A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II (2012) by Adam Makos with Larry Alexander is a New York Times and international best seller. It also has five stars on Amazon. However, it’s not a book I would have chosen to read on my own. Although World War II is the neverending source of remarkable stories, the constant death and destruction is hard to take in. So, I only read about war once in […]
The Book Kicks the Movie’s Ass (or the winner of the Hillenbrand/Jolie death match is . . . )
I fell in love with Louis Zamperini when I saw a Sunday Morning piece on him back when Laura Hillenbrand’s book first came out. Not surprisingly, I found the best part of Angelina Jolie’s film adaptation was the end scene—showing a clip of the real “Louie” running through the streets of Tokyo with the Olympic Torch—a feat amazing both because of his age (80-something) and because of what he had gone through at the hands of the Japanese. I found the movie frustrating because I […]
Escape from Shangri-la
I was so bummed when I read badkittyuno’s review last year and realized that, since it was an audiobook, I couldn’t immediately borrow Lost in Shangri-La. “At two o’clock in the afternoon it was time to go. As the passengers lined up outside the Gremlin Special, Prossen told them to expect the tour to last three hours.” In May of 1945 a morale-boosting plane ride crashed over an unexplored Dutch New Guinea valley servicemen called Shangri-la. Three survivors emerged from the crash: a lieutenant whose […]
How to Read the End of This Book
Let me start of by saying this is my first book review, outside of a school assignment. I feel these may be slightly confessional? The act of writing something every week, reflecting on something that I have read, that ideally will resonate with me personally somehow and those personal reflections will creep into the review. Maybe you will get to know me better. Maybe I will get to know myself better. First confession, I am a huge Japanophile. I love Japanese culture, food, fabric, innovation… […]
The Power of Unbroken
My book club is big into nonfiction. I’m not myself, but I *did* really like Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit. So I was definitely willing to give Unbroken a try. Hillenbrand is an excellent writer, and she really ups her game with this book. This is the true story of Louis Zamperini’s experience in World War II as a bomber, when his plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean. He and two other men survive at sea, where they endure panic, sickness, starvation, and attacks from all sorts […]
Best Book I’ve Read This Year
I’ve had Code Name Verity (2012) by Elizabeth Wein in my library queue for months. I think at least twice it came up, but I either forgot to check it out in time or ran out of time to read it. Part of the problem was I couldn’t remember why I’d chosen to read it. I vaguely remembered that it was a young adult novel set during World War II that had something to do with women spies. I was imagining some kind of Disney-fied […]