The Daughter of Auschwitz - Tova Friedman

Tova (who has gone through a few name changes through her life) was very, very young when she was first living in the ghetto in Poland and spent most of her childhood in concentration camps.

The book is written in an easy to read manner. The horrors this child went through were so difficult for me to wrap my head around. Thinking about children today, I can't really imagine most of them able to stay quiet/hidden/still for an entire day.

Sometimes I wonder about Tova's memory when it comes to those really early years, but I don't have any really traumatic events to compare. I do notice especially happy and tragic things are easier to remember, so I can't say for sure. It's just hard to accept that level of detail from a child that young after so many years. I'm not saying it didn't happen - I'm wondering how accurate the memories are.  

I commend Tova for her willpower and bravery. I admire anyone who had the courage to not only make it through the Holocaust, but to also relive those events so future generations can learn from the past. A fair amount of this book deals with Tova's life after being freed from the camp, and I always appreciate when these memoirs include that time of the subject's life. It's important to realize that freedom from the camps wasn't the end of these stories.

This was a good book, and one of the better Holocaust survivor stories I've read. Good Book!

Ragman - Ray Fawkes

My daughter picked this up at our favorite game store. She'd had exposure to the character through one of the shows she'd watched (I think it was Arrow). She'd really enjoyed the character and snatched up this comic.

Rory is the sole survivor of a tragic mission. Something happened when the team discovered a cloak, and now Rory is Ragman. Demons are streaming into reality, and they seem to be coming for everyone Rory cares about.

This comic went way beyond my expectations. I knew absolutely nothing about this character when I opened the cover, and when I was done, I was super sad it was over. The depth of feelings explored was surprising. Topics like survivor's guilt, grief and finding a new normal are part of this tale. I mean, demons are getting demolished as well, but the core of what attracted me to the character was the internal conflict Rory dealt with.

The art was amazing and the story so good. Ragman is a seriously underrated character. He's had a series three times, this particular one being the most recent. His first series was in the 1970s. The one that drew my interest was in the 1990s, where it gave Rory a Jewish background, and he was fighting Nazis. I'd like to read more, but it seems like Ragman is hard to find. I'll see what I can do, but my hopes aren't high for more Ragman. This particular comic was excellent though. Highly recommend it. Even if you don't know anything about Ragman (like me), I think the character arc he goes through is so well done. Great Comic!

 

The Saga of "San Demetrio" - F. Tennyson Jesse

During WWII, the San Demetrio was attacked by the German cruiser Admiral Scheer. They were part of a convoy, and the Scheer did a lot of damage. Some of the crew of the San Demetrio was killed, and the rest abandoned ship.

The next day, one of the lifeboats found a burning vessel, only to discover it was their own. They had circled back to the San Demetrio. This short book is the account of the ship, and the men who brought her back to port.

The important thing to note here is that this was published in 1942. The war wasn't over, so a lot still remained to happen. It seems the San Demetrio was actually sunk in March of 1942, but the bravery shown by the men in late 1940 was probably a huge morale boost to those who read the tale.

With something this short, it's hard to pass any type of judgement. It was basically a factual telling of the events as they happened. A member of the crew wrote a book named after the ship, and that might have been a better way to go. His name was Calum Macneil.

I didn't really have time to get bored, so that's something. I'm not going to say this is good or bad, but it was a neat story. RIP to John Boyle, the man who died on the way to land. It's nice that his estate was given some of the proceeds of the salvage. I also thought it was neat they gave Second Officer Hawkins the Red Ensign (I actually learned what that was!).

Red Ensign

Snow Blind - Ragnar Jónasson

While at Half Price Books, I spent a lot of time in the Clearance area. I looked for some specific books, but I wanted to find some little gems as well. This one appealed to me mostly because it was an Icelandic author, and the story sounded cool. The book was $2.

Ari Thór has decided to head north to be a policeman in a small town in Iceland. He's told nothing ever happens there, but apparently that isn't true. A vicious attack leaves a woman bleeding in the snow, and an accident leaves an older gentleman dead. The past is going to come back to haunt the town, and the fresh perspective of Ari Thór is the only thing that will crack the case.

This book was a great find! I know it's a translated copy, so there are little typos here and there, but the story itself was excellent. I didn't look into anything about it before I started. I wanted to go in 'blind'! Puns aside, I really enjoy this one and recommend it highly for those who love a good mystery. The weather/town is almost a whole character in itself! Wow!

I also discovered this is the first book in a 6 book series. I was super happy to see the entire series is available on Kindle, so I'm going to watch the price of the second book, Nightblind. I may not be able to pronounce anything in Icelandic (places/names), but it didn't prevent me from enjoying this book. Great Find! Good Book!

Cover of Darkness - Roderick Chisholm

I'm a sucker for some WWII memoirs. Add in the air warfare, and I'm a happy camper!

The author was a night fighter, something that was in its infancy during WWII. It was a 'learn as you go' type of thing, and sometimes mistakes were made. Overall, it evolved into an important part of the war for the skies.

I was really happy for the first part of the book. I could easily follow along with the stories and understand his struggles. Then there was a section focusing on the technical side of radar usage. It brought it way down for me. Even with the examples, I sometimes wouldn't be able to follow what was going on. I was tempted to give it three stars, but then I read the postwar section. It was interesting how these two groups of men had so much in common. The author mentioned having to harden his heart and remember these men were the enemy. In other circumstances, these men could've probably talked about common experiences for hours.

A really sweet thing was the summary at the end written by the author's son. There's just something wholesome about someone referring to "Daddy" while describing the mundane and extraordinary events of Roderick's life. I'm giving it four stars out of five, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it. If you're really curious about the in-depth workings of night flying during WWII, this book might be right up your alley. I'm going to give it a Decent Book! review. I couldn't bring myself to push it over into the Good category.

World of Warcraft (Comic) - Book 4 - Walter and Louise Simonson

We end this particular series with Book 4. The version I had also included the one-shot Beginnings and Endings by Mike Costa.

Things are coming to a breaking point in AQ. Garona's son is the key to Cho'gall's plans, but capturing and using him will be difficult. A council has come together to share their power with Me'dan since he's their best hope to win.

The art and story were pretty good yet again. My main elf Broll came back, so both Valeera and myself were happy. I'm glad I was able to read these fairly close together. I'm not sure I would've kept everything straight if I'd had too much of a gap. Even recognizing characters, events and places would only have helped me so much.

Overall, I liked this series. It was the last of the comics I had, and from what I could tell, the last one they made. I still have some manga to read, so this isn't going to be my last graphic adventure with WoW. On to the next one! Good Story!

The Burden - Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)

One of the books I was most excited to find was this little diet book. Not only was it Agatha Christie, but the cover was very reminiscent of the gothic romances I used to read back in the day. A young woman escaping from a castle? I was so excited!

This book is broken up into four parts: Laura, Shirley, Llewelyn and Back to the Beginning (or something along those lines). Each section focuses on that particular person, but their lives are intertwined. Laura and Shirley are sisters, and Llewelyn comes onto the scene later on.

Laura as a child hates Shirley until one fateful night when she saves her baby sister from a fire. From then on, she tries to protect her. After Shirley grows up, she falls in love with a man that isn't quite what Laura expected, but she isn't going to interfere.

Later in life, Llewelyn goes to an island and comes across one of the sisters. Her life isn't what she'd imagined, and she longs for escape. It gets a bit depressing after that.

This wasn't what I was expecting at all, but that's not affecting my review. The structure of the novel, while unique, was strange. Since this is a diet book, I didn't really have time to connect with the characters the way I wanted to. I'd get to know Laura, but then we'd switch to Shirley. It prevented me from connecting fully with any of the characters. The end was very strange, especially considering what happened when Shirley took the plunge soon after meeting Henry. This one just wasn't my style.