The Race for Admission to a Top Rated College

The book opens with the author racing about like crazy trying to find all the appurtenances for a successful college admission for her youngest daughter. There are tutors and coaches and always the question of how much you can afford just to get through the application process. Behind it all is money. You want the best for your child, but you also have to eat and take care of your other children. The other factor about money is that the college or university wants to make money. In fact, they have to make a lot of money to pay administrator salaries, provide amenities for the students, and keep star faculty.

The book is filled with anecdotes about how some well-qualified students are denied admission to top ranked colleges because of bias by the administrators of their prep schools and other problems that have little to do with how well qualified the student is. There are also stories about how parents cheat and bargain to get their students into the top ranked schools. The questions is whether the top ranked schools are worth the effort.

The book has good information for parents facing the challenges of college admission, but it also points out the problems with the system. Financial aid is hard to come by for students that really need it. The rich have an advantage because they can pay the outrageous tuition. Student loans are in many instances designed to suck you in and limit your future because of monstrous debt.

I enjoyed the book. I did find the author a bit repetitive. She had one story to tell and told it in every chapter although bolstered by different anecdotes. In the opening, I found the spectacle of the author racing about to do all the right things to get her daughter into college off putting. The question it raised for me is whether college is really that important right out of high school. Even if you go to a top ranked college the degree in most fields with be ancient history once you’re in the job market.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

 

Five WWII Fighter Pilots Tell Their Story

 

WWII is now a long time ago and many of the major actors are no longer with us. The desire to get some of the stories before the men died led the author in the seventies to interview five WWII pilots who were famous for their exploits

The pilots include Jimmy Doolittle who led the raid on Tokyo that showed the island was vulnerable, Ed Haydon who dueled famous German fighter pilots, Robin Olds a West Pointer who became celebrated in the European theater, Robert Johnson famous for his 27 kills, and my favorite, Curtis LeMay who was responsible for the air tactics pummeling of Germany.

This is a must read book if you’re interested in aviation during WWII. The history is told in other places but the interviews being immediacy to the historical actions. I particularly liked that the author followed the men’s careers beyond WWII. I enjoyed Curtis LeMay’s reactions to senior officials including President Johnson and Secretary of War, McNamara during the Vietnam War.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

A Family Saga with a Maine Background

In 1944, Marin is a cadet nurse. She meets and falls in love with Oliver Demarest, a physician in the same hospital. They wed quickly. When Oliver takes his bride to Haven Point in Maine to meet his parents she realizes that she has married into a wealthy family, one with traditions, and deep roots at their summer place in Maine.

Annie, their daughter, is rebellious. She becomes involved with the anti-war protests in the Vietnam era. Her father forbids her to continue to see Patrick, young man who is an anti-war protester. She doesn’t obey and a tragic accident occurs after which she refuses to return to Haven Point.

Annie’s daughter, Skye, has absorbed her mother’s dislike of Haven Point, but she agrees to come back to scatter her mother’s ashes. She was raised with her alcoholic mother’s view of her family, but now she needs to be told the truth of what happened the summer Annie left for good.

This is an enjoyable, but slow paced family saga. I loved the setting. Maine is beautiful and wild. The descriptions of summer life with parties and the yacht club were enthralling. The characters, particularly Marin, are well done. Although Annie’s and Skye’s stories are part of the book, for me, Marin dominated. She was a strong woman who kept her marriage together after the Annie’s tragedy.

If you want a leisurely read, this is a good one.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review. 

Siblings Reunited

 

Siblings Katie, Grace, and Garth McAlister, traveled to Canada from Britain at the end of WWI. Believing their mother is dead, the children have become British Home Children who were taken to Canada to find homes. In the Prologue, we meet the siblings, but the emphasis is on the youngest, Grace. She’s chosen by a wealthy family. She grows up knowing nothing about her siblings until she discovers an old journal.

Grace isn’t happy being pressured to become a young lady and make a good match. She wants to find her siblings. Garth grew up on a farm in Canada and fought in WWI. He also wants to locate his sisters. He has an additional quest. He fell in love with Emma Lafferty. They wrote for three years, but now he hasn’t heard from her. He wants to find her to see if her feelings have changed.

This is the second book about the McAlister children, but it can be read as a standalone. This is a heart warming story with a good background of Christian faith. The characters are well drawn. All the children are determined people who are dedicated to finding each other and restoring their family.

In the Author’s Note at the end of the book. The author gives the reason for writing this story. She wanted to tell about the British Home Children and their experience. Many, like Garth, were used as unpaid labor on farms. They were stigmatized because of their background and felt that they had to hide where they came from. We can see this in Grace’s adoptive family wanting to hide her history even from her, but many went on to successful lives.

I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for this review.

A Dream and the Adventure of a Lifetime

 

Sixty-three-year-old Annie Wilkins, a farmer in Maine, found herself penniless with no home and no family, but she had a dream. Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She had never driven a car, and she didn’t want to leave her dog, Depeche Toi, behind so she opted for a horse. She got a broken down racehorse named Tarzan, donned men’s jeans, and set off South.

The journey starts in 1954 when the world was quite different from today. There was no GPS so Annie had to use gas station maps to find her way. Riding a horse is very different from cruising along in an SUV. Annie could only do ten miles a day. What it cost her in speed it made up in the friends she made, and the communities she visited. In the end, the press found out about her ride and she became a celebrity. Towns had parades to welcome her, but besides the good times there were floods, mountains, snow and more traffic than she’d seen before.

This is a wonderful book. I loved it. Annie is an unforgettable character. When the going got tough, she kept on believing that if you keep moving you will get there. She didn’t give up on her dream, either. She was offered homes in various states, and even one marriage proposal, but Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean

In addition to meeting all the interesting, helpful people Annie encountered, we also learn about the history of the places she visited. Interspersing history with the adventure of the ride is very effective. The book is well written. It’s an adventure you’ll remember for a long time, I did.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

The Importance of Being in the Moment

 When so much is happening and we’re all busy, we often spend so much time thinking about what’s next that we don’t appreciate where we are at the moment. Learning to be where you are and give whoever you’re with your full attention is the secret in this book.

This book is very family centered in the prologue the author tells his daughter that the most important thing is family and being able to count on your family no matter what happens. Things will go wrong. That’s a given in life, but the important thing is to accept that it happened and move forward. Giving in to despair is not an option.

I enjoyed this book. This principles are very solid. If you can follow them at least most of the time you can have a successful life. I enjoyed the many stories told by people both famous and not, and I particularly liked the focus on family and the Christian background.

This book is well worth reading, as we emerge for a year of enforced quiet and being at home. Our busy lives will take us over again, but if you can remember some of these principles life may feel a little easier.

I received this book from St Martin’s Press for this review.

Spiritualism, a Con-game, and an Escape from a WWI Prison Camp

 

The WWI war in Turkey is not as well known as the war in Europe, but British troops were fighting there because Britain wanted to maintain access to the oil fields in Persia. The prison camps in Turkey were even worse than those in Europe.

Two prisoners, the aristocratic Elias Henry Jones, and Cedric Waters Hill an Australian airman from the RAF, were overcome with boredom and hated the bad conditions. To entertain themselves, they fashioned a ouiga board. During that time there was a resurgence in interest in spiritualism. The guards at the camp became fascinated by what the young prisoners were doing.

The prisoners running a long con were able to keep the guards interested and were able to plan an escape although the camp was located far from anywhere with roving bands of brigands in the area.

This is an incredible story of the psychological effects that can be achieved by successful con-men. The men were skilled in the art of persuasion and were able to use the gullibility of the guards to build trust until there were able to attempt an escape.

If you’re interested in WWI this is a must read. The story, although non-fiction, is so well told that you feel as if you were reading an adventure story. I thought the author did an excellent job of explaining the prevalence of the belief in spiritualism and the psychological basis of what the men were able to accomplish. I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.