Mixed Nuts: Book Review #8

Quotes

"There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark." - Helen Keller
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck
You may never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.- Unknown
Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow' ~Helen Keller
Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."- Dr. Seuss
"Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it."
"God doesn't give children with disabilities to strong people: He gives them to ordinary, everyday people, then He helps the parents to grow stronger through the journey. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family."Author Unknown
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go – Abraham Lincoln
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~ Benjamin Franklin
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle - Albert Einstein
The journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step
Sometimes in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives you a fairy tale
Where there is great love, there are always miracles - Willa Cather
The Difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer
Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness
There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.
Be the change you want to see in the world
Don't tell God how big the storm is, tell the storm how big Your God is..........
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it
Fall down seven times - get up eight - unknown
Despite our differences, we sink or swim together
Life may not be the party we expected, but while we are here, we might as well dance
"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." -Confucius

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Book Review #8

Okay - I have a problem. I admit it. I am a read-a-holic. Is that a word? It is winter and the weather is terrible, and my kids entertain themselves, so I am given time to read. This weekend we didn't have many plans besides Arlington's last regular season basketball game, so I had a chance to read. Plus TV is really terrible, so there is that.

So another book down. This reading challenge is going well - I am proud of myself. Even Arlington is knocking off quite a few on her list.

Well, in between posting pictures of people she sees on TV and puppies that is.

http://alittleofeverythingarlington.blogspot.com/

Today's review is for the book Night. I actually read the whole trilogy of these books - Night, Dawn, The Accident (or as it was renamed - Day)- because in all those three are only 300 pages.

It was in the category Something you should have read in school but didn't

This book is actually a true story of the author - Elie Wiesel. (He won the Nobel Peace prize in the 80s). It is a story of his survival as a teen in a concentration camp in Auschwitz. It starts with how they are taken from their homes, and moved to the concentration camps. How they had no idea where they were going or why. As a teenager, he didn't know what to think - just that he didn't want to get separated from his father. Elie spends the whole time he is in the concentration camps with his father, until his father succumbs to an illness and dies. He never sees his mother and sisters again. He does escape the concentration camps but never really gains a life. He spends his life constantly remembering what happened to him and in a constant state of believing he did not deserve to live. The story is depressing to say the least, and gets more and more depressing through the third book. But if nothing else - read the first one- Night.

The story is amazing. It is always hard to read stories of people who recount their time in the concentration camps. How they ate snow to stay alive. How much they walked. How little they were cared about. You never get less angry about their situation no matter how many times you read about the Holocaust.

There was a quote at the end of the book that I liked "I was once more struck by the truth of the ancient saying: Man's heart is a ditch full of blood. The loved ones who have died throw themselves down on the bank of this ditch to drink the blood and so come to life again; the dearer they are to you, the more of your blood they drink."

A little morbid? Maybe. But it is very true. Made me think of my grandmother - she is in every part of me every day to the point that tears still come when I think of her and how much a miss her. This quote speaks to me about the hole loved ones leave when they die.

I give this book 4 1/2 stars. I loved Night and liked Dawn - the second book. I didn't really like "The Accident".