The German House by Annette Hess was a fascinating read.Translated into English by Elisabeth Lauffer, it's essentially a coming-of-age story about a young woman who works as a translator during the Frankfurt Trials of 1963-65. Her story is complicated by childhood memories that her parents gloss over, a controlling fiance, a co-worker with demons from his … Continue reading The German House | Annette Hess #DEUfiction
Text Publishing back cover blurb: Tom Hope doesn’t think he’s much of a farmer, but he’s doing his best. He can’t have been much of a husband to Trudy, either, judging by her sudden departure. It’s only when she returns, pregnant to someone else, that he discovers his surprising talent as a father. So when … Continue reading The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted | Robert Hillman #AUSfiction
This is one graphic novel that really packs a punch. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman is one man's journey to understand what happened to his father during WWII. It's obvious from the opening pages that what happened to Vladek during the war had a huge impact on everything that came after. His marriages, his … Continue reading The Complete Maus | Art Spiegelman
Morris Gleitzman's Holocaust series for younger readers has already attracted much praise and many accolades. His stories carefully balance the reality of what actually happened with modern day sensibilities. Sad, bad things happen to his characters, but he doesn't describe them in gory detail. There is bleakness and injustice and cruelty, but there is also … Continue reading Maybe by Morris Gleitzman
This week's topic for Nonfiction November is Be the Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert:Three ways to join in this week! You can either share three or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that … Continue reading Non-Fiction November: Be the Expert
Soon is book 5 in the Felix and Zelda series created by Gleitzman in his attempt to "grasp the unimaginable."Every time that Gleitzman thinks that he has finished this series, Felix pops up with more to say.Soon finds Felix and Gabriek eking out a life of sorts in an abandoned, bombed out building. The war … Continue reading Soon by Morris Gleitzman
Non-Fiction November is a fabulous meme hosted by Sophisticated Dorkiness et al.The initial join up post asked about our favourite non-fiction reads for the year so far.I felt that I hadn't read much NF this year, so I planned to skip this question in favour of focusing on AusReading Month.However, thanks to a huge storm … Continue reading My Year in Non-Fiction
Once upon a time, there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering. The History of Love turned out to be an epic read. It took me nearly half a year to finish the book and almost as long to work out why I had so much … Continue reading The History of Love | Nicole Krauss
I've enjoyed the Lily Brett novels, short stories and articles I've read over the years. And Lola Bensky was no exception. You know exactly what you're going to get with Brett. You know there is going to be lots of Holocaust survivor issues, body weight issues and a protagonist who was born in a displaced … Continue reading Lola Bensky | Lily Brett
After is the fourth book in Gleitzman's series about Felix. After came as a bit of a surprise for all of us, including Gleitzman himself. We all thought the story was done and dusted after Now. But it turns out that Felix had more to say. After takes us back to the war. Felix is … Continue reading After | Morris Gleitzman
I've been trying to work out what I want to say about The Wrong Boy for a couple of days now. The writing was pretty good, the story was exactly as you would expect for a teen romance/holocaust story and the history was accurate. But I was uncomfortable the whole time I was reading it. … Continue reading The Wrong Boy | Suzy Zail
Although I have enjoyed a number of Jackie French books over the years, I haven't thought of her writing as being particularly elegant or sparkling. I usually consider her writing to be more prosaic and deliberate than beautiful. She writes marvelous historical fiction for children, but there are times when you can see her formula at … Continue reading Pennies for Hitler | Jackie French
I'm going to break my self-imposed silence to tell you about the Sydney Writers Festival event I went to yesterday. Edmund de Waal of The Hare With the Amber Eyes fame spoke to Caroline Baum. This was one of my favourite books of last year, so I moved heaven and earth to get to the … Continue reading Sydney Writers Festival | Edmund de Waal
To Hope and Back is the true story of the St. Louis, the last boat to leave Germany in 1939 with nearly 1000 Jewish refugees on board. The journey is told through the eyes of two young children from different families, Sol and Lisa. I have read quite a lot of Holocaust literature over the … Continue reading To Hope and Back | Kathy Kacer
The Hare with the Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund De Waal is one of those magnificent stories that made me sigh at every turn.I sighed with pleasure; I sighed with sorrow; I sighed with delight; I sighed with horror; I sighed with anticipation and I sighed with satisfaction.I hugged this book to my chest. … Continue reading A Book of Sighs
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