Flight of Remembrance, A World War II Memoir of Love and Survival, by Marina Dutzmann Kirsch, is the story of two individuals, Rolf Dutzmann and Lilo Wassull, and their extended families. Kirsch's book tells about their childhood, how the two eventually met, fell in love, and eventually got married. Living in Germany during World War II, most of Rolf's and Lilo's story takes place in war time years, and tells of the horrors they lived through both during the war and afterwards, and the war time shortages that were so common-place (including having no heat, no living wages, and starvation rations). Luckily, eventually, the Dutzmann's are able to get American sponsors, and Flight of Remembrance ends with how their family eventually immigrated to the United States.

Flight of Remembrance is not only filled with the horrors of Germany during the war, but includes many snapshots and paper memorabilia to really bring the story to life. Everyone thinks of Germans as the "bad guys" but Kirsch's book is a great example that the truth is always much more complicated; that the Germans were real people, too, and struggled to survive against all odds and with fear of their own lives.

Rolf was a well-educated individual, and his struggles to feed and take care of his family is evident on every page, and you can only imagine if his family struggled so much, how much more the average person did - and that is actually the real beauty of "Flight of Remembrance", because Rolf is the average person. It's the smallest details that Kirsch shares with the readers that make this a memorable read. A great read for anyone who is interested in reading more about Germany, both before and after the war.

reviewed by Anastacia Zittel for Reader's Favorite

I've made soap a few times over the years, as a result of my "have to try every craft ever" scatter-brained mind, but am definitely not an expert by any means. This book is written for beginner soap makers, but I think it would be a handy guide for any soapmaker.

The book includes:

Soapmaking Process and Equipment
Step by Step Cold Process Soapmaking
All about Oils and Using Herbs
Scenting Your Soap
Making your Own Recipes
The book talks about the science behind soap making - which the geek in me enjoyed - and talks about safety. Using lye can be dangerous and deadly, so the author spends some time talking about this.

There are tons of photographs throughout, making me want to start making soap right this instant.

Not only are there a ton of practical recipes included, but there are a ton of simply gorgeous ideas as well, perfect for gift gifting.

A must have for anyone serious about making soap.

Have you heard of the newest food craze called food swapping? The premise is you make real food, and bring it to swap with real food that others make, thereby increasing the real food in your own kitchen, and reducing food waste. It's an all around win for everyone.

I heard of food swapping a couple of years ago, and did a little research but no one was food swapping near me. Yes, I could start my own, but I'm not exactly an organized individual (though I'm better now then I was a few years ago).

When I saw this book in netgalley, I knew I had to read it! I hadn't thought of food swapping since that initial interest a few years ago.

The book not only explains what food swapping is and why you should do it, but the author Emily Paster makes a point of pointing out who shouldn't food swap - whether it's because you are uncomfortable with a non-chef person making your food or because of food allergies. I love the fact that Paster is just so up front and honest about something she's obviously so passionate about.

The food is filled with gorgeous photos and tales of how much fun food swapping can be, and explains that it's also a social event and a great opportunity to learn new things - by talking to a canner, for example, you realize that water bath canning isn't as scary as you once thought.

Most of the book talks about starting your own swap, but various food swaps throughout the country are also highlighted throughout the book, including my somewhat-local Boston food swap.

The last section of the book includes many recipes, which includes suggested portion sizes for swapping. There's a variety of recipes here, from savory to sweet, and include easy ideas for beginner swappers to make like flavored salts and sugars.

Kombucha, if you've never heard of it, is fermented tea. I'm sure you've heard of fermented foods before, right? I've dabbled a bit with making my own fermented pickles, and they are a food unlike any you've ever tasted before, and they are great for your gut, too. Living with IBS, I know how good fermented foods are for me, but I don't make my own as much as I should. I'm a lazy cook, and canning is enough fun for me.

The book begins by telling how the authors got into kombucha in the first place, the health benefits of drinking it, the science behind it, and just why fermented foods are becoming popular again.

One negative I did see is that the authors seem to repeat themselves a lot - they repeatedly mention not using dehydrated SCOBYs for example (quickly counting I noticed five mentions of that fact). There is a lot of information to devour in the book, definitely this is meant to be a resource book for those that are serious about making the brew.

The book does include a ton of high quality photographs throughout and the pages are decorated with water-color like artwork.

As a kid, this was my least favorite of the Little House books. I think that's because, as a girl, I wanted to read about other girls, but that's just a theory (again, I picked Nancy Drew over the Hardy Boys, and Nan was my favorite Bobbsey Twin).

I definitely enjoyed this a lot more as an adult. I love how the book tells you about life as it was, in simple, every day terms, yet you learn so much about what life was really like. It also teaches the value of hard work, without being preachy. The book spans the course of a year, so you get to see what the family does each season. It's a nice change of pace from the rest of the Little House books, as Almanzo's family is definitely better off then Laura's.

This is the very unusual, highly debated story of what happened to Howard Hughes after he "died".

An elderly lady, Eva Renee McLelland, claims that she had been married to a man who was the real Howard Hughes for over 30 years, and the authors share her story, their research, and tries to prove that Eva's story is the correct one.

As much as I want to write my thoughts about whether or not I believe the story, this review is not about that, but about the book itself. It's well documented and researched (though some of the "proof" to me wasn't really proof - showing a small, grainy, black and white photograph of Howard Hughes and one of "Nic" - the man supposed to be the real Howard Hughes - isn't proof to me. You can see anything you want to see in a photograph. Boxes is definitely a fascinating read and a must read for anyone who is at all curious about Howard Hughes life (which always just struck me as sad, overall. The incredible life he led, yet how many people really loved him?) I do hope that Eva's story was true, because that meant that Howard eventually got some peace and love in his life.

I LOVE this book! It's laid out well, the patterns and directions are very clear, and I love the photos and the patterns.

First of all, and I know you've heard it before, I love toys even though I can't make them. This book once again makes me want to desperately try. I love how the book is set up - an easy bear to make (and some clothes), a harder bear to make (and different clothes), and lastly, the hardest and biggest bear in the bunch to make, with more clothes. The bears are knitted flat, but an knitter can easily convert the bears to being knit in the round to save some of the seaming chores.

The clothes are only written for each individual bear size, but again, an experienced knitter can easily make them a little bigger or smaller to fit the bear you knit. You can also adjust yarn weight & needle size to make the bears a little bigger or smaller.

Most of the outfits are beyond cute - I love the wizard and pirate outfits the best - and a few are rather simple, like the princess dress.

Any knitter who enjoys toys and making them for the children in their life - or big kids like me! - will love this book.

This book reminds me of Six of One and Seven Will Out, that I read and reviewed recently. I don't really "get" most humor - I make jokes all the time, don't get me wrong, but most things marketed as funny I don't find funny, and please don't make me sit through a comedy movie because I won't - they just aren't funny and usually make me hurl.

I struggled a bit with the other two books I read, because I could tell it was supposed to be funny, and I could see the humor in the jokes, but eh. The humor fell short. I liked/enjoyed the books for other reasons, but the jokes... eh.

This one is a bit different.

It's a spoof on the apocalypse, and other than some minor editing issues, it's well done / well written for the most part (there's some missed periods, commas, and a few places where the you're and your's got mixed up). There were a few inconsistencies with the plot that bothered me though (for example she keeps talking about having to go to the bathroom, and then she goes, and then the very next page she's complaining about how it had been hours since she had gone to the bathroom when it was very obvious it only a few minutes had passed). The characters are extremely one dimensional - which I actually liked, and to me, really worked in the book. I wish the main character, Verdell, was a little more likable. I get that she's supposed to be an idiot/childish/selfish/self-absorbed/etc., but really? Losing two people she cares about at least a little in the blink of an eye and not one tear shed? Not a moment spent on "man, that sucks"? Nothing? REALLY?

The humor didn't really crack me up, but I did at least smile in a few places and wanted to laugh out loud a couple of times. The bathroom humor got really, really old - we get it, it sucks to use the bathroom in the apocalypse.

All in all, though, I really did enjoy this one. The characters are so bad, you have to keep reading, and the crap that happens to Verdell makes you want to find out how the idiot gets out of this one. The author might've left the ending open to a part two, and I have to admit, I would definitely read the next book in the series if that happens, and I liked the book enough that I wouldn't mind reading another one of Lamb's books.

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I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest views

A great, fast paced memoir, Some Way Outa Here by Mark Lauden is a coming of age book about his life growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, along with two female friends. It's not only a story of them growing up, but a story of a nation growing up as well. Lauden's story is told intertwined with world changing events like stories about Vietnam and avoiding the draft, how he almost made it to Woodstock (but didn't go because of weather reports of rain), protests, and even every day events like parents arguing over hair cuts and hair styles, excitement over a new Beatles album, every day conversations between family members, and whether or not bell bottoms were acceptable attire. The story is all the more fascinating because of the little, every day details that matter.

Lauden's tale is probably much the same as any teenager or young adult growing up, in any decade - trying to make and keep friends and girlfriends, getting good grades, what college should he go to or should he even go to college at all?

Some Way Outa Here is a delightful, fun, read, one that will bring a crazy period in America's history to life for you in a way that will change you and who we are today. I recommend this book for fans of memoirs, or anyone who wants to read first hand accounts of what it was like to grow up in small town America during a crazy time in our nation's history.

I had to sit on writing this review for a week or so because I honestly didn't know what to think.

I loved the different take on zombies - though I'm starting to notice a trend lately that zombies are more "human" and less shambling dead. In this story, the zombies are people who don't believe that Jesus is their savior.

The book is unapologically Christian - and I do strongly think you have to at least have a vague Christian outlook to really enjoy the book, otherwise you will lose out on a lot of the story.

There were a lot of parts to the book that I really enjoyed - Ivy going shopping while her aunt guarded over her, ready with a taser to stop anything that moved - I was bugged by Ivy's constant whining in the beginning about how her aunt was so mean to her by making her go shopping or use her manners, yet it's evident throughout the book that her aunt loves her and Ivy adores her. The inconsistencies like that throughout the book really bugged me. Yes, readers notice things like this.

All in all, it was a great, YA Christian story, with some zombies and romance thrown in for good measure.



I shared an excerpt of this book a few weeks ago - Infectious blog tour and excerpt