I just finished reading David Benioff's book, "City of Thieves." I highly recommend it. It was a total page turner; I think I read it in the span of about 2-3 days, which is pretty quick considering the fact that I don't have a ton of free time these days between work and training. The story is told from the persepective of a young Russian, Lev, who has just been arrested for breaking curfew in beseiged Leningrad. He is teamed up with another prisoner and given an order to find a dozen eggs so the daughter of a high-ranking officer can have a cake at her upcoming wedding. Obviously finding a dozen eggs in war torn Russia is a tall order.The writing of this book is beautiful. There were many passages that I flagged to go back and re-read. This is a book that I would actually recommend to both men and women. I tend to read female-centric fiction, but this one definitely straddles the line and is something that would be enjoyed by either sex - especially if you have any interest in WWII. Warning: It does have some rough language and explicit scenes since it is written from the perspective a male soldier.
Reading this book makes me want to learn more about the Russian front of WWII... and more about WWII in general. I feel like my knowledge of that war is just the 'tip of the ice berg'. It's times like this when I wish I could call up my Grandpa and ask for a book recommendation. He was an avid reader - especially of war history books. I guess that means I just need to do a little research on my own. I feel like the older I get, the less I know. Do you know what I mean? I guess as I age, I realize how much knowledge is out there. Both sides of my family love to play Trivial Pursuit and they are fiercely competitive, so I really need to step up & read more non-fiction so I can be more of a contributing team member.
So many books to read, so little time.
Do you belong to a 'game loving' family? Is there a certain game that your family loves to play? My family loves Trivial Pursuit and lately we've been really into Apples to Apples!
8 comments:
This is going on my "to-read" list on Goodreads! Thanks for the suggestion! Um, Apples to Apples is quite possibly the best game ever.
I love Apples to Apples!!!
My family loves to play cards, but (and this is going to sound very stuck up), I always win so it gets boring and I don't want to play :P I love games like taboo though!
Apples to Apples is SO fun! We do like to play games, usually Scattegories, Scrabble or any sort of list-making game.
I may have to add this book to my list. LOVE WWII books as well.
I will have to add this book to my "to-read" list as well! I'm really interested in books about history and especially the world wars!!
That book will go on my list to read on my next break from nursing school! I am right there with you on wanting to learn more about WWII...and all wars, in fact. I never know which books to begin with though. I feel like I need to ease into it!
I'm glad our family is starting to incorporate more Apples to Apples into the family games. I love trivial pursuit...but they need like a "health" category before I can begin to legitimately answer anyt questions. ;)
Am I the only person on the planet who doesn't know what Apples to Apples is?
Oh this sounds very interesting! I tend to read a lot of women-centric fiction too so it's nice to get add something a bit different to the mix.
And, about the only game we play in our family when we get together for holidays is Loteria (Mexican bingo) :)
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