Tips for Tuesday - Books: The Righteous Few & Gardenia Duty & Games:Stuff Happens

We may have been given a complimentary copy of one or more of the books and/or other products mentioned below for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Books: The Righteous Few and Gardenia Duty

Today I am recommending two books:
.

Mom-

The first book I am recommending is The Righteous Few by Marty Brounstein. If you ever doubted that it is possible for one or two people to make a positive difference in the world, then this book will change your mind. It is the inspirational true story of  Frans and Mien Wijnakker. This heroic couple  saved numerous Jews in the Netherlands during the scourge of the Holocaust. Not only did they hide many people in their own home, some for the duration of the war and others for a brief period of time, they were able to find hiding places for many others as well. Miraculously, they were even  able to help a young pregnant woman and her husband not only by taking them in, but by making arrangements for her to deliver her baby safely and then passing the child off as their own to keep the baby safe for the duration of the war as well. That child not only thrived and survived the war, she is now married to the author of the book. That only makes the book even more poignant.

The second book I am talking about today is the novel Gardenia Duty by Kathleen Varn. Bobby Higgins was inspired to enlist in the Navy when he got out of high school partly out of sense of patriotic duty and partly because he didn't know what else to do with his life. When he met Rose, a divorcee with four young daughters, he was smitten. His life as a swinging bachelor with a girl in every port quickly came to an end, and he quickly became a devoted family man. He did not, however, give up the sea. His naval career continued throughout his life. This novel is not only Bobby's story, but it is also the story of his family particularly his four grown step daughters. The book goes back and forth between Bobby's lifetime and after his death when the family has gathered for his funeral. The chapters alternate between Bobby's point of view and the points of views of his four step daughters. It is interesting getting into so many different characters heads and does help  somewhat to to differentiate the personalities of the daughters.However, with the focus of the story split between so many characters, it is hard to get attached to any of them. Although the story of this family is moving, it would have been interesting to know more about them.

Games: Stuff Happens

Stuff Happen is a very unique and somewhat morbid game. The object is to correctly guess how particular negative events rank in comparison to other particular negative events. The game involves a wide gamut of possible events that range from those that seem only mildly annoying like breaking a fingernail or your parents reading your diary to major catastrophes like being being taken hostage during a robbery or losing an arm and leg in a shark attack. Of course to some people a broken fingernail might seem like a major catastrophe but the fun of the game is to try to figure out where most people would rank these occurrences in relation to each other. If you are naturally pessimistic or you tend to be a worrier, you might want to stay away from this game. Otherwise, it can be entertaining in a dark sort of way.

And that's Mom's view. Tune in tomorrow for What-To-Do Wednesday.