Auschwitz #34207 The Joe Rubinstein Story by Nancy Sprowell Geise 940.5318 Gei

History has a lot to teach us and it's always good to be reminded of things that happened - especially how and why it happened.  This isn't an easy book to read.  It is the story of Joe Rubinstein.  When Geise wrote this book in 2014 Joe was 92 years old.  So that is the spoiler - he survived and lived a long life.  Before he was born his parents lost a son to illness.  They went on to have more children including Joe and his twin brother.  By the end of the war Joe knew that he was the only one left in his family.  What the man went through was endured by millions but it is so much worse when we read about an individual.  There were several times that he shouldn't have survived, but he did.  We learn about the entire life of Joe - his childhood, the war, the post-war and then a brief part that summarizes the second part of his life.  All the Holocaust stories are important.  We can't ever forget that it happened.

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First Dads by Joshua Kendall 973.099 Ken

I loved this book!  It is filled with so many interesting stories.  There are lots of great books about our Presidents but this is one with a twist.  It is about their roles as fathers and as an extension it tells how they were parented.  Kendall has divided his book into kinds of dads.  They are: The Preoccupied, Playful Pals, Double-Dealing Dads, Tiger Dads, The Grief-Stricken and The Nurturers.  It was definitely interesting to find out who was in which section.  I have to say I was shocked about several stories of the Presidents who have served during my lifetime.  Here is one. The children of George and Barbara Bush were left in the care of friends for long stretches in 1948.  In 1959 they were again pawned off for four months.  Here is a quote from Jeb Bush when he was talking about that time.  "At least we weren't put in a kennel"!

A lot of the book is about the First Kids.  There are a lot of sad stories about what happened to them.  A very entertaining book!!

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The Last Time She Saw Him by Jane Haseldine MYS Has

This was a good mystery which was also a quick read.  The story revolves around Julia Gooden.  At the beginning of the book Julia, a reporter who covers the crime beat, spends a lot of her time trying to protect her young boys - from what?  The evil that she knows is out there.  She and her husband are living apart but both of them are still actively parenting the boys.  Their problem is Julia's obsession with 'protecting' her kids.  David had tried to convince her that the boys were fine and that she needed to let them have a more normal life.  Julia's obsession is because of something that happened 30 years ago.  After a day at Funland (bankrolled with the twenty dollars their absentee father had given them), Julia and her older brother return home to a mother who is passed out.  They go to bed but someone comes in and abducts Ben.  The case is still cold.   Julia is afraid that history could repeat itself.  And on the Labor Day weekend of the 30th anniversary Julia receives a phone call that makes her very uneasy.  And then it happens - her youngest son, Will, is taken from their home.  Are the cases connected????  Read it and find out!

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The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell FIC Jew

Clare was married to Chris, a film maker, and they had two daughters - Pip and Grace.  But their lives were shattered when Chris had a schizophrenic break with reality and burned down the family home.  Fortunately Clare and the girls were not in the home but they came home to see their house in flames and their father ranting like a mad man in front.  He is taken to a psychiatric hospital and Clare takes her daughters to live in a new place called Virginia Crescent.  It is almost like a separate world.  The houses all have access to a large park.  Many of the residents have lived here for decades. The kids move through each others' houses and lives.

Pip and Grace take a while to become part of the 'gang' of kids that live there and spend a great amount of time in the park.  There are lots of secrets and dark history in Virginia Crescent.  This is the story of one long, hot summer that ends with one teenager in a coma.  The story is told from the viewpoint of various characters.  The characters are great and the book is filled with turns and twists.

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Old Age A Beginner's Guide by Michael Kinsley 305.26 Kin

This is a book for baby boomers.  Kinsley writes, "Sometimes I feel like a scout from my generation, sent out ahead to experience in my fifties what even the healthiest Boomers are going to experience in their sixties, seventies or eighties."  He is ahead of the rest of us because he has been dealing with Parkinson's for a couple of decades.  He is thinking more about the end because of it.  He writes about competitive longevity and he who has his marbles at the end are the winners.  This might sound like a depressing book but I found it entertaining and at times thought-provoking.  I liked his take on this time of life. Another quote I loved was: "The easiest way to shuffle off to Buffalo with a good reputation is to earn it legitimately.  If you want to be remembered as a good person, then try to be a good person.  Who knows?  It might just work. But start now, because if you're a boomer, time is running out."

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A Few of the Girls: Stories by Maeve Binchy FIC Bin

I am still so sad that Maeve Binchy is no longer with us.  I am thrilled when anything penned by her comes out.  This is a collection of short stories - many of them quite short.  I am not a fan of short stories - except for hers.  I am always in awe the way she puts so much into so few words.  Some of these stories had been published because beside books she also wrote for magazines.  Some of them were written as a gift for friends of hers - what a treasure.

If you are a fan of Binchy you will want to read this.  As always, she writes about situations and people that are so familiar to her readers.  The world seems to be going crazy and I loved having the opportunity to  escape into the fiction of my favorite author.

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The Bridge Ladies: a memoir by Betsy Lerner 305.2 Ler

  

I loved this book.  The Bridge Ladies refers to the women with whom Betsy's mom has been playing bridge for decades.  Betsy has known these women since she was a child and her attitude toward the 'bridge club' changed as she grew up.  Then Betsy left to get an education and live her own life.  After twenty years of living and working in NYC her husband is offered a great job and Betsy finds herself moving back to New Haven - where her mother still lives.

The book is about the relationship between mother and daughter.  Betsy will find out things about her mother's life that she never knew before.  The story of the other ladies is interwoven.  Since I lived in part of the club's era I found it fascinating.  I also play bridge so I enjoyed Betsy's attempt to learn the game.  Any mother or daughter will recognize some of the issues between the generations.  At times I had tears in my eyes and other times I laughed out loud.  Great book!

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