Broetry by Brian McGackin

This book was sent to me by the author for review.

This is really a cute little book of poems, definitely more male based than flowery poems that you would expect from a book of poetry. There are some very good poems, some not so understandable, only because I am a woman and don't think like a man.
Kind of neat to get a male perspective on life. There were a couple of poems that I really could relate to, as I have two sons who act and talk the same way.
Definitely worth the read. Very good language and very readable.


http://www.brianmcgackin.com

Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge

Andrew loves his mother, although she was really unable to care for him past the age of seven. She hears voices and goes a little crazy sometimes. But, she always told him that she would be there for him.

Andrew is placed into a foster home (really a corrections facility that needed a use by the state), and is fostered out to the Leonard family. Mrs. Leonard lived through the camps in Germany and is a very uptight individual with many strange rules. 

Andrew is always hoping that his mother will come and get him, but he grows up and remains with the Leonard family, while other foster children come and go. Andrew learns to stay to himself and always hope that Mom will come get him.

The beginning of this book really pulled at my heart, as Andrew is a grown man working to rectify the foster care system in California. He goes into a room in the basement of the facility where he started and there is a young boy, about 11, named Jeffrey, who is on a mattress with one blanket and an ever-beaming light. He is huddled into a ball and barely speaking to anyone.

Andrew grows in his foster home and becomes an attorney. His constant need to be with his mom is ever prevalent in the book. I hope that Andrew Bridge can make a difference in the lives of children who may not necessarily have to be placed in foster care and really should be with their parents. Let's hope his voice lends some weight to the problem.

The book was written well and kept me compelled. Just such a heart-break that there are so many children who are separated from their parents when they really don't need to be.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

Eddie has worked at Ruby Pier, an amusement park near the ocean, for his entire life, right after being in the armed forces during the war. Eddie is the maintenance man who takes care of the rides and making sure that they stay safe. There is an accident on one of the rides and Eddie loses his life.

Eddie is transported to heaven and there is where we start his journey meeting the five people who will make this story what it is. 

Some of the people Eddie meets in heaven make absolute sense to me, but there was one that didn't and that was the last one. It made sense to have that person be there, but I really thought that person should have been numbered differently.

This book makes you wonder if some day you will enter the gates of heaven and meet your five people and who they might wind up being. Just thinking about that makes the book worth reading.

mitchalbom.com  

Hitler's Niece by Ron Hansen

Adolf Hitler is a nobody who can't draw, can't do well in a school atmosphere and has a genuine hatred for the Jewish people. He comes to his half-sisters apartment to maybe get something to eat and is introduced to his young niece, Angelica (Geli, pronounced gaily) Raubal.

Hitler is in his take Germany-by-storm phase, and is doing well, and requests his sister and niece to live with him as his caretakers. 

He falls in love with his beautiful niece, although she is probably not feeling the same way about him. She eventually comes to love him, even in his weirdness. The relationship is strange and not always very kosher.

Although this is written as a novel, I am sure that most of the history in this book is factual. Unfortunately, the one part of the book that you would love to know the truth about will never be known for a fact, as it is of a personal nature and the persons are deceased. I walked away from reading this book with a strong, fresh hatred for Adolf Hitler, not that I liked him to begin with.
Ron Hansen definitely did a lot of research on a woman who doesn't have too much history written about her and filled in gaps with aplomb.