All Quiet on the Western Front

To anyone who reads my blog, it is not news that I do enjoy a good war story. It's not that I enjoy suffering, but more that I want to learn about the causes of such suffering so as to be able to do my best to ensure that such pain and sorrow are not repeated. I know I am not influencial by the world's standards, but I also believe strongly that I am raising at least part of the rising generation that will be our future. I also believe that they should be taught the ugly part of our history so that they will not forget what it would be like to live in the filthy trenches of World War I or to be a slave in a Nazi concentration camp and have all dignity stripped from a person with their clothing. I do not like most video games or computer games that glorify war and make it seem appealing to the younger generation. My recommendation to any youth who enjoys fighting would be to read a book like All Quiet on the Western Front. It is a fictional story, but many WWI veterans have attested to it's accuracy in it's portrayal of trench warfare. It also goes further into the minds of the boys who were thrown into this war than you would expect and in doing so provides a clear picture of the tragedy that befell them. Although this book is generally considered a children's or young adult novel, I would not recommend it for most children until they are around 16 years old, or at least mature enough to handle the graphic details that are included. I would recommend it to all adults and say it is as good to read this book as it is to read Elie Wiesel's book entitled Night.

Peace Like a River

Peace Like a River, written by Leif Enger was a GREAT read! After reading the first paragraph I turned to Chris and in a giddy voice said, "I can already tell I'm going to love this book." It did not dissapoint. I won't say too much about the book because I think everyone should read it and I wouldn't want to spoil the fun for anyone. It is however, in my opinion, the perfect blend of spirituality, action, suspense, love, family values, and just has awesome characters. I don't read many contemporary books, but I'm so glad my friend recommended this one, it was just what I needed.

The Cay

by Theodore Taylor
In 1942, 11-year-old Phillip Enright lives with his parents on the Dutch island of Curaçao, but when the war moves too close for comfort, his mother decides to travel with him back to the safety of Virginia. When their boat is torpedoed, however, Phillip is blinded and finds himself adrift on a life raft with an old black man and a cat. They eventually land on a deserted island. Phillip is suspicious of "the large Negro," but soon grows to trust--and ultimately love--the patient and generous Timothy. I read this book to the kids and although this book says it's intended for grades 5-8, all my kids enjoyed it. It is however, a tear-jerker and I would not have made it through reading aloud if it weren't for my son finishing it for us. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading it's pre/sequel - Timothy of the Cay.

The Story of My Life and Little Lord Fauntleroy

As I continue to teach our daughters about heroic american women, I feel that Helen Keller is one woman whose life we must study and learn about. In preparation for teaching the girls about Helen Keller, I read her biography, The Story of My Life. It was Brilliant. She truly was one of a kind. I love her spirit, it reminds me of Clarissa. Clarissa does not do anything that she does not want to do. My challenge in life is to help her understand why she would want to do the things I am asking of her. I feel like I learned so much about both teaching and parenting by reading Hellen Keller's story of how Anne Sullivan helped her to see the world. I would recommend that all parents and teachers should read about the life of both of these women and their journey together. Although I knew the basic story of how Helen, being both blind and deaf, overcame her trials, I did not realize that she also became an advocate for all underprivledged persons, especially those with handicaps. I was pleased to learn about her efforts in Japan working with children in that country. Krystal actually ended up using the life of Helen Keller as a project for our history group study on the Civil Rights.

Another pleasing thing that came from reading this book is that Helen mentioned several times in the book how much she enjoyed the story of Little Lord Fauntleroy. That got me curious and as I love the Secret Garden is wasn't hard to believe I might enjoy another of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novels. And indeed I did. It was a truly delightful story full of hope and very fairytale like. I will definately recommend this classic to my children to read.

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates

Our most recent read-aloud was Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. It was a long read, but a welcome distraction to the dreary weather outside. We all enjoyed the two intertwined story lines, but would have preferred a little less Dutch history. We especially liked the characters of Hans Brinker, Peter Van Mounen, and Jacob Poot. This book is full of heroic values as Hans is faced with many difficult decisions of moral magnitude.

Guns, Germs and Steel

This book written by Jared Diamond was a New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Chris' sister read it as required reading for one of her classes in med school and she thought it was very informative. She knows that I like history and suggested this book to me, then gave it to me for Christmas. The idea of the book is to answer the question: "Why did history unfold differently on different continents?" The author, a professor of geography who has spent many years on the island of New Guinea, takes 471 pages to show his expertise in native New Guineans. He also takes a very darwinistic view of how the human species developed and contradicts himself numerous times throughout the work. As I began to read the book and realized that I did not like the author's voice, I pushed myself to read more. I do not like to think of myself as someone who is narrow-minded and I am usually willing to listen and most times genuinely interested to other points of view. However, I could not ignore the fact that although the author states that he will examine this question through every aspect of human life, ie. biology, herbology, economics, politics, etc. He never once brings up the subject of religion and its effects on the history of the world. Now, whether or not a person believes in a religion is beside the point. Throughout the history of the world, most peoples and continents have acted on principles based solely on their religious beliefs. In fact, most of the wars and conquests the world have known, which have surely played a major role in the success of certain continents over the others, where based on some sort of religious principles. Therefore, I quickly found a work of literature that blatantly ignores the effect of religion on the people of history to be very narrow-minded and unfounded. In short, I had a hard time believing any of the assumptions the authors stated in this book and consequently stopped reading it. Not to mention that if all one has to do to win a Pulitzer these days is to summarize any high school history text book and then add in their own glorified personal travel log to the islands of New Guinea, I have completey lost any interest in reading works from future recipients of the Pulitzer Prize.

P.S. - If anyone wants to borrow the book, I will gladly remove it from my shelves to make room for other more worthy works of literature, like Captian Underpants or Diary of a Wimpy Kid perhaps.

Horatio Hornblower

A while back, a friend of mine mentioned the Horatio Hornblower series as a series of books that Jared might like when he's a little older, with not much more about them than that she though she'd heard that one of the Star Trek captain's character was modeled after Horatio Hornblower. A couple months later while perusing at a used book sale, I found a couple of the books from the series and bought them. A few months after that while looking for a movie at the library, I stumbled upon a couple Horatio Hornblower movies. Chris and I watched one of the movies and then another, not even knowing what order they went in and inadvertently, watching them in the wrong order. The movies were good, really good. So, we checked out the first book from the library. I read it first, then Chris. We both loved the book and as with most series, couldn't wait to read the next one. I have read the first two books (Mr. Midshipman Hornblower and Lieutenant Hornblower) and Chris has read the first three (including Hornblower and the Hotspur).
The Horatio Hornblower series is set during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Horatio begins his service in the British Navy as a 17 year old who although very good at arithmetic, knows next to nothing about sailing or war. He very quickly learns the ropes of life at sea, overcoming the hardships that inevitably fall on a Midshipman. Horatio proves to be very talented with a sextant and navigation, which doesn't always win him brownie points with the other crew members. He also has a fire that burns within whenever they are engaged in battle. This fire enables him to think fast and make good decisions, which in the end prove to his benefit and ultimately his promotion. Chris and I both love the combination of tongue in cheek humor, dry intellectualism, and swashbuckling adventure. I would recommend these books to anyone, but would readily admit that not everyone would find them as entertaining as do we.
The most amazing aspect of this series is that the movies are actually better than the books. I believe this may be the first time that I have ever seen a movie based on a book that has surpassed the excellence of the book. So, if the prospect of reading 10 books full of dry intellectualism does not excite you, then look for the movies. There are 8 made-for-television movies. As far as I understand, the movies only cover the content of the first three books - which might be one reason why they are so good - the producers didn't try to cram 10 books into 4 hours, but rather picked the best part of the series and elaborated on that. The only negative thing I've discovered about this series is that it is difficult to find in it's entirety, but hey! I like a challenge.