Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

This book was really great. I would recommend it! This book is mainly about the French/German war in the beginning of the 1940's. There are two parts and the first one is how people from Paris were driven from their homes. There are acts of desperation. It's a few different families and how they all deal with the start of war. In the second part, they are all able to go back home. However, the German soldiers move into their towns and into their homes. Most of the Perisan men are prisoners of war, so alot of these people hate the Germans being there. The second part has a whole different set of families. Some of the women start to fall in love with the Germans. Towards the end, both sets of people from both parts of the book start to merge. You'll notice there is an abrupt ending, however, wonderful!

What I didn't know when I read this book, was the main attraction of the writer. She was a novelist in the 1930's-1942. She was writing this book in 1942, when the Germans were arresting all the jewish people. She never finished this book, but saved the manuscript and hid it along with her daughters. She and her husband were both arrested and were killed in the gas chamber. Decades had gone by and her now older daughter realized they had their mothers last novel. It was sent to be published. It was such a great book, but knowing the history of it makes it even more enjoyable.

Michelle

Switching Time by Richard Baer

This book is written by a psychiatrist about a woman with 17 personalities. I was skeptical when I first started reading the book but by the end, I was sold. What this woman, Karen, is put through as a child and an adult is horrifying in the extreme, so I can see how she would shut herself up to avoid pain. Baer explains it pretty easily for someone like me to understand how it works. Karen spends 18 years in therapy to get throughit all. The book is worth reading if only to learn how to spot someone else going through the same thing she did.

Laurie

Leap of Faith

One of my favorite books is Leap of Faith by Queen Noor. She is a Princeton educated American who falls in love with the King of Jordan. She marries him, moves to Jordan and has five children with him. I really enjoyed learning about the middle east through a western woman's eyes. In addition she was critical to the humanitarian relief effort in that part of the world.