Painter's Daughter Review

"The Painter's Daughter" by Julie Klassen follows Sophie Dupont, a painter's daughter and a painter in her own right who is swayed from her own better judgment to comply with the whims of Wesley Overtree.  Wesley is a fellow painter and rich gentleman with suiting himself and his own desires playing first on his mind.  Eventually Sophie finds herself pregnant and abandoned.  When Wesley's brother, Stephen, comes looking for him and finds Sophie in dire straits, he offers to marry her and make her child legitimate. 
The story is kind of predictable.  You know exactly how it will end up.  However, it is told well, the characters are amusing and it is a great read to pass the time.  I would recommend this novel to women who are busy and wanting to read, but not be to into it; still able to pay attention to her surroundings.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Bethany House. 

The truth may or may not be out there

In celebration of the Season 10 finale on television, I am giving a review of "X-Files: Season 11, Volume 1,"  a graphic novella based on the show written by Joe Harris.  The comic and novel series are not hand in hand books with the show.  What happens in one does not necessarily pertain to the other.  More of a parallel universe thing.  In Season 11, Mulder is once again on the loose with the government on his tail while Scully is chasing after him, saving his butt.  A satellite has been shot down/fallen and being searched for.  The Peacock family, remember the family that inbred for generations and lived separated from the world, makes an appearance.  Gibson, kid with glasses that reads minds, also makes a come back.  He is all grown up and somehow involved with the FBI and/or talking animals.  Maybe he is the animals, I'm not sure.  As per usual when it comes to the X-Files, the reader/viewer is usually confused and yet intrigued.  Writing part of the story in their own head to fill in the blanks.  The novel is a little hard to follow since it jumps around in storyline and in time, but once the reader becomes accustomed to the flow, it becomes more comfortable.  I received this e-graphic novel from www.netgalley.com. 

A different girl that rides a train

"The Girl from the Train" (not to be confused with the other train/girl novel) was written by Irma Joubert and is about a young girl who escapes from a train headed for Auschwitz in Nazi governed Poland.  Gretl Schmidt has been living in the ghetto when she is moved by train to Auschwitz.  Her grandmother helps her and her sister to escape and Gretl is later found by Jakob, a Polish resistance fighter who takes her in with his family.  He comes to learn of a movement getting pure Aryan children of Protestant faith out of Europe and into South Africa.  The only problem being Gretl is 1/4 Jewish and being brought up in the Catholic faith with Jakob's family. 
The book reads like two novels.  The first half takes place in Europe during the war with Jakob fighting for Poland and Gretl being a child.  The second half takes place in South Africa during the 1950s with Jakob being an engineer and Gretl being a 20 year old college student.  It is a rather long book, however, the writing is done well.  Joubert deals with the Post traumatic stress of Gretl and the weaving of different cultures well.  Gretl's world is very interesting with all of the languages and cultures mixing and relating.  Especially how the races can see the difference in each other, when they are all the same color.  In America the colors are rather vague.  White is white, black is black.  The Europe that Joubert describes has so much detail in the people's race.  They are white, but this one is white like this and this one is white like that, making them very different.  Which is kinda baffling.  I give this book 4 stars.  Very good.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review from www.booklookbloggers.com. 

Beatitudes Study

"Blessings From Above:  A Deeper Look at the Beatitudes"  by Heather Hart is a study-devotional.  Hart picks apart the Beatitudes from the New Testament and defines them, making them easier to understand and relate to.  She brings to modern day.  Each day covers a beatitude and then gives a "in other words" section.  The "In other words" section involved a little further scripture reading and questions.  I felt the book gave a good place for a group study to start, but without the discussion left the reader feeling a little unfinished.  I would recommend this in a group setting.  There were a few editorial mistakes that interrupted the reading, such as piece for peace and there for their.  Little things that the editor should have caught, but a spell check would not have.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review from www.bodyandsoulpublishing.com 

Shylock

"Shylock is My Name" by Howard Jacobson follows two men, both Jews and both with daughters who have turned away from their Jewish upbringing.    Shylock is the widower who is raising a teenage daughter who has stolen a family treasure to buy a monkey.  Stulovitch's wife had a stroke and has left the primary upbringing of their teen daughter to her father.  Both men are at a loss as to what to do with these girls.  Beatrice Stulovitch has ran away with a football (soccer) player who is in the habit of making the Nazi hand gesture while on the field.  She has been swept away with the art world, celebrities, and the glamour of reality television. 
The book is written in a 1920's Fitzgerald style of writing.  I was surprised when they talked of Tony Blair and realized that we were in modern day.  It is very European and very wordy.  The storyline is good, intriguing and full of drama.  However, the style is so different from the American usual, that it may take a little getting used to before the reader can truly get involved.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review from www.firsttoread.com. 

I'm getting a vision

"The Witch of Lime Street:  Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World" by David Jaher tells the true story of how Houdini and his gang of scientist  exposed the scam artists otherwise known as Spiritualist.  Scientific American, a magazine during the 1920's, had arranged to have a contest for the medium that could pass all of their tests to be claimed "genuine".  During the 20's, America was going through a paranormal phase.  It was all the vogue.  Everyone wanted to believe it was true, though probably no one really did.  But it was fun to believe.  Much like our present day essential oils.  Houdini, however, was a skeptic, mostly because at one time he had been a fake mind reader/ medium.  His job in the contest was to figure out how the medium was faking.  He always got his ghost.  The medium that came the closest was Margery, the wife of a surgeon who deeply believed in spiritualism, even when he was faking it.  Margery was more charming then convincing and sometimes, that is all it takes.
This is a long, detailed book.  It is extremely well researched and beautifully written.  However, it is not a light read.  If you know little about this era or Houdini, I recommend watching the biography movie, Houdini, the one with Adrien Brody first.  It will help with catch up and visualization.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review from www.bloggingforbooks.com.

Daylight

"Street God" by Dimas Salaberrios with Dr. Angela Hunt, is the autobiography of Salaberrios, street name, Daylight, a drug dealing boss from Queens.  Dimas began dealing at the age of 11 and transferred it to a regular career by the age of 14.  Though he wasn't raised to that lifestyle, his mother a principal and father a Community corrections officer, Dimas had big dreams of being a street god.  It was a life he chose.  He had other choices, he wasn't hungry, he knew right from wrong.  He wanted to be a dealer.  After many tangles with both the law and other dealers, Dimas comes to know Jesus.  He goes to Him in a naive state and learns his way around the church world.  Which isn't always better than the drug world.  He eventually learns what God has in mind for him and begins his own church and ministry, taking it to the very streets he that he began.
This book is an incredible story.  He never takes on a bragging atmosphere whether talking about the dealing or the preaching.  I am unsure how much is Salaberrios and how much is Hunt, but the writing is quiet charismatic.  I would highly recommend t his book.  I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Tyndale Blog Network.