The Light between Oceans

I got The Light between Oceans by M.L. Stedman from the library after a friend in my book club recommended it as one of the most meaningful books she's read. The book is about Tom Sherbourne and his wife Isabel who live on an isolated island where Tom serves as a lighthouse keeper. Here's the rest of the summary from the book jacket: "Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a gift from God, and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them."

This was a good book that I couldn't put down, but it was seriously a terrible, heart-wrenching read. I don't know if I'd really recommend it. It was just so terrible with situations that couldn't possibly end well. I didn't even know who to root for most of the time because there was no happy ending possible. I spent the last chapter sobbing, and then I tried to tell Connor the summary of the book and kept crying before I could finish. Anyway, I don't even know what to say about this book. It was super good and engaging but also just terrible. Maybe don't read it?

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Hidden Like Anne Frank

I got Hidden Like Anne Frank: 14 True Stories of Survival by Marcel Prins and Peter Henk Steenhuis from the library after seeing it on the YA nonfiction shelf. It tells the story of fourteen Jewish children and teenagers who had to go into hiding in the Netherlands during the Holocaust.

This was a really meaningful book. Each child's account is written in first person, and the accounts aren't too lengthy--just enough to describe briefly what life was like before the war, elaborate on their time in hiding, and briefly describe life after liberation. The accounts were truly heart-wrenching. It's so hard to imagine these children being separated from their parents and everyone's desperation to just survive. I also was deeply saddened by the residual effects so many of these men and women had in their post-war lives. This was just a hard read. But it did really make the Holocaust feel really real--I got a sense of the emotions these children experienced. And just a recognition that sometimes terrible things happen, and there's no way to wrap it up in a pretty box and make it ok. I also came to really admire the immense courage of those who hid these children. I don't think I've ever thought this hard about what it would have taken to be someone who hid Jewish children. These people risked their lives (and their family's lives--even their own children's lives) to protect children they didn't even know. It's really a beautiful and incredible thing, and I hope I would have that kind of courage.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Turnabout

I needed a good, short book to read so wandered the chapter books in the children's section of the library looking for authors I've liked in the past. I found Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix. (I enjoyed her book Running Out of Time and the Among the Hidden series when I was a kid/teen.) Turnabout is about Amelia, an old woman in a nursing home who (along with a bunch of other elderly people) is given an injection meant to reverse the aging process. She soon begins to un-age and eventually realizes that at some point she will be too young to care for herself.

This was a fun read. It was a slow start for me because it was switching between two different times in Amelia's life, but once I got into it, I was interested and enjoyed it. I didn't feel like it was a super strong book with character development per se, but it was a clever story.

* * (2/3 = Liked it)

Night

I was looking for a new book to read and saw Night by Elie Wiesel at the library. I had been wanting to read this book again (I'd read it originally in high school) after I heard Elie Wiesel passed away in July. Night is the true story of Elie Wiesel's experiences as a Jewish teenager during the Holocaust and his time in two different concentration camps.

This book was a hard read, as most Holocaust books are. It is so terrible to read Elie's accounts of the things he went through and the way he was treated. Elie said in the preface, "The witness has forced himself to testify. For the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. He does not want his past to become their future." I'm really glad he told his story so that it cannot be forgotten. When I finished this book, though, it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth because it had such a different feel from books like The Hiding Place and Unbroken--instead of finding God amidst terrible suffering, Elie lost his faith. He described a time when thousands of men in the concentration camp were participating in a solemn service and praying, "Blessed be God's name." And Elie questioned, "Blessed be God's name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves?...Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers ended up in furnaces?" Anyway, it goes on. And I don't blame him because I totally see where he's coming from. It was just a negative feel that doesn't align with how I see God even when terrible things happen in our lives and in the world. But, anyway, I do really respect Elie Wiesel--he ended up being a contributor to getting the Holocaust museum in DC built, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize. I read his speech online, and one part stuck out to me as applying well to the current events regarding refugees: "And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe."

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Unbroken

I re-read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and loved it again. It is really an amazing book--highly recommended. You can see my old review here: http://treasureinbooks.blogspot.com/2012/10/unbroken.html.

The Hiding Place

I read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom a few years ago but decided I wanted to re-read it. It is the true story of Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian woman who helped Jews during the Holocaust.

After re-reading this book, I remembered why I loved it so much the first time. This is honestly one of the top 10 books I have ever read. It is so meaningful, so heart-wrenching, so inspiring. Holocaust stories always touch me deeply, especially when they are true accounts, but Corrie's experiences are just incredible. The things she went through are just unreal, but the desire she had to do good and the faith she and her family had in God are amazing. I feel like this entire book just teaches that God is real and loving and involved in our lives--in the good times but also when we are going through terrible injustices. I'm going to put some of my favorite excerpts below, but if you haven't read the book, don't read the excerpts. Just go read the whole book. :)

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)



Excerpts that stuck out to me or were particularly poignant or meaningful. I just want to have these here so I can skim through them sometime and remember how I much I love this book. Two of my favorites have *** next to them. (If you haven't read the book, these excerpts will have spoilers, so stop reading this blog post now. And go read the book.) :)

[When Corrie was a child and experienced death for the first time and was inconsolable and felt terrified that her family members would die:]
Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. "Corrie," he bagan gently, "When you and I go to Amsterdam--when do I give you your ticket?"
I sniffed a few times, considering this. "Why, just before we get on the train."
"Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need--just in time."

[When young Corrie was asking her Dad what something meant that he wasn't ready to explain to her:]
At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor. "Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he said.
I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.
"It's too heavy," I said.
"Yes," he said. "And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you."

[Advice from Corrie's mom to young Corrie about an aunt who was always unhappy:]
"Bep has been just as happy here with us--no more and no less--than she was anywhere else."
I stared at her, not understanding.
"Do you know when she started praising the Wallers so highly?" Mama went on. "The day she left them. As long as she was there, she had nothing but complaints. The Wallers  couldn't compare with the van Hooks where she'd been before. But at the van Hooks she'd actually been miserable. Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It's something we make inside ourselves."

[When adult Corrie got her heart broken by a man and her dad gave her advice:]
"Corrie," he began instead, "do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel. God loves Karel--even more than you do--and if you ask Him, He can give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us the perfect way."

[When Corrie's mom couldn't walk or talk but just sat in a chair by the window and still found a way to send birthday wishes to friends she saw passing by:]
Mama's love had always been the kind that acted itself out with the soup pot and sewing basket. But now that these things were taken away, the love seemed as while as before. She sat in her chair at the window and loved us. She loved the people she saw in the street--and beyond: her love took in the city, the land of Holland, the world. And so I learned that love is larger than the walls which shut it in.

[When Corrie had to find connections to help her form an Underground network:]
We didn't know, of course, the political views of all these people. But--and here I felt a strange leaping of my heart--God did! My job was simply to flow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to Him in prayer. I know I was not clever or subtle or sophisticated; if the Beje was becoming a meeting place for need and supply, it was through some strategy far higher than mine.

***[After Corrie's father got arrested, and the Gestapo chief saw the old man and said he'd like to send him home:]
"I'll take your word that you won't cause any more trouble."
I could not see Father's face, only the erect carriage of his shoulders and the halo of white hair above them. But I heard his answer. "If I go home today," he said evenly and clearly, "tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks."

[After Corrie found out her father died and tried to call to a guard to help comfort her and the guard treated her horribly:]
Dear Jesus, I whispered as the door slammed and her footsteps died away, how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.

[When Corrie was being interrogated and talked to the lieutenant about God:]
"The truth, Sir," I said, swallowing, "is that God's viewpoint is sometimes different from ours--so different that we could not even guess at it unless He had given us a Book which tells us such things." I knew it was madness to talk this way to a Nazi officer. But he said nothing so I plunged ahead. "In the Bible I learn that God values us not for our strength or our brains but simply because He has made us. Who knows, in His eyes a half-wit may be worth more than a watchmaker. Or--a lieutenant."

[When Corrie had to leave behind her belongings and change clothes but hid a bundle underneath her dress that included her Bible:]
It made a bulge you could have seen across the Grote Markt. I flattened it out as best I could, pushing it down, tugging the sweater around my waist, but there was no real concealing it beneath the thin cotton dress. And all the while I had the incredible feeling that it didn't matter, that this was not my business, but God's. That all I had to do was walk straight ahead.
As we tripped back out through the shower room door, the S.S. men ran their hands over every prisoner, front, back, and sides. The woman ahead of me was searched three times. Behind me, Betsie was searched.  No hand touched me.
At the exit door to the building was a second ordeal, a line of women guards examining each prisoner again. I slowed down as I reached them but the Aufseherin in charge shoved me roughly by the shoulder, "Move along! You're holding up the line!"
And so Betsie and I arrived at Barracks 8 in the small hours of that morning, bringing not only the Bible, but a new knowledge of the power of Him whose story it was.

***[When they were in the concentration camp:]
It grew harder and harder. Even within these four walls there was too much misery, too much seemingly pointless suffering. Every day something else failed to make sense, something else grew too heavy. "Will you carry this too, Lord Jesus?"
But as the rest of the world grew stranger, one thing became increasingly clear. And that was the reason the two of us were here. Why others should suffer we were not shown. As for us, from morning until lights-out, whenever we were not in ranks for roll call, our Bible was the center of an ever-widening circle of help and hope. Like waifs clustered around a blazing fire, we gathered around it, holding out our hearts to his warmth and light. The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
I would look about us as Betsie read, watching the light leap from face to face. More than conquerors...It was not a wish. It was a fact. We knew it. We experienced it minute by minute--poor, hated, hungry. We are more than conquerors. Not "we shall be." We are! Life in Ravensbruck took place on two separate levels, mutually impossible. One, the observable, external life, grew every day more horrible. The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, truth upon truth, glory upon glory.

[Corrie describing what happened to her bottle of drops she used for medication:]
Another strange thing was happening. The Davitamon bottle was continuing to produce drops. I scarcely seemed possible, so small a bottle, so many doses a day. Now, in addition to Betsie, a dozen others on our pier were taking it.
My instinct was always to hoard it--Betsie was growing so very weak! But the others were ill as well. It was hard to say no to eyes that burned with fever, hands that shook with chill. I tried to save it for the very weakest--but even these soon numbered fifteen, twenty, twenty-five....
And still, every time I tilted the little bottle, a drop appeared at the tip of the glass stopper. It just couldn't be! I held it up to the light, trying to see how much was left, but the dark brown glass was too think to see through.
"There was a woman in the Bible," Betsie said, "whose oil jar was never empty." She turned to it in the Book of Kings, the story of the poor widow of Zarephath who gave Elijah a room in her home: "The jar of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke by Elijah."
Well--but--wonderful things happened all through the Bible. It was one thing to believe that such things were possible thousands of years ago, another to have it happen now, to us, this very day. And yet it happened this day, and the next, and the next, until an awed little group of spectators good around watching the drops fall onto the daily rations of bread.
[Later, Corrie got some vitamins secretly given to her and then--]
"We'll finish the drops first," I decided. But that night, no matter how long I held it upside down, or how hard I shook it, not another drop appeared.

[When Betsie and Corrie got to work together as knitters after being very sick:]
And thus began the closest, most joyous weeks of all time in Ravensbruck. Side by side, in the sanctuary of God's fleas, Betsie and I ministered the word of God to all in the room. We sat by deathbeds that became doorways of heaven. We watched women who had lost everything grow rich in hope. The knitters of Barracks 28 became the praying heart of the vast diseased body that was Ravensbruck, interceding for all in the camp--guards, under Betsie's prodding, as well as prisoners.

The Crown

I've been excited to read the last book in The Selection series: The Crown by Kiera Cass. This book concludes what was started in book 4--the selection to find Eadlyn's husband. As Eadlyn deals with family difficulties and whittles down the contestants, she also has to come to terms with her own flaws and weaknesses.

I really enjoyed this book. All the books in this series are super engaging and addicting, and I love reading them. I re-read The Heir (book 4) right before reading this one (since I have a terrible memory), but while I really loved book 4, book 5 didn't quite measure up. I'll be vague so I don't give anything away, but I just felt like it was lacking some character development that would have made the story more believable and the ending more likable. But I was still happy with how it ended. Great series. I wouldn't object if the author came out with more of these. :)

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)