| Angela
Hulse
The Great Gathering
by Chad Daybell
I love this book and I would recommend it to anyone! The Great Gathering is about events that will occur before the Second Coming. It is told in a fictionalized way but using true references. If you like Gerald Lund's books, then you will love The Great Gathering, it is a must read.
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Janis Phelps
1776 by David McCullough
Washington's army was dangerously trapped on three sides. They had worked tirelessly through the night, trying to move 9000 troops without being detected, but the darkness would soon be over. "Anything that might make noise" was wrapped in rags. All orders were given in whispers. The retreat was not going fast enough as the cover of darkness came to an end. Miraculously, "just at daybreak a heavy fog settled in over the whole of Brooklyn, concealing everything no less than had the night... Even with the sun up, the fog remained as dense as ever, while over on the New York side of the river there was no fog at all."
This is just one example of the incidents related in the award-winning book, 1776. A masterful storyteller and avid historian, David McCullough, portrays the force often experienced by our Founding Fathers as they fought for independence from Britain. Quoting from journals and letters and written in story format, this book is an excellent read for anyone who appreciates those who have gone before and wants a better understanding of our history without the long list of dates and places.
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Brenda Wilcox
The Healing of America by T. R. Reid
The Healing of America is a thought-provoking journey through the tumultuous world of health care. In it T. K Reid challenges today's "conventional wisdom" regarding this important controversial topic. Reid, a longtime correspondent for the Washington Post, uses his personal search or treatment for an old shoulder injury incurred during his time in the navy to take an in-depth look at health care around the world.
Readers will find this timely book both very readable and informative.
Setting off on "a quest for two cures" Reid traveled around the world visiting doctors in places as diverse as Taiwan, France and India to see how their health-care systems worked and to find relief from the pain of his personal health issue. He discovered that some countries, Germany and Switzerland for example, manage to provide universal coverage while preserving a greater role for competing private-sector doctors and insurance companies. He concedes that government regulation and price controls also play a big role in the success of these systems. Also, in Britain, thought to be a "bastion of socialized medicine" he found that most doctors are in business for themselves and are often highly entrepreneurial in seeking new patients (including house calls.)
In The Healing of America Reid attempts to find the truths and myths being put forward in the health care debate in the United States. He shows us how other advanced countries combine universal coverage and government regulation with entrepreneurialism and respect for market forces to produce high-quality, low-cost health care. It is a good read that aids the reader in becoming an informed participant in this vitally important debate whose results will affect us all in the future.
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Lisa Harral
Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford
It is 1986, and Henry Lee is walking past the Panama Hotel in Seattle. The Hotel has been boarded up since World War II. Henry notices a crowd gathering on the steps, and the new owner of the Hotel is carrying out boxes that have been found in the basement. Boxes that contain personal items... photos, clothing, diaries, wedding pictures...all belonging to Japanese families who were evacuated to internment camps during the war. Seeing all these long-lost items take Henry back to his childhood, back to 1942 when Henry is just 12 years old.
This is a sentimental story with wonderful history lessons throughout it. It even mentions the Minidoka camp near Eden, Idaho! If you liked "Snow Falling on Cedars," you will enjoy this debut novel. I will not even be surprised, to see Oprah and a major Hollywood studio getting in contact with this author!
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Vickie Mendenhall
The Grave Yard Book by Neil Gaiman
I don't usually read stories that are centered on ghosts, ghouls, goblins, vampires, and so on. The authors usually get too involved with what is or is not "truth". This sometimes makes them hard to read just as a story. So, I was not going to read this year's Newbery Award book, THE GRAVE YARD BOOK.
It is a book about a child whose family is murdered but he escapes and is protected and raised by ghosts (and other things) in a graveyard. Sounds a bit dull. It was not dull.
So, yes I am GUILTY of judging this book by its cover! Do not make this same mistake! It was a good story! A real page-turner! Very imaginative, and very well written. I would definitely say it was meant to be read by age 13 or up. It is not a story I would read to my little ones as it was a bit spooky at times. Also, it would certainly promote discussions for a Book Club. So take a chance, check it out.
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Platte Lyman
Dying to Meet You Written by Kate Klise, Illustrated by M. Sarah Klise
Dying to Meet You, the first book in the 43 Old Cemetery Road series, tells the story of an 11 year old boy, a 64 year old best-selling author with writers block, a ghost, and the mansion that they live in.
The story is cleverly revealed through a selection of letters, notes, and newspaper articles. Young readers will enjoy the action as the boy and the ghost team up to convince the writer to leave the mansion so they can have it to themselves.
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Karen Fox
The Canticle Kingdom
by Michael Young
This is an exciting new fantasy novel that takes place during World War II
both in our world and in a magical place called "The Canticle Kingdom", which
is contained completely in a music box. Most of the inhabitants of the kingdom
do not realize this however, and are unaware that there is any world other than
their own.
The life of the Kingdom is dependent on the life of the queen. Whenever a queen is about
to die, a certain family, who knows the secret of the music box, plays the music and
someone who hears the music in our world will be drawn in to be the next queen. However,
as the story starts, the current queen has fallen mysteriously ill and the music box itself
is broken. It's up to two teenagers, Johann and Brigitta, to set things right by discovering
the secret of the world that they live in.
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