The Long Loneliness: An Autobiography
Author: Dorothy Day
Published By: Harper and Row Publishers
Date Published: 1952
Genre: Autobiography; Memoirs
Pages: 286
Recommended Age: Adults
Rating: B/4
I borrowed it from the Sisters of Notre Dame Educational Center.
Summary:
In her own words, Dorothy Day tells of her early life as a young journalist in the 1920s, and her conversion to Catholicism, which ended her common-law marriage. It also tells of her meeting Peter Maurin and the start of the Catholic Worker
My Thoughts:
I did enjoy hearing Ms. Day’s life through her words. I also enjoyed hearing her impressions of Peter Maurin and how she took his ideas and tweaked them. I just found it lacking in some details and aspects of her life, which made me seek out a biography about her to learn more. For these reasons, I gave The Long Loneliness four stars and a grade of “B”. I do encourage people to read Dorothy Day’s autobiography. She is a formidable woman.
Parents:
Language: None
Adult Content: None
Violence: None
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The Other Wes Moore
Author: Wes Moore
Published By: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: April 27, 2010
Genre: Autobiography/Biography, non-fiction
Pages: 233
Recommended Age: Young Adults, Adults
Reviewed By: Me
Rating: C/3
I borrowed this book from the library.
Summary:
Two boys with the same name are born within blocks of each other. One grew up to be an honored veteran that works in the White House, while the other is serving a life sentence for murder.
My Thoughts:
I liked the way Wes Moore told his story and the story of the other Wes Moore. The way Moore told the stories made the book flow nicely.
I personally think the other Wes’s mother should be a shamed of herself by being more concern with how young she still looked and about going to the clubs to pick up a new boyfriend than being with her two boys. It made me dislike her right from the start. I believed that played a lot in the direction her sons took.
They had no true guidance or decent role models, but at the same Wes should be hold accountable for his own actions. He knew right from wrong and yet he still chose the immoral path. His brother Tony disgusts me with his lack of remorse, which makes me wonder if he even has a conscience.
I liked Moore’s mother because she was so determined that he get on the right tracked that she begged for donations to send him to a good military school when she saw the path he was heading down. She risked her pride to save her son. That’s love.
I gave this book three stars and a grade of C because I liked this book, but it did nothing for me. It did not move me emotionally in any way. I did like that in the epilogue Mr. Moore told us what had become of the key players in both of the boys’ lives. It tied up many close ends.
Parents:
Language: Some swear words
Adult Content: lots of drug use and selling of drugs, Adult Subject Matter, Heavy topics
Violence: gang violence, shoot outs.
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Breakfast with the Pope
"A Christian Eat Pray Love" inside flap
Parents:
Dancing Through Life: Steps of Courage and Conviction
Parents:
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Breakfast with the Pope
Author: Susan Vigilante
Published By: Richard Vigilante Books
Date Published: November 17, 2010
Genre: Christian Non-fiction, Memoirs
Pages: 256
Recommended Age: Adults
Rating: B/4
"A Christian Eat Pray Love" inside flap
I borrowed this book from the library
Summary:
Susan Vigilante is a Catholic wife who is also a struggling writer and is trying to get pregnant. Being one of the few Catholic women who follow the Church’s laws, she refuses to get pregnant in vitro or any other medically enhanced way. She seeks the promise of God’s love through personal relationships with the people in her life and takes a pilgrimage to Rome, where she happens to find herself having breakfast with Pope John Paul II.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Susan Vigilante’s book. My heart went out her. I understood her desire for wanting a baby as I want kids of my own some day. What I didn’t understand was why she wouldn’t allow doctors help her and husband? Being a Christian woman myself and part of the large percentage of Christian women who do not let the Church dictate what I do with my body, I would have sought all the medical help I could. I believe God gave the doctors the knowledge for us to use and I will use it for all it’s worth.
I also didn’t like how her friends turned on her when she decided to write a book about her journey. The book didn’t show them in a bad light until they demanded she did not write the book. I found that it to be selfish of them to tell Vigilante not to share her memoirs...and un-Christian.
But besides that, I loved reading her story and the path she took in finding the peace in herself she sought. I gave Breakfast with the Pope four stars and a grade of B because it was well written and easy to read. If you like memoirs like Eat, Pray and Love I recommend Breakfast with the Pope.
Parents:
Language: Clean language
Adult Content: None
Violence: None
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Dancing Through Life: Steps of Courage and Conviction
Author: Candace Cameron Bure
Published By: B&H Books
Date Published: August 1st 2015 (first published July 5th 2015)
Genre: Christian, Non-Fiction
Pages: 195
Recommended Age: Adult
Read and Reviewed By: Me
Rating: A/5
This is part of my personal library.
Summary:
In the spring of 2014 Candace Cameron Bure was a contestant on Season 18 of Dancing with the Stars. During that time, Mrs. Bure made quite a few self-discoveries about herself and in this book, Dancing through Life: Steps of Courage and Conviction; she shares those discoveries with her fans and other readers. In this book she talks about the lessons she learned about grace, rejection, perfectionism, disappointment, accountability, and dealing with criticism from Christians and non-Christians. Through all that she stays true to her herself and her faith in Christ.
My Thoughts:
I really loved Dancing through Life. Bure did a fantastic job explaining the points she was trying to make in each chapter and week of her time on DWTS. I loved how she chose a particular Bible verse to begin each chapter and the verse fit perfectly with what she was writing about in the chapter, which shows the time and discernment she spent on each verse and the message she wanted to give to her audience.
I recommend Dancing through Life. I learned a lot from Mrs. Bure about standing with one’s convictions, dealing with disappointments, and having grace through it all. She let her fellow Brothers and Sisters-in-Christ know that she has the same struggles as they do in their Christian Walk. For these reasons and more is why I give Dancing through Life a rating of 5. I would definitely read this book again one day.
Parents:
Language: None
Adult Content: None
Violence: None__________________________________________________________________
Author: Emma Gingerich
Published By: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press LLC
Date Published: March 6th 2014 (first published January 1st 2014)
Genre: Autobiography, Memoirs
Pages: 174
Recommended Age: Adults
Read and Reviewed By: Me
Rating: C/3
This book was from my own personal library
Summary:
Emma Gingerich grew up in a Swartzentruber Amish community in Eagleville, Missouri. She didn’t agree with the Amish traditions of her upbringing and makes the decision to run away with the help of an Englischer. She then goes on to pursue her dream of higher education.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Runaway Amish Girl. I think Emma Gingerich did an excellent job in writing her story. She told a story that had to have been hard to tell. She spoke of things most women would have been too afraid to speak about. The book itself was well written and I truly liked that although she has a college education, Gingerich did not use graduate level words and everyone is capable to read her story.
Although I enjoyed reading Runaway Amish Girl, I didn’t like that it was so short. It seemed in the last chapter she wrapped her story up bit quickly. For these reasons, I gave Runaway Amish Girl by Emma Gingerich a grade of a C. I do recommend others to read Gingerich’s story because it will give everyone an insight in the Swartzentruber Amish community’s way of life.
Parents:
Language: None
Adult Content: A rape scene
Violence: A rape scene________________________________________________________
Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus
Author: Rifqa Bary
Published By: WaterBrook Press
Date Published: May 19th 2015 (first published May 5th 2015)
Genre: Autobiography, Memoirs
Pages: 226
Recommended Age: Adult
Read and Reviewed By: Theresa
Rating: B/4
This book is from my personal library.
Summary:
Rifqa Bary grew up in a devout Muslim family. When she was twelve she was invited to a Christian church by a schoolmate and decided to follow Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The next four years she desperately keeps her faith hidden from her family out of fear for her life. When she is sixteen her family discovers her secret and now she must flea for her life with the help of her Christian brothers and sisters.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this reading this book. It was well written and I learned a lot about the Muslim faith, at least a branch of it that can be very cruel to the women in their lives. It saddens me the way Rifqaa’s parents treated her after her brother damaged her eye, considering her unclean. Then treating her as the criminal when a relative rapes her, whisking her off to the United States before their Muslim community knew she was the victim of rape and being shamed out of their community. It’s discussing how some religions and/or cultures treat their women but claim to be a holy righteous group. I am so thrilled that Rifqa accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and escaped that horrible life her parents were making her live. She deserves some happiness in her life and I pray that Lord continues to bless her. She’s a remarkable woman to live through all she lived through and still lets the peace of Lord shine in her life.
I recommend this book to everyone, especially to the people who believe that all Muslims are peaceful people that love and respect their daughters. Not all of them are peaceful people who respect others beliefs. There are some sects of Muslims who will kill their own kin if they leave the Muslim faith. Rifqa Bary’s story was truly a testimony to Jesus.
Parents:
Language: None
Adult Content: a rape scene of a young girl, threats of violence
Violence: a rape scene of a young girl____________________________________________________
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
Author: Vicki Myron
Published By: Grand Central Publishing
Date Published: October 7th 2010 (first published 2008)
Genre: Autobiography, Memoirs, Biography
Pages: 282
Recommended Age: Adult
Read and Reviewed By: Me
Rating: C/3
This book is from my own personal library.
Summary:
A kitten was only a few weeks old when he was stuffed into the Spencer Public Library’s book slot. The library director Vicki Myron petitioned the library board for permission to keep the kitten. The petition was granted and the kitten had found itself a home. The kitten was then given the name Dewey Readmore Books and the cat won the hearts of the town. For nineteen years Dewey charmed the town and the world with his personality as he ruled over Spencer Public Library.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book so much that after I had finished reading it I did a search for Dewey Readmore Books on the internet and spent time watching videos of a cat who knew he was king of a library. I liked how the author Vicki Myron shared the town’s history and her personal trials and triumphs. It made understanding her attachment to the cat easy to see.
I recommend reading Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, especially if one is a cat lover. It’s good light hearted reading that can make the reader chuckle at some points and cry at others.
Parents:
Language: None
Adult Content: None
Violence: None
Violence: None
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