Unbroken

I just finished our next book club book and it was fantastic! 

Unbroken is the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who enlisted in World War II. A plane he was on over the Pacific went down and him and the two other men who survived were lost at sea. They floated on the shark infested open ocean for a total of 47 days, and then captured by the Japanese Navy and taken as prisoners of war. The story goes through Louie's journey as a POW, and after the war. 

This isn't the happiest of stories, it is about the struggles of wartime and the men who are at the heart of the war, sometimes the worst parts of it. But, it is also the story of the triumph of the human spirit and how the will to overcome and live can get you through the toughest experiences.

It is very well written, and you get much more than just Louies story. You follow some others that he is close to, and get a good amount of history about the war. There are some great pictures to look at as you go along as well. I would highly recommend this book - a great read!

Here are some pictures from the Unbroken website:

A young Louie at his home in Torrence, Ca

Louie in the 1936 Olympic trials

Examining the plane after coming in from a fight

Louie skateboarding recently, a sport her took up in his 80s

Stephanie Plum

Ok another book post already, but the Stephanie Plum books are so easy to get through!

I just finished Smokin' Seventeen, and it was great. If you aren't familiar with the Stephanie Plum series you need to get squinted. Yes, they are on book 17, and 18 comes out in just a couple of months, but don't let that scare you. These are fun, quick reads that you'll want to jump to the next one on.

Stephanie is an average girl in Jersey who, for lack of a better job, becomes a bounty hunter. She isn't good at this job, and usually catches the bad guys by sheer luck and coincidence. Her sidekick is Lula, a plus size lady is size 2 spandex and stilettos, who means business. She also has a couple men in her life that she just can't pick from.

This book she is up to her usual antics of cars being destroyed, people out to kill her, and having no luck catching anyone. There are some fun new characters in this one that she has to catch, including a senior citizen who thinks he may be a vampire. Her mom adds to her Morelli/Ranger dilemma by trying to set her up with the former high school football star, and Morelli's grandma Bella is putting the eye, and other of her 'curses' on Stephanie left and right.

If you are already a fan, be sure to pick this one up her back and forth between the men is worth it! If you aren't then go get One for the Money and get reading!

Oh. My. Goodness!! I'm so glad that I have just Googled One for the Money, because I just saw they are making a movie of it that comes out in January! Now, Katherine Heigl is playing Stephanie, which I'm not totally convinced about, but I'm sure a preview will be out soon and we'll see.

I'm Down

I've just finished my most recent book and I wanted to share.

Yep, I'm Down. I came across this book as I was doing one of my favorite ways to pass the time...doing a Google image search to find a funny picture to use to reply to an email. I wanted to let whoever it was at the moment know I was on board for whatever shenanigans they were planning, so I did an image search for 'I'm down.' This popped up first, and I promptly used this a reply to the email. I then had to know more about this book.

So, I read the synopsis and immediately reserved it at the library. Well, I got it and held off for a few days before digging in. Once I started, it was a quick finish. Here is the synopsis from the book cover:


Mishna Wolff grew up in a poor black neighborhood with her single father, a white man who truly believed he was black. "He strutted around with a short perm, a Cosby-esqe sweater, gold chains and a Kangol--telling jokes like Redd Fox, and giving advice like Jesse Jackson. You couldn't tell my father he was white. Believe me, I tried," writes Wolff. And so from early childhood on, her father began his crusade to make his white daughter "down."

Unfortunately, Mishna didn't quite fit in with the neighborhood kids: she couldn't dance, she couldn't sing, she couldn't double Dutch and she was the worst player on her all-black basketball team. She was shy, uncool, and painfully white. And yet when she was suddenly sent to a rich white school, she found she was too "black" to fit in with her white classmates.

"I'm Down" is a hip, hysterical and at the same time beautiful memoir that will have you howling with laughter, recommending it to friends and questioning what it means to be black and white in America.

I really enjoyed this read. Mishna is able to portray her young life with humor, but able to make you feel like your right there with her in the neighborhood or at school. There were parts where I felt sympathy for her in life, and places where I laughed out loud. (Just wait til you read about her little step brother falling out the back of her dad's van when they hit a pot hole, you'll be laughing hysterically as well.)

Pick it up and try it out, it's a fun, quick read that will make you ponder a bit as well!

Baked Explorations

I love the Baked cookbook. I'd have to say it has become my favorite. Everything I've tried from it has been pretty amazing. A while back the creators of Baked came out with a second cookbook Baked Explorations. I haven't yet purchased this one, as there were still a few things from the first one I wanted to do. But, the other day at the library I was browsing the cookbooks, and there it was.

Just waiting for me to take it home and try some things out. So, of course I picked it up, took it home and started looking through. I was trying to watch an episode of Lost at the same time and discovered that you can't read an amazing cookbook and stay tuned into Lost. The cookbook won out, and I came back to the show. I love what I've seen so far and can't wait to try some of the goodies out! I'll share the results here once I've done something yummy!

Another note, we are having a little pintrest challenge party tonight that I'm super excited about. We each chose a project that we pinned, and are creating it! I'll share the results of that as well!

The Help

I'm reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett...again

I read this one just over a year ago and loved it. It made me want to talk in a southern accent all the time and bake some yummy food (but not a chocolate pie). Since the movie is coming out next week I decided it's time for a refresher and picked up at the library again. I'm loving just as much the second time around. If you haven't had the chance to get to this one yet, please do it soon!