Rome's Pride

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve My rating: 3 of 5 stars As a fan of historical fiction, multiperspectivity, and mysteries this book held high interest to me. Based off of the Smuttynose murders that took place on New Englands Isles of Shoals in 1873 this book follows two women on different timelines. One, Maren, was the survivor of the event that took both her sister's and sister in law's lives. The other, Jean, is a journalist in current time assigned to take photographs for a magazine article on the event. Throughout the novel you follow Maren's childhood in Norway and events leading up to the murders and Jean's research with the case as well as her interactions with those she is traveling with on a small boat. This book is full of themes of jealousy, desire, and struggles with relationships both romantic or family. The book did start very slow and the first half you do have to stick with it, however, the ending is well worth it with a twist you do not see com...

A Cave in the Clouds: A Young Woman's Escape from Isis by Badeeah Hassan Ahmed My rating: 4 of 5 stars Badeeah's story is one of survival, resilience, and humanity. Her life journey unfortunately involved paths of violence and a lack of human compassion that no person should have to face. However, this biography showed her courage to not only survive herself but her strength and compassion in helping her family and other victims with her. At 18 Badeeah was driven from her home during an ISIS raid on her Ezidi village in Iraq. She was separated from her family, some did not survive or were considered missing after her escape, except for her young nephew who she posed as his mother. They were sold into a human trafficking ring. This eventually brought them to Syria where she was sold as a wife and was both physically and sexually assaulted during her containment. Together with another woman, who was sold with them, they were able to escape and be reunited with some of their fa...

     This week I am reviewing To Kill a Mockingbird directed by  Robert Mulligan . It was produced by Alan J. Pakula  and was  released December 25, 1962. The cinematography was done by  Russell Harlan  and the musical score was written by Elmer Bernstein . To Kill a Mockingbird won three Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. It also won three Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor (Motion Picture Drama), Best Original Score (Motion Picture), and Best Film Promoting International Understanding (Award category was given from 1946-1964)     To Kill a Mockingbird follows Jean Finch (Mary Badham), nicknamed Scout, and her brother Jeremy, Jem, (Phillip Alford) for a couple years. Their father Atticus (Gregory Peck) is a lawyer in town. We see him with a case defending Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), an African American, against accusations of attacking and raping a white girl in ...