A great book review by Marvelle

Okay, here goes. I told Tami I would try to write a review once in a while. I absolutely LOVE to read but I am very uncomfortable with writing reviews. I am usually only good at telling you whether I enjoyed a book or not. Therefore, this probably won't be as much of a review as a brief synopsis with maybe a thought or two.

I recently read "These is my Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901". I first saw this book on Tami's list on www.goodreads.com. I am stubborn and generally need more than one recommendation before I will read a book so I ignored it. Then, one of the ladies I Jazzercise with listed it on Facebook as one of her 5 favorite books. Bingo! Two recommendations!

At first glance, it did not look like my type of book. I am not a fan of westerns and I feared that's what this was. Instead, I found a captivating novel written in diary form about a young woman who is brave and strong and yet vulnerable and slightly insecure.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It contains the roughness of the "wild west" with Indian battles, rapes, and untimely deaths.

It also contains a wonderful romance between the title character and Capt. Jack Elliott. It is a story of true and abiding love and respect.

At the beginning of the book, I had a difficult time with the grammar (note the book title) and was afraid that I couldn't overcome that even though it made the book more realistic. However, Sarah is a huge believer in education and as she seeks out opportunities to become better educated, the book's grammar follows suit.

One quote I really liked in the book is "It seems there is always a road with bends and forks to choose, and taking one path means you can never take another one." This quote caused me to really evaluate my life and some of the forks and bends I have chosen. For example, I really desired to serve a church mission but I accepted Kevin's marriage proposal. I don't regret my decision but it does reinforce that we have forks to choose and sometimes one choice means forgoing another.

One other idea I loved from the book was Sarah's mother told her "...to make a special point to remember the best times of my life. There are so many hard things to live through, and latching on to the good things will give you strength to endure..." I thought this was excellent advice.

Overall, "These is my Words" is a highly recommendable book. A word of warning though: it did make me cry, so reader beware!

(Thanks, Marvelle, for writing a great book review!)