books-a-million

Since I love to read I want to review some of the books I've read, it will be nice to have a list of the books and my thoughts on each of them.

Gone With the Wind!  My MIL gave this to me for Christmas many years ago.  I had given up reading for pleasure for the most part at this time in my life, as I was working and had little kids, etc.  After a new baby I picked up the book and kept it near me to read while I nursed and rocked my new little guy.  One of the best presents I ever got was this book, bless my MIL's heart.  I started the first chapter and I was utterly hooked from the very beginning.  After all these years this is still one of my very favorites.  The story, the writing, the history, I could go on and on.  The passages of conversation between Rhett and Scarlett are worth the read all by themselves.  The portrait of the South during those years is admittedly told from the point of view of a Southerner, but is a heart-wrenching and descriptive narrative of what those years were like and especially the contrast between the years before and after the war.  I learned so much about the South, and especially after I moved to the South realized that the Civil War is still very much alive and well below the Mason-Dixon line.  Having read Gone With the Wind (and having a degree in history) helped me to understand the history and midset that makes up the South.  Definitely 5 stars - Margaret Mitchell could certainly wield a pen, and craft a sentence, don't miss it.    

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

    Another Southern lady who could really string some sentences together!  What a great read; funny, sad, wise, it's all there.  She writes of a young boys childhood growing up in the post-war South in a town called Cold Sassy, named after a sassafrass tree.  Young Will lives with his mom and dad, and helps his grandpa out at the family store.  He has adventures and mishaps, and loves spending time with his grandpa, a Civil War veteran.  His observations are hilarious, as are his take on his Grandpa marrying his young new employee after his grandma dies.  Though it has been many years since I read this, I plan on picking it up again someday. 











The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel

   An unexpectedly pregnant young girl finds herself shipped off to Colorado by her minister father and married to a young farmer she has never met.  World War II is raging and near the farm she is sent to there is a camp where Japanese have been interned.  This book is about the Japanese internees as well as the story of the newly wed couple.  The Japanese help out on the neighboring farms, and two young Japanese girls befriend Livy, who is lonely sad and scared in her new life.  A touching book, that paints a clear portrait of what life was like in the internment camps, and also tells Livy's story.  A great read!!