September HistoryCAT - WWI/WWII

This month, read anything relating to either World War I or World War II - or both.
There is SO much available - fiction or nonfiction; picture books, middle grade, YA or adult - and I look forward to adding many books to my own reading list.

Please add your book to the wiki, if you would like to - https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2024_HistoryCAT

Since the Russian Revolution took place during WWI, I am going to read The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by Stephen Anthony Smith

I can combine this with Sept's CalendarCat and read The Emperor's Tomb by Joseph Roth. Roth's birthday is in September and the book concerns WWI.

I hope to finally read Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks.

I can recommend The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe which I just finished listening to. It's based on the life of Dita Kraus.

I’m reading
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum. Fiction, Germany, WWII.

I have ordered two WWI memoirs: Good-bye to All That by Robert Graves and Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. Brittain's book is very long (688 p.) so that I probably will not get all the way through it. (I try to avoid books over 300 some pages.)

>7 sallylou61: Despite its length, I loved Testament of Youth. It is long, but it did read a bit quicker than I expected. I loved the way Brittain looked at the Great War and the post-war years through the eyes of young women. I did not get on as well with Graves; some of the military slang/jargon was lost on me.

>8 kac522: Thanks for the comments. I will probably agree with you, particularly about the military slang/jargon. Also, I'm interested in a woman's point of view.

>9 sallylou61: Testament of Youth is on my list of books to re-read. I originally read a library copy, but recently picked it up at a library sale for $1 (and in excellent condition!).

>8 kac522: My books arrived today, and my husband informed me that he already had Good-bye to All That. However, I'm going to keep my copy since the print is bigger (and it has an introduction by Paul Fussell that his lacks). Print size is important to me, especially since I am elderly.

>7 sallylou61: Two really good books. Enjoy!

I read The Danger Within (aka Death in Captivity) by Michael Gilbert, a mystery set in a WWII Italian prisoner-of-war camp.

The Taster / V. S. Alexander
4 stars

Magda is a German girl, living in Berlin in 1943. She does not care one way or the other about the Reich or the Nazis; her mother supports the Nazis, but her father does not agree with Hitler or this war (but he needs to keep quiet about it). Her parents are worried for her safety, so they send her out of Berlin to live with her aunt and uncle. Magda’s aunt insists she work for her keep, but the only job she is able to find, with the help of her uncle, is for the Nazis. She is chosen to be a “taster” for Hitler. She, along with other girls/women, taste his food before he eats to be sure it isn’t poisoned. but she needs this job. The work gets more dangerous as time goes on (for various reasons).

Another different perspective on WWII. This is, of course, based on real events – a mishmash of real events and real people, anyway. I thought it was very interesting. Interesting to see that not all Germans supported what Hitler and the Nazis were doing (and some, in fact, tried to sabotage what he was doing), plus interesting to see the danger that civilians (including those who did not support Hitler) in Germany also faced.

I completed The Emperor's Tomb by Joseph Roth which begins post WWI and ends with the Nazi's marching into Austria pre official WWII (Anschluss). (1938)

Sisters in Arms / Kaia Alderson
4 stars

When the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) in the US allows black women to join (telling them it won’t be segregated, but it most definitely is), Grace (a budding Julliard pianist) and Eliza (who wants to be a sports journalist) join and clash right away. But they become stronger as they train and eventually make their way to Europe.

I listened to the audio and really liked this. I suspect it was hard enough for women in the army, but black women? Had to be so much harder. I think something the audio missed (looks like – from other reviews – there might have been): an author’s note… and maybe some citations? I like author’s notes in my historical fiction so I know what was real and what was fictional, so I would have liked to have had that. I do realize Grace and Eliza were fictional, but I would have liked to be told what parts were real without having to find that from other reviews or looking it up after. That being said, I did really like the story and the audio was well done.

October's HistoryKit topic is disasters, and the thread is ready to go!

I read Judgment at Tokyo by Gary J. Bass, which filled in some gaps in my historical knowledge, since I'm a lot better informed on the European theater of WWII.

I have finished Schlump, a novel about WWI first published in 1928. It was overshadowed by Remarque's book published almost at the same time, and then vanished from sight after the Nazis took over and burned it. It was republished in 2014.
It is different from other war books of the time, almost like a fairytale: grim, but with a happy ending for our hero. But there are nightmarish scenes from the trenches, and they hit much harder.

Anne Frank Remembered / Miep Gies, Alison Leslie Gold
4 stars

Miep Gies worked for Otto Frank (Anne’s father) in Amsterdam when the Nazis invaded. Miep was a friend to Otto and his entire family, so she and her husband “Henk” (Anne’s pseudonym for him; his name was actually Jan) didn’t hesitate to hide them on the upper floors of their office and help them out with daily visits, food, and anything they could do to help. This book recounts Miep’s story during this time.

This was very good. I listened to the audio and only occasionally did I miss something because my mind wandered. Miep and Jan helped other Jewish friends, as well. In addition to the other family and the dentist who were in hiding with the Franks, they held on to items (as well as a neighbours’ cat) belonging to Jewish friends in hopes they would one day return and be able to get those items back.

There was biographical information about Miep herself before we got to the Franks’ going into hiding. It was interesting to see the difficulties that Miep went through to help. The “story” included updates (of many people/neighours mentioned) after the war. Otto, of course, came home, but the rest of the family did not, though it was a while before they knew the fates of Anne and her sister Margot. There were a couple of “afterwords”; the last one being a later edition just before Miep turned 100 years old.

>20 LibraryCin: Did you by any chance see "A Small Light"? It was on National Geographic channel last year. It told the same story. I looked it up online and don't see any mention of this book as a source for the dramatization, but it sounds like it could have been. The drama was excellent. If you haven't seen it, it's apparently available on Hulu or Disney+.

My second book about World War One is Canadian: The Wars.

>21 atozgrl: No, I haven't. I bet that would be good. Unfortunately, I don't have a way to watch it, but I'll try to keep it in mind if that ever changes.

>23 LibraryCin: It really was good. I hope you get a chance to see it someday.

I have finished Le pont de la rivière Kwai, which was rather odd, to be honest. My memories of the movie are rather vague, but I think it differed quite a lot from the book.

I just read Madeline Martin's The Last Bookshop in London, which is set during World War II with a focus on the Blitz. I liked the premise, but the execution didn't really work for me, unfortunately.

>26 christina_reads: I read that last month, and it didn't work for me, either. Something about the writing left me flat. I kept comparing it to the outstanding memoir of the Blitz, A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell, which I read several years ago, and highly recommend.

>27 kac522: Totally agree about the writing style; it just didn't flow. I'm pretty sure A Chelsea Concerto is already on my TBR list, but if not I'll add it now!

I read Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach. The book follows the adventures of an American submarine captain from the start of America's entry into WWII to the end of the war. It begins with the outfitting of a sub and training at the naval base in Connecticut to the eventual transport of the sub to the Pacific and the ship's wartime experiences battling the Japanese. There are a number of battle scenes. Beach served on submarines in the US Navy during WWII, and the amount of detail about the operation of the subs in the book feels very realistic. His own experiences during the war inform the story in the book. I really enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it.

I read The Smoking Mirror by Helen McCloy, a suspense novel set partly in Paris immediately before it fell to the Germans in World War II.

I did not manage to read anything for this CAT in September, but I finally did now. I finished listening to In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen, which is a World War Two novel with aspects of a mystery.