Confederates in the Attic- Tony Horwitz

I first attempted to read this book during my Civil War Era History class almost 2 years ago. This book was an assigned reading, so naturally I didn't finish it.  But I did like what I had read, so instead of attempting to sell it  back to BYU for 2 bucks or whatever measly amount they would have offered me, I decided to keep it so that I could read it again on my own terms.  I picked it up a few weeks ago and was intrigued by the story Mr. Horwitz tells.

Mr. Horwitz, who is a former Pulitzer Prize winner, grew up loving the Civil War.  As he got older and began his writing career, his interests changed and he traveled the world, eventually marrying an Australian and then moving back to the states.  When he moved back to the US, he chose to live in Virginia, where he had grown up.  His love for the Civil War was rekindled when one morning he awoke to a Civil War reenactment taking place in his backyard.

A few weeks later, Horwitz decided to meet up with one of the reenactors he had met in his backyard.  He spent a weekend spooning a bunch of men and eating legit food that Southern soldiers would have eaten during the war.  This weekend and the conversations he had with some of the men there, made him realize that to some people in the South,  the Civil War was still going on.  Horwitz decided to take a journey of the South and speak to some of these people while touring some historical Civil War landmarks.

The story Horwitz tells at each of these locations are quite interesting. Some of them are funny and a bit ridiculous, but others really got me thinking about how strongly people in the South feel about the Civil War. While not everyone he talked to supported Slavery, I could tell just by reading that a lot of the reasons people still held on to the Civil War were the same reasons that many people in the South fought the Civil War to begin with: States Rights.   Horwitz tells stories about Cats of the Confederacy, which a couple started when they didn't have children to put in the Children of the Confederacy.  He also tells about his experience witnessing the trial and surrounding hype of a group of young black men who shot and killed a white man with Confederate flags flying on his truck.

Horwitz went from battleground to battleground and followed the stories as he heard about them.   He even went on a Civil War-gasm trip with one of the reenactors he had met in his backyard.  This trip was a weeklong tour of the Civil War, hitting as many landmarks as they could, all while dressed in legit Civil War soldier clothing.

This book opened my eyes about how people in the South still feel about the War and why it was fought.  Having grown up in Texas, I knew that there were people that still had racist/prejudice feelings towards blacks, but I had never experienced anything quite like Horwitz did.  This was an interesting read for sure.  If you are a history nerd, you would probably get a kick out of this book.  And Mom, if you are reading this, just let me know when you want me to mail it to you :)  I know how you are about my history books.

Right now I am reading a Young Adult series called the Luxe.  I'm on book 3 of 4 and decided that I would just summarize the entire series at once. Spoiler alert I guess. :)

Vanishing Act- Jodi Piccoult

Just when you thought I had forgotten about the book blog I post something new. :)  I finished this book last week sometime.  I've been busy dealing with all sorts of wonderful things (see personal blog  for details.  I should be posting on there about my week and all the joys it has brought before the end of the week) and haven't had time to really sit down and blog about my recent readings.

I did finish the second book in the Stephanie Plum series over the Thanksgiving weekend.  I sadly don't remember enough details to give an accurate summary of this book in its own blog post.  The book was called Two for the Dough.  I enjoyed it a lot, so if you've read the first book and are thinking about picking up the second one, go for it.

Now on to the title of this blog post.  I have always enjoyed Jodi Piccoult's books.  My best friend Missy is the one who got me hooked on them, whether she knows it or not :).  Jodi Piccoult wrote My Sister's Keeper, which was then made into a movie in which Cameron Diaz played in.  Just a random tidbit about the author and her writing style.  Anyways. . . I've never read a book by her that I haven't liked.  I have an entire shelf on my bookshelf full of her books, so I decided to bring one with me over Thanksgiving to start reading after I finished Two for the Dough.  This book was AMAZING!  Seriously I LOVED it.  Here's a little summary.

Delia lives in New Hampshire with her father Andrew, her Daughter Sophie, her fiance Eric, and her best friend Fitz.  Delia has a search and rescue dog and together the 2 of them find missing persons.  Delia starts having dreams and flashbacks to a life she can't remember.  She tells Fritz about her memories and Fritz does some detective work.  One night, the police knock on Delia's door and arrest her father for kidnapping a girl named Bethany years ago.  Delia is confused until her father tells her that SHE is Bethany, but that he is her biological father.  Delia, Andrew, and the rest of the gang travel to Arizona (where Bethany was kidnapped from) and learn all about Delia and Andrew's past as Eric (who is a lawyer by trade and whom Delia insisted work on the case) tries to prove Andrew's innocence in a crime Andrew admits to committing.

Seriously this was a great book.  As I was reading it, I found myself torn between whoI was siding with, not only in regards to the trial, but in regards to which parent I liked better, or which man I thought was better for Delia. This book deals with some interesting issues, especially when it comes to who should have custody of a child after a divorce.  I would recommend this book to any young adult/adult reader. 

Right now I am reading a book called Confederates in the Attic.  My plan for the next few months is to focus on books that I already own. I have so many books that I've never read that I need to bust through.  I love the library and all of the cool books I've seen there, but it's time to focus on my books for a while.

In other news, Ashley is pretty close to being done with finals for the semester.  She says she will be blogging about some of the books she's read and will read over the break.  I'll try to hound her about it :)

Happy reading!
 
~Tara