Another hit with my entire book club. Expecting Adam is a well written, honest, funny, down-to-earth, yet supernatural true story about Martha Beck and her husband John, both Harvard students, who become pregnant with a Down Syndrome child. Their entire life and how they see the world is completely changed as a result. One highlight of the book for me is that both Martha and John have an amazing number of supernatural “coincidences” and miracles that happened during the pregnancy that cannot be easily explained away. Also, after reading this book, I have a new appreciation for what parents of handicapped children go through, as well as a new appreciation for the children themselves. Each of us has a purpose in life, including those people who many would feel pity toward.

Another point that hit me about the book was that their decision to keep the baby is met almost to the point of outrage by their Harvard colleagues. They have an almost Nazi-like attitude toward having a child that isn’t “perfect.” The culture at Harvard is very driven and even fearful of being “found out” that they aren’t really that smart. They also seemed selfish or self-absorbed, not focused on things that are truly meaningful in life. (One of the women in my book club was at Harvard when she was first married. She felt that the portrayal of Harvard in the book was very accurate at the time.)

On a trip to England, the author came across a village north of London that stood as a memorial for those who had been decimated by the 17th-century plague at that site. The villagers chose to quarantine themselves in their village to prevent further spread of the plague. Brooks wrote this fictional account of what happened to these people. The character development is very good as well as the historical account of the customs and social structures of that time period, herbs used for medicinal purposes, the prejudices and superstitions of the people, and the different reactions to the stress of living with death all around.

Jesus is the only well-known person to have claimed to be the Son of Man, a claim to divinity. He was either lying, delusional, or telling the truth. Strobel, a former skeptical atheist, interviewed thirteen experts and scholars, asking tough questions posed by challengers to the faith. Each chapter deals with a different subject. For instance, Strobel interviewed John McRay, Ph.D., an archaeology expert who helped A&E with the Mysteries of the Bible program and National Geographic when they needed a scientist who was also a Bible expert, regarding the question, Does archaeology confirm or contradict Jesus’ biographies? Other questions include, Does evidence exist for Jesus outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event? I need to stress that this book is very easy to read as well as interesting. It does not read like a textbook. I realize that faith is a gift from God and that for many people reading a book is not going to do it for them (although that is how it worked out for me). However, it is important to take time to discern the truth, especially regarding such an important matter.

The Hiding Place is a true story about a Dutch family that decide to help hide Jews during WWII. The ten Booms build a secret hiding place in their home above their watch shop. They take in the Jews that others refuse because of their obvious Jewish appearance, or health issues, etc. making them more difficult to hide. Like Anne Frank, the ten Booms are betrayed and consequently arrested. Most of the family dies either in the prison or the concentration camp. However, all of the Jews they hid managed to escape. Although this is obviously a difficult subject, the book is not depressing. The ten Booms are truly inspiring. They even manage to inspire women they are with in the concentration camp.

Set in the South in the 1960s, the story is about a 14-year-old white girl named Lilly who escapes her abusive father. She takes along her black nanny, who faces a possible lynching from several black men. Lilly is in search of some clues about her mother who accidentally died when Lilly was a child. They end up living in the town where her mother came from with three black sisters who own a beekeeping farm. As a result, Lilly finds answers to questions about her mother as well as the nurturing that she craves. This book, I believe, is especially appealing to mothers and daughters. It shows that one can find healing and have a family where you might least expect it. I especially loved the beekeeping farm that seems almost mystical and healing in and of itself. Each chapter starts with a quote from various books regarding the life of bees and how they live as a society. If you pay attention to the quotes, the story of the women reflects the life of bees. I know of at least two book clubs along with a handful of other women not in book clubs who absolutely loved this book.

A narrative of Winnie Louie’s life as told to her daughter, revealing family secrets. The story includes details of Chinese culture and tradition in both China and later in the U.S.

A story about three generations of Native American women. The story is segmented in three parts so that the reader begins with the granddaughter’s perspective and ending with the grandmother’s story, revealing family secrets. It is a great lesson that someone’s perspective may not be accurate and that you can’t really understand someone or why they are the way they are until you walk in their shoes.

A story about four women who meet and become close, lifelong friends in college. That is, except for one of the women who brings grief to each of the others. The character development in this novel is exceptional. A psychologist friend of mine said that the characters are based on Carl Jung’s archetypes, which is why it is so easy to think of people in your own life that remind you of the women in this story.

I would like to recommend two completely different books that I read this month. The first is called Medjugorje: The Message. It isn’t a literary masterpiece but a compelling and powerful faith-building book. It is about the events that have taken place in the little village of Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, since 1981. Six children ranging in age from 10 to 16 in 1981 reportedly have seen the Virgin Mary appear to them daily for many years. One or more of them are still seeing the Virgin Mary on a daily basis. I know this sounds too much to believe, but stay with me for just a minute. One of the results of this phenomenon has been that all of the children and most of the people in the village go to mass on a daily basis for 2 to 3 hours a day. (Most 10 year olds and teenagers I know wouldn’t sit in mass that long.) When the visions first began, the children were under a lot of pressure-by some clergy and the Communist government at the time-to deny what they had seen. The government officials threatened their families (possibly by taking away their work permits) if the children continued their stories about the Virgin Mary. The children have been tested by medical doctors and psychiatrists, as well as interviewed extensively by the Catholic church. The tourists themselves put pressure on the visionaries because they constantly barge into their homes demanding to see and talk to them. Despite all of this, the visionaries have maintained that they see (or saw) Mary on a daily basis. The book has a couple of very short interviews of two of the visionaries, Mary’s messages for the world, miracles that have taken place there and elsewhere, and the author’s experiences of Medjugorje. The book is written by a Protestant journalist by the name of Wayne Weible, which adds even more credibility to the story.

The other book is the most recent book that my book club read. I recommend this mainly for women. As the title implies, the book is entirely the diary entries of Bridget Jones, a single Brit living in London. The story includes her own dating horror stories as well as those of her girlfriends and her gay friend, her dysfunctional family stories, and her career developments. The author’s great sense of humor and the British sayings make this book a really fun read. This book has been made into a soon-to-be-released movie starring Renee Zellweger (she was in Nurse Betty) and Hugh Grant.