Book reviews

A road trip-style vacation is, at least, good for catching up on reading. It's a good way to pass all of those miles (if you aren't sensitive to road-reading, which I'm not).

So, here's what I read on vacation:

The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini

LOVED this book. I couldn't put it down. There is a whole series of these books, but this is the first one I have read. It is a new book, and I usually just pick something off of the new releases at the library and take what I get. I got a gem with this one.

This book is about a woman who was born into slavery on a Southern tobacco plantation. Abused and impregnanted by her master, she escaped and fled to the North, where she was taken in by a family who helped her through her pregnancy and delivery. When her son was just an infant, she was captured and returned to slavery, leaving her baby behind to be raised by the family who sheltered her. The story follows her life as she endures a harsh life as a slave and dreams of escaping to her son in the North. She becomes a sought-after seamstress for her masters and sews her own quilt out of scraps from her work, sewing clues into it that would help her remember her route to freedom.

Vividly told, this story captivated me from the beginning. It's a good read!

The second book I read was Elie Wiesel's, A Mad Desire to Dance. This one was more difficult to get into, only because he spends two chapters delving into the character's supposed madness before giving details of the back story that caused him to be this way. But if you can get through it, it is well worth the effort. Wiesel is a master at capturing the complex psychology of one who has lived through one of humanity's most devastating eras. And it ends well, which I always like.

Both books were thought provoking and good choices for a trip where we spent obscene amounts of time inside a moving vehicle.