Reviews: SARAH’S KEY by Tatiana De Rosnay

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay is another popular book among our WWII reading challenge participants.  Here are excerpts from their reviews; click the links to read the full reviews.

Mari from MariReads says:

Such a sad tale and under such terrible circumstances. This book had me crying and wanting to find more books on what happened in France during the Occupation.

Corinne from The Book Nest says:

Let me start off by saying I could not put this book down. I must also say, that this book ripped my heart into tiny pieces and I’m not sure I’ll ever be the same. Really. Maybe it’s because I’m a mom or maybe I’m just an incredibly sensitive person. But I now have images in my brain that will never leave.

Kim from Page After Page says:

It was startling, staggeringly heartbreaking, and beautifully written. The destruction of innocence, of love, of trust brought me to tears.

Jo-Jo from Jo-Jo loves to read!!! says:

I think that Tatiana de Rosnay did a great job of providing historical information about a very important piece of history.

Tiina from A Book Blog of One’s Own says:

Melanie commented on my Library Loot post that she liked the history parts of the book better than the contemporary ones. In my case it was actually the opposite. Maybe it was because I have read quite a lot about WW II and it was largely rather obvious what would happen to Sarah.

Sumthinblue from Bookmarked! says:

As a novel, I found Sarah’s Key average. I liked Sarah’s story but couldn’t really bring myself to care about Julia, maybe because for the longest time she was content to serve as a doormat for her obnoxious husband, and I found myself wanting to skip to the chapters with Sarah’s story, which was many times more compelling.

But I never realized I’d learn so much from this book, particularly on the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, which was obscured in history until recently.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

Reviews: TALLGRASS by Sandra Dallas

Several of our participants read and reviewed Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas for the WWII reading challenge.  Here are excerpts from their reviews; click the links to read their complete reviews.

Hilarie from Never Not Reading says:

Dallas created some memorable characters in the Stroud family, all of whom were individuals I would love to meet in real life.  She also did an excellent job of illustrating the fear and paranoia that some members of the white population of a small and isolated town would feel in such a situation.

Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea says:

This is a heart warming coming of age story.

Helen from A Reading Collection says:

I would still recommend this book since some of the characters were fairly interesting enough. It wasn’t bad, but if you’re like me who loves character development in the story, it’s limited in this book.

Nise’ from Under The Boardwalk says:

Part thriller, part historical novel, Tallgrass is a riveting exploration of the darkest—and best—parts of the human heart.

Serena from Savvy Verse & Wit says:

Tallgrass is more than a coming of age story; it also touches upon the harm caused by wrong-headed government policies, the fear that leads to prejudice and hatred, and the impact a war can have on everyone.

Serena also interviewed Sandra Dallas on Examiner.com.  Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

Sunken WWII Japanese Subs Located

Latest reports from the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor today reveal that Japanese submarines captured by U.S. forces and sunk off the coast of Oahu, HI, have been located.  Check out the photos on National Geographic’s Web site.

The subs were gleaned of their advanced technologies and sunk by U.S. forces in 1946 to prevent the USSR from gaining the technology.  According to researchers, one submarine could have circled the globe more than a single time without refueling even though it was not nuclear powered.  The subs were allegedly designed to wage kamikaze missions against New York City and Washington, D.C., using bombers with folding wings.

The second sub mirrored the current sleek design of current subs and never saw battle.

These were just two of the five subs captured at the end of World War II by the U.S. military.  The search for these scuttled vessels has taken many years, with the first sub located in 2005.  Dives are scheduled to check out the submerged vessels, and will be conducted by researchers at the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory.

Check out the full news stories for more details on why these subs were so advanced.

News You Should Hear. . .

We would be remiss in not mentioning the anniversary of the Nazi-sanctioned Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) or The November 1938 Pogroms, which were anti-Jewish riots staged in Germany between Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, 1938.  It is often referred to as the Night of Broken Glass because many windows of Jewish Synagogues, stores, and other structures were smashed.  But breaking glass was the least of the problems for Jews during this time.  Nazis also looted stores and set fire to synagogues.  For more information, please click here and here.

Author of The Endless Steppe a memoir of her family’s deportation to Siberia in 1939, Esther Hautzig, died this month on Nov. 1.  Please check out this wonderful piece on the author at Semicolon.  It is good to hear that she encouraged her students to keep journals and record their lives.  Also, check out the article in the New York Times:  “Mrs. Hautzig’s daughter said that her mother had had a knack for turning the squalid into the bearable.”

Veteran’s Day: We Must Never Forget

Veteran’s Day was a busy day in my house when I was growing up.  First, it’s my sister’s birthday (Happy birthday, Erika!).  Second, my father was a Vietnam veteran, and I’d go with him and his VFW buddies to put flags on veteran’s graves.  I was even a member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary, and I’d march with him in the parades.  My great uncle died in WWII, and we’d also make our way to the green in Voluntown, CT, to pay our respects at the memorial where his name is listed.

We must never forget the sacrifices made by the men and women in the military, and we should take the time to thank those who serve for our country.

Click here to read an essay about my father that I wrote for Phyllis Zimbler Miller’s (author of Mrs. Lieutenant) blog.

Click here to read an essay by Heather from Age 30+…A Lifetime of Books in which she talks about how WWII brought her grandparents together and why she likes to read books set during that period.

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Here’s my little addendum.  Veterans Day (Yes, Happy Birthday Erika) is not about the wars fought and won.  It is about remembering those who came before us, protected us and our freedoms, and the sacrifices they made.

Here’s a cool list of war-related books over at The Book Case.

There are so many war stories and fictional novels about war on the market.  Most recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Chris Coppola, a pediatric surgeon during the Iraq War.  If you are interested, please read part one and part two.

Additionally, he wrote up a guest post for Savvy Verse & Wit.

Thanks, Anna, for sharing your links and thoughts about veterans, the Vietnam War, and memories of your father.  He is still missed.

Reviews: WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED by Judy Blundell

Judy Blundell’s What I Saw and How I Lied was read and reviewed by a couple of our participants.  Here are excerpts of their reviews; click the links to read the full reviews.

Nise’ from Under The Boardwalk says:

WWII has ended and 15 year old Evie’s step-father, Joe, is running successful appliance stores that he opened after returning from the war.

…Winner of the 2008 National Book Award in the Young People’s Literature category, this book is a coming of age story with a mystery.

And Hilarie from Never Not Reading says:

What I Saw and How I Lied is several things at once: a coming of age story, a novel of suspense, and a book which captures the moral ambiguity and sexual tension of noir. The novel takes place shortly after the end of World War Two.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

Reviews: THE ENGLISH PATIENT by Michael Ondaatje

A couple of our participants read and reviewed The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje for the WWII reading challenge.  Here are excerpts from their reviews; click the links to read the complete reviews.

Kathy from Bermudaonion’s Weblog says:

Even though the writing in this book is beautiful, the story was slow for me.  I read this book years ago (when the movie was released) and re-read it recently.  I enjoyed it more the second time around, but still didn’t feel any great affinity for it.

And Amy from My Friend Amy says:

The English Patient is not the kind of book you pick up and think you will read through easily. At first I wasn’t too worried, it wasn’t that long and I figured I would read it quickly enough. I was very wrong. It took me quite awhile to read this book as I often had no idea what I was reading. I had to go back and reread sections and I was still confused. I had a hard time latching onto any timeline or cohesive plot. If I didn’t have the images of the film in my mind, or if this wasn’t a book club pick, I would never have been able to complete it.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

Review: THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon

Mari from MariReads read and reviewed The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon for the challenge.  Here’s an excerpt from her review:

Well, I loved it. It had a great combination of fantasy and historical fiction. The story follows cousins Sammy Clay and Joe Kavalier while they find success as comic book writers/artists in New York City in the time surrounding WWII. Both have reasons to lose themselves in their created comic world of Empire City and live vicariously through their superheroes. Joe is trying to help his family escape from Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia and Sammy is coming to terms with his sexuality.

Read the full review here.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

Review: TEN CENTS A DANCE by Christine Fletcher

Nise’ from Under The Boardwalk read and reviewed Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher.  Here’s a little of what she had to say:

Ruby Jacinski is 15 and has to quit school to work to help support her family at the dawn of WW II. She takes over for her mother at the meat-packing plant whose arthritis is just too bad to continue working. Her only pleasure is meeting her friends to go dancing.

…I was mesmerized and could not put this book down as I was lost in Chicago in the 1940s.

Read the entire review here.

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**

Review: THE BOY WHO DARED by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Nise’ from Under The Boardwalk posted a review of The Boy Who Dared:  A Novel Based on the True Story of a Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.  Here’s a little of what she had to say:

Historical fiction is a favorite genre and I couldn’t put this book down once I started it. Well written, emotional and a must read.

Read the complete review here.

 

 

**Attention participants:  Remember to email us a link to your reviews, and we’ll post them here so we can see what everyone is reading!**