The Council of Dads

The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler

New York Times Best Selling Author Bruce Feiler is known for his books on walking.  'Walking the Bible' even being turned into a PBS documentary.  His livelyhood having very much to do with walking.  Then an astonishing blow.  A cancerous tumor on his femur.  Not only could he lose his leg, his ability to walk, his livelyhood, Bruce could lose his life.  As the father of 3 year old twins he was heartbroken.

This book is Bruce's attempt at making a safety net if he should succumb to the cancer.  He gathered men representing stages of his life and characteristics that he wanted his girls to know about him if he could not be with them.  Fantastic idea.

I found myself interested more in the medical aspect of the book and his day to day life with his wife and children.  The Council of Dads was a great idea and the men had wonderful ideas about what they would do and say for the girls.  But somehow I found myself not wanting to have anything to do with the council.  Bruce seemed like a great father.  I resented the fact that he might die and leave his wife and daughters.  I didn't want him to die and I didn't like that he was making any kind of arrangements should events turn in that direction.  I'm not saying he shouldn't have because as a good father he was doing something awesome for his daughter's future.  I just didn't want him to die and I refused to be party to his planning for a dim future......so there.

At one point he and his wife go to visit the place where he will someday be buried.  I think this was the saddest part for me.  He writes........."Tears were streaming down our cheeks, salt trickling into our mouths.  The rain was matting our hair. My crutches tumbled to the ground. And in the darkened cathedral of  a Bonaventure thundershower, we clung to each other, pressed our foreheads together, and kissed on the land where we would one day rest forever. "

Rating 4  Great writing, good idea, smart articulate men.
Rating G  Clean but a grave situation. 

Zlata's Diary

Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic

Zlata began her diary as any other fourth grade girl. She liked junk food, music and her friends. She seems incredibly well spoken for her age. Her world quickly changes from what most of us would find in our everyday life to having her home and country torn by war. War is raging in Sarajevo between Serbs, Croats and Muslims in the early 1990's. Friends and family flee the country or are killed during bombings and shellings.
Zlata is compared to Anne Frank. She is afraid her fate may be the same as Anne's. Because Anne had a name for her diary, Zlata decides to name her's Mimmy.
As I read through this diary, I felt like I was reading the stories of my own people. I couldn't fathom having my normal life ripped at the seams over night. Zlata and her family were starving by winter. They lost water and had to haul it in order to have it on hand. Many times electricity was lost for days and then later rationed to those with priority. Her parents went from a well educated happy couple to thin and terrified. Much of their time was spent hidden in the basement of their apartment building as the shelling raged outside. Family and friends fled the country in order to save themselves. As her early tween years passed, Zlata spent her time in the safer parts of her apartment, mostly her kitchen, or in spotty school attendance when there was no shooting. Where she had once had many friends, language and music lessons, she mostly only had her parents and close neighbors while Bosnia Herzegovina suffered under attack as the 'kids' (politicians) played at their games.
Striking and moving blow by blow of daily life in a war torn country. I would recommend for anyone to read this. Because she was so young, Zlata does not cover the reasons behind the war. She admits not understanding, only wishing for peace. During the same years covered by the diary, I was only a few years older. I cannot remember much from the political history of the time and will be reading more to find out. Having had family leave Yugoslavia in the early 1900's I felt like every picture or detail contained people that could have been me.

Rating 4.5
Rating PG The warring and violence although terrifying to Zlata was not greatly described in horrific detail and therefore not rated R. I would let my 9 year old read this.

Measure of a Man

Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier

This book is subtitled a spiritual autobiography. I suppose that Mr. Poitier means spiritual in the sense of an idea like nature since he can't claim to believe in God unless he is 'up against a wall'.

Sidney was born to Evelyn and Reggie Poitier on Cat Island in the Bahamas. He spent his first ten years on that island. He had interesting stories during this time of his life, like the time he nearly drown in a canal. He seemed to come from a good family. I liked learning about his parents.
When he was ten they moved to Nassau. This is were his life became a little more of the world where before he had lived mostly outside of the world. He went to about two years of school where he learned enough reading to get by. He also made friends. This is where he begins to learn that his skin has a color and that color makes a big difference in the way he lives and in the way people see him.
Later he moves to Miami which he doesn't really like. He finally ditches Miami and takes a bus as far away as he can get, which happens to be New York City. He struggles here. Takes odd jobs, washes dishes. He tries out for a theater group and doesn't make it. He tries again later and does. He marries young and has children. He opens his own rib joint and barely makes it by.
He finally makes it into theater and then movies. He doesn't give great particulars, he just seems to know the right people and make the right moves. He makes movies during the 50's and 60's.......a time of great turmoil for the nation with Vietnam and race movements.
The factual parts of this book are interesting. I wish he would have stuck to that......but this was more theoretical/emotional/Sidney's personal view kind of memoir. Those are the parts I didn't like. He seemed to ramble and sometimes I had to speed read. He swore a lot. Some of it was warranted but a lot he just wanted to sound masculine and tough and it made him sound foul and unimaginative.
Rating 2 I loved the history and the facts. I would have loved to hear more about his life as a black man crossing many of the race lines as an esteemed actor. The parts where he just rambled about his life theories and views I could do without. There was a story in there somewhere but I think it was probably only 50 pages long.
Rating R F bomb many times. I would say only the language lead me to this rating though, otherwise clean.

The Christmas Sweater

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck



Conservative radio talkshow host Glenn Beck, offers up his first novel The Christmas Sweater. The books idea comes from Glenn's childhood. Eddie, the young main character receives an ugly handmade sweater for Christmas instead of the Huffy bike he had been praying to God for and dropping hints as heavy as bricks to his mother for. His father has died of cancer and his mother has taken on four jobs which are barely getting them by. Beyond this point there are spoilers***



Eddie and his mother travel to his grandparents for the remainder of Christmas day. Eddie makes things miserable because he didn't get the bike he wanted. Because he is being such a puke he and his mother drive back home instead of staying at his grandparent's farm. Since his mom has been working straight for years she is exhausted........falls asleep and dies in a car wreck. Eddie's bad attitude and ungrateful nature..........'victim' attitude only get worse as he moves in with his grandparents. He is able to make one friend but Taylor's family only makes matters worse. They show Eddie all he is missing in his life, mainly material goods. Eddie's life begins a tough downward spiral that he chooses not to stop despite the love of his grandparents. He blames everyone including God and his grandparents for everything that has gone wrong.............he never can see that he is the only one making himself miserable. Eddie also meets a mysterious neighbor that tries to teach him the lessons he needs to learn in order to lead a happier life. Finally Eddie can take no more and runs away. He finds himself in a stormy, dark and desolate corn field with a raging storm moving his way. Between the storm, corn field and the suspicious neighbor Eddie is able to see his transgression and turn his life around.



I liked the book. I didn't like Eddie. I felt like the book gave me a good chance to see how I could choose to make my own life happier. A good book about taking responsibility for your own actions no matter what situations you may find yourself in.

Rating 4

Rating G

The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He is dying of pancreatic cancer and decides to give a 'last lecture'. He wants to leave some kind of legacy for his very young children and share some of the things he has learned throughout his life.

For a final farewell this book is uplifting. He had some great advice and nuggets of thought to get you thinking of better ways to live out the rest of your days, no matter how many you have.

Rating 4 I enjoyed Pauch's attitude. He was always an adventurer and seemed to get the most out of life. It made me think of ways I could be different find the more joyful aspects of life.

Rating G