Quick Lit: Mini Reviews of Some Recent Reads – March Edition

I’m trying to read more books that I choose for my own reading enjoyment. Not for review, but because I’ve been wanting to read them or they caught my attention. Most of them have been talked about ad nauseam or have been on my to-read list for a long time so they don’t really need a full review. But, I’d still like to give them some space here on the blog.

I’ll be linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy and her monthly Quick Lit link up. Be sure to head over to see others link up their Quick Lit posts.

Our family headed out for a somewhat spontaneous Spring Break trip. I took lots of books with me and you’ll have to check in later to see which ones I actually finished. I always have high expectations for reading and don’t usually read everything I take, but I’m hoping I make a dent in this pile.

Here are a few of the books I read or listened to in the last month…..

MAKE YOUR BED

Little Things that Can Change Your Life…and Maybe the World

By: Admiral William H. McRaven (US Navy Retired)

Published: April 4, 2017

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Format: Audiobook

This inspiring bestseller should be required reading for every high school or college graduate. After giving the commencement speech at the University of Texas in 2014, he was approached to make it into a book. It’s a short, quick read or listen at just over an hour. But, it is extremely impactful and inspiring.

Admiral McRaven offers stories from his multiple years in the military that can apply to everyone. He starts with the simple task of making your bed every day. This simple task helps you start the day with an accomplishment and sets the tone for the rest of your day. Some of the other inspiring mantras include Swim with the Sharks and Don’t Ever Ring the Bell. Even though the stories are all military focused, you can still find ways to connect them to “civilian” life. His approach is straight-forward and direct. If you find yourself in a difficult situation, you can easily think back to a lesson that applies and face it with strength and integrity.

TELL ME MORE

Stories about the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say

By: Kelly Corrigan

Published: January 9, 2018

Publisher: Random House

Format: Audiobook

I listened to this one on audio because I really enjoyed listening to THE MIDDLE PLACE on audio. The author narrates this one and her emotions are just on the edge of falling over the cliff, but she holds on. Unfortunately, she shares her deep grief after losing her father and her best friend. But she also shares the life lessons she has learned over the years through her own cancer experience, the death of the two important people in her life, being married for nearly 20 years and raising two daughters. This is a short book, but it packs a punch. It’s full of Aha! moments and sadness and hope. I had to stop listening to it a few times because I can’t put on makeup and cry at the same time, but it’s one I would listen to again.

THE ONE MAN

A Novel

By: Andrew Gross

Published: August 23, 2016

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Format: eBook

My niece recommended this to me knowing I love novels set during WWII. Even though this one has been loosely based on actual people and events from WWII, it is a fictional story. But, let me tell you, it is intense. I think it is the most intense story I have read set during WWII. The premise is that there is one man that can help the US in the war efforts. This man is one of two who knows how to build an atomic bomb. The other man with the knowledge is working for the Germans. So the US feels it is imperative to find this one man and get him to the US. Through intelligence and information from the inside, he is found in Auschwitz. Now the US has to figure out how to get him out and there is only one man who they believe can do that.

I liked how the title of this book gives two different meanings…the one man who is needed to bring back to the US with the knowledge of bomb building and the other is the one man who the government believes can get him out. Of course, all the horrors of WWII and concentration camps fill the pages and the buildup to the main climax of the book was quite intense. You can’t imagine how these two men will actually find each other in a camp of tens of thousands of men and then get out in the specified time. You can’t imagine it, but know, the ride will not be what you expected.

 I admit, the scientific formulas and talk about bomb-making was like reading another language, so I skimmed those parts of the book. But, that information isn’t needed to understand the story or the great importance of the mission. It is a thrilling read and one I’m glad I read. But, I think I’ll need to find something much lighter for my next book choice.

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