All Blog Posts Tagged 'War' (35)

Recently, I started a discussion on Crimespace (a crime/thriller uber-fan sight I highly recommend for those obsessed with city lights, cigarettes, bad women and rye whiskey). I posed this question: Is there a place for humor in a hard-boiled thriller/noir? The answers I got were mixed, but there was a hesitancy that trended towards “No.” One Crimespacer quoted Otto Penzler – “Noir requires a sense of bleakness and despair, and characters so flawed, their failure is in their…

“Vivid and heartrending, a novel as memoir of a journalist needing love to weigh against her horror and dismay at massacre and genocide by a writer who closely understands frontline reporting” – John Bryson, Chairman of the Literature Board of the Australia Council (taken from Denise Leith's website)



Initially, I picked this novel up…

Amber Leaf, Minnesota, 1942.

In spite of the hardships of war, young Jo Bremley lives in considerable happiness with her husband and 7-year old daughter. Then one night, influenced by his best friend, Jo’s husband announces that he has decided to join the war. Before he gets a chance to, however, he’s the victim of a snowstorm accident. Now a young widow, Jo tries to make ends…

If Death wanted to tell you a story, would you pay attention? That’s just what you’ll do when you pick up The Book Thief.

Death is a busy fellow (although he’s not gender specific we get the feeling he’s male). But the large scale events that keep him busy don’t often give him time to ponder why he may cross paths many times with some people. The case of Liesel Meminger is different. Death crosses her path many times during World War II’s Germany.

Death tells ten…

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves tells the story of two families, the Kerns and the Moritomos. Maddie and her brother TJ live in the family house (their mother is dead and their father is in a nursing home). TJ aspires to be a pro-league baseball player after college while Maddie has her heart set on studying at the Julliard School of Music as a violinist. TJ’s best friend is Lane Moritomo. We meet the three in Los Angeles in 1941. Maddie has been dating Lane in secret because he is first generation…

“They took me in my nightgown.” – This is the opening sentence of Between Shades of Gray. Rarely have I read an opening that drew me into a story as quickly as this one.

Lina Vilkas is a fifteen year old girl living in Lithuania in June of 1941. Her family is typical – she has a younger brother and two educated loving parents. Her life is typical middle-class in that her family has a nice home, good food, warm beds, and they basically want for nothing. Within hours of our meeting the…

Reviewed by:  Brandon Nolta, Pacific Book Review

http://www.pacificbookreview.com

The DMS was lucky enough to interview Michelle Isenhoff, author of the middle grade novel Beneath the Slashings, the third book in The Divided Decade Trilogy. Lizzy recently reviewed this historically engaging novel, and it was great to share our thoughts about it and hear yours! We are excited to learn a little bit more about the story behind the story.  Stop by…

Reviewed by:   James Sadler, Pacific Book Review

http://www.pacificbookreview.com

The title Araba, a word meaning “Let’s Separate” or “Let’s Dissolve,” refers to the Nigerian Civil War which began in 1966 and continued for nearly four years. The word was first used by rioters at a…

This book is a classic, a modern classic, but it is the beginning story of the warriors and rulers that have fought to keep the world for mellennia.  The reader should understand that the characters are telling you their story and that the world in each individual's eyes is their own.  The reason I repeatedly share this book, is the fact that the material has given me a totally different perspective of…

If I ever walk the grounds over which the United States was effectively cast from the bloody trails of the Civil War, I will have Jack Kunkel's guide in my grasp. I never have and in truth I probably never will visit these historic acres, however, this book has allowed me to get so close that I feel as…

Author, Ned Greenwood is pleased to announce his new book, Hachiman Taro: Firstborn of the God of War. This historical novel deals with the protection of Samurai Temple swords (Nippon-to) at the end of World War II.

"Soon after becoming the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers, MacArthur ordered all Japanese weapons confiscated and destroyed. The order includes swords, even Shinto temple swords of great beauty and value. Some of these art swords, called nippon-to, are…

The 70th anniversary of the Fall of Bataan will be on April 9, 2012.    Not too many people are aware of this tragic event in our history.  Four months after Pearl Harbor, around 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers were forced to surrender on the peninsula of Bataan in the Philippines on April 9, 1942 under the leadership of General Jonathan Wainwright.  Most of the men were emaciated and sick.  No provisions were made for transport  so the prisoners were forced to march some 60 miles…

The Silent and the Lost is an interesting and educational novel about the war between East and West Pakistan in the 1970s.

The story starts in Brentwood, California in 1997 at the beautiful wedding of Alex Salim McKensie & Sangeeta Rai, a couple deeply in love. Alex, our hero, was adopted at the age of four…

Right... now...er... well, to start with I've been here a couple of weeks, enough time to get some idea of what's going on. And I'm so impressed by the way in which you present yourselves, Forget the writing for the moment though some of that is quite wonderful. I simply want to warn you in advance, don't expect too much in the way of presentation. There'll be no fancy backgrounds, no flowery bits, no photos no elegant typography. I came late to all this, much too late. It makes my head…