Top Ten Favorite Books Set During World War II

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for ten great books with the setting of our choice. I picked World War II, because I have always been drawn to those books and I feel like there are a wide variety of books set during that time period.

1) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – One of my favorites, this novel tells the story of a young German girl during the war. Oh, and did I mention it’s told from Death’s POV?

2) Maus by Art Spiegelman – This Pulitzer-prize-winning graphic novel is about the author’s father’s time in a concentration camp. Just incredible.

3) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein – Women are not often the focal point of WWII stories, but this gem tells the gripping fictional story of a female pilot and spy.

4) Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys – Ever wonder what was happening in Lithuania during the war? This intense book is about the work camps in Siberia.

5) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – Finding the humor in the direst of circumstances, Heller gives the soldier’s POV.

6) Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand – Plane crash, torture, shark attacks, a nonfiction account of soldiers who survive the unimaginable in the Pacific. 

7) Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli – The Warsaw ghetto shown through the eyes of a young orphaned boy.

8) The Reader by Bernard Schlink – There are very few books that focus on the German guards during the war. This slim book handles the subject in a very personal and delicate way.

9) City of Thieves by David Benioff and The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean – Both of these books deal with Russia during WWII. One focuses on a soldier’s time and the horrors he sees, the other is more about the famous Heritage museum and the people who lived there during the war.

10) Night by Elie Wiesel and The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank – Two real life accounts of the Holocaust and Jews living in hiding. They are essential for any WWII list.

Image from here. 

Mini-Reviews: Reading, Between Shades of Gray and Thunderstruck

How Reading Changed My Life
by Anna Quindlen
★★★★★

Those of us who have read since childhood understand that there are certain books that will always hold a nostalgic appeal for you. Those novels that you read over and over again before you worried about critics’ reviews, literary merit, etc. For me it was Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM, Howliday Inn, The Mystery of the Cupboard, The Westing Game and Matilda, along with a few others. My grade school days were filled with those pages and I never tired of reading them. Later I went on to explore classics, mysteries, nonfiction, fantasy and so much more. Each new genre opened a world to me as I discovered the places it could take me.

Quindlen’s book is an ode to the joy of reading. She talks about reading as an escape or just for the pleasure of it. I never tire of hearing why others love reading as much as I do. It makes me feel connected to them in a powerful way.

BOTTOM LINE: The slim volume is a joy to read and the end is filled with lists of books to read, which is always a treat!

Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys
★★★★

When it comes to World War II books, both fiction and nonfiction, Hitler and Western Europe tend to get the majority of the attention. In recent years my knowledge has been widened to the WWII happenings in the Pacific and Russia through books like Unbroken and City of Thieves. This book delves into Lithuania’s role in the war, which is new ground for me.

Lina is a 15-year-old Lithuanian girl living a peaceful life in 1941 until the day she and the rest of her family are taken away by Soviet officers to a remote work camp in Siberia. Separated from her father, Lina tries to survive with her mother and younger brother despite their awful circumstances. Between a horrific ride in a cramped train car and the subzero environment of the camps, the three are hanging on by a thread.

Lina is an incredible heroine, both strong and vulnerable. Her relationship with one fellow Latvian prisoner was realistic in so many ways. This is not a cheerful book, but it’s an important look into the terror that Stalin reign inflicted upon the world.

Like all war stories, the most incredible aspects of the plot are those based on fact. Sepetys decided to write the book after traveling to Lithuania to meet her ancestors and hearing about the oppressive Soviet rule that held the entire country captive for decades. She knew nothing about it before her trip and she couldn’t believe that the country was still trying to hush it up.
 
“The eternal grayness in camp became a shade darker.”

BOTTOM LINE: A powerful story of WWII. The descriptions of war life are a bit graphic at times and it’s an intense read, but one that’s worth picking up.

Thunderstruck
by Erik Larson
★★★★

Just as he did in The Devil in the White City, Larson blends the nonfiction story of a murder with the relevant scientific or cultural events happening at the time. When Belle Elmore mysteriously moves to America and then passes away, her friends and family members are more than suspicious. Her husband, Hawley Herbert Crippen, becomes the focus of the inquisition, but just as soon as the police focus their attention on him he disappears. Guglielmo Marconi’s timely invention of the wireless telegraph comes into play when the captain of the SS Montrose recognizes the fugitive aboard his ship.

I’m always intrigued by Larson’s books. He finds murders and happenings that might not be well-known but that are thrilling. I would say that this one is much slower than Devil, but it’s still interesting. A murder mystery and the political world of invention are intertwined in an amazing way. I often forget that advances in technology can affect our lives in unexpected ways.
 
BOTTOM LINE: If you loved Devil in the White City then don’t miss this one. In my opinion it’s not quite as enthralling, but I still love the mix of education and murder mystery.