Her Mother's Hope and Her Daughter's Dream, both in the Marta's Legacy series, by Francine Rivers
I really enjoyed these two books. They are fiction novels, however the story is based upon the author's own family story. She wrote it after she became interested in learning more about her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother's lives, even taking a trip back to their home country of Switzerland as part of her search. The story is about mothers and daughters and the struggles they face in life. It is certainly a story of redemption. I became frustrated at times with the unrealistic time lapses the author had to put in the story in order to keep it as concise as possible, but other than that, I couldn't put the books down.
Choosing to SEE, by Mary Beth Chapman
I got a recommendation to read this book from my friend Miller's blog. Wow. This is by far one of the best books I've ever read...mainly because of the impact it had on me. This is Steven Curtis Chapman's wife's memoir. The book covers her life from childhood through present day, and it includes the story of the death of their daughter, Maria. Mary Beth writes so authentically, which is the main reason I enjoyed the book so much. There were moments that I was laughing out loud, and there were other moments where I was weeping so hard that I had to put the book down so that I could breath and see the pages again. Mary Beth's faith and courage to trust God encouraged me so much. I would HIGHLY recommend this book...just be warned, you are going to go through some crazy emotions if you read it!
One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp
My discipleship group decided we would read this book together, at our own pace. I had a love/hate relationship with this book while I was reading it. There were times that I really struggled to get through it, and there were other times that I couldn't put it down. The author writes extremely poetically. Her writing is quite beautiful, but for a person like myself who thinks very concretely, it is just one more hoop to jump through in order to get her meaning. There were points in the book, though, where the poetic writing was not quite as heavy and I was able to move a little faster and identify with her more. I found myself wanting to live her life-the life of a farm wife and mother- as I read about her watering and picking flowers from her garden at dawn, baking several loaves of bread for dinner, donning an apron as she began the day's chores, or cleaning up floors after her 6 children and husband came in with mud-covered shoes after working the farm. I guess I should point out, the main idea of the book is the author's journey from a life of fear toward a life of gratitude by journaling God's gifts as she sees them throughout each day. I have begun my own gratitude journal as a result of reading this book, and I have definitely discovered the benefit of it! I am much more aware of my attitude and how easy it is for me to be afraid, to complain, and to just be ungrateful when I am surrounded by so many gifts I don't deserve.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
While there were parts of this book that were very slow for me, I really enjoyed it and found the story to be fascinating. The book is the true story of a woman whose cervical cancer cells were taken from her body during an exam in the 1950's without her knowledge and used in research. The cells never died but just continued to multiply. The cells were distributed and sold to research labs all over the world and used to develop vaccines, find cures for cancers, study AIDS, and many other medical breakthroughs. Some labs even benefited financially from the cells. However, the woman's family has lived in poverty for generations, not even able to go to the doctor for lack of money and insurance. The book simply presents the facts and doesn't really seem to have an agenda, however very obviously the debate about whether or not doctors should be allowed to use a person's cells for research without consent is certainly addressed. The story of Henrietta's family is fascinating. I really did enjoy the book and would recommend it, especially to friends who enjoy things medical.
I found all of these books at my local library...except for One Thousand Gifts, which I borrowed from a friend.
Happy reading, friends!
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