Her

"Her" by Christa Parravani

This book was a little strange, a little hard to get through, but overall interesting.  A warning that there is swearing and some crude language.  The author is an identical twin whose twin died.  The twin was raped and never emotionally healed from that rape and destoryed herself with drugs.  After losing her twin she too begins to spiral downward.  He whole life she has been attached and linked with her twin, she doesn't know how to live life without her.  In the end, through writing this memoir, she finds hope.  She finds that she has been given a gift, life and many days to live it.  This is a story of brokenness, heartache, despair, but hope and love.  "I was one of the insensitive people whose only power in a powerless situation is to deny it away, to ignore it, to hope the truth will fade."  She tried so many times to help her sister but she couldn't save her and sometimes we feel so powerless to help those we love.  In the end we love and do the best we can and leave the rest up to God.

Cutting For Stone

"Cutting For Stone" by Abraham Verghese

This is a good book, long, slow to start, some hard words but worth the read.  I love a book that keeps me reading and that doesn't quite fit with how I think it should go or end for that matter.  This is an ending you will never see coming.  This book is about twin brothers that were born in Ethiopia and left orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance.  The story involves, medicine, poverty, death, revolution, love, betrayal and miracles.  "The greatest sin is not finding it, ignoring what God made possible in you."  We all have special gifts and when we don't use them, I think, everyone misses out.  We are called to use our gifts for His glory, and what wonderful things can happen due to those gifts and Him using us.  "We are all fixing what is broken.  It is the task of a lifetime."  "God will judge us by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings.  I don't think God cares what doctrine we embrace."  I love that statement.  Sometimes I think doctrines are the very thing that separates us instead of helping those in need to bring us together.  "All sons should write down every word of that their fathers have to say to them.  I tried.  Why did it take an illness for me to recognize the value of time with him?  It seems we humans never learn."  Value the people in your life that you have been given, you don't know how long you will have them.  "A mother loves her children equally...but sometimes one child needs more help, more attention, to get by in the world."  This was such a poignant book, I highly recommend it.