#13: Unlikely Warrior

Last night I finished the book Unlikely Warrior by Georg Rauch.  It's an autobiography about being A Jewish Soldier in Hitler's Army.  I read the back of this book at a book fair and just had to purchase it.  I was really intrigued to see what war would be like for a Jewish soldier.

While I found this book to be well written and give lots of details about the hardships and emotions Rauch went through during the war, I think the title is a little misleading.  We find out towards the beginning that he is supposed to be promoted to a higher position and that is when he goes to the authorities and tells them he is part Jewish.  The reason the title is misleading, is because Rauch doesn't even think of himself as Jewish.  One of his grandparent's was Jewish, but his family never practiced Judism.  Yes, his family helped the Jews and were against Hitler's war, but I really wouldn't consider him to be a Jewish soldier.  I think being Jewish was maybe brought up twice in the whole book.

I did like his story though.  It really made you feel all the hardships everyone was going through.  The lack of food and water, destruction, loss, etc was all so sad.  And all for 1 man's thoughts.  Most of the soldiers in the book on both sides of the war did not agree with the war.  It still amazes me as I read WWII books, how many people opposed the war, but how few tried to stand up to Hitler.

A good read if you like WWII stories, but not really about being Jewish.

Up Next:  The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

#12: The Lost Symbol

On the way home from our Christmas trip to Wisconsin, we finished our audio book.  We started The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown on the way home and listened to a few hours of it.  Ever since then, we have been listening to a few chapters here and there during car rides.  We finally had almost finished and brought the last disc inside last night to finish.  The Lost Symbol is the 3rd book in the Robert Langdon series (we listened to them out of order).

In this book, Robert is called to Washington DC to lead a lecture with his friend Peter Solomon. When he arrives, he learns this was a set up and that Peter is in danger.  We follow the story of the Solomon family.  Peter is the Director of the Smithsonian and a Mason.  Katherine, Peter's sister, is an important Scientist.  We learn some background on their family, with lots of accomplishments and hardships.  We then learn that Robert has been helping Peter to hide a symbol for the Masons and start to learn lots of secrets about the Masonic Brotherhood.

I was very interested in the story at the beginning.  It seemed to have lots of action right away.  Towards the middle things got really exciting.  Our whole family was wanting to learn what happened.  Finally in chapter 120 or so we learned the huge twist.  I liked the story at this point, but then the audio CD seemed to drag on for another 1 1/2 after we learned the twist.  It really didn't seem to come to a conclusion.  It also just seemed like lots of rambling at the end.

While I still liked the book, I felt it was a little long and rambly in some spots.  This was the least favorite of the Robert Langdon series for me.

#11: The Alchemist

A few years ago someone told me I should read The Alchemist  by Paulo Coelho.  They said it was their favorite book ever.  I waited awhile and then bought it for Levi for Christmas this year.  He read it and said it was okay.  We sometimes don't have the same taste in books, so I thought I might enjoy it more than he did.  I was wrong.
This book was just so boring.  Levi said the beginning was slow, but I kind of liked the beginning.  It was during the desert wandering that my mind started to wander.  I couldn't really focus on the book and just kept drifting to other thoughts.  Or I would fall asleep while reading.  I can't really tell you half of what happened, because I don't really know.
I liked maybe the 1st 1/4 of the book and the very end.  There was just too much in the middle that I "missed".

Up Next:  Unlikely Warrior by Georg Rauch

#10: NPH Autobiography

I love Choose Your Own Adventure books and I love Neil Patrick Harris, so I could not pass up this book when I saw it on the table at the library.  The book is titled:  Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography. This book was written in a Choose Your Own Adventure format and gave details of Neil Patrick Harris' childhood, career, love life, family, and more.  NPH also through in some fake stories just for fun.  I learned some more things about NPH and was reminded of some of my favorite things about him.

The only thing I didn't like with this format, was that I may have missed some good stuff.  I came to endings twice while reading.  I wanted to see a few things that were mentioned that I missed the first time, like meeting Elton John and a letter from Sarah Silverman.  So after the 2nd ending, I just went back to the beginning and read all the footnotes and choices and skimmed most of the pages.  I may still have missed a few pages, but I think I read most of the book.

It was one of my favorite Autobiographies, as it was really entertaining.  Lots of jokes and great descriptions.  I especially laughed at the footnotes and his jokes about Dustin Diamond.  Overall a great read for any NPH fan.  :)

Up Next:  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

#9: What Color is Monday?

I just finished the book What Color is Monday? How Autism Changed One Family for the Better by Carrie Cariello.  Working in the Special Education room in our school has made me very interested in learning more about Special Needs students and especially Autism.  Combine that with binge watching Parenthood on Netflix and I am an emotional wreck.

I am EXTREMELY fascinated with the minds of the autistic.  I love how they all learn differently, have different struggles, and have unique talents.  As Carrie describes in this book, each autistic person is like a snowflake, all similar but essentially unique.  This is so spot on.

Reading this book, I could see some similarities to the 2 boys in our classroom, as well as with Max on parenthood.  There are deep mysteries behind the minds of people with autism and I think Carrie did a great job of sharing her joys and struggles of raising her son and incorporating him into the family.

I've already recommended this book to everyone at work.  If you are at all interested in learning more about Jack Cariello, be sure to read What Color is Monday?

Up Next:  Choose your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris