Let's Bust a Recap : Martin Van Buren & the American Political System

Let me tell you something: coming off a fantastic biography of Andrew Jackson I was not looking forward to this book on Martin Van Buren. In fact, I put this 1984 biography by Donald B. Cole in the "book you're secretly afraid of" category of The Unread Shelf's 2021 Unread Book Bingo because I was afraid it would take me all year to read this once I finally started it and I would completely lose momentum in my quest to read through all the presidents.

But it wasn't bad. It took me approximately two weeks to read, and the writing was not as dense and difficult as I was expecting. I'm not exactly sure why I was expecting it to be so challenging, but something about a presidential biography written in the '80s about an arguably boring president just seemed insurmountable to me. The actual book even looks dull and academic, right? 

Martin Van Buren was born during the Revolutionary War and died during the Civil War. He and his contemporaries really made up the second generation of American politics, and let me tell you: Martin Van Buren's life was politics. Born to Dutch parents in Kinderhook, NY and growing up in his father's tavern with several siblings and lots of strangers who were in and out of the tavern as guests, Van Buren developed a bit of an inferiority complex that he had to contend with for the rest of his life. Besides a basic education at the village schoolhouse, Van Buren did not receive any higher or formal education. He apprenticed himself to, what he considered, a much superior family of lawyers and ended up having a very successful law practice. He's the first president I've read about who didn't ever seem to have any financial difficulties and that enabled him to focus on politics as much as he wanted...which was a lot. By the time he was 18, he was already very interested and involved in local politics and that continued for the rest of his life. 

I wasn't excited to read about Van Buren because from what I had read about him in the last two presidential biographies of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, it seemed like he was just a political wheeler and dealer and there wasn't much else to say about him. 

And you know what? I was right. Even though Van Buren was a well-liked man and didn't really have any personal enemies, he was a political schemer and lots of his political opponents couldn't stand the way he worked the system. He was really the first president who believed and advocated a two-party system whereas the presidents who came before, particularly the founding fathers, thought partisan politics were beneath them, even dangerous. Van Buren was the true forerunner of the political system we have in place now, producing the model for our two-party system with caucuses and national conventions to choose candidates and all of that boring political crap. (Can you tell how not impressed I was with him?)

Throughout his life, he made his way through state politics, rising to national politics as a senator from New York, briefly became governor of New York which he quickly cast aside to accept the role of vice president under Andrew Jackson for Jackson's second term. At the end of his vice presidency, he resigned (a political maneuver—not a true resignation) and served as minister to England for a short time before coming back to the U.S. to run for president. He served one term as our nation's eighth president but lost in his attempt to be reelected, to popular war hero William Henry Harrison. Despite all his successful political maneuvering and a lifetime of effective strategizing, in his presidency he got stuck on the issue of the independent treasury and really didn't accomplish much. In his retirement at Lindenwald back in Kinderhook where he was born, Van Buren lived the life of a gentleman farmer, but after a lifetime of political intrigue, he couldn't abide that for long. He tried to run for president again in 1844 but wasn't ultimately nominated to be his party's candidate. After Polk gained the presidency, Van Buren had a little hissy fit when Polk snubbed Van Buren's choices for key cabinet positions, so in 1848, going against his entire life's work of cultivating a strong two-party system of politics, Van Buren created the Free Soil party and ran for president again. He lost.

Martin Van Buren is a bit of a mystery to me. Despite all his political wheeling and dealing, people liked him and he managed to become very close to people he seemed to be the political and ideological opposite of. As I was reading about him, his strategy of playing his cards close to the vest and not taking a political stand until he could figure out what would best serve his interests was unpalatable to me. But he was one of the closest advisors of Andrew Jackson, a man who very clearly knew what he believed to be right and acted decisively on his ideals no matter who he offended. Van Buren's mind was constantly trying to find the political edge and ideology was a minor factor for him. During his career, he was for slavery, against slavery, for federal involvement, against federal involvement depending on what he thought would bring him the most votes. And that's just one example. He was always trying to work the angles and that just doesn't broker any of my respect. 

As for his personal life, he married relatively young and was faithful to his wife who gave him five sons although his fourth son died in infancy. After their fifth son was born, his wife passed away and Van Buren never remarried. I wish Cole would have focused more in this biography on the relationship Van Buren had with his sons. It seemed like they got shuffled around to family members to be raised and Van Buren largely lived the life of a carefree bachelor, but several times throughout the book, Cole made reference to Van Buren's familial responsibilities, and when his sons were adults, Van Buren very obviously had close and healthy relationships with all of them. I would have liked to read more about his relationships with them. 

Martin Van Buren outlived not only his wife, but two of his sons and died at the healthy old age of 79. He really seemed to enjoy his life and people liked to be around him. He never made any enemies and was never bitter, even in his political defeats. I liked him, but I didn't like him. What an interesting guy. 

Like I mentioned before, this biography was actually much easier to read than I anticipated, and if you, for some strange reason, are looking for a biography of Martin Van Buren to read or are on a similar quest to read through all the U.S. presidents, I have no problem recommending this one. I mean, his life was not exciting and while the subject matter was a bit dry at times, I thought Cole did an excellent job of putting together a biography that was thorough without browbeating the life out of you with all the politics. As it turns out, I had no reason to be afraid of this book. 

On to Old Tippecanoe! 

Nine Years

 Happy Anniversary, my sugar!

Loving you is sweeter than lemonade.

Let's Bust a Recap : Stories I Wrote When I Was Young

Well, we're diving back into recaps with my little brother's self-published book! That's right. We have a couple of writers in the family. 

I started reading this collection of short stories back in March when I still lived in Florida and bare feet and tank tops were a normal part of my life. (Pro-Tip of the Day: Always carry a book with you everywhere. This photo was taken waiting at the airport to pick up my dad whose flight ended up being delayed a couple hours.)

Stories I Wrote When I Was Young consists of nine short stories that my brother wrote when he was a kid. This is actually the first collection of short stories I've read in its entirety. I own several short story collections, but they're not the books I naturally gravitate toward. So this was a fun introduction to the genre. 

This book was released on Amazon on February 1st, and obviously I bought it the same day. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the quality of the book itself is really nice. Reagan did a great job with all the formatting and the book feels good in your hands. It's the perfect size for a paperback and easy to read.

Now the stories themselves? Wow. The first couple stories about a killer bear, Reagan wrote when he was only 9 years old. In the very first story, you have this brilliant literary gem:

"But when I looked at her again, I could not help feeling that I had feelings for her."

I mean, if that doesn't evoke some serious emotion, I just don't know what will. 

But in all seriousness, the best part of reading this book is seeing the progression in the stories as Reagan grows as a writer and starts to flex those muscles. The stories are arranged in the chronological order of when he wrote them so the growth is clearly evident. Having grown up in the same house with this kid, I could easily pick out what influenced him, but his imagination and originality unquestionably shine through. While several of the early stories had me rolling my eyes hard or chuckling with amusement, by the end of the book I was genuinely interested in the plots of the last few stories. 

As far as recommending this book, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, my brother created this and I'm proud as a mama bear of him and his book and all of it. I want everyone to buy a copy and for him to become fabulously rich and support me in my old age. On the other hand, all these stories tend to the horror side of things. There's not a single story that doesn't contain a violent, bloody death. There's more than a little profane language, and the crude and immature references to sex are not my jam. My brother didn't share his writing with me when we were kids because I didn't like that kind of stuff. I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. Can I recommend it? Not without specific caveats. If you're looking for pure amusement, a study of a young writer's developing talent: yes, read it. Laugh, roll your eyes, enjoy the journey. If you're looking for brilliant writing and plots that will blow your mind and make you think: this isn't your book. I mean, he wrote these stories between the ages of 9 and 16. That has to be taken into account. As someone who personally knows and loves the author, my favorite parts were his dedication to our parents, the foreword and acknowledgements. I enjoyed discovering a side of my brother that I missed out on when we were kids. I was already out of the house when he was writing a lot of these stories, and being able to read them now has generated a lot of hysterical conversations between us the last couple months. I'll treasure this book for that.

And now for a little fun. I told my brother that I would rank his stories from my favorite to least favorite. So here we go, one through nine, best to worst. 

1. Terrorist Academy : This was actually one of Reagan's earlier stories, but I immediately liked this father/son tale, and it remained my favorite for the rest of the book.
2. The Violet Blossom & Dreams : For second place, we actually have a two-way tie. I really can't decide which of these two later stories I liked the best. One, an Indiana Jones-esque adventure tale and the other, a sci-fi action story: they couldn't be more different but I legitimately enjoyed them both.
3. 24 Hours : This crazy story about a boy getting stuck inside a locked-down building on a school field trip actually had me screaming at the characters not to be so stupid at certain points.
4. Predator on the Roof : This Jurassic Park set in an American high school type story had me rolling.
5. The Bear & The Bear Returns : Fifth place isn't so much a tie as it is the fact that it's hard to separate these two stories which involve the same characters. 
6. Grover Estate : This teens-get-stuck-at-a-creepy-serial-killer's-mansion story prompted a phone call where I asked my brother if he actually needed counseling when we were kids. 
7. Terror at the Door : Dead last. This story would have ranked 5th if it weren't for the disgusting sexual tension that was introduced halfway through that completely grossed me out and ruined the whole story for me.

There you have it. Nine stories written by a kid with a need to create. I can't wait to see what my brother does next, and I can't wait to read your first full-length novel, RP. Love you forever.

Hotel Del Coronado circa 2011

Buy Stories I Wrote When I Was Young here.

Casual Fridays

Well hello there! I've decided to jump back into blogging with a Casual Friday post. It's been over two years since I've done one of these, but there have been some major life changes happening since my last post and I didn't want to hijack a recap with a lengthy explanation of why I've been blog silent for the past two months. 

If you're hyper-observant and prone to haunt my blog, you may have noticed that my "About Me" section over there to the right of the screen has changed recently. 

If you're just a normal person who occasionally pops in, what I'm trying to get at here is......

WE MOVED.

That's right. After living our whole lives in sunny Florida, we sold our house o' dreams, packed all our belongings into that truck (well, that truck plus two trailers full of books and bookshelves, and no, that is not a joke), and moved to the tippy-top of a mountain in western North Carolina. We live in a house with a fireplace now and there hasn't been a day we've lived here that's gotten to 80 degrees Fahrenheit yet. 

On April 1st, my niece and I got to take our first big roadtrip together. She wasn't too sure about running down the side of the highway to snap photos in front of the state welcome signs, but I hope we made some memories she'll never forget. After ten hours in the car, and a lot of "Auntie Hannah, are we there yet?!"s we arrived and the unpacking began. 

Turns out, we had a little stowaway from Florida. After he jumped out of a box I was unpacking in the guest room and scared the wits right out of me, I continued to catch glimpses of him making his way from one end of the house to the other. After two weeks of co-habitating, he finally got a little too close to my bedroom and I caught him and introduced him to his new, much colder home outside.

But if you start to hear any news reports about how there's been a disruption to the ecosystem in Western North Carolina and Floridian lizards have started to run rampant, you didn't see anything.

We've hit a few unexpected and not exactly welcome snags—like having to completely replace the roof of our home before we sold it, having electrical problems in our new house which resulted in half the power being out for more than a week, popping a tire on our truck and buying four new ones, and hearing a mouse—or something—scratching inside of the walls where we live now. But all in all, we're confident God brought us here and we trust Him to keep providing for us. Even though I'm really missing our Florida fam, hot weather, and the ability to pick up and drive to the beach whenever I feel like it, we're starting to settle in here and I'm excited for this new phase of our life. 

Still on the To-Do List: find a job and find a church. We've visited a different church every single Sunday we've been here, and now that we are smack in the buckle of the Bible Belt, we could probably keep visiting different ones for a whole year. Say a prayer for us!

In other news, this being the first Casual Friday post in over two years means it's been equally long since I've shared some of my favorite things. I recently discovered Reese's Puffs cereal for the first time in my life and wow. I can't stop with it. It is my new addiction and I think I've bought like, three boxes of it in the last month.

Also, as of Wednesday, I completed my first ever viewing of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This has been my sister's favorite show for years, and much like she did with the Harry Potter books, she persisted in wearing me down until I gave in. My husband got the series for Christmas and I agreed to watch it with him. 

And I dig it. I should just follow all my sister's advice from now on. (Don't tell her I said that.)

Other favorites lately:

-puppy snuggles

-roaring fires on cold days

-listening to the wind in the trees

-having a dedicated library room

-Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night because our antenna picks it up clear as a bell now

These are some of the books I'll be recapping in the upcoming weeks so be on the lookout for those. (And yes, this photo was taken in our new home library. Be still my heart.)

What's been going on in your life lately? Have you discovered any new favorite things that are making you happy or keeping you sane? And why hasn't anyone told me about Reese's Puffs cereal?!

As always, feel free to leave me a comment, contact me via the "Contact Me" form on the righthand side of the screen, or respond to this e-mail if it showed up in your Inbox. I'd love to hear from you!

Easter Sunday 2021

Let's Bust a Recap : The Comedy of Errors

Ah, The Comedy of Errors, one of Shakespeare's earliest known plays. This one is definitely the wackiest one I've read yet involving two sets of identical twins who were separated at birth. You can imagine the shenanigans to follow. Let's get straight to it.

We open on poor, unfortunate Ægeon, a merchant from Syracuse, who has come to Ephesus in search of his son. His timing isn't great because Ephesus and Syracuse are at odds and any Syracusian found in Ephesus is condemned to death. The Duke of Ephesus is bored though and wants to hear why any self-respecting Syracusian would dare show his face on Ephesian soil. So Ægeon tells him...

...Once upon a time, he was a happy newlywed with a gorgeous wife and infant twin sons. The same day his sons were born, some random poor woman with no job and no prospects also had twin sons which she happily sold to Ægeon so they could be his twin sons' slaves for life. Convenient, right? So this happy little family decides to go on a trip, but they run into a gnarly storm at sea at which point, Ægeon lashes himself to one of the ship's masts with one son and slave, and his wife lashes herself to the other ship's mast with the other son and slave. As you can imagine, the ship comes apart, everyone gets separated, and that's the last time Ægeon ever sees his wife and son and son's slave again. He did raise the other son (whom he has dubbed Antipholus) and his son's slave (whom he has dubbed Dromio) and when they grew up, they decided to go off in search of their lost twin brothers. After they didn't come back home for a while, Ægeon went off looking for them which has brought him to Ephesus because who cares about dying when his life has been such a graveyard of all his hopes and dreams anyway...

To which the Duke of Ephesus is like, "Sad story, bro. We're still going to kill you in the morning."

Meanwhile, on the streets of Ephesus, Antipholus and Dromio (of Syracuse) are figuring out their lodging situation for the night, making dinner plans, and lamenting the fact that their search for their long lost twin brothers has yielded a big fat nothing. Antipholus sends Dromio off to secure a hotel and is surprised when just minutes later Dromio shows back up saying Antipholus' wife is expecting him home for lunch so can he please come on already.

A wife? In Ephesus? Where he's never been before? Ridiculous. And what could this possibly have to do with his search for his identical twin brother? 

Probably nothing and Dromio is probably just making a bad joke so Antipholus soundly beats him.

Dromio (of Ephesus, because if all this isn't confusing enough, let's give both sets of twins the exact same names) goes back home and tells Adriana (Antipholus of Ephesus' wife) that her husband refuses to come home for lunch, and, on top of that, he says he doesn't even have a wife. Adriana, who has already had some sneaking suspicions about her husband's faithfulness, starts crying about the pitiful state of her marriage.

Back on the streets, Antipholus (of Syracuse) meets back up with Dromio (of Syracuse) who denies making any bad jokes about Antipholus having a wife so naturally, Antipholus starts beating him. But then Adriana shows up and begs them to come home for lunch and for the love of Greece, please don't leave her. Concluding that Ephesus is full of witches, Antipholus and Dromio go home with the strange woman. Still no thought that any of this might be connected to their search for their identical twin brothers.

Next, we meet Antipholus (of Ephesus) who is coming home to have lunch with his wife. But he's locked out of his own house because Adriana commanded Dromio (of Syracuse) to shut the gate and not let anyone in. He's about ready to break down the door but his friends convince him to go out to lunch with some other lady instead. (Which makes me think Adriana's hysterics over the state of her marriage probably aren't too far off the mark.)

Inside the house, Antipholus (of Syracuse) has discovered his wife's hot sister and is doing his best to woo her to which she's all, "That's sweet, but wouldn't it be, like, wrong for us to be together? What with you being married to my sister and all?!" Dromio (of Syracuse) has also discovered that he's the object of affection of a hideous kitchen-maid and starts in on the most outrageous bit of fat-shaming I've ever seen. He and Antipholus decide it's time to get the heck out of Ephesus away from all this witchcraft. 

 

Dromio (of Syracuse) runs off to arrange their travel plans, and Antipholus (of Syracuse) is stopped in the street by Angelo the goldsmith who is delivering a gold necklace that was commissioned by Antipholus (of Ephesus). Antipholus (of Syracuse) takes it and tries to pay Angelo, but Angelo, for reasons known only unto himself, is all, "Nah bro, I'll get it from you later." 

In the meantime, Antipholus (of Ephesus) has finished his lunch but is still pretty steamed about being locked out of his own house and sends Dromio (of Ephesus) off to get a rope that he can beat his wife with. Because apparently, physical abuse is the answer to everything for the Antipholuses...Antipholi? 

Then Angelo (the goldsmith) strolls up asking for his money for the gold necklace he just gave him. To which Antipholus (of Ephesus) is like, "Come off it, man, you haven't even shown me the necklace, much less given it to me." So Angelo has him arrested by the officer that I guess is just hanging out on retainer or something. 

Just as he's being led away, Dromio (of Syracuse) shows up, and Antipholus (of Ephesus) orders him to go to his wife and get some bail money. Dromio obeys (still without finding any of this odd), but delivers the money to the wrong Antipholus, of course. 

So just to catch you up, Antipholus and Dromio (of Syracuse) are currently together with a gold necklace they got for free, a bunch of bail money, and they're ready to leave Ephesus on the next ship they can get on because their identical twin brothers probably aren't here and all this confusion is obviously the result of witchcraft. Antipholus (of Ephesus) is under arrest waiting for his bail money, and Dromio (of Ephesus) is out buying a wife-beating rope. Are we all caught up?

Now a random lady walks up to Antipholus and Dromio (of Syracuse) when she sees Antipholus wearing the gold necklace and demands that he either give her back her ring or give her the necklace in place of the ring like he promised. Antipholus (of Syracuse) has, obviously, never seen this woman before and is all, "Peace out, you crazy witch." 

The lady then decides the only way she's going to get any satisfaction is to go to Adriana and tell her that her husband is certifiably insane. Seems like a logical course of action.

Dromio (of Ephesus) finally shows back up with the wife-beating rope, and Antipholus (of Ephesus) is, needless to say, a bit peeved that he didn't bring any bail money with him. But right at this moment, Adriana shows up with a conjurer named Pinch to cast the evil demons out of the insane Antipholus. Because let's not overreact or anything. 

The officer in charge is all, "This is my prisoner, guys." But Pinch is all, "Do you really want to keep this demon-possessed maniac in custody?" So the officer lets Pinch take him.

Minutes later, Antipholus and Dromio (of Syracuse) rush onto the scene with swords drawn and Adriana and her people run away because the only logical explanation is that Antipholus and Dromio (of Ephesus) somehow escaped from Pinch just a few minutes ago and came back to vent their demon-induced rage on everyone. 

Somehow, Adriana in the blink of an eye comes back with some ripped dudes to capture Antipholus and Dromio who see they're clearly in over their heads and take refuge in a nearby abbey at which the abbess fiercely protects them. 

At this point, the Duke is marching poor Ægeon through the streets to his execution and Adriana appeals to him to make the abbess give up Antipholus and Dromio (of Syracuse). But Antipholus and Dromio (of Ephesus) who actually have escaped come running up at that very moment and also appeal to the Duke for justice in this nutty situation. 

Ægeon is like, "Hey it's my son."

And Antipholus is like, "I've never seen you before in my life."

And then we have a gigantic, hilarious exchange of he-said-she-said to which everyone is agreeing and disagreeing right and left, and then the abbess finally comes out with the other Antipholus and Dromio and surprise! she's actually their long lost mother Æmelia, and ohhhhhhh, our identical twins live here: everything makes sense now. 

The Duke pardons Ægeon and they all go to dinner to celebrate their reunified family. Tra-la-la. 

Obviously, it's completely ridiculous that it never once occurs to Antipholus and Dromio (of Syracuse) that all this trouble could be explained by the fact that their identical twin brothers—who they're in Ephesus to find!—live there, but nonetheless, this wacky play was a rip-roaring good time. It's Shakespeare's shortest work and easily read in one sitting (in fact, I'd recommend reading it in one sitting so you're not totally lost each time you come back to it trying to remember which Antipholus and Dromio are in what crazy scenario). This is one I'd definitely recommend, but seeing a stage production of it would be even more fun.

Next up is Troilus and Cressida. Check back in around August or September for my recap of this year's tragedy, and as always, feel free to nominate your choices for my 2022 Shakespeare plays in the comments below. Click here to see which ones we've already covered.

Let's Bust a Recap : The Hypnotist's Love Story

Australian author Liane Moriarty has really exploded onto the scene in the last few years. Three of her eight novels have been picked up by production companies to be adapted into television series (in the cases of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers) and a movie (in the case of The Husband's Secret), and Big Little Lies was such a hit it was nominated for sixteen Emmys and took home eight of them. 

I first heard of her while perusing one of Modern Mrs Darcy's posts a few years ago about some of the most unputdownable books she's read. She had included Moriarty's What Alice Forgot in her list, and after reading her little blurb about it, I promptly added it to my wishlist. Naturally, when I came across it at The Book Shelter, I brought it home where it has been sitting on my shelf—ignored—ever since. 

I still haven't read What Alice Forgot, but a few weeks ago when I took a bag of books that I was getting rid of to The Book Shelter, this other title of hers caught my eye. (And by the way, it's the only book I got on that particular jaunt to The Book Shelter and it was free because of the credit I got for the books I traded in, thankyouverymuch.) I started reading it the very next day on a little Galentine's beach trip I took with my mom with the intent that I would check the "last book acquired" box off on The Unread Shelf's 2021 Bingo Card. 

I have since bought two more books by Liane Moriarty. 

The Hypnotist's Love Story was published in 2011 and is about a professional hypnotherapist named Ellen O'Farrell who is at a point in her life where she's ready to get married and settle down. She thinks she may have met The One when he abruptly tells her they need to talk. As Ellen braces for the worst, she is pleasantly surprised when her boyfriend has no interest in breaking up, but informs her that he unfortunately has a very serious stalker. Far from being upset by this, she's actually quite intrigued. She even considers what it would be like to meet her and talk to her.

Little does she know, she already has. 

Muahahahaha! Doesn't that just sound deliciously creepy?

In all seriousness though, when I started The Hypnotist's Love Story, I had my reservations. At the beginning of the novel, Ellen and Patrick are on their fourth date and Ellen is ready to take Patrick home and get into bed with him. Apparently, premarital sex after only knowing someone a very short time has truly become a foregone conclusion in today's society, but not in my world and I was starting to think that I may just need to write off contemporary literature for good. On top of that, all the hippie-dippy hypnotism stuff was a little annoying and seemed heavy-handed at first as well. 

But, Moriarty hooked me with this story. And while she may not have intended it as a commentary on premarital sex and cohabitation, this story clearly portrays the practical and emotional consequences of living with multiple partners before committing to one person for life. 

My absolute favorite aspect of this book was the way Moriarty chose to switch back and forth between the third person point of view in Ellen's case, and the first person point of view in the stalker's case. It was creepy and unconventional and riveting, and I did not want to put the book down. 

The other thing I wasn't expecting was to feel sympathetic toward the stalker. Moriarty gave me that ethically murky tension I love in a good novel. (See also: The Scarlet Letter or Rebecca.) When you can make me root for a character and disagree with that same character's choices to the point where I'm really wrestling internally over that character's behavior, you have made a fan out of me. And Moriarty achieved that effortlessly. 

All this to say, The Hypnotist's Love Story was a highly satisfying read for me and an absolutely perfect choice for a fast-paced beach read. I give it two thumbs up, and I'm certain this will not be the only novel I'll be reading by Liane Moriarty this year. 

The question is: which one should I read next? 

Let's Bust a Recap : Unbroken

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom are the two books I will recommend to any person at any time. I re-read Unbroken in January for my Sister Book Club which worked out perfectly because I've specifically been wanting to re-read it just to write a recap for this very blog since it is my Go-To Book to recommend to people. 

I first read Unbroken right before the movie adaptation came out in 2014. I think every person in my family passed the book around and then we all went to see the movie together a few weeks later. Since that time, I have recommended this book to every single person who has ever asked me for a book recommendation.

As you can see from the cover of the book, Unbroken is a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption. In it, Laura Hillenbrand thoroughly chronicles the life of Louis Silvie Zamperini who was a distance runner in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, a bombardier in the B-24 Liberators in the Pacific Theater in WWII, and a POW in Japan after being stranded at sea on an inflatable raft for 46 days. After returning home from the war—which in and of itself was a true miracle—he experienced a personal regeneration after hearing Billy Graham speak at a revival meeting. He devoted the rest of his life to forgiving his captors, evangelism, and at-risk youth.

While Zamperini himself was a remarkable person, Hillenbrand's writing brings his story to life in an engaging and compelling narrative that feels more like a novel than it does a biography. Unbroken has won heaps of awards and been adapted into two movies. Since its original publication at the end of 2010, it has sold well over four million copies. It spent more than four years on The New York Times bestseller list. I've never really been interested in Seabiscuit the racehorse, but I've been curious about Hillenbrand's book on Seabiscuit ever since reading Unbroken just because I was so impressed with her writing. 

While reading about Zamperini's time as a POW and the subsequent consequences he endured because of the atrocities he was subjected to in Japan is difficult, I have to reiterate what I said last week in my recap of Anne Frank's diary: these stories are so important for us to remember. This is a book I will keep recommending to anyone who asks because, not only is it an incredible story, it really happened and it happened during a time in history that touched every corner of our world. My grandfather served in WWII and I have known many men and women who lived through those dark times, but we have reached a point where the current generation of young people may never meet someone who lived during WWII and the next generation definitely won't. Books like Unbroken and The Hiding Place and Night and The Diary of Anne Frank are critical for them. 

Am I making myself clear? Is this thing on? I know I'm not the most eloquent writer in the world but what I'm saying is:

READ THIS BOOK

That is all. 

Have you read Unbroken or any other true story of WWII that impacted you? What are your Go-To Book recommendations?