Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza *Review*

Growing up, Immaculee never realized she was different from some of her childhood friends. During ethnic roll call in her school one day she was asked to stand up and proclaim whether she was from the Hutu or Tutsi tribe. She couldn't respond because she didn't know. Her parents had never taught her the difference, because to them there was none. People were people and God loved them all.

Unfortunately, not all Rwandans felt the same way, and by 1994 after the death of their Hutu president a genocide of the Tutsis started that would last a little more than three months and would leave over 1 million of her friends, neighbors and family members dead.

Left to Tell is the horrifying account of how Immaculee spent 91 days hiding in a pastors bathroom with 7 other women while Hutu rebels hunted for them right outside their door. Immaculee's courage as she prayed, read the Bible and even learned English during her "captivity" is an incredible inspiration.

Even more inspiring is how she has put her life back together after her parents and 2 brothers were brutally murdered and how she has helped people get back on their feet and continues to help them today.

Imaculee is an amazing woman who has put God in the center of her life and has become richly blessed because of it. This Lenten season, if you're looking for a book to fill your heart and enrich your soul I recommend you read about Immaculee's harrowing 91 fear-filled days. You won't regret it. 5/5 Stars

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris *Review*

Framboise's tale starts decades ago, in the village of Les Laveuses during the German occupation of France. Masterfully, she tells us about her childhood, playing along the river Loire with her brother Cassis, her sister Reinette, and her childhood friend Paul. She describes her obsession with catching Old Mother, the large pike rumored to curse anyone who sets eyes on it, but if caught will make your wish come true. Days are long, but happy until the darkness that is their mother envelops them.

Framboise's mother, Mirabelle Dartigen, is a widow struggling to keep the family orchard going after her husband is killed in the war. She's a stern, unyielding woman who is plagued by intense migraines that start with her smelling oranges, real or imagined. She is not loving or comforting to her children and that's why Framboise feels no shame in hiding orange peels around the house to help trigger one of her mother's migraines. The quiet, idle time while their mother recuperates is one they look forward to.

But just how do they spend their days alone? And with whom are they secretly meeting? And how does this mystery figure play into the war, the deaths of 10 people in the town, and the public outcry of the rest of the townsfolk while at Framboise's door with torches and rocks? And why, after 55 years, is Framboise still desperate to hang onto this secret?

The tragedy that weaves itself throughout this book will have you turning page after page to get to the end of the mystery that is Mirabelle Dartigen, and maybe more importantly, who is Framboise.

An excellently crafted story that flashes subtly from present day Les Laveuses to past, Joanne Harris is an author whom I have never read, but am now eager to explore. 4/5 Stars

Sunday Confessional February 27th

I confess. I hate TV. If it weren't for my love of hockey, mainly the Minnesota Wild, I wouldn't ever turn it on. Regular TV shows, movies, and series do not appeal to me.

Part of the reason, I'm sure, is because I work in the electronics department of a big box chain. from the time I get to work until the time I punch out I am listening to TVs, stereos, cell phones, portable DVD players and video games. When I get home I CRAVE peace and quiet.

Books are my love partly because they are quiet! Another reason for my love of books over TV is that books don't seem to slam you in the face with sound effects, crass characters and bright imagery. Books slowly unpeel layer after layer of a character and take their time to vividly describe that characters surroundings and environment.

Nope, I will take books any day over TV. How about you?

Saturday Snapshot February 26th

Alyce from At Home With Books hosts a weekly meme called Saturday Snapshot. To participate all you have to do is post a photo taken by you (or a friend or family member.) Please make sure it is clean and appropriate for all eyes to see and leave a direct link to your post at the Mr Linky on Alyce's blog.

I took this picture during a Boy Scout weekend two years ago and it reminds me of the famous Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Has worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel *Review*

Lilly and Val are young friends who write back and forth about their hopes and dreams, their loves and losses, their families, their friends, and recipes.

The Recipe Club takes the two friends from 1963-2003 in the epistolary style that I so enjoyed in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What starts as a young innocent friendship turns into almost a competitive, resentful relationship between the two.

Lilly's mother is a mostly absent, self absorbed woman who has multiple affairs throughout the book while Lilly's father spends the majority of his time with Val's mother trying to cure her of her mental illness. This leads to Lilly being jealous of the attention Isaac (her father) lavishes on Val, and you see how Lilly easily turns into a spoiled, demanding young woman who just like her mother can easily drop relationships when she has nothing more to gain from them.

Val, who's agoraphobic mother loves her but is never there for her in other ways (piano recitals, school conferences) strives to hold onto the friendship she has with Lilly, the one person she feels has always been there for her. As Val excels in school and love- Lilly competes for her attention yet at the same time leaves her hanging in things they have always done together.

To me, Lilly did not seem like a friend I would want and Val's neediness and dependency on Lilly's friendship began to irk me. The one redeeming factor of this book were the recipes. There were a lot of recipes sprinkled throughout the book and while not all of them were much different from what you find in any other average cookbook, the names given to them were lighthearted and fun.

By flipping to any recipe in the book I can tell you what happened in the preceding chapter by the name given the recipe. Lovelorn Lasagna, Conspiracy Apple Pie, Diploma Dip with Veggies, Confetti Spaghetti, and First Kiss Caramel Almond Kisses are all recipes that reflect their feelings or what was going on in their lives at the time.

While not a great book, it was an easy read so I'll give it 2/5 stars.

Sunday Confessional

I confess. I hate getting my hair cut. I'm one of those people who are usually doing two things at once. When I'm cooking supper I'm also reading the paper. When I'm playing cards I'm writing out my menu plan while my son shuffles and deals. I can't stand sitting in the chair at the hair salon and doing nothing for a half hour except look at myself in the mirror. So I put it off for so long that my family is about ready to put a leash on me I look so shabby.

Once cut I have another problem. I am going prematurely gray. I'm only 43, I shouldn't have a head of gray hair but it's starting to go that way and after it's cut the shorter look just emphasizes it. So after the cut I head for home to color it, which I confess, I also hate. I don't like the look of my hair when first colored because it seems so one dimensional. After a few days the different colors start coming through but at first...bleh! I told my son one of these days I'm going to get the guts up to do something really daring- at least for me. I saw a young lady the other day with short semi-spiky black hair and a patch of neon pink right up by her bangs and I loved it! So next time you see me I just might look like this:

Saturday Snapsot

Alyce from At Home With Books hosts a weekly meme called Saturday Snapshot. To participate all you have to do is post a photo taken by you (or a friend or family member.) Please make sure it is clean and appropriate for all eyes to see and leave a direct link to your post at the Mr Linky on Alyce's blog.

I took this picture on Round Lake in Minnesota a couple of years ago. It makes me laugh because it's hard to tell the birds legs from the sticks!

One Second After by William R. Forstchen *Review*

One Second After is a horrifying novel about life after an EMP.

John and his family are surviving. John has started moving on after the death of his beloved wife Mary four years ago to cancer. He is raising his two daughters Elizabeth and Jennifer with the help of his mother-in-law Jen, who is also finding a way to adjust to life without her husband who is now in a nursing home.

Life is good. It's not easy, but it's good. That is until the day America collapses from an EMP strike. EMP-Electromagnetic Pulse is a high altitude explosion caused by the detonation of a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere. Anything electronic can no longer operate. This means more than TV, video game systems and radios. This means electric stoves, refrigerators, cell phones and even automobiles.

Suddenly John's little mountain town of Black Mountain is cut off from the rest of the world. Once word gets out to the residents that this is more than your average power outage, people begin to panic. They loot the local grocery store and raid the pharmacy to get supplies knowing this could last not only for weeks, but possibly months or even years.

Eventually the food starts to run out and the town is put on rations. Plans are made to not only determine how to survive for an extended amount of time with no food being shipped in, but how to grow a new food supply, prepare for the future, rebuild, and protect the community from other desperate citizens of nearby areas who are in the same boat as they are and are also starving.

One Second After is chilling. Even the book's Afterword gave me goosebumps. It's so chilling because this absolutely COULD happen. How prepared are we to handle a catastrophe of this magnitude? 4/5 Stars

Sunday Confessional

I confess. I'm not a romantic. At least not nearly as romantic as my big teddy bear of a husband. He always can find the perfect gifts and say the sweetest things. But when it comes to Valentines Day, I dominate!

I love Valentines Day. Like the commercial on TV says- Valentines Day is for not only saying I Love You, but I Love Us. I plan for months what small (we never spend a lot because it really IS the thought that counts) gift I can get him. I read through racks and racks of cards to find the one that says exactly what I feel. And I cook! Again, it's all about the food.

A lot of couples choose to go out to eat for Valentines Day, and while that's okay for them, it doesn't work so well for us. First, it's expensive! Secondly, no matter where we choose to go, we wait forever in lines. So a few years back we decided to do the extravagant meal at home, spend our time with the kids and save a lot of money.

The same meal is made every year. I think my family would protest if I ever tried to change up the menu! The only thing that varies is dessert. I always make Steak with Parmesan Crab Sauce, Crab Legs with melted butter, baked potatoes with sour cream and chives, a side salad, Tuxedoed Strawberries, Jello Hearts, and dessert. I usually keep the dessert simple since everything else to prepare keeps me busy. These Cake Truffles look easy or I might just go with one of my faves- Praline Cheesecake.

How will you be spending your Valentines Day this year?

Saturday Snapshot

Alyce from At Home With Books hosts a weekly meme called Saturday Snapshot. To participate all you have to do is post a photo taken by you (or a friend or family member.) Please make sure it is clean and appropriate for all eyesd to see and leave a direct link to your post at the Mr Linky on Alyce's blog.



I decided to participate because everyone who knows me knows I either have a camera in my hands at all times or one very close by. Everyone complains because I'm taking pictures all the time, but everyone likes to see the ones I have on my family blog or on my computer.

Today is Scout Sunday. This is a chance for the Boy Scouts to practice the "A Scout is Reverent" part of the Scout Law. Usually, our Troop hands out bulletins, greets the people coming in to the church and attends the service at Trinity Lutheran Church, our charter organization.

This year, they decided to thank them for their sponsorship by making pancakes and sausage for the members of the church. The boys did an awesome job and everyone seemed to enjoy their breakfast!

Lipstick in Afghanistan by Roberta Gately *Review*

Elsa wants to help. In her young life she has already went through a lot with her own family, and now that they are all gone she wants to reach out and take care of someone else. Seeing an ad in a magazine for Aide du Monde, a relief organization, she decides to give them a call. But what she lacks at this point as a young nurse in the local hospital is experience. Not giving up, she joins the ER/Trauma unit and not only gains experience, but confidence as well. Six months later she gets her assignment- Afghanistan.

Then, 9/11 happens and her assignment is put on hold. She's crushed but lets them know she's still interested in helping out and she would still go to Afghanistan if called. The following spring that's exactly what happens.

Dropped off by jeep in the dusty mud plastered village of Bamiyan, Elsa begins her year of working with the sick and the injured at the little clinic. At first, met with resistance by the male Afghani doctor, she quickly gains friends and respect as she treats the patients and vllagers with love.

Then she meets Parween, and though they are world's apart, they become fast friends. She's with Parween when Parween loses her dear friend Mariam, and Parween is there when Elsa falls in love with Mike, a soldier close by on assignment.

This novel starts out so realistically I had to keep looking at the back cover to see if it was autobiographical, and indeed, it just might be. The author Roberta Gately served as a nurse and humanitarian aid worker in third world war zones ranging from Afghanistan to Africa. But I believe, realistic as it sounds, it is just a novel with some very real touches from the author who lived what she writes about.

I enjoyed this journey to another country and another culture. Gately writes well and I grew to love her characters, especially Parween. 3/5 stars

Sunday Confessional- Super Bowl Sunday

I confess. I love Superbowl Sunday. I don't like football, nor do I care what teams get there. Some people watch it just for the commercials or the half-time show. I don't watch either. Why then do I love Superbowl Sunday every year? The food of course!

Every year someone in our family decides to throw a Superbowl party and everybody brings an appetizer type item. There's always such a fun variety of foods and new recipes to try out. During the afternoon the die hard fans watch the game. The rest of us play cards. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to go home a few dollars richer, always I go home a few pounds heavier.

This year the extended family wasn't able to pull a party together due to snowbirds being gone and my mom staying with her father to take care of him, but I still decided to have a little party just for my immediate family. I made ham & turkey sandwiches, baked beans, hamburger spread for french bread, bean dip, jalapeno poppers, crab spread, chips and dip and salsa, crackers & cheese, and cereal bars. Even with the small group I have it's still all about the food!

What about you? What do you enjoy most about Superbowl Sunday?

Sunday Confessional

I confess. I am a coupon freak! My kids tease me, my hubby shakes his head, my parents laugh and some of my coworkers are in awe of the coupon deals I come home with. I can't help it, I'm hooked.

I have dabbled with it a time or two in the past but last August I got looking around the Internet and found some websites that not only told me where to find the good deals, but linked me to the coupons to get them! No work for me to do, no thinking, everything was there for me.

I decided to start my stockpile then and there. My hubby works on commission at his job and due to the number of resorts on his route, and the bareness of those resorts in the cold Minnesota winters his paychecks are a LOT smaller in the 9 months of cooler weather. It seems like we use his bigger summer checks to save just to get us through the winter and we never seem to get ahead. I figured if I could take a month or two and start building a stockpile of items bought for a little bit of nothing it would carry us through the smaller winter paychecks.

Even though I got a late start, my stockpile in just 2 months was pretty impressive. I had purchased for pennies (or got FREE) enough laundry detergent, air fresheners, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, razors, candles, dental floss, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, pain reliever, and cold medicine to last us until June.

On the food side I had enough cereal, pasta, rice, tomato sauce, cream soups, mini raviolios, spaghetti sauce, instant oatmeal & tomato paste to get me at least until March if not later.

The couponing is helping a lot and I like having a full pantry. Some weeks if hubby's check is smaller then we thought it would be we can plan enough meals using pantry items that all we have to buy is fresh meats, fruits and veggies. It's a good feeling to know I'm taking care of the family and I plan on being even more prepared for next winter.

I Am Hutterite by Mary Ann Kirkby

I love reading books about different religions, cultures, and peoples. So when I saw a review for a book about the Hutterites in Canada I had to reserve it at my local library.

Mary Ann (or Anne-Marie as she called throughout her childhood) takes us through her life in a Hutterite community. She loves the feeling of family and togetherness as everything done in the community is done together. Women work for a week doing all of the cooking for the community and then they are off the next week. If you want a pie you just go to the community kitchen and pick one up for lunschen- the meal that family eats together at 3 in the afternoon.

She talks about happy carefree times with her young cousins between the hard work days and the church services every evening. She is happy.

But her father struggles with some of the rigid rules he faces from the preacher in charge. Not being allowed to own a vehicle, he must borrow one from his brother-in-law Jakob, the leader and preacher of Fairholme, their community near Portage La Prairie. Ann-Marie's sister is asthmatic and has to visit the doctor often. Jakob thinks it's just an excuse for using the Econoline van and starts to deny their requests. When a younger brother comes into Ann-Marie's family and has complications that require surgery their request for the van is again denied. This time with fatal results. The Dornn family decides to leave the community.

Ann-Marie and her family struggle in forging a new life on their own. All the work that was done with the help of a community must all now be done on their own. Her father has never had a real job, in the community he was in charge of the chicken barn. He has never had a bank account or a loan since in the community all the money earned from the sales of vegetables or farm animals was put into the community coffers. Their clothing is outdated and plain, not the mini skirts and nylons the others are wearing.

This part of the book was great. I got a real feel for life in a Hutterite community and the challenges faced when leaving one. Mary Ann Kirkby describes it vividly. However, the subtitle of the book "The fascinating true story of a young woman's journey to reclaim her heritage" hints at something more. I kept waiting for that journey, but I feel as if she missed the bus. She does go back- more for a visit than anything else. I didn't see the journey and I didn't see any heritage reclaiming and for this I feel the subtitle was misleading and should have been left off the book.

That being said, I did enjoy the book. And while it wasn't an exciting or great read I did like it and learned a lot about a group of people I knew nothing about. My rating? 3 out of 5 stars

Due to Temporary Insanity this Blog is Closed Until Further Notice

I love this book blog, I really do. I have had a ball reading, reviewing, and chatting with all of you. Book bloggers are such a great (and supportive) community. Thanks for that!

Life, however, is getting in the way. My son recently had some reconstructive surgery done to his knee and physical therapy will be a daily occurrence. Add to that- my grandma is in hospice care and I have been helping take care of her. Her health is to the point where I will be spending nights with her because my grandpa is not able to do it by himself. I hope to eventually get to the point where I can start this up again, but it's kind of hard to take care of a book blog when you haven't (gasp!) finished a book in over a month.

Until I meet with you again- happy page turning to you!