Book Reviews: Lots!

It's going to appear like I have done nothing but read for the last few days. Trust me, this is not the case! :-)

I started out reading the third in the series of Brother Cadfael - the monk/detective.

It was called Monk's Hood & I did enjoy it. It was similar to the others in that a mystery occurs & Brother Cadfael is the only one who sees the truth of the matter & goes about solving the crime. While I can say I enjoyed the books so far, I don't think I'll read any more. I find it hard to get through them & it always takes me about a week - these are tiny books! I tried but I'm moving on at this point. I would recommend them as it's neat way to read & get a glimpse in to medieval England.

When I finished this book, I didn't have anything else from my list laying around. While I had the third Yada Yada Prayer Group book at my disposal, the second still had not arrived from the library nor the third book from the Francine Rivers series I'm reading.

I ended up reading The Discoverer of Insulin: Dr. Frederick G. Banting by I. E. Levine. As anyone who has read my blog knows, I am a type 1 diabetic. I picked up this book through Chris's Read it Again list. It is a biography geared towards children so it was very easy reading. I think it took me about a day and a half.

I really liked it! I am so very thankful that a way to manage this disease was discovered. Before this it was a death sentence. In fact, Dr. Banting lost one of his closest childhood friends to this disease at the age of 14. When children developed it, they died quickly. Adults were sometimes able to stave off the end by going on a starvation diet. One little boy wrote to thank Dr. Banting for finding insulin & told him of living on only 300 calories a day. It's just so hard to imagine this.

I found it extremely easy to read as well as very eye-opening. I'm going to give it to my niece to read - she developed Type 1 diabetes just about two years ago now. She's now 16. I'm hoping it will help her keep a handle on it. I know it opened my eyes to many things - especially to the fact that I need to be thankful for this time & the ability to keep my disease in check.

I still didn't have another book from my list to read. So I went looking at my bookshelves to see what I already owned. This one caught my eye (no pun intended)....

I wasn't sure how it would read, but it was VERY easy. I loved the humor in it & spent most of last night laughing out loud in bed and thoroughly annoying my hubby! I don't think he appreciated all the bits I read him, but trust me, they are funny! I'm not sure she made the point she wanted to in this book, but I did enjoy it & found myself agreeing with many points she made. It was a very quick read. I started it yesterday afternoon & finished it this morning.

And then today my new Yada Yada Prayer Group book arrived as well as the last Mark of the Lion book from Francine Rivers! I'm all set for the next few weeks.