D-Day, June 6, 1944

Title: D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches

Author: Stephen E. Ambrose

Pages: 20 discs

Genre: Non-Fiction, History

Grade: A

Spoiler Alert: We won.

Synopsis: This book mainly covers the events of D-Day, June 6th, 1944, but it also includes details about the Allied build-up to D-Day. The full industrial might from the United States was put to work building tanks, boats, landing crafts, guns, ammunition, airplanes and anything else that you can imagine was needed for a full-scale invasion from water to land in 1944.  From Utah beach, to Omaha beach to Gold, Juno and Sword Beaches, Ambrose describes the landings and fighting at each beach.  The invasion starts in the days before the landing with heavy air bombardment, followed by paratroopers behind the enemy defenses along the beaches.

My Review: The Allied landings on D-Day are some of the most amazing war-time feats in history.  I especially enjoyed reading this book around Veteran's Day, as I felt that I could greater appreciate some of the sacrifices and efforts that were expended by those who are willing to risk everything for our freedom. This book was very, very well done and I often found myself arriving at work or at a meeting at an architect's office with tears in my eyes from the stories included in the book.

D-Day by the numbers:

• 156,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on D-Day, with more than 4,400 deaths, most of which occurred during the first hour or two of the landings. The biggest memories for residents of Normandy and the German soldiers were often about how the English Channel was simply full of thousands and thousands of Allied ships, destroyers, landing craft, etc.  It looked as though you could walk from ship to ship all the way across the English Channel.
• 11,590 airplanes & almost 7,000 ships were involved.
• Within 5 days, over 326,000 troops and over 104,000 tons of supplies landed on the beaches.

The Curse of Senmut

Title: The Curse of Senmut

Authors: Vickie Britton & Loretta Jackson

Pages: 270

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B-

Synopsis: The archaeologist Ardis Cole is summoned to Egypt to help her good friend, Jane Darvin excavate a tomb that had recently been discovered.  They thought that the tomb had been for Queen Hatshepsut, but when somebody murdered Jane Darvin, it was up to Ardis Cole to continue to unravel the mystery of the tomb and Hatshepsut's lover Senmut.

My Review: The story and premise was not terrible, but something about the writing style and presentation made it so I didn't really love this book.  There was just enough intrigue to keep me reading, but overall it was not that great.

All That Was Promised

Title: All That Was Promised: The St. George Temple and the Unfolding of the Restoration

Author: Blaine M. Yorgason, Richard A Schmutz & Douglas D. Alder

Pages: 374

Genre: Mormon History

Grade: B+

Synopsis: As Brigham Young was growing older and the Salt Lake Temple was still so far from completion, he set out to fulfill the charge given to him by Joseph Smith, which was to bring the temple ceremonies to the people again.  Brigham Young had always had a passion for Utah's Dixie and the stalwart Saints that he called to make that land their home.  He was inspired to have the third temple of the latter-days built in the recently settled town of St. George.  Great sacrifices were required from the residents of St. George and the surrounding areas, but they diligently worked to build the last pioneer temple of these latter days.

My Review: I trace many of my family roots to the communities around St. George, so I've always had a bit of an affinity for the area.  This book was very well done and well researched and told the story of building the temple in an area with a small population and no railroad access for hundreds of miles (making this temple the last pioneer temple according to many LDS Historians).  My biggest complaint was that while the bulk of the book is written in a chronological fashion, every once in a while there were parts that seemed to skip around.

Recommended By: This book was mentioned during a fast and testimony meeting in La Verkin a few years ago.  It made it on my list, and I'm glad that it did.

From the Book: "(p. 323, describing the raids attempting to locate prominent LDS polygamists by the federal government) Stories of hiding out and near captures abound, including a humorous account of President Wilford Woodruff escaping capture because he was weeding a garden at the Squire home near downtown St. George wearing an oversized "Old Mother Hubbard" dress and bonnet sewn for him by young Sister Emma Squire. She wrote: "Soon after our marriage the president of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, came to live with us. It was the time of the raid, when the Government took the property away from the Mormon people...and they were hunting all the men that had plural wives and putting them in jail. ... We had some neighbors that knew we had someone staying with us, and they were very anxious to [discover] who it was. ... [So] I made [President Woodruff] a Mother Hubbard dress and sun bonnet and...dress[ed] him up ... and disguise[d] him so he could come [and go]. ... We called him Grandma Allen so the people wouldn't know."

The Devil's Punchbowl

Title: The Devil's Punchbowl

Author: Greg Iles

Pages: 580

Genre: Thriller

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Penn Cage is the mayor of Natchez, Mississippi, right on the banks of the Mississippi River.  The city has seen better days, and is currently relying on the economic benefits of the casino steamboats that float on the river in the city. When Penn is shown some damning photographs by an old high school friend that implies that illegal dog-fighting, prostitution and other vices have corrupted this town, he must decide whether to fight this battle or not.

My Review: I'm a sucker for page turning thrillers such as this one.  This one had all the usual qualities of a good thriller, crime, sex, drugs, torture and as an added bonus dog-fighting. I was on the edge of my seat, what can I say?

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

Title: Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

Author: Obert Skye

Pages: 368

Genre: Fantasy

Grade: B-

Synopsis: Leven Thumps is a fourteen-year-old boy living a dismal life in Burnt Culvert, Oklahoma.  Nothing ever seems to go right for Leven, that is until he meets his little sidekick Clover, a friend Winter, and Geth, who is a toothpick for most of the book.

My Review: This book was a little too strange for my liking.  The story was ok, and it was enjoyable, but I always felt like things were too contrived and that they author was trying too hard to come up with a fantastical story.  There was too much of the ridiculous in this one.

Tales From Sliver Lands

Title: Tales From Silver Lands

Author: Charles J. Finger

Pages: 225

Genre: Children's Fiction, Newbery Award, Short Stories, Fairy Tales

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book is a collection of 19 tales that the author collected and compiled from Central and South America.  Many of the fairy tales are similar to fairy tales that we're familiar with, while others are more unique.

My Review: I was a little nervous for this book, but it exceeded my expectations (or rather, my judging the book by it's cover).  First off, I couldn't find the book at any of the libraries close to my house, so I requested it through an interlibrary loan and it ended up coming from BYU's library (an book from the original 1924 printing, no less).  Secondly, the book does not have very many reviews on goodreads (at least for being a Newbery Award winner) and most of the reviews were fairly critical.  I didn't love the book, but it was an easy read, most of the stories were only 10-15 pages long and they weren't all that bad.

You Are Not a Stranger Here

Title: you are not a stranger here

Author: Adam Haslett

Pages: 240

Genre: Short Stories, Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis:  This book is a collection of 9 short stories, some of which have previously been published in The Atlantic or other magazines.  The topics the stories covered is quite varied ranging from mental illness and estranged families to homosexuality and death.  Each story was unique and short enough to read in one sitting.

My Review:  Every once in a while I find it refreshing to pick up a book of short stories.  Most of the short stories in this book left me wanting more, which I often find to be a hallmark of a good short story, although at other times it can be frustrating.  Most of the stories in this book left me thinking for a few minutes at the end of the story.  Both about things that may have happened next and about things in the story itself.

King Solomon's Mines

Title: King Solomon's Mines

Author: H. Rider Haggard

Pages: 264

Genre: Adventure, Classic

Grade: B+

Synopsis: This book was written in the space of just a couple of months as a result of a 5 shilling wager between two brothers. Haggard had bragged to his brother that he could write a better novel than Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. At first rejected by a few publishers, it was finally published in 1885 and became the year's best selling book with the publisher unable to keep the shelves stocked. With that preface, I was fairly intrigued by this book that I had never even heard of (it was a random pickup from the library shelves).

Allan Quatermain was an adventurer living in Durban (now a part of South Africa), he is approached by another white man with a request to help him track down his brother who had left on an expedition to try and find the fabled ancient mines of King Solomon. The excursion requires a dangerous trek across a long desert (remember, this is long before motorized vehicles or other modern conveniences) and the travelers are required to defend themselves against the natives, many who have never seen white men before.

My Review: I was surprised by this 19th century gem. It was surprisingly good for being the first African adventure book published in English.  The book was very engaging and imaginative and fulfilled my need for a good adventure book.

Divergent

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

Pages: 487

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The novel takes place in a future Chicago, that has been transformed into a dystopian city where everybody lives in one of five factions.  When Beatrice Prior turns 16 she, along with all other 16-year-olds, must choose which faction in which to spend her life. The majority of youth choose to stay within their own faction as find a place within another faction is challenging, but Beatrice feels the pull of something greater.

My Review: This book is in a similar vein as The Hunger Games where teenagers are growing up in an imagined world that is both similar and different to our own.  I didn't find myself loving the book or the writing style, but I did enjoy the story and became attached Beatrice Prior.

The Fault in Our Stars

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Pages: 7 discs

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Hazel Grace is a kid with terminal cancer.  Whenever her cancer flares up her treatments have been able to provide her with some additional time on this earth.  When she is filling up to it, Hazel attends a Cancer Kid Support Group and meets Augustus Waters, a boy that will soon become her boyfriend.   This is the story about their friendship and how they navigate their cancers together.

My Review: If you haven't yet read this book, you may be in the minority. I've been surprised by how many people have read this book so far.  The book is well-written, enjoyable, heart-breaking and funny. It's probably hard to write a book about cancer kids. At times, it's a hard one to read.

The Wright Brothers

Title: The Wright Brothers

Author: David McCullough

Pages: 320

Genre: History, Biography

Grade: A

Synopsis: Orville and Wilbur Wright are known to the world as the inventors of powered flight.  To those of use living today, with airplanes, helicopters, drones and other flying devices all around that may not seem like such an amazing scientific achievement, but as it turns out, it required a substantial amount of original research, design, development, trial and error for the Wrights to accomplish this feat.  Orville and Wilbur Wright were extraordinary gifted geniuses and were able to devise solutions to all sorts of challenges that had stumped those who had tried to fly before them.

My Review: Another triumph by probably my favorite author, David McCullough.  He's quite old, and I'll be sad when he stops writing because he has a gift for bringing people, engineering feats, accomplishments and tragedies to life.  As is typical with his books, The Wright Brothers is based upon pages and pages of letters, journal entries and writings of journalists.  I was especially interested in this book as I started reading it while we were spending the week on the Outer Banks in North Carolina (just up the shore from Kitty Hawk, where the first flights took place) and I spent a few years growing up in Dayton, Ohio, best known for being the birthplace of the Wright Brothers.

Never Let Me Go

Title: Never Let Me Go

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro

Pages: 288

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Kathy grew up attending Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school in England.  All while growing up Kathy and her friends were reminded about how special they were, but it took years before any of the students understood why the teachers thought them so special.  In her adult years, Kathy is a caretaker and the book flashes back often to her time growing up with her friends at Hailsham during their formative years.

My Review: Once again, this was a book that took me a while to get into and I had a hard time following the plot for the first few chapters.  Looking at others reviews of this book, it appears that most people either love the book or hate it, I fall squarely in the middle.  I didn't love it, I didn't hate it and I enjoyed reading it and thinking about the ethical issues that are brought up in the book.

Outlander

Title: Outlander

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Pages: 28 discs

Genre: Science Fiction, Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Claire Randall is on a second honeymoon with her husband just after the end of World War II.  She had served as a combat nurse during the war and was now happily reunited with her husband.  While in Scotland, they visited a rock formation similar to a small version of Stonehenge.  Upon touching one of the rocks Claire was instantly transported to the same spot back in time to the year 1743.  She joins up with the Clan MacKenzie and becomes intimately familiar with the studly man of James Fraser...

My Review: This was an enjoyable book.  While the basic premise is unbelievable (a time traveling young wife), the rest of the book is written to be completely believable and you find yourself thinking what if?...

Disclaimer: While Claire is still happily married to her 20th century husband, while living in the 18th century there are a few love scenes, that did not come across as dirty, but were certainly steamy.

Ender's Game

Title: Ender's Game

Author: Orson Scott Card

Pages: 324

Genre: Science Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Andrew (Ender) Wiggins was born from decades of genetic experimentation in an effort to breed a human who is capable of leading humanity's battles against the Buggers.  Ender is selected for battle school and while there he spends his life learning the Buggers tactics and figuring out how to beat them.

My Review: I read the Ender's Game series back in Junior High and I had remembered that I had quite enjoyed it, but I couldn't remember much else about it.  Most of the book is dedicated to Ender's experiences and growth in the battle school, including numerous training battles and that can get a little tedious, but I found that I enjoyed it. Now I can watch the movie and re-read the rest of the books in the series.

Of Mice and Men

Title: Of Mice and Men

Author: John Steinbeck

Pages: 103

Genre: Classic

Grade: B+

Synopsis: George and his friend Lennie have nothing in the world besides each other. They find work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley where they plan to work in order to save money to one day have a small farm of their own.  However, as always seems to happen, they get into trouble because Lennie doesn't understand his own strength and has a heart bigger than his brain.

My Review: I'm surprised that I had never read this book.  Had I realized that it was a book that would be easy to read in a day or two I probably would have read it sooner. It's a great story, and one that will leave you thinking about it long after you put the book down.