Summer Reading Part Two

Summer is quickly coming to an end.  I can't believe the weather we are having here in Georgia.  We have had about four or 4/5 days of mixed weather. There will be rain in the morning and sunshine and humidity in the afternoon.  I have noticed that some of the trees in my neighborhood are starting to change color three weeks earlier than expected.  I am not ready for summer to be over, so I am hoping that we still have a good month of warm, sunny days ahead of us, as I have a few garden BBQs planned for the month of September.  Unfortunately, I didn't get as many books as I would have liked to read this summer. Taking care of the children's needs just took precedence.

Can't Hurt Me took the majority of the summer to read.  It is a heavy book. I am not one to read multiple books at one time, so this book was definitely one of the reasons I only managed to read three books.  My husband suggested this book to me. I probably wouldn't have picked this book. As I usually don't read these types of books. David Goggins tells the story of growing up in an abusive, poor, black family in Indiana, where being black made one stand out even more. The story moves on quickly from the victim to what I did to change my circumstances and what you can do when faced with adversity. David went on to achieve many great things despite his many challenges. His story is very inspiring. Warning: The book is laced with lots of foul language, which is not a book I would give to a teenager, though I don't know because they probably hear this type of language at school.

Loved, loved, loved this book.  This book is reminiscent of Patriot Games and The Fugitive-type stories. I appreciate that David writes a clean story.  What I mean by that is that he doesn't need to add lousy language to attract an audience, and the same goes for adding love scenes for the same purpose. Don't take me wrong, I am not against that if it adds to the story or is necessary for furthering the storyline; however, I find so many authors today put things in like that simply because they feel like they won't sell books if they don't.  This wasn't the first time I have read from this author.  I read his book, Wish You Well, many years ago and enjoyed the story.  You will enjoy this book if you enjoy a little who-done-it story.

A Separate Peace was a book I found at my local park in one of those free libraries.  The book is not very long, but it also took me a while to read. The book is set in New Hampshire during WW2 in an all-boys private boarding school.  The story explores the theme of coming of age between two friends in a time of war when there is a definite expectation of serving one's country and peer pressure from the other boys at the school. On the title of the book cover, an element of evil is promised.  I will let the reader be the judge of that. The book was more or less a cautionary tale.  I didn't love the story, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good story.

Well, I need to run. I have many things I need to do before the weekend starts. I am co-hosting a party tomorrow night for a church family who is traveling on a world adventure with their children, and I promised to make some of the food.  I need to run to Costco to get some ingredients for that.  I hope you have a great weekend.