Perfect Coffee Table Book!

   I was very excited to receive this book and review it!  This book is a must read for anyone who is Catholic or interested in religious history.  There are 365 stories in the book--one entry for each day of the year.  So you could choose to read 1 story each day if you like, but I found it too interesting to do that.

   The book goes on to describe something that happened to someone on that particular date in history.  The person may or may not be famous and many of the facts are little known.  For example, did you know that Al Capone's tombstone reads, "My Jesus Mercy?"

   This book reminds me of the "Chicken Soup" book series from a few years ago.  You can pick up this book anytime you have a few minutes and read one or several stories.  You don't need to remember where you left off or what you read last.  This is a great book for someone very busy with little time to read that likes non fiction.  I think it would be a wonderful conversation starter and that is why I say it is the perfect book to set out on your coffee table.

   Happy Reading!   I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

A Life Apart

 

 

   I really enjoy historical fiction so I thought this was a good choice for me.  The story begins with an unplanned pregnancy in 1940 and then the start of World War 2 for America.  The story goes on to explore the choices that the main male character Morris makes throughout his life and how those choices ultimately affect his family and others that he cares about most.  It's interesting in that Morris often tells his family and others, "I didn't mean to hurt you."  Unfortunately, this is what he does to those he cares about over and over for the rest of his life.

 

   I wasn't a real fan of the writing style of the writer, L.Y. Marlow.  This is the first time I have read anything she has written. It seemed to me that there was a lot of redundancy in the book and it would have been a better story without it.

 

   The book is titled, "A Life Apart."  Morris did indeed spend his life apart from his family. He wasn't always physically absent from those he cared for, but he was most definitely emotionally absent from someone his entire life. Other characters in the story also unfortunately lived their lives "apart."

 

   Overall I would say this book is a good read for the perspective it brought me regarding several historical issues.  How it might have been for the unsuspecting soldiers that day at Pearl Harbor.  How Negro soldiers were not treated equally no matter what they did.  How difficult and dangerous it would have been for an interracial couple in that time. 

 

   I hope you read this book and enjoy it as I have.  I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.