I used to keep it on all the time whenever P was out of town, but lately, I have been desiring quiet. Even now as I sit here, I just want quiet. I have always been a reader, but when the t.v. is off, I find that I read even more than I do already.
I am currently reading "I know why the Caged Bird Sings." I cannot stop reading. It is fascinating. Her poetry is good, but it is nothing compared to her literary words. It is a story of hope, tragedy, and triumph.
I saw an interview with her and it moved me, it stirred me. Here is a recap of the interview that I found fascinating.
Maya: "I learned that words have power, and I learned that my words could kill. I had been raped by a man, and he told me if I said anything he would kill my brother, my beloved older brother. Eventually my mother found out, and one night a police officer came to the house and told us the man had been killed. I realized then that my words could kill. So, I stopped speaking, and I was mute for several years.
We were shipped to live with my grandmother is Stamps, Arkansas.
In Stamps one of the ladies in town took a liking to me and she would bring me books from the white school. I fell in love with poetry. One day the lady said to me, Maya, you don't like poetry. I took out a paper and wrote, yes, I love poetry. She said, you will never love poetry until you speak it, until it come from your mouth, from your tongue, and until it does you will never love poetry.
A few months later I was reading Shakespeare, and his words were so sad and passionate, that I was convinced that he too, was a black girl from the South who had also been raped. So one day I crawled under my grandma's house where the chickens were and I read poetry, and I realized, my voice had not left me, I had left my voice."

I took so much away from that interview that I simply had to read her words, feel her love of words, and learn to love words the way she does.

Cravings

The past few weeks I have had some major cravings for a book. Just a really good, sink your teeth into, you don't have to think, just lose yourself in the moment, great beach read book. Normally, I alwasy have at least 3 books in my book basket waiting to be picked up. However, the last 2 months, I have hardly read at all, which is not like me. One of my favorite things to do is lay on the couch after everything in done, curled up with my big blanket, and spend my remaining waking moments in a book. Or it is to fill the tub with steaming hot water, sit back, soak, and read until the water turns cold. I have been known to stay in the tub for hours with a good book in my hand, unwilling to put it down. When a book is good, I usually finish it in a day, maybe two, depending upon my schedule. Finally, last week I made it to the library and pickedup a ton of books. Books that I will be reading simply for pleasure, nothing more.
I am almost finished with, o gosh, here I go, I am kind of embarrassed to tell you the author---ahh Daniel Steel's book, Family Ties. It is a simple read, full of twists and turns, basically it is a soap opera in about 400 pages.
It is trash. I know this. It is pure indulgence. I know this, but sometimes, trash feels good!