Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Faint of the Heart

The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis

by 2 Comments

One of the strangest things to those who study the European theater of World War II is why the Nazis didn’t send their militarized concentration camp troops to the front lines in the east. I don’t know enough about history to know if it would have made a difference or not; probably not. But Berlin certainly knew that the Soviet Union wouldn’t be seeking a simple armistice after Operation Barbossa and the atrocities of Stalingrad. One would think that preserving the safety of the Reich […]

“There are no stupid questions, nor any forbidden ones, but there are some questions that have no answer.”

Questions I Am Asked About The Holocaust : Young Reader’s Edition by Hedi Fried

by Leave a Comment

Four main things stand out for me from reading Questions I Am Asked About The Holocaust : Young Reader’s Edition. The first, it took the author, Hedi Fried, a lifetime to heal and process her experiences; the second, history has repeated itself, and third, while I knew what genocide meant (there is also a glossary that gives a technical definition) it was broken down by etymology: genos: people and cide: murder, or People Murder. But perhaps the big takeaway from this translation by Alice E. Olsson […]

This book was soooooo sad I couldn’t finish it

Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #2) by Heather Morris

by Leave a Comment

This book was so intensely heartbreaking. At one point I was listening to it walking around my neighborhood park sobbing. There are some less terrible moments, but they’re followed up with unending sadness and despair. My best friend recommended it to me, and it really is a well written book. I could not finish it though because it made me so freaking sad. She told me it was worth it and I should give it another try, so we’ll see if it makes it back […]

Another I want to put fantasy not History to

Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott

by Leave a Comment

Two comments about Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott I liked it 2. Read it   But that is only fifteen words and I need 250. The story follows two Jewish girls as they survive Auschwitz as their families and others perish around them. The story is told in alternating chapters between the two voices in prose poetry. Some of the poems are thoughtful, some powerful, some sweet. And some are horrifically amazing at the sensation they create. Have you ever “seen” the smell of the […]

The bravery of teenagers puts us all to shame

by 2 Comments

The Librarian of Auschwitz is a fictionalized account of real events that occurred in the Auschwitz-Birkenau labor camp, 1944-45. The main character Dita Adler is based on a real person named Dita Polachova Kraus who was 15 years old when she and her parents were rounded up with other Jews from Prague and sent to the Nazi camps. At Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dita worked in what was known as the “family compound” in Block 31. Prisoners here were given “special treatment”; children were allowed to survive and […]

War Is Never Over

by Leave a Comment

Primo Levi’s memoir The Reawakening begins where his Survival in Auschwitz ended. It’s the last days of the WWII, and Levi is trying to stay alive in what passes for a hospital or sick bay in concentration camp. Levi, who committed suicide in 1987, was an Italian Jewish writer and a chemist. He was arrested in as a part of the Italian resistance in 1943, and to escape being shot as a partisan, he confessed to being Jewish, and after a short interment in Italy, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo