Nina Sankovitch

Ina Sankovitch's American Rebels: How the Hancock, Adams, and Quincy Families Fanned the Flames of Revolution was an interesting book that discusses the interconnections between these 4 families that grew up together in the Braintree, Massachusetts.

John Hancock, John Adams, and Josiah Quincy were childhood friends whose families intermarried. Loyal British subjects who, through the post-war policies of King and Parliament, were involved in the evolution from loyal colony to rebellion.

Families from different backgrounds were involved were witnesses and participants in the Stamp Act Congress, the Boston Massacre, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, the siege of Boston and the Continental Congress. They took the divergent paths of loyalists and rebels that ultimately led to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.

A 4 star book that looks at the relationship and choices of these 3 families on our country's path to rebellion.… (more)

3.5 stars

Sankovitch commits to reading one book a day for a year in an effort to finally, fully, grieve the death of her sister three years before.

I enjoyed hearing the synopses of so many books, and there were many good quotes scattered throughout.

The author is clearly a fast reader and there's nothing wrong with her goal, but she treats books and reading as her god and guide in life. Sankovitch and I hold very different moral/spiritual beliefs, and so I just couldn't agree with many of her conclusions. She doesn't have true hope in an afterlife, and her musings on death and grief reflected this lack of hope. She states, "The only balm to sorrow is memory."

Sankovitch also believes that humans are inherently good, yet doesn't bother attempting to explain why, if we're so good, we act so selfish and even wickedly at times. She just says we should go read some other book to try and figure it out. (My personal recommendation would be the Bible!)

Though I enjoyed the book-talk, this is technically a memoir, and this side of the book felt disjointed, as if Sankovitch wanted to cram her whole life into this one book but wasn't sure how to do that.

There are some brief mentions of sex that I found in poor taste.

It was okay, overall, but I wouldn't recommend it.
… (more)