Friday, November 9, 2012

Veteran's Day Edition of Foto Friday

Happy Foto Friday, all!  Today I'd like to share with you a great way to kick off your holiday weekend- by joining Shutterfly's "Thank the Troops" campaign!  

Shutterfly is sending thank you cards made by Facebook users (with or without personal photos) to the 1.5 million troops currently serving our country.  It's free to participate- simply go to their Facebook app here to design and send your card.  There are four different cover designs available...here's the one I sent from the Poe family:


So join me, and take a few minutes and thank those men and women serving our country!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

MrsDrPoe: Sarah's Key

It's time for another Reading Review- and this one's not a baby book!  I present to you "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay:


"Sarah's Key" is actually two tales in one- the story of a modern-day American journalist (Julia Jarmond) who has made her home in France and that of a young Jewish girl (Sarah Starzynski) and the horrors she experienced living through the Vel' d'Hiv roundup of Jewish citizen in France in 1942.  As Julia uncovers more about Sarah and her own family's connection to that dark time in history, she discovers herself and in turn changes her own life forever.

Overall, I enjoyed the story; although, it is very dark and definitely brought tears to my eyes on multiple occasions.  Even though the book is a work of fiction, I appreciated the bit of history I learned while reading- I had no prior knowledge of the roundup.  One of my favorite aspects of the book was the growth and development of the relationship of Julia and her father-in-law because of (and perhaps in spite of) his family's past.

I will say that the book did have some language in it, and I didn't appreciate the focus on several of themes that were presented rather nonchalantly (adultery, abortion, cohabitation, etc.).  So while the story itself was very moving, this book will not be sitting on my shelf at home, and I am not over zealous to recommend it.