The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindburgh and the Epic Age of Flight by Winston Groom

  My dad is a pilot, so when I was growing up, he often told me the stories of great pilots - like these and others.  Rickenbacker was a particular favorite of mine - America's Ace of Aces from the 94th Hat in the Ring squadron.  This book had a lot of details that weren't in my dad's stories though.  Fascinating details

Here's just few - Rickenbacker was told by the Army that he was too old to fly, so he had to work around.  He started as a race car driver but eventually became interested in flying.  He  survived being shot down in a B-17 for 24 days at sea with 6 other men.   He went on to become the founder of Eastern airlines.

Jimmy Doolittle was one crazy Mick.   Who else would agree to a one way trip to bomb mainland Japan - taking off in a bomber from the decks of a Naval ship?  He also went to MIT and went on to receive the first PhD in Aeronautics from the school.   His work as a test pilot helped improve instrumentation on planes and solve many problems facing pilots in the early days of flying - like fog and storms.   

I don't think anything really needs to be added about Charles Lindburgh and he's my least favorite of the trio, for whatever reason.  But there is so much interesting information about him, too for those who are interested in learning more about his story and the many ways he contributed to flying.

This is a nonfiction that reads like a page turner.  I loved it.  Every minute was fascinating!  5 out of 5 stars.

Sissy by Jacob Tobia

  I read this book for Pride month and let me just say, that it is the best book that I have read in a LONG time.  If I could have given it ten stars, I totally would have.  I would say that I loved every minute but that wouldn't be right, but this book is life changing.

It's real and it's honest.  I love that it doesn't place blame but just sees things in a real and honest way.   Jacob had a very challenging  time coming into  their own, and this book just spells it all out.  From their earliest memories of being told which toys they could and could not play with - being teased for being feminine - and repressed.... all through their teens years, experiences in Church and life in college and onward.  

I was surprised at how much a role the Church played in Jacob's life and I was very moved with how they portrayed both the good and the bad in that relationship.   It gave me a sense of hope, but also served as a reminder that we have a long way to go.

I cheered when Jacob ran the Brooklyn Bridge,  I wanted to hold their hand and sit with them during Christmas Eve mass.  I felt their pain at losing a beloved Grandmother. The letter to his parents at the end?  I balled like a baby. 

As a parent, you hope you're not THAT parent,  but none of us are given manuals on how to raise our children, how to respond.  All we can do is hope we don't fuck up too badly and when we do, that we can apologize and learn from our mistakes.  This book is a wonderful reminder that we all have ways we can grow. 

 This book just spoke to me on every single level and I can't recommend it highly enough.  Like Jacob, it's FABULOUS.   

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

  This was a middle grade book that I read for my coronacation challenge.  It is a beautiful book - a coming of age story about the love of a boy and his pet.  But it was also so much more than that.  It's like the modern day equivalent of the Yearling, but simpler perhaps.

Peter lives with his father.  His mother has passed from cancer.   Along the way, Peter finds a young fox whose family has been killed by coyotes.   He takes in the young kit, names it Pax and raises it.    Eventually, his father enlists in the military and Peter must go live with his Grandfather 300 miles away.  Part of the relocation involves releasing Pax back into the wild.

Once Peter gets to his father's, he realizes that he's made a terrible mistake and he plans a 300 mile journey to find his friend and bring him home.   Most of the story is about the journey and what happens to both Peter and Pax along the way.   They both grow and change. 

I spent a lot of time talking to my husband about this book.  I thought that the father's perspective wasn't well explained or developed.  Perhaps that was purposeful.  Peter has a naive, heroic view of his father that evolves through the course of the story.   Ending ultimately with "sometimes the apple falls very far from the tree."   This book gave me a lot to think about.  I gave it 5 stars and think it would be a great discussion for any middle grade class.  

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

   I just read this one for my book club.  WOW.   I'm really glad I did.  It was the hardest book to put down since I read the Silent Patient.  Loved it.  So many twists and turns - all REALLY well done. 

This is the story of Emma,  a young 14 year old girl who goes away to camp for the first time.  It is a well known camp for girls of the affluent.   While there she meets Vivienne, Natalie and Allison.   Vivienne especially takes Emma under her wing, treats her like a little sister.  But one night, the three girls sneak out of their cabin and never return.

This story takes place in the past ( 15 years ago) but also in the present.  Camp Nightengale has just reopened and Emma, now a famous artist, has been invited back to teach the girls art.   

The author does a wonderful job of carefully weaving the stories together, revealing just enough of the past and mixing it - at just the right moment- with the present.  This book really grabbed me and kept me reading.  I usually have a book for the pool, the tub and bedtime.  This book was so engrossing that it superseded everything else I was reading because it had to.  

5 stars.  

Love Story by Erich Segal

    I read this one for the coronacation challenge.  The category was a book written the year you were born.  I was going to read some obscure Sc-fi title but I just couldn't get into it.  All the books from 1970  seemed a little iffy,  I'm not sure it was a great year for literature, so I decided to go with a best seller.  Enter Love Story.

So, if you are my age or older,  you definitely know the story.  "Love means never having to say you're sorry".  And even knowing going in exactly what I was going to get,  I STILL ugly cried.  I didn't love it, but it is a moving story about what it really means to love another person.

Some thoughts on the characters - Oliver, of course, was completely predictable.  A man's man.  A Jock.  Jenny calls him "preppy".  Big money but he is also more than he appears.  He leaves all that his family can provide for a chance at love - with Jenny.  Let's talk about her though.  Were women really like this in the 70's?  Or is she just a man trying to write a female character?  I really couldn't figure it out.  There were things about her I loved, but she seemed like the "cool" girl working too hard at times.  

Either way,  it's a beautiful, short and meaningful story and I'm glad I read it. 

Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

This is the story of a family - Ben, Maddy and their three children: Emma, Gracie and Ethan ( I think).   Maddy is a social worker and Ben is a lawyer and this book is about the things that can and do go wrong and also the things that make them right.  

Randy Susan Meyers does a fantastic job with storytelling in this book.  She switches the book between the main characters of Ben, Maddy and their oldest daughter, Emma.  Ben is your typical, self- absorbed idiot.  Nothing is more important than what he is doing and what he has going on.  His family takes a back seat to his self importance, until, one day, he has an accident of marriage.

This story is about how families struggle and how they come together.  I don't want to give away what happens, but this one is well worth the read.  Emma was my favorite character.  I could see parts of my own teenage daughter through her angst.   I could relate to how all the characters, even the initially unlikable Ben, felt.  

My mother recommended this book to me and she never steers me wrong.  I gave this one 5 out of 5 stars, and now I'm off looking for my next read.  What are you reading??