By Elizabeth Smart
Elizabeth Smart gets 5 stars and more in my book. Her book whom she coauthored with Chris Stewart only gets 3. I have to think having Chris Stewart on the team didn't help; I've never cared for his writing style. I've seen interviews with Elizabeth who is very well-spoken and eloquent and kind of expected the same from this book. But that just wasn't the case.
However, that said her story is absolutely remarkable. I remember the day she was kidnapped and followed all the news stories up until the day she was found, another day that stands out vividly in my mind. I wanted to read this book for the details which the public didn't get a lot of when she was found (she simply tells us what happened to her without getting graphic and tells a lot of what she was thinking and why she didn't do some things we as the public expected her to). Kiersten is that same vibrant 14-year-old and I couldn't help thinking through the whole book, could Kiersten have endured what Elizabeth did and come out of such tragedy to become the person Elizabeth is today. She only briefly tells at the end how she has been able to rise above her ordeal without any real medication or counseling. And quite simply it has been her faith, her faith in a God who knows her and loves her. Many who are not religious will question why a God would allow such horrific crimes to happen to people, especially children. But she knows that God gave man his agency and he cannot stand in the way of that. However, she does detail several experiences she had that left her knowing God knew what she was going through and that he had not left her alone.
Her mother also gave her some advice shortly after her return that was really the start of her healing process. Her mother told her that her captors had taken 9 months of her life that she would never get back and to not let them have one more second of her life. Elizabeth needed to move forward with her life and be happy. That would be the greatest punishment she could give two very evil people.
If you overlook the writing, the story is simply one of the best about survival and rising above the scourge of the earth to become someone extraordinary.
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By Clayton Christensen
What a great book on such an intimidating topic as missionary work, especially member missionary work. I actually checked this book out because I loved his book How Will You Measure Your Life? but it sat on my nightstand until it had to go back to the library. I was going to return it on my way out of town and after reading several chapters, decided to keep it, finish it, and pay the late fees. I did not regret that decision. This is a book every Mormon should read who is sincerely wanting to be a better missionary. It gives you ideas to think about, it gives real-life examples of ordinary people who simply opened their mouth to their friends and had amazing results. I read it in 2 days but I would really recommend reading it over time and contemplating some of the ideas and actually putting them to work. This actually got me excited about my own missionary work and left me thinking, "I can do that!"
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By Dan Brown
It was pretty much like every other book I've read of his (suspense, fast-faced, a lot art, foreign places), and as much as I liked his other books, I really did not like the premise of this one. I thought Dan Brown took a very political stand against families and procreation. I consider myself extremely pro-family and felt that this book was very much against families or at least the rights of every human being to decide for themselves in regard to their own familial life, which is pretty funny to say since it's suppose to just be a suspense book. I think Dan Brown couched his personal opinions very smoothly in this book, and I'm not sure I'll read another one of his.
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