just off the bookshelf

Unbroken

by Laura Hillenbrand

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

this book will get my highest rating yet. i'll be giving it 4.75 gold stars. oh how i

wish i could give my first 5 star review, but there was one small part that i struggled to get through. (too much information crammed into about 50 pages or so.... it was just too much for my brain)  this is the life story of a world war II survivor

named Louis Zamperini. oh how i wish i could meet this man!!  a true hero. this book is heartbreaking, but i also found it to be incredibly inspiring!! it makes me want to go out and do something amazing.  :)

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One Thousand White Women

by Jim Fergus

One Thousand White Women is the story of May Dodd and a colorful assembly of pioneer women who, under the auspices of the U.S. government, travel to the western prairies in 1875 to intermarry among the Cheyenne Indians. The covert and controversial "Brides for Indians" program, launched by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, is intended to help assimilate the Indians into the white man's world. Toward that end May and her friends embark upon the adventure of their lifetime.

i'm giving this book 2.5 stars.

i've heard it's great... and i've heard it's terrible. i just struggled to get through it. i had to make myself finish it and then once i did...  i pretty much hated the ending. i guess i can't love them all, right?

next up on my reading list is: