There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
An officer who is prepared to die first can demand total loyalty, only he can take his men into the jaws of death. They are Goering's golden boys, the pride of the Luftwaffe, Germany's crack paratroopers known as the Green Devils. When the novel opens, we find a unit rearing to go to their next … Continue reading #GermanLitMonth: Eagles of the Reich by Will Berthold (1957)
The shadows stretched their arms to her. They cried in broken voices, just beyond, always beyond. There was no end. The ultimate cruelty, the ultimate uncertainty remained. The Indo-Pak war of 1971 resulted in the creation of Bangladesh (till then the East wing of Pakistan) and was won by India. However, like any other victory … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: … And Presumed Dead by Lucille Fletcher (1963)
Already he was somewhere else, muttering explanations in a German I couldn't follow. Suddenly he smiled, as if they were all friends again wherever he was and had begun playing Mozart, and a minute later he was dead.I stared from one to the other of these dead Germans, so far from anything they really understood, … Continue reading Forgotten Book: Black-Out in Gretley by J.B. Priestley (1942)
Assassins: A British Mystery Series Set in 1920s London by Jim EldridgeMy rating: 2 of 5 stars A promising start to a police procedural set in post-WWI London peters down to a rather predictable end. It is quite unfortunate since I liked the mix of real-life and fictional characters. Also the team of Detective Chief … Continue reading Review: Assassins: A British Mystery Series Set in 1920s London
The Blue Note by Charlotte BinghamMy rating: 1 of 5 stars Did not enjoy.First Line: Afterwards they said there was never to be a time quite like it again.London: Bantam Books, 2000.First published: 2000Pages: 567Source: Bought it at DBF in Sept. last year. View all my reviews
Though it is one of the defining moments of the twentieth century, I have little idea about the war in Vietnam. What I know are the broadest of details: Vietnam (then called IndoChina) was a French colony. Sometime in the mid-twentieth century, the Vietnamese people under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh rose against their … Continue reading Lest We Forget: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
When you go hometell them of usand say for your tomorrowwe gave our todayInscription on the war memorial of the 2nd Division at the Kohima War CemeteryThe Battle of Kohima was called the "Stalingrad of the East", so vital was it that the British wrest the land back from the Japanese who had conquered it. … Continue reading A Forgotten War: Easterine Kire’s Mari
Caroline @ Beautyisasleepingcat hosts an annual (year-long) event called Literature and War Readalong. The goal is to read twelve selected books related to war. This time round the texts relate not merely to the traditional stuff: WW I, WW II, Vietnam but also more contemporary conflicts like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The books … Continue reading Reading Event: Literature and War Readalong
Vienna. 1939.The Second World War has started, Austria is part of the German Reich, and the times are full of danger.Dr. Beer is called to examine the niece of Professor Speckstein, Zuzka. The professor is supposed to be a Nazi spy and his dog had been brutally killed a couple of days ago. Even as … Continue reading Diseased Society: Dan Vyleta’s The Quiet Twin
Little Bruno's world changes when he shifts from Berlin to a place called Out-With as his Father has been posted over there. But what exactly his Father does,Bruno has little idea. All he knows is that his father was a man to watch and that the Fury had big things in mind for him and … Continue reading His Father’s Thoughts: John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
a hot cup of pleasure 