I absolutely hate reading books about war because they upset me so much. I usually end up angry and crying. Or angry and with a headache because I’m trying not to cry. Basically, it all just upsets the crap out of me and I don’t like it. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, is no exception. I didn’t think it would be and although it was on my To-Read list, I probably wouldn’t have gotten around to reading it if it wasn’t selected by my book […]
A story of untold heroes
For the most part, you know what you’re getting when you read a book that takes place during World War II and is set in a location that was occupied by Germany. Even if you find a book or movie that tells an inspirational or uplifting story within that backdrop, it’s always delivered with the requisite edge of horror. How could it not? There is no story to tell from that period in human history that isn’t tainted by the atrocity. I’m not sure if […]
“In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are”
I received several recommendations for The Nightingale and it was a great novel. Unfortunately I spent the entire time thinking it read like the first half of The Girl You Left Behind was fleshed out and made a bit more violent. It’s 1940s France- you have two sisters, a husband at war, German soldiers billeting at the pretty French girl’s home etc. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, Isabelle and Vianne, during Germany’s occupancy of France. Vianne married young and adores her husband; […]