Petite Anglaise

Title: Petite Anglaise

Author: Catherine Sanderson

Publication: Spiegel & Grau, New York, 2008

Genre: Autobiography, Memoir, Nonfiction

Number of Pages: 304

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Petiteusbookcover.jpg

Introduction:

We have a lovely second-hand bookstore, McKay's, in our city.  I don't go there enough!  Actually, I refrain from going there much, or I'd have my own library at home.  Last time I allowed myself the pleasure to go, I stumbled upon Petite Anglaise.  After skimming through a couple pages and the cover, I was hooked.  

Plot:

The Kindness of Strangers follows the time-span of about four months (the Summer and a bit of school time).  During this time, a family take in a boy and they all must reflect on their situation and come to terms with accepting everything that has happened to them, knowing they must do this to move on.  The family, a recent widow and her two boys, are friends with another family, a couple and their one boy.  The two women are best friends, as are their pre-teen sons.  Through a rolling chain of events, it comes to light that the couple is not who they say they are.  Their son, now living with the widow's family, faces choices about how to move on from his past.  The widow and her boys must figure out how to stabilize their own quickly disintegrating family.  They all must "discover the power of love necessary to forgive and to heal."

Review:

I had chosen to read this book because of similarities I saw between myself and the author.  I wanted to see how she handled some similar situations.  I was impressed; not necessarily with how she handled some situations, but her reflections on what had happened.  I also like that the notes this book is based off of, is in public view on her (very rarely updated) website.  They are, of course, embellished, as well as explained further, in the book.

This is a well laid-out book, using chronological time to its advantage.  I'm sure this was quite easy, considering the blog was the biggest reference, as well as a penned diary (that was hardly mentioned in the book).

I was very impressed by the honesty, as well as the humor, regarding the depressing situations.  Sanderson made herself extremely vulnerable in this book.  That takes a lot of courage.  It is one thing to be an anonymous blogger, quite another to label your real name with a photograph in the bio to boot.

My only uncertainty is her use of vocabulary.  It is a personal preference, but I prefer to read autobiographical text as if the person is actually talking.  If Sanderson has such high vocabulary in real life, I will be duly impressed.  As for everyone else, they seem to give her high praise for her writing; something which she seems to take deep pride in.

Summary:

I thoroughly enjoyed Petite Anglaise.  I also had a bit of fun skimming through her blog as well.  :-)

If you find anything similar with her, I highly suggest you read, if nothing more than to find a soulmate.

Where To Buy:

I purchased my copy from McKay's.

Barnes&Noble: about $0.15

Alibris: about $1.00

Ebay: upwards of about $1.00

Amazon: upwards of about $1.60

The Kindness of Strangers

Title: The Kindness of Strangers

Author: Katrina Kittle

Publication: HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2006

Genre: Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 390

Courtesy of HarperCollins

Introduction:

I joined a book club a few months ago.  I thought this would get me back into reading (I just needed a little nudge).  It has, although I've had to figure out the best times of day to read, so that it doesn't take me a full month to read one book.  The Kindness of Strangers was the book the club was reading at the time I joined.  It wouldn't have been my first choice, but I am so glad that it was the book we chose.

Plot:

The Kindness of Strangers follows the time-span of about four months (the Summer and a bit of school time).  During this time, a family take in a boy and they all must reflect on their situation and come to terms with accepting everything that has happened to them, knowing they must do this to move on.  The family, a recent widow and her two boys, are friends with another family, a couple and their one boy.  The two women are best friends, as are their pre-teen sons.  Through a rolling chain of events, it comes to light that the couple is not who they say they are.  Their son, now living with the widow's family, faces choices about how to move on from his past.  The widow and her boys must figure out how to stabilize their own quickly disintegrating family.  They all must "discover the power of love necessary to forgive and to heal."

Review:

Just from reading the back of the book, I had a basic idea of what atrocious thing possibly happened.  When I opened the book, however, I was stunned by not how right I was, but the detail used to explain the situation.  Good detail.  This is a terribly under-talked about topic, and I will forever be grateful of Kittle to have scoured this out of our media sewers and made it comfortably readable.  In my book club's meeting, we all agreed that each of us know at least one person who has gone through some version of the abuse talked about in the book.
I feel I must be very clear that this is not a grotesque book.  The topic itself will most likely make you queasy, but, again, it is a good queasy.  It is a topic that more people should read about, talk about.
Kittle obviously did her research.  Though one should always check up on facts, I would venture to guess that Kittle's statements of facts in the book are at least relatively close to accurate.  I would surmise that her point would not be the numbers, but to call attention to the problem at hand.
My only qualm was with the technicalities of the grammar.  I, unfortunately, was one of those students who would correct grammatical mistakes in text books (while in high school, by college I had given up).  This was actually the main reason I had a hard time getting 'in to' the book at first.  I am not trying to judge the writer on this, as I feel that the publishers should have high enough standards to make sure the final cut is really free of errors.  Otherwise, send it back.  In saying that, I may take a look at another Kittle book to see if it is also rampant with errors.

(Please feel free to catch me on my errors as well!  Esp. when I am proofing this quite late at night...)

Summary:

I loved this book (aside from the grammatical errors).  On content alone, I highly suggest this as a great read.  One should never shy from giving a new book a try.  You never know what you may find.  :-)

Where To Buy:

I purchased my copy from Amazon.

Ebay: upwards of about $2.00
Amazon: upwards of about $4.00

Walmart: about $10.00

Target: about $13.00

The Captive Heart

Title: The Captive Heart
Author: Dale Cramer
Publication: Bethany House Publishers, Minnesota, 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 348

Courtesy of Barnes&Noble

Introduction:

A new stay-at-home-mom, I am constantly missing the hum-drum life of work on a schedule.  In order to pick up a little extra 'job', I subscribed to Bethany House Publisher's book review list.  I am always captivated by my go-to books: Historical Fiction.  I love how they draw me into the story, while the back of my brain is constantly taking notes on what to Google, to cross-check references in the book.  Because of my love for history and geography, I am usually keen to pick up a book about people and places I know little about.  In all honesty, I chose The Captive Heart because I had absolutely no idea that Amish had ever lived in Mexico.  It made me do a double take and almost made me laugh.  Maybe it's just me, but it just seems odd to think of Amish in Mexico.

Plot:

The Captive Heart is the second book of Dale Cramer's first series.  The story picks up in the second year of the Bender family living in Mexico.  As two different groups of families come to join them, alas without a minister, local happenings also change their lives.  Young lovers unite and reunite.  Births and deaths are watched.  Bandits that started out merely a mundane threat turn menacing.  One young couple must wrestle with their ideas of faith, honor, and family in order to determine how strong their love is and should be.

Review:

I would like to start off by saying "Kudos" to Dale Cramer.  This book went well beyond my expectations.  I must admit, there were times, especially at the beginning, where I groaned a little at the 'romanceness' of the writing.  I wasn't sure about what I had gotten myself into.  However, I refuse to pass judgement on any book that is not fully read.  I am very glad I kept reading.  Tension from the bandits seemed to loom around every corner.  I was constantly on the edge of my seat, and every time I realized that life was going well and seemingly getting better for the Benders and their friends, I knew it was time for tragedy to strike.  It was almost a crushing blow to me when the plot seemed to come to its head, I felt anguish for those suffering.  And then the thickening kept happening!  I wonder if maybe it wasn't too much, but the end result left my head swimming with loads of new information, so I was happy.  Now, I have yet to look up all those herbs and home remedies, but I am highly curious.

Something that struck me early on in the book, was the style of writing.  He wrote as the Amish may have spoke in English, even when not accompanied by quotations.  I was a bit annoyed with this at first, but eventually it went away.  I even got so used to it that when I finished the book and picked up my next book to read (written in modern lingo), I was actually taken aback again, having to readjust my way of 'thinking in text'.

Summary:

This is a good read.  It is a solid storyline, packed with random and useful info that I could almost guarantee most Americans don't know.  I am also a sucker for such scandalous adventure and stories based on real history.  It is almost sad that I didn't start with the first book in the series (Paradise Valley), and I am very much hoping there will be a third book soon!

Where To Buy:

I was actually given this book (for free) by Bethany House Publishers, in order to write a review.

You can contact Bethany House Publishers to see if there are still any copies available (you must also write a review).

Amazon: upwards of about $5.00

Ebay: upwards of about $5.00

Textbooks: upwards of about $5.00

Good Steward Books: upwards of about $7.00

Walmart: about $10.00

Target: about $11.00