Another No Read November for this girl

Seriously- I read two books this month.  I should've at least finished three, but I left one at work over the Thanksgiving weekend.  One that I only had 90 pages left to read.  Ugh.  So 2 book, 825 pages.  Embarassing.

The Death Cure by James Dashner (324 pages).  Book 3 in the Maze Runner series.  Thomas has been separated from the Gladers, from Teresa and from his new friends Brenda and Jorge.  And he's been told that while he does have the Flare, he's actually immune to all of the effects of it.  He finally reunites with his friends and they are able to escape from the people who have been using them in the Trials.  But it's still not over.  The outside world isn't easier.  And they finally learn how they can stop the group that had been trying to use them.  It took me about 10 days to read.  I really like it- all three books in the series kept my interest.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman (501 pages).  This was my book club book.  Considering this author wrote Practical Magic (the book that the movie about witches was based on), it was a lot more religious than I would've imagined she would write.  Masada was a Judean fortress.  During the 70's AD, the Sicarri, a group of Jewish extremists, took over Masada.  This book was the ficitionalized story of some of the women at Masada.  The flame haired Yael- her mother died prior to childbirth and her father and brother were members of the Sicarri and trained assassins.  After several months in the desert searching for her brother (who they assume is at Masada), they finally find him.  Yael isn't the girl she was when she left Jerusalem- she has matured and truly become a woman (losing her heart and her purity to a married man).  When they arrive at Masada, Yael goes to work in the dovecotes.  There she meets the other women who are the main characters in the book.  The older Revka- her only daughter was brutally murdered, while her young grandsons looked on.  Those sons, with only a grandmother to care for them and a father who seems bent on revenge, seem lost at Masada, rendered mute by the brutality they witnessed.  Revka doesn't hold punches- she is harsh in her judgments but deep down very loving.  When Yael's father strikes her out of anger for her illegimate pregnancy, she moves in with Revka and her grandsons.  The four of them speak the same language- that of silence.  Revka is there for Yael when she finally gives birth to her son.  The exotic Shirah and her daughters Aziza and Nahara- Shirah is in charge at the dovecotes.  She is from Alexandria and is also a bit of a witch, peppering her faith in Adonai with faith in the goddesses of her youth.  Aziza, a strong warrior herself who was raised as a boy by the Moabite her mother married, briefly falls for Yael's brother while Nahara falls for Malachi, a powerful young man among the Essenes who found their way to Masada.  Aziza eventually comes into her own as the warrior she should have been, in love with a warrior who matches her (no longer Yael's brother).  Nahara and the Essenes leave Masada for a nearby cave, hating the violence that surrounds them and yearning for the End of Days.  Shirah came to Masada to be with the man she loved (who happened to be the leader at Masada and married to a very evil woman).  Each woman traveled a different path to reach the safe haven of Masada.  However, their lives are intricately intertwined, even before they arrived.  One day, legions of Romans arrive.  They lay siege to Masada for several months, taunting the people in the fortress.  Then the Romans finally begin to breech the impenetrable fortress in the sky.  Rather than be murdered or enslave, the 953 Jewish people killed themselves.  Only two females and five children survived (some of our characters).  It took me 10 days to read, but I actually read the bulk of it (over 300 pages) in one weekend.  I really, really liked it.