Moloka'i

I loved this book. In the beginning I wasn't sure I wanted to read on due to the nature of the disease (and the lack of knowledge about it) but I am glad I did. I can not comprehend facing the horrors that Rachel had to deal with at a young age and through out her life. I found myself crying many times. Although this book was heartwrentching it was also very inspiring.
“God didn’t give man wings; He gave him the brain and the spirit to give himself wings,” counsels Rachel’s friend. “Just as He gave us the capacity to laugh when we hurt, or to struggle on when we feel like giving up. I’ve come to believe that how we choose to live with pain, or injustice, or death…is the true measure of the Divine within us. Some … choose to do harm to themselves and others. Others … bear up under their pain and help others to bear it.”
This book shows us that we can endure what we have to endure and have a cheerful attitude about every thing we have to deal with.
I do not undestand why her friend Leilani was written in the way that she was. Maybe one of you can help me out with that one. Wasn't one disfigurement enough?

so.......this new book

Who is the author?

4 of 5 stars

Sorry I am so behind. I finally finished Guernsey, and I enjoyed it. It was very fun to read.

I loved reading The Undaunted. I do agree with Gramma though, I was very surprised to be back in the mines also but I liked the background on the fictional characters. Learning more about our ancesters was the best though. I had pictured Jens Nielson short and cubby but now I have a better idea of what he truly looked like. I also found that he was an amazing man that I would like to learn more about. I was really impressed to learn that he was more crippled than I had realized and that he still went on this trek with determination to see it done. I liked reading the footnotes as much as I did the story.
I have since read The Hole in the Rock by David Miller. I was hoping to learn more about the people who went on the trek and how they felt and how they accomplished it but it dealt more with the day to day doings and not really much about the people. I did find it funny that all of the writings of those who traveled through the hole barely mention it. It was a very good book though.

The Undaunted by Gerald Lund

I was so excited to be reading about the Hole in the Rock pioneers, and then I find myself in the coal mines of England. I wasn't prepared for the chapters and chapters before we got to the "call to the San Juan." Not that I hated it, but I wanted the book to be about the trek. I really enjoyed it when it finally got to the historical part of the novel and enjoyed reading about your ancestors, but even then, I wanted more of the real people and less of the fictional. Notice the glaring typo at the beginning of Chapter 65, page 702. I can't imagine how that one got through the editors.

1 Book 2 Months

Because our lives are so busy I think we should extend the book club to two months per book.

For October - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
November & December - The Undaunted by Gerald Lund
January & February - Moloka' by Alan Brennert

Please post a review when you have completed reading the book. Also, please share any other books that you have read.

Happy October

Well, it's a new month and I still haven't finished the book for September... I started it but had the hardest time getting into it. Kirsten said to just push through it because it got better, but it just isn't gonna happen. So I look forward to the October's book while Avery sleeps :)