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The Women in the Castle

April 21, 2017

women

  At a German estate in 1938 a summer party turns serious when a group of men discuss their determination to stop Hitler from his ascent to power.  Marianne von Lingenfels is the wife of the group’s leader and she makes a promise to take care of the wives and children of the men in the group if they die in their efforts to stop Hitler. They do fail in their assassination ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Germany, historical fiction, William Morrow, WWII

5 Star Week: All the Light We Cannot See

April 12, 2017

light

  I may be writing this review to watch myself write because virtually every reader I know has already read Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. Ostensibly, my excuse is, this Pulitzer Prize winning novel originally published in 2014 is being re-released in paperback. But really? WHY did it take me this long to read this wonder of a novel? I have no decent reason. ... Read More...

16 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, France, Germany, historical fiction, Pulitzer Prize, Scribner, WWII

It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews

March 10, 2017

it's

  Back for the first time in 2017, it's the It's Not You, It's Me review extravaganza. All right, maybe not an extravaganza, but I do have two books I read recently that did not ring my bell but might be just right for other readers.   Parallel stories of family, art, and loss are at the center of Ellen Umansky’s new novel, The Fortunate Ones. In the present, ... Read More...

11 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: art, Grove Press, mini-reviews, mystery, William Morrow, WWII

January Reading Wrap-Up

January 30, 2017

january

  Well, all righty, the first month of 2017 is wrapping up. I’ve already noted that my reading is still in an odd place, but I’m working very hard to get my head and heart back into the game—what’s happening now is going to keep on happening. One very positive thing I did in January was participate in the Women’s March in Seattle. The city had planned for 40,000 people ... Read More...

18 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Reading Tagged: book clubs, historical fiction, literary, mini-reviews, Russia, social issues, WWII

Mischling

September 8, 2016

mischling

  It’s hard to imagine there is a place more horrible than Auschwitz but Affinity Konar has found the horror within the horror by setting her novel Mischling in Josef Mengele’s lab. Pearl and Stasha, twelve-year-old identical twins, entwined heart and soul from the womb, arrive at Auschwitz in 1944 to find themselves faced with the man whose sole goal is to tear them ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, Europe, historical fiction, Lee Boudreaux Books, literary, WWII

Everyone Brave is Forgiven

May 23, 2016

everyone brave

Novels about World War II have opened with any number of emotions but I’m relatively certain that Chris Cleave has the market cornered in Everyone Brave is Forgiven, when he begins with eighteen-year-old Mary North gaily volunteering fifteen minutes after Britain declares war on Germany. It will be exciting and a lark! Even after she finds out that all she’ll be doing is ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: historical fiction, London, WWII

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