This is my review of Some Girls, Some Hats, and Hitler, my Austria book: I am trying to read a book from every country in the world. THE BOOK: Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler, by Trudi Kanter IN SHORT: This is the ridiculously titled, profoundly moving memoir, originally published....
I am reading a book from every country in the world. This book is intense!(!!) (Jason Mendoza voice). Buy it here, if you like. THE BOOK: Beauty Is a Wound, by Ewa Kurniawan IN SHORT: This is the bananas recount of the life (and afterlife) of the beautiful Dewi Ayu,....
This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, by Tadeusz Borowski IN SHORT: This is a harrowing, fictionalized account of life as a prisoner at Auschwitz. THE BEST BIT: It is hard to use the word “best bit” to describe any passage in this book, because “best” implies an enjoyment....
The fall of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed make for complex, hard-to-parse history. Before I went there, I did a deep dive into some of the best books and movies about Bosnia and the wider Balkans.
....It wasn’t until I moved to France that I started to read fiction about World War II, especially stories set there. This is my most recent reading list of the best books set in World War II France — and though it comes in the middle of the list, go....