Escape from the Reality

It is amazing how books can transport you away from your surroundings.  And with this Texas heat it is nice to find any escape you can find.  If your lucky you can read while drinking a super size margarita and lounge in a bubble bath.  Hey that is the way I want to do it. 

So what books have captured my attention?  Gosh a variety.  One was a Young Adult book that really did have me enthralled.  I am finding that YA is becoming a favorite genre for me.  This last one was 'Winter in Wartime' by Jan Terlouw.  It takes place in Nazi occupied Holland, where Michiel unwittingly becomes part of the underground resistance movement.  When one is placed in unstable conditions, you find that strength from within to carry you through.  Then there are others who dig even deeper and find the way to carry those around them through the tough times too.  Michiel discovers he can do just that.  And finds that things are not what they always seem.  I love this lesson for it reminds us not to ever jump to conclusions.  And to remember that all people have needs that can not always be seen.  A really good story line that pulls together in ways I would have never guessed.

I am also currently reading 'Ben Behind his Voices' about dealing with mental illness.  Oh this is a hard one for me.  I know that I battled so many problems growing up and not understanding why.  My own illness was not declared til I was 35 years of age.  How much easier my life would have been if it had been figured out earlier.  What bravery to share with others the struggle to find what is going on with one who has mental illness.  No matter which form it comes in or the numerous ways it can effect a person, there is always a low point and amazingly a high point.  Thank goodness medications help with so much now.  I do not know many who do not battle the desire to not be on medication.  Myself even wanting to just be okay all on my own.  It makes you feel like your weak when you not at all.  Ben and his mother have had this very issue too.  This account is honest and shows how to do one's best dealing with mental illness with love and honesty. 

The next book I had to share with a young woman who is entering college for her first year to study medicine.  Her goal is to become either an Cardiologist or an Oncologist.  Either way she will have to learn how to deal with death in the health care environment.  Not an easy thing to do in any form.  As my mother in law and mother get older I am reminded no matter how I feel, they will one day have to leave.  And when my own father passed it was a long night that we sat at his bedside trying to help him make sense out of death.  I am not really sure any of us ever understood.  'Last Acts of Kindness' is a wonderful book written with love for people.  And in that sense of love teaching how we can honor our family and friends when it is time to let them go.  A hard subject for many but one that we will all face in our time.  I know that it would be nicer to be able to tell my family how much they mean to me in a loving atmosphere than in one where we are all struggling to beat the inevitable. 

I am thankful to have these books to read.  They have brought me through a very hot month.  In finding the stories within the covers I have managed to forget the atmosphere around me.  That has been wonderful.  As always, reviews are unpaid for.  But gosh, we get to keep the books and that is pretty amazing in itself.