Vacation reading

One of the other things I enjoyed on our Poconos vacation was reading! My genre of choice in reading, school, movies, almost anything really, is history. The first chapter books that I remember owning were the American Girl books (thanks Grandma!). I majored in history in college. When I go someplace new, I like to visit the historical landmarks and sites. And historical fiction is my favorite type of book to read. So you'll probably notice this trend in most of the books I write about. I read these two over vacation and highly enjoyed them both.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff is two stories mixed into one book. The first story is roughly based on the autobiography and life of Ann Eliza Young, who was the 19th wife of Brigham Young. Ultimately she left him and the Latter-day Saints community and became an anti-polygamy activist in the United States in the late 19th century. The second story takes place in modern day, written from the point of view of a young man who was thrown out of a fundamentalist Mormon sect as a child and returns to help determine how his father was killed and to prove that his mother was not the murderer.

This book was a great read from beginning to end. I didn't know that much about Mormons before reading this book, and although I feel like I know a little more now, I still have many unanswered questions. It puzzles me that this faith claims to have originated with Christianity but has become a distinct, other religion that I can't completely accept that way I do other Christian denominations. The book also hints at some of the ways the Mormon church is still "closed" to outsiders; it left me as the reader wondering what other pieces of history have been locked away. Finally, as a daughter, wife, and mother, I found Ann Eliza's accounts of being part of polygamous families heart-wrenchingly fascinating.

The second book I read was Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas. This book tells the story of a young college student from Detroit who goes to Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964. I learned about Freedom Summer several times in school, but reading it from the point of view of one volunteer and her individual experience brings it to life in a whole new way. The author's writing is incredibly descriptive, which really helps draw you into the story. I don't always feel emotionally invested in the characters I read in books, but I felt their terror when a group of the characters walked into City Hall to try and register to vote for the first time. (If that doesn't sound dramatic, read the book and then you will understand.) This is the first sentence from Chapter 2: "Heat sizzles jitterbugged off the pavement on Lafayette Street." What an awesome use of language! I don't normally analyze an author's writing style that much when I read, but I couldn't help but notice how well written this book was as I was reading it. This is a great story about an incredible time in American history, I highly recommend it.