The Final Empire By Brandon Sanderson - Audiobook

Mistborn: The Final Empire Brandon Sanderson 5 out of 5	Published 2006 First Sentence "Ash fell from the sky..."
Publisher's Description: In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with color once more? In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage — Allomancy, a magic of the metals.
Dear Reader, I am very glad one of my friends turned me onto this series. The fantasy realm that Brandon Sanderson has crafted is tight. I would describe it as similar to feudalistic, pre-industrial earth. There are two classes; the Skaa and the nobleborn. The skaa are under the harsh enslavement of the nobleclass. There is a demi-god ruler referred to as the Lord Ruler. 1,000 years ago an event occured that gave the Lord Ruler his divine powers and the structure of the world was reformed. Now ash falls from the sky, every thing is gray or black, even plants and the sky. At night mists cover the world and have mystical properties. Also at the time his transformation the Lord Ruler gifted all of his supporters a magical condition of allomancy. Allomancy is the magical power of being able to burn specific metals to access certain superhuman abilities. The original supporters have long since passed away but their descendants make up the nobleclass. The heredity of allomancy is passed from generation, because of this the Canton of Inquisition forbids a noble person from procreating with skaa. If they do choose to rape a skaa woman they have to kill her soon after to avoid any halfbreed people.  The two main characters, Vin and Kelsier were both born as skaa but due to the fact that the nobleborn have illegally fathered children, they are mistborn.  They ingest small bits of metals and acquire special powers. For example Pewter gives inhuman strength, tin enhances all of the 6 senses Steel allows you to push metal objects, iron allows you to pull on metal objects, This makes them be able to fly and jump by balancing the pushes and pulls of the metals around them in the city.  Bronze allows the allomancer to soothe people or groups of people depending on how skilled they are.  Copper burning masks their usage of allomancy from other allomancers. Some people only have one of the 11 metals and so they are known by their various names such as a thug, a Smoker or tin-eye. If you're born with more than one ability to burn metals then you can burn them all and are mistborn. The mistborn are the highest echelon of powerful warriors. Atium is a metal that allows the mistborn the ability to see the shadow images of all possible moves their opponent is and could make. This allows them to intercept or dodge blows seconds before the person moves. Atium is so precious and powerful it is also used as a currency  Vin is a young girl who has lived a rough skaa life as a bandit/ thief. Her brother Ream raised her and also beat and degrading her. As the story starts he has recently abandoned her. Kelsier is the charasmatic leader of a group of skaa who plan to over throw the Lord Ruler. Kelsier has a particularly strong agenda again the noble class and the lord ruler since they beat his wife to death in front of him and sent him to the Atium mines to be worked to death. The idea of overthrowing the Lord Ruler is crazy since he has godlike powers and seems immortal. Rebellions of the past attempt many times to kill him but they had never succeeded. All the odds seem again them but little by little they work on a strategy to weaken the noblemen, deplete the army in the capital city of Luthadel, and to rally the skaa masses.  Vin is discovered by Kelsier and his crew, he essentially gives her a new family and a new chance at happiness.  Her character has a lot of growing to do from being a battered street urchin to a badass mistborn.  Sanderson builds up a lot of awful so that the reader can grow more and more angry and the ugly world of, "The Final Empire." The reader definitely will be rooting for the underdog to find a way to take out all the bad guys and like a video game defeat the final master bad guy. There are some really great unexpected plot twists that I can't tell you about but I can say that the story is very enthralling. I also love how detailed he gets when he describes a battle between allomancers, the coins that they drop and the breastplates that they push off on when they are deflecting and flying around each other. He's set up a great starting point for many other adventures and mysteries of the metals to unfold.  The theme of religion and it's use in society is addressed in a noteable way. The lord ruler is both their supreme leader and their god. The skaa are supposed to believe this and their for submit willingly to their enslaved lives.  In the tradition of Firefly and Battle Star Gallactica the author gives the people a unique curse. In this world they don't say, " My God!" they say, " Lord ruler!" The Final Empire has a clear caste system, the rich and powerful and the weak masses. There are some parallels to the way people viewed African Americans in the south before the civil war and these fictional people. Ellend, a nobleman, and his friends wonder out loud if skaa are as intelligent as the people of the nobleclass are.  There's a little My-Fair-Lady-action going on when they teach Vin to play the part of a rural noblelady named, Lady Villette. She has to grow her hair out, wear ball gowns, high heels and learn all the house names and alliances. ( Sort of Game-of-Throney) They have her attend balls as a spy and she ends up meeting her love interest there. Her teacher, Sazed, is a cool character, kind of like the Giles role from Buffy. He knows all the stuff and has the patience to teach her despite her desire to go play in the mists.  The plan of the 'crew' ( Kelsier's crew of allomancers and Vin) seems gallant and a little hopeless. How the plot resolves was unexpected and that is a rare statement for someone who likes to read. I should says likes to listen since I almost always do the audiobook version of books. On that note I did like the voice of the narrator, Michael Kramer.  Yours, Marsha

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Delicious Foods

Delicious Foods James Hannaham 4/5	Published 2015 First Sentence "After escaping from the farm, Eddie drove through the night."
Publisher's Description: Darlene, a young widow and mother devastated by the death of her husband, turns to drugs to erase the trauma. In this fog of grief, she is lured with the promise of a great job to a mysterious farm run by a shady company, with disastrous consequences for both her and her eleven-year-old son, Eddie--left behind in a panic-stricken search for her. Delicious Foods tells the gripping story of three unforgettable characters: a mother, her son, and the drug that threatens to destroy them. In Darlene's haunted struggle to reunite with Eddie, and in the efforts of both to triumph over those who would enslave them, Hannaham's daring and shape-shifting prose not only infuses their desperate circumstances with grace and humor, but also wrestles with timeless questions of love and freedom.
Dear Reader, I was not expecting this book to be what it is. I don't know why, but I had a vision in my head of how this novel was before even cracking the spine. I actually audiobook'd this... so all spines are still intact. I have to say though, you must audiobook this one.... if only because the Author, James Hannaham, does a fantastic impression of crack cocaine. Yep, you heard right. Crack cocaine is a main character, and a very strong one indeed. I was so enamoured by this excellent writing trick, I had friends and family listen to the first crack chapter. Every time I listened, I picked up something I missed. I would come to work feeling "energized" and "pumped up"... but not because I was high on drugs but from how AMAZING James Hannaham writes and reads that character, it makes you feel the buzz. No, it won't get you high... but I dare you to listen to that chapter and NOT be woken up. I'm hard pressed to call this satire, even though I feel hints of it and have heard others call it that. I feel that the darkness looming over everyone is way too heavy to be satirical. Now, crack cocaine... that had humor. Eddie and his mother, that story is just downright sad.... a tragedy. I get a sharp pang thinking about them, I didn't cry but thinking back, it gets me a little emotional. Eddie, that poor boy who lost his father (fire) and then his mother (to drugs and delicious food) and had to find his own way to her. His story is heartwarming, sad and deeply tragic, warranting a book into itself. Eddie's mother, Darlene, holds a tragic story too. Her husband dies in a fire, she can't keep up with bills, she turns to drugs to self medicate and ends up (for lack of a better word) kidnapped by a corrupt company to slave drive them to "earn" their freedom. All this happens early on and we get set up for the "real" story. Think things can't get more tragic than that? Try again. If you plan on reading this, I HIGHLY suggest audiobook format (the Author narrates his book perfectly). I would also plan on listening only during "light" days, this book can pull the darkness in a little and I could feel the storm clouds rumbling... don't make this mistake... it'll bring you down even more. But oh boy, is this book something... so much to discuss here, I could see this being a great contender for the TOB (Tournament of Books) next year (crosses fingers). Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

The Barefoot Queen: A Novel

The Barefoot Queen: A Novel Ildefonso Falcones 5/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "Port of Cádiz, January 7, 1748 Just as she was about to set foot on the dock at Cádiz, Caridad hesitated."
Publisher's Description: A historical epic full of bravery and romance that follows two women as they make a life for themselves in 18th-century Spain. It's January of 1748. Caridad is a recently freed Cuban slave wondering the streets of Seville. Her master is dead and she has nowhere to go. When her path crosses with Milagros Carmona's-a young, rebellious gypsy-the two women are instantly inseparable. Milagros introduces Caridad to the gypsy community, an exotic fringe society that will soon change her life forever. Over time they each fall in love with men who are fiercely loyal and ready to fight to the death for their rights as a free people. When all gypsies are declared outlaws by royal mandate, life in their community becomes perilous. They soon find themselves in Madrid-a city of passion and dancing, but also a treacherous one full of smugglers and thieves. Caridad and Milagros must help in the gypsy's struggle against society and its laws in order to stay together; it's a dangerous battle that cannot, and will not, be easily won. From the tumultuous bustle of Seville to the theatres of Madrid, The Barefoot Queen is a historical fresco filled with charaters that live, love, suffer, and fight for what they believe.
Dear Reader, This was so epic, and I love epic. It reminded me of how I felt after reading Les Miserables, completely fulfilled and wanting MORE (even though both books are pretty large). Unfortunately this book took me a little longer than I had hoped and I didn't get to post this review closer to the publication date, but what has me most upset is that Netgalley has archived it so quickly and I can't get to all my kindle notes. I get frustrated when it comes to the note taking capability of these devices out there now, PLEASE someone... perfect this!? WHY can't there be a way to read the notes you took during reading on your kindle and read them on the desktop (where I always write my reviews) instead of going back and forth from the device?! Anyways, I don't want to get sidetracked here. I loved this book. Every character was brought to life with deep thought and imagination. We got to bounce from one to the other and I didn't mind at all. I'm sure you've experienced those books where you like one narrative over the other, you skim through to get to the "good" parts. I felt this book and the characters were so well balanced that you wanted to play along with everyone. If that isn't a compliment, I don't know what is. The Barefoot Queen follows a gypsy family and the freed slave that happens to stumble into their life. The Grandfather, Melchor, is a wise, proud, strong, revered but very stubborn man who spent his younger years in jail. His daughter, (Ana, mother of Milagros) is the wife of a lout but gathers her own strength and charm as the story grows, you learn how very important she really is. Milagros, the precious girl in the eyes of her Grandfather Melchor, born as a Vega with a fun loving spirit that slowly gets crushed along this thing we call life. Finally, one of my favorite characters, Caridad, the freed slave with no sense of self, grows within the gypsy tribe and her personality slowly starts to shine. These are but a few from the large cast of incredible characters we meet along the way, although I would surmise them to be the most important. I haven't read too many books on gypsy life and history and I'm kind of glad this was an introduction for me. Yes, I know that this is "historical fiction" but the Author knows his stuff and brought many of the characters to life based on tales from the past. The gypsy struggle reminded me quite a bit of the struggle during the Holocaust and what the Jews had to endure. All gypsies were gathered up and either thrown into workhouses or jails (children, mothers and elderly, essentially ALL of them). The conditions were horrendous and those who didn't comply were executed. This is the story of our world, over and over and over again. They say we can learn the most about ourselves by searching into our pasts. How scary is that? The more I learn of the bigotry from our past, makes me scared for what comes next, the event that'll send people to their graves for what they believe in. Okay, I'd like to end on a brighter note though. The romantical way of gypsy life is hidden within this book, some of the communal ways they do things made me so giddy. I really want to jump through time and space to be amongst the gypsies. Now... when someone asks me if I had a time machine, where would I go? Back to 1748 to meet Caridad off the ship that sailed her straight into the arms of the most celebrated, romantic and honorable people around. I want to dance with them, sing and clap, smoke cigars with them, pretend objects mean NOTHING and nobody owns ANYTHING. Live free. Doesn't that sounds romantic? Magic, gypsy magic, it's what I want. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. Here are a few resources about the book: More Info About the Author

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:  Kindle - Right

The House Girl

The House Girl Tara Conklin 3.5 / 5	Published 2013 First Sentence "Mister hit Josephine with the palm of his hand across her left cheek and it was then she knew she would run."
Publisher's Description: Virginia, 1852. Seventeen-year-old Josephine Bell decides to run from the failing tobacco farm where she is a slave and nurse to her ailing mistress, the aspiring artist Lu Anne Bell. New York City, 2004. Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in an elite law firm, is given a difficult, highly sensitive assignment that could make her career: she must find the “perfect plaintiff” to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves. It is through her father, the renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers Josephine Bell and a controversy roiling the art world: are the iconic paintings long ascribed to Lu Anne Bell really the work of her house slave, Josephine? A descendant of Josephine’s would be the perfect face for the reparations lawsuit—if Lina can find one. While following the runaway girl’s faint trail through old letters and plantation records, Lina finds herself questioning her own family history and the secrets that her father has never revealed: How did Lina’s mother die? And why will he never speak about her? Moving between antebellum Virginia and modern-day New York, this searing, suspenseful and heartbreaking tale of art and history, love and secrets, explores what it means to repair a wrong and asks whether truth is sometimes more important than justice.
Dear Reader, This book felt like it took me an age to get through, although that might have been because it was requested by another patron at the library before I had even had a chance to start it, and therefore the entire reading of it felt a bit as if I were under pressure. However, this was also because the beginning was SLOW, and the story took quite a while to pick up. I am glad I stuck with it, though, because it was such an interesting concept. I enjoyed the way the story was told by several different people, from several different viewpoints. It echoed the complexities that enmesh real life. The story centers mostly around Josephine, a young slave in rural Virginia who is the eponymous house girl; she serves her mistress and master personally, fixing their meals and tending to their illnesses, which means she also holds a relatively special place which includes higher standards of living than the other slaves. This includes learning to read, write, and - most importantly - paint, which turns out to be one of her few escapes from servitude. However, she also suffers more than her fellow slaves in many ways, living so closely alongside her captors.Thus, she yearns for freedom, and plans to run.  Over 150 years later, a young lawyer named Lina is asked to look into a reparations case for the many trillions of dollars denied African Americans because of their enforced lives in the antebellum South. Lina becomes more engrossed in the case than she expects, and realizes she cares more about this one than many which have come before. At the same time, she is questioning other parts of her life, as well - especially that of her relationship with her father, the only parent she has ever really known, and the loss of her mother at a young age. Many influences converge upon Lina during this time in her life, which makes her story very engaging. I felt as if Lina's search for the truth, and what she ultimately learns about Josephine Bell - the many mistakes both the slave and others around her made in their lives - is what helps her come to terms with her own issues. I liked that everything came full circle at the end; understanding the flaws that others admitted to is what allowed Lina to forgive the flaws in those around her - and in herself.  One passage which many have complained about is the list of slave names which the author chooses to spend an entire page (and a bit more) listing. While I understand how strange and annoying that can be in a novel, my hope (although as yet unconfirmed) is that Conklin actually listed the names of real slaves who had been unjustly considered property before the Civil War. The legal case which the book centers around is all about making those names known; it is pointed out that we know many of the names of the famous white slaveowners to this day, but very few (if any) of the names of their slaves, who were the true workers behind those successful men. Wasn't Conklin simply making a step towards rectifying that imbalance in her own small way? Of course, she couldn't have sold a book which listed hundreds of pages of names. Almost nobody would read a novel like that. But I made sure to spend the time to read every name printed on that page. I thought that was the point of it. I truly hope so. Yours, Arianna

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Paperback:

Kindle:

Twelve Years a Slave

Twelve Years a Slave Solomon Northup 4/5	Published 1853 First Sentence "Having been born a freeman, and for more than thirty years enjoying the blessings of liberty in a free State - and having at the end of that time been kidnapped and sold into Slavery, where I remained until happily rescued in the month of January 1853, after a bondage of twelve years - it has been suggested that an account of my life and fortunes would not be uninteresting to the public."
Publisher's Description: This unforgettable memoir was the basis for the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave. This is the true story of Solomon Northup, who was born and raised as a freeman in New York. He lived the American dream, with a house and a loving family - a wife and two kids. Then one day he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the deep south. These are the true accounts of his twelve hard years as a slave - many believe this memoir is even more graphic and disturbing than the film. His extraordinary journey proves the resiliency of hope and the human spirit despite the most grueling and formidable of circumstances.
Dear Reader, Reading this was very powerful and something I would recommend everyone to do. This journal (or would you call it a memoir?) is written with such a story-telling feel that I had to constantly remind myself this was a true story. I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm a purest at heart and love to read the book first. I find if I see the movie, it construes the images while reading the book, taking away the fun of imagining what things would look like. I'm actually reviewing this book without watching the movie at all! I will get to the movie, it won awards for obvious reasons and the book clearly presents some fantastic reasons of it's own. For those of you, like me, that wanted to wait to see the movie (or live under a rock)... I will start with a short synopsis of the book. Solomon Northup, the Author, was a "freeman" living in New York with his wife and family. One day he takes on a job with some characters and winds up drugged and kidnapped to be sent South and sold into slavery. This amazing account of his struggles goes into massive detail (even though the book is fairly short), each chapter gives us insight into what it was to be a slave. Since Solomon started off as a free man, he had to learn how to be a slave himself... this journey tells us exactly how it was and we learn step by step along with him. For example, he goes into lengthy detail on how to pick cotton, cane sugar, harvest crops and more. We learn that the only Holiday slaves got off was Christmas, and we get to peek into the celebrations of the Holiday. We learn what it feels like to whipped and left out in the sun for punishment. Every detail Solomon gives us, brings us one step closer to an awful truth, one history should never forget. To be honest with you, I started thinking I've read so much on slavery and the Civil War that I couldn't be surprised by much on the topic. I was wrong! I did NOT know that "freemen" were kidnapped and sold as slaves. It just goes to show you that there is SO much we don't know and we should never stop learning from our past. I urge you to pick this book up (the e-book is FREE) and read it. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - As usual, I feel the need to share some of the things I've come across while googling. Clipping from "The New York Times" article from 1853. Solomon wasn't the only "freeman" kidnapped & sold into slavery! Solomon Northrup's Descendants

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of Twelve Years a Slave here:

The Good Lord Bird

The Good Lord Bird James McBride 5/5	Published 2013 First Sentence "I was born a colored man and don't you forget it."
Publisher's Description: From the bestselling author of The Color of Water and Song Yet Sung comes the story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade—and who must pass as a girl to survive. Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory in 1857, when the region is a battleground between anti- and pro-slavery forces. When John Brown, the legendary abolitionist, arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and Henry’s master quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave town—with Brown, who believes he’s a girl. Over the ensuing months, Henry—whom Brown nicknames Little Onion—conceals his true identity as he struggles to stay alive. Eventually Little Onion finds himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859—one of the great catalysts for the Civil War. An absorbing mixture of history and imagination, and told with McBride’s meticulous eye for detail and character, The Good Lord Bird is both a rousing adventure and a moving exploration of identity and survival.
Dear Reader, The Good Lord Bird is a comical retelling of a somber issue set in the Civil War and focusing on slavery. To be able to write something with a comedic voice without taking away the solemnity of the topic of slavery is pure genius. The cast of the novel includes some true historical characters mixed with some forged from McBride's brilliant brain. Henry Shackleford is the main character, he is a young slave that gets "rescued" from slavery by John Brown, who mistakes him for a little girl and renames him Little Onion. The section of the book I loved the most was when John Brown renames Henry, I found myself trouncing on people to read that bit of the story (before I even finished the book). You know a book is good when you think you'll BURST if you don't share something from it. The book is Little Onions journey through the South, to the North and back down to the South where it all ends on the historic raid of Harpers Ferry. Going into this, I didn't know much on that raid or even much about John Brown *shakes head in shame*. I like that McBride changed up the tone to something more light because this might have seemed like all those other books about the Civil War and slavery. I think it's important to continually throw books like these in our faces because society still needs them to learn. I know we've come really far but we haven't come far enough and we tend to forget the history that brought us to this point. McBride has written a book that everyone should read, it brings the shock of our tragic history to view with a voice completely unique and accessible.  Getting back to the characters, Little Onion meets many historical figures like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman (although they play smaller roles in the book). One of the historical characters, Frederick Douglass, was written in a less than desirable light. This confused and worried me a bit (more because I was worried what historical accuracy fanatics might think), I was hoping this wouldn't destroy the books credibility. Upon researching this, I found an interview with James McBride that touches upon his creative approach to Frederick Douglass. In the interview, he talks about how the abolitionists were different from the "rugged people out West", that they were "people who made speeches and did politics". Douglass wasn't a perfect man and he actually did have a white German girl as a mistress who lived with him and his wife. The best explanation McBride gives in this interview is this, "Listen, don't meet your heroes. If you meet your heroes, you're always going to be disappointed. Frederick Douglass was a great man, but would I want my daughter to marry him? Probably not. That doesn't mean that I don't think he's a great man..." Isn't that SO true though! We put people up on a pedestal but forget that EVERYONE is human and has faults. People do great things, and those same people are bound to do crummy things as well, that is human nature.   The language used to bring back the past is fantastic, that blues cowboy feel that John Brown oozes. McBride writes such picturesque settings that grab you and throw you into the action. He has such great physical descriptions of the characters as well. Brown and Little Onion are the heart of the book and the bond that develops is so strong it brought me to tears. Surprisingly, looking back at the humorous tone of the book, I wouldn't have thought that it could put me in that emotional state. I suppose this is the true essence of The Good Lord Bird, that it can make you laugh and cry at the same time. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - Below I've included some pictures of the historical characters of the book. If you're anything like me, you'd be stopping through the book to look up these characters anyways... I've saved you some time!  John Brown Frederick Douglass Harriet Tubman

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of The Good Lord Bird here:

The Invention of Wings

The Invention of Wings Sue Monk Kidd 4.5/5	Published January 2014 First Sentence "There was a time in Africa the people could fly."
Publisher's Description: Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world. Hetty "Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women. Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid.We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty-five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements. Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better. This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.
Dear Reader, Sue Monk Kidd really knows how to tell a beautiful and tragic story filled historical elements. The Invention of Wings is about so many things, mostly slavery and the abolition movement. The main characters are Sarah Grimke, who is born from a well-off family with many slaves, and Handful, the slave given to Sarah on her eleventh birthday. Sarah is a little different from her siblings because she has aspirations of becoming a Lawyer like her father and also has a distaste for owning slaves. When she is given a slave for her birthday, Handful, you start to notice how different she really is when she tries to free her slave but then is forced to hand her back when freeing her fails. The book goes back and forth between Sarah and Handful, giving the reader a view into both eyes. Sarah ends up going North to join the Quakers because of their abolitionist views of slavery. Handful gets left behind with Sarah's tough mother and her sister, Angelina, who also ends up siding with her sister and the abolition movement. Kidd really knows how to bring you back in time and gives you a glimpse into how it must feel to be a slave or to have lived with slaves. For example, she has this line that compares the sound of whipping sails on a ship to a slave being beaten, "The Sails would go off like whips cracking and all us would listen to see was it some slave getting flogged in a neighbor-yard or was it ships making ready to leave. You found out when the screams started up or not." How terrible is that, but eye opening. Sometimes you need to read terrible things, especially when they hold the key to changing things in the future. We can't run away from the past, we must embrace it so we learn how to keep it from happening again. I'm sure this is a quote from somewhere that I've regurgitated, but it tells the truth. Another part of the book I thought Kidd nailed was the idea that God and religion wanted people to own slaves. This brings up quite a large argument of how many people construe the bible to mean what they want. If something isn't clear and can have more than one meaning, should we take it to our hearts so quickly? I don't want to get into anything too much, because I have my own opinions on this but I thought it was important to bring up. We also get to see into the life of a slave because Kidd writes Handful's part with such thoughtfulness. Little but big details, like when Handful looks at the books left in Sarah's room and has this reaction, "I sat at her desk and turned one page after another, staring at what looked like bits and pieces of black lace laid cross the paper." How fantastic is that detail! I'm sure that's exactly what words on paper looks to some who's illiterate. I even like how words on paper look beautiful, even without the connotation, very mysterious and tempting to uncover the secrets hidden within. It's small details like this that make Sue Monk Kidd a great writer, and one to seek out. You might be thinking, this is another book on slavery and abolition... but this one is unique because Kidd did her research. She has taken two sisters from history, they actually existed, and plopped them into this beautifully written book. Sarah and Angelina were actual abolitionists who not only sparked the movement with pamphlets and talks, but also sparked the debate for equality among the sexes. What courage these two women had! What amazing people this Author picked to include in her story. I'll conclude this review with a picture of the Grimke girls and some of their famous quotes. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - The one on the left is Sarah, the one on the right is Angelina.

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of The Invention of Wingshere:

Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell 4.5/5	Published 1963 First Sentence "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were."
Publisher's Description: Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's epic love story is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and its people forever changed. At the heart of all this chaos is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett 'O' Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.
Dear Reader, What an epic story! Even though this took me quite some time to finish due to the incredible length, I still enjoyed every moment of it. This story is so well known, I'm not sure if I have to write a blurb about it, but I'll try to do it justice. The setting of "Gone with the Wind" ranges from a plantation in the countryside of Georgia to the city of Atlanta. Scarlett O'Hara is the main character and the story is told from her perspective, mostly. The Author does a little back and forth to get some of the other views of the different characters but Mitchell mostly sticks with Scarlett. This is a true coming of age story, a little unique since it's set during the Civil War and is told from the eyes of a spoiled girl who grows up on a plantation in Georgia. We follow her from age sixteen to twenty-eight during the time span of 1861 until 1873. For those of you who know your Civil War history, you'll see how those few years would completely change the life of a girl brought up in the privileged South. The story takes you from riches, to war, to freedom, to poor, to struggle, to regained riches, to loss, to death, to love and SO much more. Some would believe that this is a historical romance, even I was mislead by the common knowledge just the title, "Gone with the Wind" carries, however this is far from the full truth. I would put this under historical fiction, mainly because it's so much more than a love story. Yes, Scarlett is shallow and can only think about herself and boys/men, but this wouldn't be a coming of age story without a little hardship. Scarlett lives through the hardest times in the South, the ones that made all the wealthy plantation owners destitute. She struggled and survived, coming out on the other side stronger. Sadly, she doesn't learn enough lessons to change her selfishness until it's too late, making this more of a tragedy. Scarlett is so intolerably selfish, it made me want to slap her silly (satisfyingly, Rhett does this enough to placate me). So what about the love story? It's a good one, mostly because of how tragic it truly is. This is not some warm fuzzy feeling book with a happy ending, be prepared to cry. The one fact that I got out of this tragic love story is that you can't change someone, no matter how hard you try. Scarlett never apologizes for her inadequacy and I believe this is why I started to feel a bit of sympathy for her. In a world where the proper way of being a "lady" is more important than life itself, one can't blame Scarlett for rebelling. Take this for example; back then you couldn't speak of being pregnant, nor go out of the house while with child because it was deemed inappropriate. Can you imagine if this was something that didn't change with the times? Outrageous. The Civil War broke many people down and caused some of these absurd traditions to break free. Nobody cared that much of what was proper, when you have a dying civilization surrounding you. Okay, so maybe it didn't change THAT drastically and Scarlett is a perfect example of a girl who breaks free but gets the cold shoulder from all her "supposed" family friends. Don't get me wrong, she does some dastardly things that warrant the cold shoulder, but she also gives the reader some hope for the female race. I mean we know how it all turns out, and it might not have changed so drastically if it weren't for woman like Scarlett. The Civil War is something that hits home, being an American. It was hard reading about things from a different perspective because you didn't know what the truth truly was. I don't remember hearing much about the hardships the South faced during and after the war, coming from a Northern school system. I wonder if that would have been different if I had grown up in the South. I'm sure the same can be said vice versa. I'm glad to have these different perspectives to ponder on, I might never know the full truth but I can be rest assured that we've come together in the right direction. This is such a hard topic because we know what is "RIGHT" and "WRONG" with slavery, but in order to get America changed to "RIGHT", we had to destroy a civilization, which is what the Southern culture was essentially. I think one of my favorite lines in the book was spoken by the dashing Rhett Butler, "I told you once before that there were two times for making big money, one in the up-building of a country and the other in its destruction. Slow money on the up-building, fast money in the crack-up. Remember my words. Perhaps they may be of use to you some day." This quote really is quite insightful and surprisingly, I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet (not even in the six pages of quotes from this book on Goodreads... until I added it). Thankfully, I highlight when I read so I could look back and find it because I think it's worth sharing and sums up a huge theme of this book, money. I think I've gone rambling on enough and this book elicits some very interesting and numerous topics of conversation. I think it would be a great book club book, actually. I want to leave you with my thoughts on the movie made from this novel. IF you've only seen the movie, I find it imperative for you to pick up this book immediately. I know... the movie was good, but the book is fantastic and gives you so much depth the movie couldn't bring to it. I'll leave you with this, "Fiddle de dee, tomorrow is another day". Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of Gone with the Wind here: