Happy Memorial Day! Today we honor all those who have served or are currently serving for our county and freedom. Today especially, we send you and your families our sincere gratitude.
At Delicious Reads we've read some amazing and inspiring books over the years (2013 Picks, 2012 Picks, 2011 Picks, 2010 Picks, 2009 Picks). Many of these books explore various perspectives of people who have fought for their beliefs. Today I'd like to highlight four of them.
One of my all-time favorite books--and I've read a ton--is Unbroken," by Laura Hillenbrand.
"Unbroken"is the epic story of WWII hero and survivor, Louis Zamperini (mild spoiler alert for the rest of the paragraph). As a young man Louis competed in the Berlin Olympics right before WWII broke out. He served as a bombardier until his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean where his resilient spirit and positive attitude fueled his fight to survive. After an unimaginable 47 days, Louis made it to shore and was immediately captured as a POW by the Japanese Navy. He endured unthinkable atrocities, specifically at the hand of one of Douglas MacArthur's 40 Most Wanted War Criminals, a man known as The Bird. Louis Zamperini's attitude about everything he went through is one of the most courageous and inspiring things I've ever come across.
"Unbroken"is mesmerizing, humbling and life-changing. Everyone should read this book. It will make you see the world differently.
I'm so excited that Unbroken is being turned into a movie scheduled for release at the end of the 2014! Angelina Jolie is directing the Coen Brother's adaptation of the book. Tom Brokaw sat down with Angelina and Louis last month to discuss:
Another book we read this year also took place during WWII and was just released as a major motion picture. "Monument's Men," by Robert M. Edsel is the story of special forces chosen to locate, protect and preserve cultural artifacts during WWII. This story focuses on six men and their quest to preserve artwork from the Nazis.
Last year I moderated our discussion of a book that became very dear to me, "Between Shades of Gray," by Ruta Sepetes (not to be confused with Fifty Shades of Grey)...
This book is an amazing story about a brave Lithuanian girl named Lina. She and her mother and brother are separated from her father and forced under Stalin's orders to work in the coldest camp in Siberia. Lina documents their harrowing 6500 mile journey with secret artwork that she tries smuggle to her father's camp to let him know they are still alive. The book is based on the experiences of the author's family which made it even more chilling.
The Book Thief has a very different twist of perspective--it is narrated by Death. It's the story of a young foster girl named Liesel in Nazi Germany who decides to steal books as part of her quest. She shares these books with the Jewish man who is hiding in her basement. It's a captivating and touching story that will leave its mark on your heart. It has also been made into a major motion picture:
To all those who have served or are currently serving in the military and their families--a sincere thank you. Thank you for being so courageous and nobel. We honor and remember you today.
"When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him."
— Laura Hillenbrand (Unbroken)
If you get a chance, watch this amazing video of Louis Zamperini talking about his life before and after "Unbroken" was published. He is beyond amazing!
This month we tried something different for our menu. We asked everyone to find a recipe off Pinterest to inspire their food choices and we got some TASTY treats!
I believe many people were asking for recipes so please leave a comment in this post if there was one you were wanting!
Each month our book club continues to grow and add new members and this month was no exception! We are so excited to see April at book club again! life gets crazy sometimes and we totally understand needing to take a break from things until your ready to jump back in!
we would also like to welcome Brooke's good friend Elizabeth! We hope you find yourself feeling at home with all of us and we are so glad to have you!
Lastly, we are SO happy to welcome Summer to our great group of girls who just moved BACK here from California after 5 years! We are thrilled to have you back Summer!
On a different note...
I decided it was time for our blog to get a face lift. Its important to me what our blog looks, feels and navigates like. Our blog is an extension of our "book club home" on the Internet, and I want it to be as welcoming and inviting as we are in person.
So I enlisted the help of my fabulous book club members to raise the money needed to purchase a custom blog design. And to my great joy, by the end of the night we'd raised ALL the money for us to get our blog the face lift it needs!
And thanks to Ashley at Ashley Ella Designs on Etsy, we will have our new custom blog by next book club meeting! (Eeeeps, I'm so excited!)
{Check out Ashley's blog to see more of her work.}
For every $5 donated, members got to add a ticket into the drawing for this beautiful leather bound copy of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."
NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE BOOK!
A little "DID YOU KNOW," about Louis Zamperini:
An athlete and a World War II vet, Zamperini cheated death in numerous and harrowing ways, shook Adolf Hitler's hand, and ran one event for his fourth time ever at the Berlin Olympics. Incidentally, at the age of 95, he is still alive and living in Southern California.
The following are astounding facts about Zamperini in chronological order:
At 19 years old, Zamperini qualified for the Olympics in track and field after racing 5,000 meters for the second time ever.
He wound up finishing in eight place at the Berlin, Germany, games in 1936. There, he met Adolf Hitler, who requested a meeting.
He stole Hitler's personal Nazi flag, which he still has to this day. (See picture below)
The flag he snagged from the Reich Chancellery while running in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Zamperini joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941, later flying several dangerous missions across the Pacific. In the summer of 1943 he was the only man of an 11-man crew to ultimately survive an attack on their B-24 over the ocean.
Initially, Zamperini and two other crew members survived on a raft for several days, collecting rain water for drinking as well as the blood of the birds they would kill bare handed. Sharks would circle and brush up against their raft. One crew member died on day 33. The other two survived a total of 47 days.
They drifted 2000 miles to the Marshall Islands, where they're taken as prisoners by the Japanese.
Allied prisoners of war, who had the misfortune to reach Kwajalein, were usually killed. That is the reason it was known as "Execution Island."
Zamperini became a prisoner of war, enduring constant torture and starvation for two years.
He returned home to his family after the war ended in 1945 and married a Miami debutante a year later.
Louis Zamperini Age 22 and 95
Questions That came up during our discussion were, “What makes it so hard to let resentment go?”“What did Louie’s experience demonstrate to
us?”“What life lessons can we glean
from his story?” Want to know our answers to these questions and many more?
Read our full book review & star rating for Unbroken HERE
