Guest Book Reviews

Note from Amishlaw: I've known Anonymous Debra for 35 years, dating back to the days when we both worked on the student newspaper at Eastern Mennonite College, although I've only actually seen her once since then. After a career as a paralegal in Chicago, Debra retired about a year ago and moved, with her husband, to Florida. In a comment to my last post reviewing "The Kite Flyer," Debra mentioned some books she has read recently and enjoyed, so I asked her to expand on her remarks and let me post them as guest book reviews. I extend the invitation to other readers who enjoy books. If you have read something you like, send me a review and I will post it. If I, or someone else, gives a favorable review to a book you hate, let us hear about it. Let's get a good discussion of books going here.

From Anonymous Debra:

Bob Cooley's "When Corruption was King," is the story of his involvement in taking down some heavy Chicago political hitters 30 years ago. This one was particularly interesting for me since I remember when this amazing story broke, Cliff personally knew some of the coppers, and I now work for Bob's brother.

Peter and Elfrieda Dyck's "Up from the Rubble," should be a must-read for every fat, happy, complacent American Mennonite. It's the story of the Dycks' WWII efforts to rescue people (many of them Mennonite) from Russia and Germany and help them settle in new places . . . and Peter was all of about 22 years old! An amazing story that had me in tears, especially since I know people who came to the US via Peter's efforts.

Oprah's latest pick, "A Million Little Pieces," is James Frey's story of his struggle out of the hell of alcohol and drug addiction. If you've ever known anyone with a drug problem, this book is a riveting view from the inside. While I'm not into the Oprah thing, the girl does read good books! I couldn't put it down.

Ah, how wonderful it is to be semi-retired and able to indulge myself in hours of pleasurable, discretionary reading!