Reviewed by Bev Scott Just Mercy indicts our “impartial” judicial system. It provokes us to reconsider exactly what is “just punishment” for crime. The author tells how the system often condemns the innocent, passes inhumane sentences for petty crimes and convicts suspects despite contrary evidence. For example, children as young as thirteen are condemned to […]
Book Reviews
Book Review: “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr
Reviewed by Bev Scott All the Light We Cannot See is a beautiful, masterfully written work of historical fiction. It tells the stories of two young people, a blind French girl, Marie Laure and an orphan German boy, Werner. Marie Laure lives with her father, a master locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. […]
Book Review: “She Said – Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
Reviewed by Bev Scott In 2017 when Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey began to investigate Harvey Weinstein, women were experiencing sexual harassment, despite the laws against it. Women had achieved high-level positions and were highly educated. They had worked non-traditional jobs and broken barriers. But they also endured gropes, leers, propositions, physical advances and rape. Women […]
“Story Power, Secrets to Creating, Crafting and Telling Memorable Stories” by Kate Farrell
Reviewed by Bev Scott What is story power? The power of story is articulated in the foreword written by Susan Wittig Albert and guided by the examples, the process and the steps described by the author, Kate Farrell. Storytelling is so much apart of our lives as we share experiences, give advice and educate our children. We […]
Book Review: “Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, De Gaulle and Von Choltitz Saved the City of Light” by Jean Edward Smith
Reviewed by Bev Scott Liberation of Paris by historian Jean Edward Smith, tells a fascinating story of the efforts of three key men that resulted in the liberation of Paris in World War II. The Allies swept across northern France after they broke through the German lines in Normandy. They were pursuing the German army intending to […]
Book Review: “Inheritance, a Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love” by Dani Shapiro
Reviewed by Bev Scott Inheritance by Dani Shapiro, describes her emotional journey when she discovered through DNA testing that she was not related to her older sister, Susie. Susie was the daughter of her father from an earlier marriage. The older sister looked like her Jewish father who Shapiro always revered. Instead, she was different…pale skin, blond […]
Book Review: “The Secrets of Mary Bowser: A Novel” by Lois Leveen
Reviewed by Bev Scott Mary Bowser was born into slavery in Richmond, Virginia before the Civil War. She fortunately grew up knowing both of her parents. Her mother worked as a house slave in the Van Lews mansion. Her father lived nearby, working as a blacksmith. Also fortunate, Bet, the daughter of the Van Lews, saw […]
Book Review: “Last Boat Out of Shanghai” by Helen Zia
Reviewed by Bev Scott Helen Zia has written a meticulously researched book with colorful and detailed descriptions of Chinese culture, politics and family life. She centers her story on four young people living in the sophisticated, westernized city of Shanghai beginning in the late 1930’s before World War II. Zia uses the lives of these four […]
Book Review: “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens
Reviewed by Bev Scott “You have to read this book!” I was urged by friends and colleagues multiple times. Where the Crawdads Sing is the debut novel by a wild-life scientist, Delia Owens. It is now a best seller. As a young girl, Kyla’s mother abandons her. Eventually her brother and finally her father also abandon […]
Book Review: “The Tenth Gift” by Jane Johnson
Reviewed by Bev Scott The Tenth Gift, an intriguing book, consists of two stories masterfully intertwined. One is set in the 17th Century, and the other is set in the present. At the end of an adulterous affair with her best friend’s husband, the husband gives Julia “The Needle Woman’s Glorie.” At first glance, the gift appears […]
