"The Last Stand" by Nathaniel Philbrick

I always enjoy reading books on history that I'm not well versed on and The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick is no exception.  It tells the story of Custer, Sitting Bull and the battle of the Little Big Horn.  The writing is superb.  You really get the sense of what went on and what led up to the battle.  This book will easily make my top ten books of the year!  It's a great read!
(Gerard's review 5/28/10)

Comments moved here from our other blog:

I can't remember where I saw this book before, but I thought about it while watching an episode of the History's Channel's The States, in which Montana was featured. This of course is the state in which Custer's last stand took place. At any rate, after I left the show mid-way through, I downloaded the sample. I've been approached to do biographies before, but I really haven't taken up any of the offers for a myriad of reasons, the least of which: I can't figure how so much narrative context and texture can be laid on so heavy about these projects. There isn't anything in the footnotes about things like "in the heat of," or whenever something's stated to be "typical" for the time, of a character, etc.

By rolodexter on June 12, 2010 11:14

Read more: http://karen.pnn.com/6632-what-we-ve-just-read#ixzz0vIAzUZd2

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen is about an angry kid with an alcoholic father named Cole who is abused and beats up a kid named Peter. Cole has to live on an Alaskan island by himself as part of Circle Justice. He changes with some wise help along with this experience on the island. I got into Touching Spirit Bear from the beginning! It's a page turner with a somewhat predictable ending, but a good read!" (GERARD'S REVIEW 8/7/08)

K

Touching Spirit Bear is an excellent story about Cole, an angry abused boy, who was mad at the world and his personal journey of dealing with his anger and becoming a better person through Circle Justice or Restoration Justice.  He beat up Peter to the point of causing him permanent harm and never took any responsibility for his actions until he faced death and began questioning his life.  This is a story about helping others and how the Circle Justice system works which Native Americans practiced for years. 

The idea is to restore the criminal to become a good citizen and not just punish them.  Instead of jail or a detention center, Cole was banished to live for a year on an island in Alaska alone.  At the end of the year, the Circle Justice group, made up of all those involved, would meet again and determine if he should go to jail or not.  Cole had a traumatic experience while on the island and after just three days was hospitalized after being mauled by a spirit bear.  After his rehabilitation he went back.  Peter tried committing suicide twice and Cole learned much while on the island, including how many mistakes he made and wanted to make things right if he could. 

I really liked Touching Spirit Bear a lot and had trouble putting it down.  I was anxious to see what would happen next.  There is no boring part in it.  There are many themes running through this book such as abuse, justice, survival, anger, forgiveness, healing.

(KAREN'S REVIEW 8/1/08)