It is inevitable that I start by comparing To Say Nothing of the Dog to Doomsday Book, the other Connie Willis novel I recently reviewed. Though very much related in that involves the same delightful Oxford time travel team, this is a very different story, much more a light-hearted romp through Victorian England with references to mystery novels of that time (and later times). In spite of how very different the tone of the book is, I loved it as well. It’s like Doctor Who–some episodes are fun and […]
The War Was In Color
My Queer War is the WWII memoir of James Lord, who I knew nothing about prior to picking up this book. The title is an intentional double entendre–James Lord is gay and his war was weird. He never saw combat and the vast majority of his service involved copious amounts of free time during which he was free to explore his sexuality in a way that he had never before considered possible. Bouncing from POW camps to Picasso’s social scene to underground bars where […]
A mostly good story with a lovely soundtrack
(For maximum review enjoyment, please listen to the video!) One of the benefits of listening to the audiobook for this was the presence of the music. Incendio is the waltz that is central to the book, and in the audiobook you can hear it throughout the narration. It was not until I was finished with the book that I saw that the author had composed Incendio! (So to all the people who claimed that the music “detracted” from the story, you suck. Because here, […]
Our Shame and Dishonor
Sometimes things disappear and there’s no getting them back. This first novel from Julie Otsuka deals with the period of time that follows her second novel. The Buddha in the Attic told the story of the Japanese American experience from arrival in California at the turn of the century until the forced deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps during WWII. When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of one family, from the days just preceding their departure from California to a camp in […]
Live. Die. Repeat.
Over and over again, Ursula Todd lives through two world wars. She’s never in as much control of her death and rebirth as characters in The Edge of Tomorrow, for example, but she does learn from her multiple lives. It’s somewhere between deja vu and being able to completely accurately predict the future (because you’ve already been there). I have to admit to being disappointed with this book, but I don’t think that’s the fault of the book. I just wanted it to be something […]
Catching Literal Flak
The Wrong Stuff is the memoirs of Truman Smith, B-17 pilot and co-pilot during WWII. He very, very honestly recounts his various misadventures during the war in an odd, rambling, sort of conversational tone full of profanity, all-caps typing, and a good sense of humor about the whole experience. Read the rest at Pop Culture Penalty Box.
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