Ma Speaks Up: And a First-Generation Daughter Talks Back, by Marianne Leone

This book spoke to me concerning my relationship with my mother, although my mother and I are very different from Ms. Leone and her mother, in culture and in temperament. I enjoyed reading this from cover to cover; I smiled, laughed, and cried. She did not hold back from telling the hard truths about her mother's background and experiences, and their relationship as it changed through the years.

An Early Reviewer book from the publisher, Beacon Press, through LibraryThing. Received on April 12, 2017 

A Thousand Days in Venice, by Marlena de Blasi

Read and reviewed in May, 2012, given to another Bookcrosser

This caught my eye, perhaps because I am currently reading Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes and I have Italy on my mind. I hope it will be better than the usual "romance."

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It was better, much better and a book that I thoroughly enjoyed! The true story of a whirlwind romance, marriage and happy-ever-after between an American woman and an Italian man.

Long Time, No See, by Beth Finke

Read and reviewed in August, 2010. Released a year later.

This is a memoir of a young woman who lost her sight due to diabetes, and how she learned to manage her home, marriage, and career. She is very honest about the complete experience - hoping that treatments and surgeries would prevent blindness, coping with loss of sight, fighting for her job and finding other ways to maintain her career, struggles between herself and her husband, and the joys and difficulties of rearing a multi-handicapped child.

I found it very interesting reading, and it opened my eyes (ironically) to the life of someone who has overcome so many challenges.

The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom, John Scherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill

Read, reviewed, and sent to another Bookcrosser in August, 2009

An autobiography of a World War II concentration camp survivor, written with the help of friends. Corrie ten Boom of Haarlem, the Netherlands, and her family provided sanctuary for dozens of Dutch Jews during the Nazi occupation. They were betrayed, arrested, and imprisoned. Corrie's father and sister, and other family members, died in the camps, but Corrie lived to tell, and to witness to God's amazing love and the strength given her to get through. The title of the book refers not only to the Secret Room in the ten Boom home, but also to Jesus Christ, who gives us peace in our hearts in all circumstances. She was a missionary for Jesus Christ until well into her eighties.

There are parts of it that I didn't remember from 30 years ago when I first read it, and parts that I understand better now, since my own faith has grown.

In 2001, my husband and I visited Haarlem, the Netherlands, and toured the ten Boom home and watch shop. (They still sell watches and clocks, but they no longer make them there. I bought a Delft blue miniature grandfather-style clock.) We went up the narrow stairs to the Secret Room, where six people, Jews and resistance workers, survived the search and subsequent guarding of the house, and were later sent to safer quarters. The house looks exactly as described in the book and shown in the movie (it must have been filmed there).

We stayed on the Grote Markt (at the Hotel Amadeus), and toured St. Bavo's Cathedral, both mentioned in the book, so I could picture as I read how it must have been for the ten Boom family.

Corrie ten Boom has written other books, too, including In My Father's House, telling of her early years before the war, and Tramp for the Lord, telling of her work giving talks and raising money for the homes she founded for WWII survivors in the Netherlands and in Germany.

Click here to read Bookcrosser hotflash's review.

Freeborn Slave: Diary of a Black Man in the South, by Jasper Rastus Nall

Read and reviewed in October, 2004

According to the blurb, this is from a series of dictated memoirs transcribed by Mr. Nall's daughter in 1936. "Freeborn Slave is both a fascinating read and a living profile in African American history."

It was very interesting book, and a fast read. Mr. Nall led a hard and often painful life, but he made the most of every opportunity, and did not hold grudges against those who had done him wrong.

I have sent the book to my son to read and donate to the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, AL, USA.

The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom

I read and reviewed this book in September, 2002; then gave it to another Bookcrosser. She read and reviewed it, then sent it to a third Bookcrosser who did the same! This is what Bookcrossing is all about, reading and sharing books, and perhaps learning if others enjoyed it as well!
Bookcrossing reviews

Corrie ten Boom and her family lived in Haarlem, the Netherlands, during the first half of the 20th century. Part of the Dutch Resistance during World War II and the Nazi occupation, they hid and rescued many Jews, and subsequently were arrested. Most of Corrie's family died in Nazi prisons and concentration camps, but Corrie survived to tell her story of God's grace through terrible times. She spent the rest of her life traveling and telling her story, and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, until her death in 1983, at the age of 91.
My husband and I were able to visit the Ten Boom clock shop, home and museum while visiting in Haarlem, the Netherlands in 2001. It was an unforgettable experience!
Ten Boom House information