Two Books to Read for November

Ladies we have two months to read one or both of these different books before the Lakeside Book Club meets again. We have many who will be traveling so we will meet again on Thursday November 12, 2015.  Mark your calendars and also expect a reminder email in November. Our group was asked to email recommendations and here are two that came in that hold great reviews. The Nightingale: by Kristin Hannah  available on AMAZON at $12.99 for a kindle download with 12,670 five star reviews - As a New York Times Best Selling book, the author exposes the horrors of World War II in France. She uses the small town of Carriveau as a main setting that dramatically contrasts with the evil that is about to come to a country that has surrendered to the Nazis, and is now being occupied. The novel also develops the story of two courageous sisters who, ironically, get to come together to join forces in a time when hope, faith, and unity are lost. In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are.  This historical fiction book is set in France in the year 1939.  . It is the period when the country surrenders to the Germans, and the Nazi regime begins its occupation. While the city of Paris takes in most of the heat, the quiet village of Carriveau is on the brink of changing forever. The once peaceful and bucolic town has turned into a horrific show of airplanes, war tanks, bombs, and the scary sight of Nazis

from the SS, the Gestapo and the regular Wehrmacht all over.  In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive. Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth.  The Lakeside Book Club ladies may also prefer the second rare write over the above historical fiction.  The Lovely Bones was also made into a movie.  

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold    AMAZON $6.99 with 3,892 four star reviews.  ~ It is a unique novel that apparently tapped a vein of universal human experience.  It resonates with readers of all ages and it remains a phenomenal #1 bestseller. It is celebrated for its narrative artistry, its luminous clarity of emotion, and its astoniishing power to lay claim to the hearts of millions of readers around the world. The story was made into a movie starring Mark Walberg. It is a haunting and heartbreaking tale that unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and from where the deceased narrates from above.  The author fashions it from the perspective that everyone has his or her own version of heaven.  The author supports the imagination of a child as heaven resembles athletic fields and the landscape of a suburban high school. “A heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen, Glamour a and Vogue." This heaven placed child named Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book.  Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts a preference on living. The author spins a surprising finish, which may tend to tidy up a little too well for everyone in the end, however, no matter our thoughts about heaven, we certainly all hope that heaven is indeed a place filled with incredibly happy endings.