The Burden and Blessing of Love

I have just finished Moon Over Manifest, and my heart is full with the weight of suffering, sadness, love, and joy.  Indeed the author of this book said it best, "You cannot love without being crushed by the weight of it." Anyone who has ever loved, especially children, can attest to this.  This book is a magnificent masterpiece, much like a patchwork quilt where every stitch, story, life, and pattern, plays an important and interwoven detail to the finished product.  I love the fact that the author, Clare Vanderpool, based much of this story around a town, by a different name, that held significance in her family history.  And she revealed a page in American history that you don't often hear about in novels:  WWI and the Spanish Influenza.  In fact, she has inspired me to possibly write something about my grandparents and their lives.  It's no wonder this book won the Newberry Award.  It absolutely deserved it!

On another note, I have begun reading The Higher Power of Lucky and A Single Shard.  So far both books have been enjoyable but not jaw dropping.  We'll see how the stories play out as I continue.