The New Grand Strategy
Mark Mykleby, Patrick Doherty and Joel Makower
Book
In 2009, Mark Mykleby, a Marine colonel, was summoned to the Pentagon along with a fellow officer...
All the Light We Cannot See
8.4
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A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths...
History WWII Fiction
POW!
Book
In this novel by the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Mo Van, a benign old monk listens to a...
Retromancer
Book
There is big and evil magic abroad upon the face of the Earth. History has been changed. The Germans...
Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Spy of World War II
Book
Garbo was the British codename of Joan Puyol Garcia, perhaps the most influential spy of the Second...
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Jojo Rabbit (2019) in Movies
Aug 17, 2020
The subject of Nazis and Hitler is a touchy one to say the least, but it's also a subject that is ripe for satire, and one of the many aspects that stands out here, is how Taika Waititi has managed to craft a film that is absolutely hilarious, but never undermines how horrible this part of history was. So the fact that Taika made Hitler funny was kinda weird, strange and also didnt feel right. But at the same time Taika did a excellent job playing Hitler. Its just strange and out of chacter to see hitler funny. Other than that the movie is good.
The plot: Jojo is a lonely German boy who discovers that his single mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his imaginary friend -- Adolf Hitler -- Jojo must confront his blind nationalism as World War II continues to rage on.
The cast is good, the plot is good, like i said its just strange, wired, out of charcter to see hitler funny. The film never shows the darkside of WWII. So thats good. Jojo Rabbit is a good dark comedy film.
The Scent of a Storm
8.0
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A heart-wrenching love story for the ages – inspired by true events Eastern Prussia, 1944:...
Historical Fiction WWII
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Silver Orphan in Books
May 10, 2018
Brooke Blake is a young beautiful drug-rep, whose only concern is herself. One day when stopped to avoid an elderly man from stepping into traffic, he steps into her car. Thus begins a very unusual relationship between Brooke and Frank Moretti. As Brooke becomes Frank's personal assistant, Frank becomes Brooke's history teacher. Trips to the grocery store and the bank are what most of their days entail. Talks of Frank's past and Brooke's present dominate the conversation.
When Frank passes away, Brooke is left with the task of claiming his body from the morgue and finding his next of kin.
I think this book may have been better written as a memoir. I did learn a lot from this book about WWII history so in that regard I liked it. Before I started reading this book I recommended it to my mom's senior center book club. After reading, I'm not so sure. The book didn't flow very smoothly, at times it was wordy and the word, extirpate was used too many times. These things may all be corrected in editing and I'd be interested to skim through the finished published product.
Booksnthreads (19 KP) rated Salt to the Sea in Books
Jun 4, 2018
The story is told from the perspectives of four different characters, and I loved how Sepetys begins the narrative by telling of the same opening event from each character’s view point. After that, things unfold a little slowly, but it is completely worth it as you approach the climax…by that time, I was completely invested in each of the characters and was absolutely riveted to what was happening to them.
I’m also terribly impressed that Sepetys tackles telling a story from the “wrong” side (Germans during WWII), painting the characters not as the accepted “evil” caricatures but as real human beings caught up in a horrific war. In doing so, she sheds light on a human tragedy that so few of us know anything about (myself included) because it happened to the Germans as they were losing the war.
I will warn potential readers that the end of this novel does get rather graphic and emotionally wrenching, as you would expect in a novel about war and death. Although writing for a young adult audience, Sepetys does not gloss over the terror, panic, and trauma of the events.
Spike Milligan: Man of Letters
8.5
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Spike Milligan's letters contain some of the best material he ever wrote ...Collected here for the...