I am posting the next few months at once, so we can all get these books on hold at our libraries in time. The book we will be reading for June 2017 is Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Please label spoilers or even type them in white like I just did right here (highlight that blank space) so that a person has to highlight it to read it.
So excited to discuss this! I actually chose it for my IRL book club I'm hosting in October - woohoo!
This one came highly recommended to me from a friend that has very similar book tastes to mine, so I can't wait fro this one!
Thank you for posting this! There's 1 person waiting per copy at my library, so I should actually get a (digital) copy before June starts. Yea!
Just finished this one! It was recommended on the What Should I Read Next podcast and then also by a reader friend - I didn't realize it was on the schedule here until now My thoughts: It's SO, SO good, heartbreaking of course, like all WWII stories. But I love how this unlikely group banded together and, ultimately, became family. I couldn't stand Alfred. I almost wanted to skip his parts but obviously, his part was necessary for the time and the story. I was so incredibly sad when Ingrid and the Shoe Poet/Opi didn't make it. I felt the end (the letter from Clara) was a little disjointed but otherwise, I liked the ending. Overall, I loved this book and gave it 5 stars!
Boo hoo...none of our country libraries has a copy of this but hopefully if I go further afield I'll find one.
Well, it turns out that our library DID have this and I've put it aside to read after 'Einstein's Dreams' which is one of my own that's been sitting around for-ever. I'm trying to get rid of a lot of ones I've bought over the years but never read.
I finished this one a couple days ago, but had to sit with it before I could give my thoughts. --> This one made me cry. I didn't realize it was a WWII story until I started reading. I'm not so good at remembering what blurb goes with what book when I request them from the library, so I'm often surprised when I actually get the book. Since this was historical fiction, I did a lot of Googling while reading. Some things I was familiar with already, and others were completely new to me. I learned something reading fiction. After looking at the author's note, acknowledgements, and source material at the back of the book, I think that's what the author was hoping for - to tell a story and educate her readers about aspects of human history that may have been forgotten. I think I might look at reading some of her other books, once I recover from this one.
I'm about 50 pages into it and am hooked. Telling the story through different characters is interesting. I won't say anymore about it until I finish it.
This was a very quick read for me.. mostly just yesterday, Sunday. I had a hard time at first with the narration being done with the 4 characters...too reminiscent of books like James Patterson that have two page chapters done by assistants. I got used to that but found that for a horrific story it felt a bit flat. I did feel the panic as the book went on and will leave it there w/o spoilers. I don't know. I think I have to give this one a bit more time to settle in my head/heart.
I know it's not June yet, but I haven't read May's book and skipped ahead to this one. I thought for such a heavy subject that it was a pretty easy read. I definitely learned something from this book about a real life historical event and I spent some time googling and reading about the real events after finishing this book. Spoilers in white: I had never even heard of the ship Wilhem Gustoff or it's sinking or the sinking of any of the other ships related to the evacuations of the German people. It's definitely a different perspective that I never would have thought about relating to WWII because of course the German's are always the "bad guys" in the WWII stories I've read. I HATED Alfred, but thought that his personality was really well written to make you hate him. What a cowardly weasel! I too was so sad when Ingrid and the Shoe Poet didn't make it and wonder what happened to "Sorry" Ava. I'm really happy that I listened to this one on audio so that the voices could help me distinguish who was narrating each chapter. I often get really annoyed with this type of writing, but it didn't bother me in this book. The friend that recommended this to me originally also recommended this author's book Between Shades of Grey. I almost can't read it based on the title alone... don't want anyone to mistake me for reading the "other" Shades of Grey book. Lol!
Just finished. The ending transition was way too fast for me. I'm glad I read the author's note for this quote: "Every nation has hidden history, countless stories preserved only by those who experienced them. Stories of war are often read and discussed worldwide by readers whose nations stood on opposite sides during battle. History divided us, but through reading we can be united in story, study, and remembrance. Books join us together as a global reading community, but more important, a global human community striving to learn from the past." Yay for book club, our global human community learning from the past
Excited ended up being in our libary. So just started to read it had no trouble from the first page I was drawn in!
I'm listening to this on an audiobook - so good to have the different narrators, adds to the story. I was totally unaware of this story, both the evacuations and the ship or even that Prussians thought of themselves as different from the rest of Germany. had to get the atlas out! I can't say it is enjoyable, too dark for enjoyment but it is enthralling and i love reading unknown parts of history.
I also did the audiobook and really appreciated the different voices for each character. I learned a lot while reading this too. I think it's so weird that it's the worst maritime accident and I'd never heard of it.