The YA book club I just joined read Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity this month and though I have read it before, I gave it a fast reread just to refresh everything. Goodreads tells me I read this in 2013, so I honestly don’t remember if I’ve reviewed it for CBR or not. If so, this will probably be a little derivative. Apologies. Verity tells the story of two young women working for the British during WWII. Verity (aka Queenie, aka…) is being held by […]
The Ugly Cry Book
Code Name Verity is fantastic. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it (or crying about it) since I finished reading it. It is an unexpectedly powerful story of friendship and confronting one’s worst fears. It is also an ode to the brave and often nameless women who flew and fought alongside men in World War II as part of the Special Operations Executive, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and Air Transport Auxiliary. The first part of the book is narrated by Julie and is […]
I loved this book
I picked this one up a few years ago and almost immediately had my copy stolen by a student who graduated with it in her possession. As a teacher, I tend to write that off as a good cause. Then I recently rebought it and started it reading it after seeing Dunkirk in the theater. It shares a few facile similarities….RAF…flying….British, but the stories are very different. We start with a narrator who is clearly being held by Nazis introduce herself and begin to talk […]
“KISS ME, HARDY! Kiss me, QUICK!”
I was about ten minutes away from sobbing ugly sobs in a Whole Foods. Luckily, my butt started hurting from the hard chairs up in there, and I moseyed on home to finish the book there. I then proceeded to sob those ugly sobs all by my lonesome for about half an hour. This book was really good but I was very sad after finishing it. I mean, if you’re prone to crying at fiction (like I am), just know this book will probably get […]
I put myself back in the narrative
Oh, you guys. Did you read Code Name Verity? You should. I mean, it’ll break your heart wide open but you should read it. If only so you can then pick up Rose Under Fire, the companion book to Code Name Verity, and break your heart all over again. Rose Justice, apart from having a great, superhero-esque name, is a young American pilot who goes to fight in WWII. She works for the ATA and becomes friends with Maddie, who you’ll recognize if you read […]
Look! A Good Sequel!
You guys, I think I have a problem. I really, really enjoy reading super depressing books that make me feel horrible about everything. I’m pretty sure this is not normal or healthy, but I can’t stop. Books that make me cry, books that make me curse, books that make me want to scream. Even about things that happened seventy years ago. I still want to get mad and yell. Rose Under Fire is a sequel (of sorts) to Code Name Verity, which I read and love. This […]