Girls in White Dresses

This month’s book reviews:
“The Girl in the Glass” is the tale of Meg, who has always dreamed of visiting Florence. However, life’s messiness (her parents’ divorce, a dad’s broken promise, a broken engagement, and more) has gotten in the way. Then one day when she is 30, Meg is given a ticket to Florence with just hours notice — and she’s soon in the city she has dreamed of.

I was drawn to this story because of its setting in Florence, a city where I was blessed to spend three weeks back in the early ’90s, visiting a pen pal. It’s a truly beautiful and inspiring place. What I enjoyed about the book was the way it helped me travel back to Florence, in a way. The author also did a good job capturing the laid-back character of the Italian people. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a definite phenomena. Italians in general just look at life in a totally different way than Americans do.

What I wasn’t so crazy about was the story — many events seemed highly unlikely, and I didn’t find the main character very likeable. The book is also billed as Christian, which seemed a bit odd to me as God was only mentioned pretty generically a time or two. Still, I appreciated the lack of profanity. So: neat setting, so-so tale.

Thanks to Blogging for Books for a review copy.

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How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think by Andy Andrews is a short book — you can read it in less than half an hour. It questions how the Nazis could lead millions, seemingly willingly, to their deaths. Few really put up a fight. We like to think we’re so enlightened and superior today — but are we, really?

Andrews forces us to think about our current situation and face some hard truths. His answer to how you kill 11 million people? You lie to them. He cites the words of a Nazi official to a group of Jews he was about to herd into a cattle car:You have nothing to worry about. We want only the best for you. You will leave here shortly and be sent to very fine places indeed. You will work there, your wives will stay at home, and your children will go to school. You will have wonderful lives.

Of course, they actually ended up in concentration camps, where family members were separated and many were led directly to their deaths in “showers” — another lie. It’s unbelievable to us today that the leaders could lie so blatantly to innocent people. Yet, is the same thing not going on today?

“The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than a small one,” Hitler wrote in “Mein Kampf.” Even at the height of the Nazis’ power in 1945, the party claimed only 10% of Germans as members. How could the 90% allow the holocaust to happen? Andrews tells us: Mothers and fathers held their voices, covered their eyes, and closed their ears. The vast majority of an educated population accepted their salaries and avoided the uncomfortable truth that lingered over them like a serpent waiting to strike. And when the Nazis came for their children, it was too late.

The book tells the story of a German who attended church in WWII near a railroad track. Often, he said, a train full of Jews would pass as church services were in session. The congregants could hear the wails of the Jews on their way to death as the train passed by just outside, but if we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more.

Andrews doesn’t make specific examples in today’s world, but I saw them all over: Obamacare. Benghazi. Support of more and more non-contributing members of society by those who work. Loss of freedom and liberty for all. This is a short read that will really make you think. As to what actions we can take that will make a real difference — I’m stumped. I feel like the 90% in 1945 Germany. Suggestions welcome, because I do care — deeply.

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This review of  Love, chickens, and a taste of peculiar: CAKE comes courtesy of Sophie, age 11, who read and is reviewing it:

The first I realized after reading this book was that the author said that this was a ‘young adult’ book.  It struck me as a children’s book, though the book was much more advanced than a picture book or anything.  I love the illustration on the cover, especially because of the fact that it relates to a scene in the book.  I also like that the book taught good vocabulary words, and the unique names of characters.

Thanks to the publishers for a review copy of Cake.

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Two Shots by Joe Albert isn’t my usual genre — a thriller involving the search for who killed one of a group of hunters with, of course, two shots. But it was free on Kindle, and the reviews looked good, so I picked it up. I enjoyed it. It was fast-paced (mostly; it dragged a bit in spots), and I didn’t guess the resolutions at the end until they happened. It read well, made me feel I really was in the midst of a remote Minnesota winter, and was a good who-dunnit. Recommended.