Constance by Patricia Clapp

This is a great Thanksgiving book. It's about a 15 year old girl Constance (mostly true story, a few parts I guess were made up but basically true, written by her descendent), who came over on the Mayflower, and how they started life here. It covers about 7 years of her life. I believe it's written for young adults, but I thought it was a good story talking about the reality of their first few years in Plymouth. It was pretty hard for them! I tried to explain to Ian that the Pilgrims didn't have cars and grocery stores and heating and things like that - they really had to do with what they could gather or grow.

Various Titles

Something Familiar by Pamela Carrington Reid

Who doesn't love a good clean romance every once and a while. I really liked this one because it wasn't as sappy and predictable as some. Although, if you don't like romance novels don't go for this one.(remember I said not AS sappy and predictable...not that it WASN'T sappy and predictable!) I really enjoyed it. I think what I really liked about it was, I could put it down. Some romance novels keep me reading into the wee hours of the morning. I devour them like a chocolate candy bar. This book was more like chocolate cake, I could eat it one bite at a time.

Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

I listen to this one on CD and enjoyed it as much as the first. It's very different, but still lots of fun! I love that these books appeal to such a wide variety of people and ages.

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

This is another one I listen to. It too was different then it's predecessor, but I still really liked it! It's such an interesting look into human nature and its frailties. It's amazing how much our perspective taints what we see. My dad was an investigator and I remember him coming home once telling me to read a particular news article and when I had finished, him saying, "That's not what happened, I can't tell you what happened, but that's not true." Another thing he use to say was, "You can have 5 eye witnesses to a crime, and they will tell 5 completely different accounts of the same event, often contradicting one another." Knowing this makes it pretty easy to dismiss a lot of negative accounts of the prophet Joseph. It also makes me wonder how much of the news stories we hear or read about, are actually what really happened. As you can see, this book really made me think. I'm looking forward to reading the 4th one.(the 3rd is a prequel to the 1st, and I'm not sure if I'll read it.)