Book 13 of 2015- "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

This was another quick read. However, it was completely gut wrenching. I couldn't believe the things that this boy soldier had to go through. It shows how people can become so depraved and desensitized that they can commit completely awful crimes in the name of whatever cause they believe in. 

This is the story of a boy who was caught in the middle of the Sierra Leone rebellion in the 90's. Ishmael was captured by the soldiers while he was running from the war. Along the way he discovered that his entire family had been burned alive in a house when the rebels fell upon it. He became addicted to the soldiers' drugs, and was willing to do whatever they asked in the name of revenge. By the end of the war, he was capable of burying people alive, killing them in gruesome manners, and not caring if he took out a village of civilians in the process. He was taken back by UNICEF and brought into rehabilitation, and ultimately found a long lost uncle. He ended up having to escape from Sierra Leone when the rebels took over the government, because some of his friends from the rehab center had already joined the army again and he needed to get out. He had a friend in New York, who ultimately adopted him.

I think the fact that he was able to escape that mindset is nothing short of miraculous. He had so many friends who couldn't find a way out, so they went back to the front lines. He doesn't know what happened to them.

I am sure that the people who recruit children to be soldiers and force them to commit such atrocities will have a special place for them after they die.

Book 12 of 2015- "Out of my Mind" by Sharon M. Draper

This was a book that was a SUPER quick read. I read it in basically 3 sittings. It is told from the perspective of a 10 year old with cerebral palsy. She has never been able to talk, and for the first half of the book she hasn't been able to communicate her thoughts except through basic words on her communication board. She then gets a talking machine, which helps her communicate with her classmates and feel like she is a "normal" child. She is then able to show just how smart she is, and deals with the stigma that she still has.

This book was sadder than I thought it would be. She reminds me of some of my students (but I can't talk about them), and a girl I worked with as a peer tutor in high school. She had CP and couldn't do much for herself. She couldn't talk, walk, or use the bathroom independently. But she was so smart. She could only communicate by blinking, but we tested her knowledge by asking her yes or no questions. She would blink for "yes", and stare for "no". She could do multiplication tables in her head, and quickly. However, people kept their distance from her because she couldn't talk. When you add that to the meanness of fifth grade (which was traumatizing enough for me), it makes for a hard time. But she eventually learns that she will always be different, and she is OK with it.

Book 11 of 2015- "Bringing up Bebe" by Pamela Druckerman

This was a fantastic read. I have been looking for ways to help Cora sleep longer at night, and Alyse recommended it to me. There were many things that French parents do that I like. They start letting their children cry for a little bit at night from a very little age, and their children sleep through the night much earlier. They call it, "The Pause". I've been doing it with Cora, where when she starts crying I wait a few minutes before I get up with her. And you know what? A lot of times she does fall back asleep!

Another thing that I really liked is the fact that women in France aren't allowed to just let themselves go during pregnancy. I always had people tell me "Eat whatever you want, you're pregnant", or "It will all come off after you have her, it doesn't matter!" While I know a lot of my weight WAS from swelling, especially at the end, I could have been better with my diet. But if I lived in a place like France where they have the societal pressures to stay thin it might have helped my diet. They also expect women to get back into shape quickly.

They teach their children to wait from a young age, and that helps them learn to handle themselves more patiently. They don't have children's menus at restaurants, because they expect that their children will develop their palates and learn about each food that they try.

Even from a young age, they talk to their children and have confidence that they will be understood. I've started doing this, explaining to Cora when I am going to change her diaper (which I do before I feed her). And she doesn't cry while I am getting her stuff for diapers.

There were some things I didn't agree with (no nursing, you have to get back to work in a few months), I will be trying a lot of these methods out.

Book 10 of 2015- "The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum

Well, it's taken a while for me to read this next book. I'm working on the next one already, hopefully it doesn't take me almost 2 months to read this one...

I read this book a few years ago, but didn't remember anything about it. So I decided to read it again. Initially I didn't like this Jason Bourne as much as I like the Matt Damon version in the movies. This Jason Bourne just seemed too vulnerable. Whenever he would go through the motions of the training he couldn't remember, he would have a moment of existentialism where he would think "Why am I doing this?" Jason Bourne doesn't question himself!

However, the plot in this book is excellent. I think they should have included it in the movie. There is a villain who (so far) is in the Bourne Supremacy as well. I only read when I'm chained nursing, so I get 10 pages or so at a time before I have to maneuver a newborn again.

Book 9 of 2015- "Leaving Everything Most Loved" by Jacqueline Winspear

Well, I finished the series! The book was good as ever, although I am sad that it is done.

During this book, Maisie is investigating the murders of two Indian women who immigrated to England. At the same time, she is trying to plan her own departure from England. She wanted to go to India, but the man she has been dating is going to Canada and proposes to her a couple of times throughout the book. She is trying to sort out her life, and decide what is best for her.

I hate to admit it, but the end frustrated me! The author left it so open. Which I am HOPING means there will be another book! Because this one just came out in 2013.

But on to the next book! I'm starting the Bourne series, wish me luck.

Book 8 of 2015- "Elegy for Eddie" by Jacqueline Winspear

Sad, only one book left in the series for me. I've been meaning to start it, but just haven't. Maybe it's because I've liked this series of books and I don't want to have it end.

Maisie is approached by some childhood friends, and she learns of someone else that she grew up with who passed away in a freak accident. They didn't think it was an accident, and wanted her to investigate.

This investigation took her into the most upper class of England, including interacting with the "fallen" politician, Winston Churchill. This made me think that I need to learn more about him from before WWII, because the characters do not have a high opinion for him at this point. Since that is the opposite of what I hear now, I want to know how that changed.

At the same time, they are learning more about the changes that are going through Germany. Hitler has taken over power, and he is starting to make some changes. It makes me so grateful to not grow up in a time like this. Everyone in England is terrified of the idea of another war, because so many of their fellow men had just died not even 20 years prior in the first world war.

Book 7 of 2015- "A Lesson in Secrets" by Jacqueline Winspear

I think this book was my favorite of the series so far. Maisie was asked to work for the British Secret Service, and go teach philosophy at a college. During that time, the founder of the college was murdered and she took the responsibility on to find out who did it as well.

It is obvious from the getgo that everyone in the college has their secrets. In addition, there are many other secrets going on in Maisie's life. The man she had been dating seemed to not be faithful to her, and she took in a former maid at the house she worked at after her husband was killed in an accident. However, the accident seemed to be suspicious, so Maisie was dealing with the fallout of that.

I'm hoping to read another book or 2 soon so that I can stay on track with my goal of reading 50 by the end of the year. I have more on hold at the library, and keep getting suggestions from other people that I'm looking into.