APRIL 2011

GREETINGS BOOK LOVERS!

We held our last Bookshare meeting at Sara Trivedi's home on March 30th. My apologies that it has taken me so long to get this blog written and sent out, but at least it will be before our next Bookshare meeting on this Wednesday, April 27th.

Here are the books that were reported on:

BETH HEDENGREN:

1. "A Lion and a Lamb" by Rand H. Packer

A Return to Palmyra

In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established in Palmyra, New York. But within a few short years, persecution had driven the Saints away from the Church’s birthplace. For many decades, northwestern New York was a hostile place for a Mormon.

However, in 1915, President Joseph F. Smith felt impressed the time had come for the Church to again have a presence there. He called Willard and Rebecca Bean to return to Palmyra.

As a former prizefighter, Willard had the temperament to withstand the unkind words and harsh treatment they received from their neighbors, while Rebecca s kind demeanor served to create friends out of former enemies.

As the couple s initial five-year calling stretched on for many years, they were instrumental in many key events, such as the acquisition of the Hill Cumorah and other prominent sites.

Most importantly, their sacrifices and faithfulness opened the way for thousands of Saints to visit Palmyra in later years and partake of the Spirit of the Lord that is there.

This is their story.

2. The 3 books in the Flavia De Luce Triology: "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie",

"The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag" and "A Red Herring Without Mustard" by Alan Bradley.

They are all absolutely delightful and a joy to read.

SARA TRIVEDI

1. "Cutting For Stone - Abraham Verghese

tarred Review. Lauded for his sensitive memoir (My Own Country) about his time as a doctor in eastern Tennessee at the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, Verghese turns his formidable talents to fiction, mining his own life and experiences in a magnificent, sweeping novel that moves from India to Ethiopia to an inner-city hospital in New York City over decades and generations. Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a devout young nun, leaves the south Indian state of Kerala in 1947 for a missionary post in Yemen. During the arduous sea voyage, she saves the life of an English doctor bound for Ethiopia, Thomas Stone, who becomes a key player in her destiny when they meet up again at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa. Seven years later, Sister Praise dies birthing twin boys: Shiva and Marion, the latter narrating his own and his brothers long, dramatic, biblical story set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Ethiopia, the life of the hospital compound in which they grow up and the love story of their adopted parents, both doctors at Missing. The boys become doctors as well and Vergheses weaving of the practice of medicine into the narrative is fascinating even as the story bobs and weaves with the power and coincidences of the best 19th-century novel.

MARJEAN GIRAUD

1. "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites" by Chris Heimdinger

I personally have read this entire series an I think it is wonderful. The books just draw you in as you go throught the pages one by one. This book starts out with the story of Jim Hawkins at 13 and his lack of desire to live the gospel. When he goes to a Home Teaching appointment with his dad and is told by Garth Plimpton about an ancient undiscovered wall painting he found depicting a group of people pictured in white being chased into a rainbow colored hole by people depicted in a darker color. Then, shortly thereafter he hears the legend of the Rainbow Room in Frost Cave. From there Garth, Jim, and his little sister Jenny are launched into an adventure into the land of the Nephites where they fight in wars, Serve as interpreters and live an adventure they won't soon forget (unless they tell).

2. "Women of Covenant - The Story of Relief Society" --Janeth Russell Cannon

On March 17, 1842, twenty women assembled in the upstairs room of Joseph Smith's red brick store in Nauvoo, Illinois, were organized as the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo. More than a century and a half later that organization, now known as the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has more than four million members in 165 countries and territories, uniting women all over the world. Women of the Covenant traces the rich history of the Relief Society, but its scope is much broader than that. As the authors write, it is "the story of women of the Church and the sacred promises that bind them to God and to the community of his saints." In 1842, Emma Hale Smith, the first president of the Relief Society, declared, "We are going to do something extraordinary." Women of the Covenant shows the extraordinary accomplishments of this unique sisterhood.

GERI CHRISTENSEN

1. "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" --Helen Simonson

This book was reviewed last month by Beth Hedengren. The only thing I have to add to it was that I LOVED it and hope that everyone will read and enjoy it as much as I did.

We're looking forward to our next Bookshare gathering. See you there!