Category: History (Page 6 of 6)

Lilac Girls – finishing up my WWII reading

November 12, 2016 /

I woke up early this morning to finish Lilac Girls: A Novel (2016). It’s hard to sleep when someone (in your book) has just returned from a concentration camp.

This book by Martha Hall Kelly came highly recommended, and it turned out to be a fitting finale for my WWII reading binge.

From three perspectives – a German doctor, an American society girl who volunteers in the French consulate, and a Polish prisoner – the book spans the years 1939 – 1959. As expected, the three lives eventually collide. The beautiful book cover projects friendship (three women walking arm in arm) and did not prepare me for the horrors described within its pages, specifically the descriptions of the Ravensbruck concentration camp, the only major concentration camp for women in Germany.

The Book Thief: Unforgettable

October 13, 2016 /

As you may remember, I’ve been reading my way through WWII. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is my latest read in this genre. Due to some stylistic choices and a story line that is close to my heart and this blog (books!), I’m naming it as one of my favorites of this genre. Here’s why:

Narration:

One of the most intriguing narrators I can remember, “Death” tells this story. Death’s point of view is interesting, profound, and even humorous, dryly of course, as you would expect death’s humor to be. Death is also very tired, especially during this setting. As busy as Death is, it still takes the time to notice the color of the sky at each soul’s taking.

The Nightingale – an emotional story of German occupation and French resistance

October 1, 2016 /

A story of two sisters living in German-occupied France during WWII, Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale depicts women who moved beyond survival to actively aid the resistance movement.

The younger rebellious sister is not content to just survive the occupation and wants to do more to help the resistance, and she does. The older sister, who must also consider her daughter after her husband goes to war, focuses on survival, at first anyway.

Reflections on The Underground Railroad

September 25, 2016 /

As a student of slave narratives in my master’s program, I was especially intrigued about the methods author Colson Whitehead uses to make the railroad more than a metaphor and instead a functioning railroad in his new novel, The Underground Railroad. Also of note, the very last book I read in my master’s studies (before concentrating on my thesis) was his Zone One.

I wondered: 1) What would I think of this book compared to the “real” slave narratives I have studied and does this do them injustice? 2) Will the fantastical elements take away from the heavy topic here? And 3) Will the book disappoint me by just telling me more of what I already know?

Everyone Brave is Forgiven: A welcome addition to the WWII genre

September 10, 2016 /

Chris Cleve notes in his fascinating Author’s Note for Everyone Brave is Forgiven,

“I belong to the last generation of writers who can still talk to people who lived through the Second World War.”

We readers have been kept busy the past couple of years with several bestselling and critically acclaimed novels set during World War II. As Cleve’s note implies, too soon any additional novels on this topic may not be as historically accurate or inspired, so I am happy for this influx of reading material.

Cleve, for example, loosely based this novel on his grandparents.

He says of the quick loves and engagements from this era,

“Theirs was a generation whose choices were made quickly, through bravery and instinct, and whose hopes always hung by a thread.”

“All the Light We Cannot See” – the glorious sea and Claire de Lune

July 27, 2016 /

“Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they are closed forever.” – Anthony Doerr in All the Light We Cannot See

A Pulitzer-Prize-winning bestseller hardly needs my recommendation. And you likely don’t need another raving review telling you the story line of All the Light We Cannot See, which of course includes a blind French girl and a conflicted Nazi-youth, both coming of age in WWII Europe.

Thus, my reflections today focus on the glorious sea and the power of the radio, especially its music. (no spoliers!)

celebrating July 4 by reading “1776”

July 4, 2016 /

Between today’s parade and fireworks, I found a literary way to celebrate – by finishing David McCullough’s 1776.

Truth be told, I meant to finish this book several days ago, but it worked out nicely to read these words on our national holiday:

“The year 1776, celebrated as the birth year of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward a year of all-too-few-victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear, as they would never forget, but also of phenomenal courage and bedrock devotion to country, and that, too, they would never forget.”

Category: History (Page 6 of 6)

Lilac Girls – finishing up my WWII reading

The Book Thief: Unforgettable

The Nightingale – an emotional story of German occupation and French resistance

Reflections on The Underground Railroad

Everyone Brave is Forgiven: A welcome addition to the WWII genre

“All the Light We Cannot See” – the glorious sea and Claire de Lune

celebrating July 4 by reading “1776”

Let’s Keep in Touch!

Posts by category

Support Leslie’s Bookcase

WHAT I’M READING NOW

Disclosure on Affiliate Links

Copyright

Let’s Keep in Touch!

Subscribe to Leslie's Bookcase via Email

Support Leslie’s Bookcase

Meta