From the eyes of a pilot, the Battle of Britain

 

My wonderful boyfriend bought me this book around two and a half years ago now, as a small present, and I’ve finally gotten around to reading it! I picked it up on Remembrance Day (11th November) and finished it a little while later as the text was a lot smaller than I had anticipated!! I still did really enjoy this book, however, with the insight from Flight Officer Tom Neil who brought down 19 enemy planes during the Battle of Britain and survived to tell his story.

This is not a somber book. There are of course moments of death and mourning, but Neil chooses not to linger on them, and in all it is quite a positive attitude that prevails throughout. Learning more about the contributions that the RAF (Royal Air Force) made at that time was incredibly interesting as despite being a self confessed lover of WWII based books, I haven’t read much from the RAF point of view and therefore was quite lacking in knowledge about the topic. Thanks to this book, I now know a lot more, and it keeps you interested and hooked.

Neil writes well, and that of course is a main component, but also, the personal touches that are shown. The little habits of the boys, how they lived each day, what they worried about and joked about. Knowing that those were real, they weren’t fabricated from knowledge of the time, they were what Tom and his friends were really talking and thinking about. It makes it all so much more real. Despite how long ago this was, it really brought me right there with them in a way that I haven’t really experienced before.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone British, to learn more about the contributions of the RAF to the Battle of Britain in a more personal manner than a textbook could portray, and also to anyone interested in the era. This is definitely a good book to add to your repertoire and one which will provide you with much information. I gave it 4.5*

A father’s story

I knew that my University library held this book, but it had always been out when I searched for it so when I finally managed to grab it I was very happy. This is a non-fiction graphic novel which shows the authors attempts to get his father to tell him about his life during WWII and the hardships he suffered in Auschwitz. The individuals are animalised, with different groups being different animals (mice, pigs, cats), but they all show real-life events.

I actually enjoyed that Spiegelman’s father is quite unlikeable, he’s very determined and set in his ways and Spiegelman keeps trying to justify it through the Holocaust but fails as other survivors don’t behave in the same way. It shows that people don’t come out from an event perfectly reformed as a human, these individuals still have flaws and issues, but that just makes them more human.

As always, these WWII books are tough topics, and this book is no different. However, for me, I focused more on Spiegelman’s father post-WWII and his life now. I found it to be a really interesting aspect I hadn’t come across in this way before.

I’m very glad that I’ve read this book and I’ll be interested in more from Art Spiegelman in the future, WWII based or not.

Who’s really the monster?

This is one of the few books that I have impulse purchased at full price… and then I took almost a year to read it. Yup, that’s me! I learnt about this book at the NYALitFest 2018, where I saw Matt Killeen on some panels at the con and found myself intrigued. Then I learnt that his book was about WWII and I was sold, hook line and sinker. So I bought it! And I got it signed! And it’s pretty! But it took me a while to read the damn thing. Eventually, though I have, in the space of two days, and I gave it 5/5*!

There are so many different nuances within this book, there is, of course, the main plotline of a young Jewish girl, with no parents to look after her, attempting to escape the Nazi’s clutches. Somehow (I won’t say how here as I enjoyed finding out within the plot of the book) she ends up in a Nazi boarding school for girls, as a spy. I had expected this school to be nice, I was so incredibly wrong and I found it fascinating.

Along with this main plot, however, there are also various subplots behind it that carry on throughout the book. I also would like to give a trigger warning (if you don’t want to see it, don’t read the inset below, I’ve made it a very faint grey).

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Paedophilic rape 

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These subplots really add an extra dimension to this book, without taking away from the main story, and I was so completely engrossed throughout this whole book. If you are at all interested in WWII or just a dramatic and intense historical fiction that draws you right into the MC’s world, then give this beauty a go! I honestly have no bad words to say and I look forward to reading so much more from Matt in the future!

Night by Elie Wiesel

My lovely friend Alex (@alexwriter61) got me this book for Christmas due to our joined love of reading about WWII. This seems to be a common book for students to read in high school in the USA, however, it’s not ever been on my curriculum here in the UK and therefore I had never read it. This first book in the series of memoirs is quite small, so I decided I was going to read it one night and I finished it very quickly.

This is Elie Wiesel’s autobiography of his time spent in concentration camps, being taken from his home forcibly by the Nazi’s and the memories he has of this horrendous time in his life. This book is short, but it is heartwrenching. Elie manages to make you feel like you are sat there next to him, listening to his story directly, with an amazing translation from Marion Wiesel aiding with this.

There is not much to say about this book, as it was so hard to read and hard to get through, as it should be with this subject matter. I do feel as though anyone reading this review should read this book, as it is important that we learn as much as we can about these events whilst they are within living memory and after, so that we don’t allow the same mistakes to be made again. This is such an important topic and I urge you to learn about it.

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

Another WWII book, and one I’m really glad I picked up. This one is unique in that it follows a man and a girl wandering through the wilderness, avoiding the Nazis and trying to stay alive through the seasons.

Anna loses her father when he is taken by the Nazis, and at seven years old was left without anyone to help her. Until the swallow man. He happens to be around when she is sat around and takes a liking to Anna, letting her tag along with him.

This book elicited lots of different emotions from me, with some sections being incredibly sad, disturbing, and once Anna was older there were also some creepy and uncomfortable moments that I hadn’t been expecting when I started this book.

The ending of this book may seem unsatisfactory to some, as it is left very open. However, I surprisingly liked this as we are as knowledgeable as Anna is and what with our understanding of the past we can infer some of what will happen in the future.

Overall this was a very unique little book that I’m very glad I read, and I obviously gave it 5*. There are so many little nuances that I would’ve loved to mention but I didn’t want to spoil anything! So you’ll just have to go read this little gem for yourself to find out what they are 😉

November Wrap Up| 2018

November was the month of Non-Fiction, and so I set myself a heady tbr of 13 books, some from friends, some from NetGalley and some I just have with me at uni. I ended up with a total read number of 9, but this wasn’t all of the books I put on my tbr at the begining of the month. I knew I was likely not going to get to all of them, as depending on how it’s written, non-fiction can be really slow going for me. However, I also picked up 2 non-fic books in a charity shop just before starting the challenge and this meant that I ended up reading them! But at least they’re read now! So let’s get into what I actually got around to this month.

Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton -> 5/5*

I finished this series off in the first few days of November and absolutely adored it. My heart was torn out, sewn up and then torn out again! This is one of my favourite series ever and I need to buy them all! (I got them all out of my libraries)

Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig -> 3.5/5*

This was a difficult book for me to read. I have depression, and hearing it talked about in this manner triggered it frequently throughout my time reading. However, it was also interesting hearing about his story. Just tread carefully if you struggle with mental health issues.

Nature’s Home by the RSPB -> 4/5*

This is the seasonal magazine that the RSPB send around to their members. It was surprisingly enjoyable and I am definitely going to read the ones I get in the future. I learnt a lot which I wasn’t expecting to and it was simply a nice read.

The Secret Barrister -> 4/5*

I really enjoyed this, a book I had seen promoted on Portal in the Pages channel (click to see her YouTube page) so when I spotted it in the charity shop I just had to pick it up. It was incredibly interesting to learn about the structural failures and corruption issues present within the UK law system from someone who has no reason to hide anything other than their name (the author is annonymous). This was a great read.

Weird War Two by Richard Denham -> 3/5*

Of course I was going to get to at least one WWII book in my selection. This one talks about weird tactics, rumours spread on purpose and weird beliefs of those on both sides. I knew a few of the facts within already, but it was also great to add more factoids to my knowledge!

Love and Kisses From my Padded Cell by Dr Ellie Henkind Katz -> 3/5*

Dr Katz interviewed around 12 people who have came out the other side of the 12 step process of overcoming (a variety of) addictions. Some of them have been successful, some have not. And it also exposes their pasts and how they got to where they were. As someone who is interested in psychology this was interesting and a very quick read.

The Path to Change by Pope Francis -> 2.5/5*

An interview with the current Pope, this was incredibly interesting, however, also very hard to read. It was not written in an engaging way but I was interested in the content. Too much repetition meant it got dropped down, but I am still really glad I read it.

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall -> 4.5/5*

This was such an incredibly interesting book. I learnt about how the past and the present have been hugely influenced by geology and geography and also how this is likely to continue into the future. It was also relevant with Russia’s current Ukraine situation so that was a nice added bonus.

What If? by Randall Munroe -> 5/5*

If you want scientific, thought out answers to absurd and stupid questions then this is your book! It satisfied the nerdy scientist in me and was also really funny to boot! Definitely one to pick up if you’re even vaguely interested in science!

And that’s that! A really fun selection and some absolutely great reads this month! Next month I should hopefully stick to my tbr a little bit more, but I’m still very happy with what I read this month. Have you read any of these? Or are you going to? Let me know in the comments!

Weird War Two, war is never normal

When I saw this title I just knew I had to pick it up, I already knew of some weird facts about WWII (a couple of which were in this book), but I was perfectly happy to add to my mental collection of odd facts. There were so many odd, and frankly unbelievable, rumours that spread around during this time, along with some very weird tactics used by both sides!

It’s a very short book, and I don’t want to spoil the oddities within, so there’s not much that I can talk about here. However, I will say that it is an interesting and easy read. There are weird facts from multiple different countries from within both the Allies and Axis, some are sad, some are silly and some are just interesting. If you at all care about WWII or want to widen your knowledge about it then this would be a good one to pick up.

I gave this book 3/5 stars, thank you to NetGalley for an ecopy of this book in return for an unbiased and honest review.

Battle of Britain by Chris Priestly, a review

I hadn’t been expecting to re-read this any time soon, I originally read some of the “My Story” books when I was around 7/8 years old and really enjoyed them at the time but had no desire to re-read them again as an adult. However, the BookTubeAThon changed that! I was panicking and needed something quick and easy to read, so I picked this one up.

This series is all about teaching children about history, making it more personal to them by having our main character expressing themselves in the form of diary entries. This specific book follows a Spitfire pilot during the second world war and the trials, risks to life and grief that he goes through during this time. I feel like these topics are handled very well, in terms of making them appropriate for younger children. I remember feeling sad when reading this originally as a child, but I never felt like the information was too much for me and I was very glad to know more about the time period and felt a connection to our main character. When re-reading it, I was surprised that this was how I felt as a child as I had almost the same reaction as a 21 year old. It did make me realise that children can handle a lot more than I previously thought, which was an interesting conclusion to come to.

If you were thinking about getting this book, or others from this ‘series’, for your child then I definitely think you should give it a go. They have a good level of detail without going too far into the topics and can harbour an interest in history in your child!

My October TBR!| 2018

After such a busy start to Masters life, I attempted to cut down my tbr for this month… I failed. But let’s have a look at what I couldn’t stop myself from adding to my list! I have done a video version of this on my YouTube channel, click here to go watch that! (It’s also my first video with Closed Captions, which I intend to add to every video I upload from now on. Making my content available to even more people!)

This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada

I was lucky enough to win a physical ARC of the second book in this series in a Twitter giveaway, but I’ve yet to read book #1! So this is definitely first up for this months tbr!

 

Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton

Book 3 in the Rebel of the Sands trilogy, I am so excited to finally get around to the final of the series!! This is also a book I’ve borrowed from the library and it has to be back by the 15th October… so this is a must!

 

A Promise Stitched in Time by Colleen Rowan Kosinski

If you’ve followed me for any time at all you know I love WWII literature. This cover seems to indicate this, and therefore I expect to really enjoy it! I hope this ends up being the case

 

This Cruel Design by Emily Suvada

Time for book 2! I put other books of different genres in between the reading of this series as I tend to meld books all into each other if I read a series in one big go. So I want to be able to differentiate whilst also reading before the publication date! That’s the plan, at least.

Weird War 2 by Richard Denham

This seems to be a book that talks about the funny and interesting aspects of WWII that aren’t very well know. I anticipate this being a quick and fun read

 

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I don’t actually aim to finish off this book this month, I just want to get another 100 pages in. Of course, I’d love to finish it but I’m still attempting to be realistic! But, who knows.

 

And that’s it! I don’t know if I’ll manage to get around to it all but I really hope so as this is a really interesting selection of books that promises to be a good reading month!!

Have you guys read any of these? And are you excited for This Cruel Design? I’m so excited to get to this series and I hope I love it!

September TBR| 2018

So I’m a little behind with this post, but I’m really not sure how to write it up! I’ll link my video version here, cause it’s easier to babble and explain that way. However, I’ll attempt to list at least the basics of what I’d like to read this month!

Let’s get going!

First up, I aim to finish my beta read of Jemahl Evan’s newest book in the Blandford Candy series. There’s no cover image for this book yet but I am excited to finally finish it up and give Jemahl my thoughts!

Aaru by David Meredith

This was sent to me as a review copy by the author, so I’d like to get around to this while I still have access to the physical copy. It’s a dystopian novel about the possibilities of a digital afterlife and the impacts that will have on society when it’s owned by a company.

The Empathy Problem by Gavin Extance

This book follows a banker who discovers he has a brain tumour, and after this he slowly starts to become more empathetic (where previously he had been uncaring). I absolutely loved The Universe versus Alex Woods, also from this author, so I’m excited for this one.

Truth Sister by Phil Gilvin

I got this book as an ARC at the NYAListFest at the beginning of the year and I didn’t manage to read it before the publication date, so this is one I would love to be able to get to!!

 

The Mystery of the Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah

This beauty (I mean look at it!) came out at the end of last month, and I got an ARC of it from NetGalley so I’d like to get around to it sometime soon. I’m a liiiitle behind on my arcs (I’m so far behind, please send help!)

 

The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry

According to Goodreads, this book is released in October. So maybe I could actually get to it before it’s pub date?! Probably not, but it’s the aim at least! Set in 1800s Edinburgh, there is murder afoot.

 

Time School by Nikki Young

This is a middle grade novel and is based around WWII so of course I need to read it. This should be a nice quick read as it’s only 129 pages long and aimed at a younger audience.

 

The End of Chiraq by Young Chicago Authors

This is a collection of modern poetry set in and based around Chicago. As a Brit I don’t know too much about this area so this should be an interesting read, and possibly another quick one as poetry usually flows quickly. We’ll see

 

So there it is, the main bulk of my September tbr! There are a few offshoots and random bits and pieces here and there that I mention a little more in my video, but this is the core, and is what is written down in my bullet journal! Fingers crossed I can complete this tbr this month. I really hope I can!