A Forgotten War: Easterine Kire’s Mari

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. …

Diseased Society: Dan Vyleta’s The Quiet Twin

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 …

His Father’s Thoughts: John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

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 …

Murder during a Mock Attack: John Rhode’s Night Exercise

Listening there, in tense expectation of the first sudden shot which would tell that the opposing forces had made contact, Ledbury felt a quickening of the pulses. Ridiculous, perhaps, for this was merely an exercise, a mock-battle, in which imagination ruled and much had to be taken for granted. But, after all, it was a …

H is for Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes

Michael Innes (J.I.M Stewart) is one of my favourite Golden-Age writers and there was a time when I read his books one after the other till I ran through all the titles the various libraries (I frequent) had on their shelves. After all these years, the titles and the plots are a little hazy but …

Growing Up (with books) in Nazi Germany: The Book Thief

The stars set fire to my eyes...Usually I avoid reading books set in Nazi Germany because in the guise of Nazi bashing there is a blanket basterdization of ordinary Germans - people caught on the wrong foot in the march of history.It was with this trepidation that I started The Book Thief. Had heard a lot about …

On My Wishlist

On My Wishlist is a fun meme hosted by BookChickCity in which one writes about the book(s) one is really keen to read.  Today on my wishlist is W.G. Sebald's On the Natural History of Destruction which discusses both the devastation of Germany during the Second World War as also the silence that envelopes it. I …