Best Review Contest

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

This is the thread where you can submit reviews for the Best Review contest. The thread is open for submissions and will close at Midnight EST on November 16, 2019. Voting will start the next day and run until the end of the GR day on November 30. The person whose review gets the most votes will get to design a 20 point task for the Winter Challenge.

To be eligible for this task opportunity you must have achieved at least 100 points on the Fall 2019 Challenge Readerboard by midnight Eastern Time on November 15, 2019. Only one task per person per challenge.

Just a reminder that each person can only submit one review - but you can make edits to your review up until the end. The review does not have to be any particular length and doesn't have to be a positive one (i.e. you can choose to review a book you didn't like).
Please include your Readerboard Name.

PLEASE DO NOT comment on people's reviews in this thread - this is for submissions only - you will be able to comment when voting begins.

SPOILER ALERT!- These reviews may include spoilers

[Aprilleigh]

*** removed ***

[Joanne]

JoanneMI

Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Mitchell Zuckoff 5 Stars


Nearly five years ago, it became apparent to me that a clear and troubling gap existed on the crowded shelf of 9/11 books. Many of the books already published were excellent, but no one volume told the complete narrative of the day itself, covering key events, issues, and timelines (all four hijackings, the immediate results of the crashes, and the initial chaotic military and government response). I also thought it particularly important to do so in a way that focused on individuals at the center of these events. When I combined those realizations with the knowledge that an entire generation had no independent memories of 9/11, the task became clear. Almost as soon as I began my research, I recognized that some people who had never been ready to tell their stories had reached a point where they considered it important to do so. As a result of those factors (along with several others, but that would be a much longer reply), I became convinced this was not only the right time to write this book, but also that it would be much richer than it would have been if I had begun my work a decade earlier. Mitchell Zuckoff

Every year in September I try to find a book to read with 9/11 as the subject. It is just my own personal way of holding true to "Never Forget". Out of all of those books this one and (The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland) are the very best on the subject. Mitchell Zuckoff was a reporter for The Boston Globe on September 11, 2001. Along with the help of 6 other reporters, after the attack, he wrote a narrative entitled Six Lives . That article is the basis for this book.

What is different about this book? The book is divided into to 3 sections. The Sky (Fall From The Sky ), The Ground (Fall To The Ground) and the Aftermath (Rise From the Ashes). A lot of the stories, of people who lived through this, we have all heard before. Trust me when I say there are things you did not know, people you have not heard from. Trust me when I say, you will gasp as you read, you will cry. Another difference in this book: It is about the families who suffered the greatest loss imaginable-Politics never enters the narrative. President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are only bit players here. There were resources (The trial of Zacarias Moussaoui one of the conspirators of the attacks. Testimony from families and heartbreaking interviews) that were not available earlier. Zuckoff obtained access to these and other important documents and used them with the utmost reverence in his writing.

If you only read 1 "more" book covering 9/11, let it be this one. Mitchell Zuckoff is a superb writer and story teller.

[Laura H L]

Laurah30
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms

I rated this book 4 stars.

This is a smart, funny book that captures the idea of the modern woman, trying to juggle family and career responsibilities.
Amy is a mother of two who has survived her husband abandoning the family to run off and figure out his own midlife crisis. During this time of disbelief, disappointment and anger, she gets herself sorted by going out and getting a job as a school librarian.
Her priority is clearly her family yet she manages to work at her career too, coming up with great ideas to engage reluctant middle school readers.
Her husband shows up after 3 years and wants to spend time with his children as he realizes that he has lost precious time with them and wants to be a good dad. He announces that he wants to spend a week with them on his own. Amy gets to take a week to herself and go do whatever she wants.
Amy, being a practical and caring mom, talks it over with her children and they all agree they should give dad a chance. So Amy, with the support of her best friend from college, Talia, heads to NYC to reclaim the part of her that became subsumed as a result of motherhood.
What I love about this book is the snappy writing that gives us a better appreciation of the angst Amy is feeing. She tends towards being a martyr but thanks to her daughter and her two female friends, Talia and Lena, Amy is guided to a good place where she regains her own sense of self.
An easy read that made me laugh and made me appreciate how women can support one another as they work through complex feelings and battle gender stereotypes.

[Kathy KS]

Kathy KS

Borders of Infinity, by Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't usually re-read, because there are so many books out there to try. But I have to admit that this was my third reading of the stories included in this collection by Bujold. This time it was because I just finished her newest Vorkosigan work, "The Flowers of Vashnoi". I wanted to once again read "The Mountains of Mourning," since they are thematically connected.

As usual, I enjoyed sharing these early adventures of young Miles. Miles at all ages is one of my all-time favorite characters, but his young self has even more of the off-the-wall personality that has endeared him to fans for decades.

If you've never encountered Miles and his extended group of Vorkosigan relatives and friends, give yourself a treat. Although a science fiction "series", each book over the years is also connected to other genres: mysteries, romances, police procedurals, etc. You may like some more than others, but this world is well-worth reading about! Read in published order or chronological order; I've done both.

[Trish]

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, Fannie Flagg

Reviewed by trishhartuk. Four stars.

Prior to this, the only book I’d read by this author was Fried Green Tomatoes . The All-Girl Filling Station follows a similar sort of pattern, with alternating timelines which ultimately join up together, and is written with the same dry, understated humour. It also shares the same focus on strong, female characters.

In 2005, Mrs Sookie Earle has spent her life living in the shadow of her mother, Lenore, failing to live up to her expectations and having to deal with the fact that her family eventually all end up going a little crazy. Then, by accident, she discovers that she’s not Lenore’s daughter at all. She was actually adopted as a baby, and her real mother was a Polish woman named Fritzi Jurdabralinski.

In 1909, Stanislaw Jurdabralinski arrives in the US. He settles in Pulaski, Wisconsin a few years later, marries Linka, and they have Fritzi, her brother Wink, and their three sisters. He opens a gas station, and becomes a well-known member of the community. The focus then shifts to Fritzi and her siblings, as it moves through the years towards and into WWII, when the family really come into their own.

The “current” timeline has a lot of the humour, as Sookie comes to terms with not being who she always believed she was – or who her mostly-crazy mother said she was. The historical timeline is the story of how an ordinary family became something greater. More importantly, it’s the history of a lesser-known element of the US war effort: the female WASP pilots, who delivered aircraft from the factory to the forces. I found their story fascinating, and plan to read up on their history.

Both threads are linked by the journeys of self-discovery as Sookie and Fritzi learn who they really are, and what they can do when they need to, and I liked the way they eventually wove together at the end, when Sookie and Fritzi finally meet.

All in all, it was a funny, satisfying book with well-drawn characters. Recommended for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, humour, strong female characters or some combination of the above.