What I'm Reading Now

I just finished listening to the audiobook version of We Were the Lucky Ones, by Georgia Hunter. The book is about a Jewish family in Poland, and how each member of the family survives World War II and the Holocaust.

The fact that although each member of the family has such a different story, and yet they all survive such a horrible time in history is just mind boggling. I haven't been so emotionally moved by the end of a book since Unbroken. Seriously. I didn't know if I wanted to hysterically sob or laugh with joy.

I liked the informational asides although they are a bit unusual in historical fiction; I appreciated how they connected the story to the time in general. Don't forget about the Epilogue, by the way. This one was fantastic.

Also, I tend to listen to books more because it's easier to fit into my schedule, especially when I'm doing mindless chores like laundry, etc. I really enjoyed the narrator, Kathleen Gati. Her voice is so gentle and just perfect for the story, and I'm interested to hear other books she's narrated. I'm also looking forward to what Georgia Hunter will write in the future. More info. on her and the book here.

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My Favorite July Reads

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon {mentioned in previous post} City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert “…at some point in a woman’s life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is.” I loved living vicariously through Vivian during 1940s-era New York. It read slow and I kind of wondered where the plot was going at times, but I'm glad I finished it. I ended up liking this way more than I anticipated . Wife After Wife by Olivia Hayfield I thought this book, a modern retelling of the life and wives of England's King Henry VIII, was fantastic in a soapy kind of way. Afterward I made my husband watch all four seasons of The Tudors with me. Heavy by Kiese Laymon I can't find words of my own to describe this book, so I'm going to borrow a review from Roxane Gay. I'm aware that this is lazy reviewing, but as a white person I lack the understanding of what it is to be a POC. That's part...

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

"I don’t see why we women should just wave our men a proud goodbye and then knit them balaclavas. " Nancy Wake I've been anxiously awaiting Ariel Lawhon 's latest book since last year. After reading and enjoying her three previous historical fiction novels, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. Let me tell you, I was not disapointed! In this book, Lawhon tells the story of Nancy Wake , a nurse and journalist from New Zealand who came to live in France before World War II. Through her work as a journalist, she had witnessed horrifying acts of violence committed by Nazis. She eventually met and married a Frenchman named Henri Fiocca. When the war broke out, she began working with the French Resistance and eventually had to flee over the Pyrenees mountains into Spain, then to Great Britain where she trained with the Special Operations Executive (SOE). She was then parachuted back into France where she continued working against the Nazis until the end of ...

{Keep Calm and Soldier On}

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