Some recent family-oriented dramas pack quite an emotional punch.
JoinedMarch 29, 2021
Articles42
Mary Louise Ruehr is a books columnist for The Portager. Her One for the Books column previously appeared in the Record-Courier, where she was an editor.
These true-life stories let us escape, alongside the protagonists, from what could be described as “hell on earth.” They are accounts of almost unbelievable horror, relating the worst of what human beings will do to each other. A friendly warning: These books will affect you.
Several recent books give us characters we can follow from childhood to maturity, letting us really get to know them.
Historical fiction is probably my favorite genre. Stories set during World War II abound — a person could probably read them for decades and never catch up with half of them. So I chose several current books whose plots take place in a variety of sites during World War II. I enjoyed them all.
There are literally thousands of books with the word “daughter” in the title; I have a few hundred myself. Fortunately, some of the more recent ones are exceptionally good reads.
Recently I’ve been fascinated by memoirs. (You’ll see why at the end!) These all happen to be written by women; I thought I would relate to them more than to those written by men. I’m not sure I did, but I learned something from each of them.
Who doesn’t love a good dog story? And I found some good ones!
CARE (Children Always Resisting Enemies) of Portage County is looking for donations and especially needs a bus or large (15-passenger) van for transportation.
Not all “thrillers” are keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat page-turners; some aren’t even that thrilling. This batch has mixed results.
Being a kid at heart, I’ve always loved fairy tales. But “modern” fairy tales? Let’s see.
I’m excited to tell you about two books I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Both are first novels for these excellent writers. I loved both books, especially because of the communicating animals; they aren’t the main characters, but of course the animals steal the show.
“Last Summer Boys” by Bill Rivers is the author’s debut novel. The story is told from the point of view of 13-year-old Jack.