Every Falling Star - Sungju Lee

This is the story of a young man born and raised in North Korea. He lives a pretty sheltered life until one day it all changes. He moves out of his comfortable house in the city and ends up in a town where nothing seems to make sense anymore. Then his father leaves with the promise of coming back in a week. And when his father doesn't return, his mother disappears after saying she's headed to a relative's house to find food.

From that point on, Sungju is left alone to find his own way to survive. He turns to the only person in town he trusts, and eventually they form a gang to combat the famine that is gripping the country. They travel around getting exposed to things that most parents don't even like their children to know exist at that age. During this whole time, these boys never give up hope that they'll be reunited with their families one day.

Reading this book is heart-wrenching. I have two kids, and I couldn't even imagine them having to go through all that. And Sungju also had to face up to the truths of the things he'd been told his whole life being based on lies. It seemed like the loss of hope was harder to deal with than when his body was abused.

This book is aimed at teenagers, but I think it's an important book for adults as well. I appreciated the glossary at the end, but I wish the definitions had just been listed in parentheses after the words during the book. It's not a major issue, most of the words are easily identified by context clues. At the end of the book, there is also a list of discussion questions, and a Q&A with the author that was pretty interesting. I hope he finds his mother. Good Book!

The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan

Mr. Hannay is bored. He thought coming to his homeland would never be boring, but here he is. One night, he meets a man who gets him involved in a matter that's of international importance.

I'm not going to say much more about the plot, it's not a long book, so it doesn't take long to read if you're interested. I feel like the language (minus some of the dialogue) holds up really well for when it was written (1915). I haven't read or seen anything about this story before, but I saw that quite a few adaptations have been made about this story. I can see why. It's a good story!

I guess my one complaint would be the plot they're trying to thwart. I didn't really quite understand it, and later when it gets "cleared up," I still didn't quite understand. If I look back, I'm not sure that it matters all that much. In the end, all you need to know is that they're trying to stop a plot.

I was really impressed by how this book didn't hang around longer than it needed to. The writing flowed well, and I recommend it if you're in the mood for a good, old-fashioned spy thriller. Good Book!

Hunting the Truth - Beate and Serge Klarsfeld

This autobiography covers the lives of Beate and Serge. Beate was born in Germany, and Serge was born in France. They were both children during WWII, and the war affected them in different ways.

After Beate meets Serge, she feels that she has a responsibility to represent her country and make them take responsibility for what happened to the Jews by Nazi hands. Serge's father was arrested and died in Auschwitz. From then on, these two spend their lives fighting for justice. At the end of the book, they talk about how they are still busy with their mission. Maybe they've slowed down, but they don't really plan on stopping.

As Nazi hunters, these two are more detectives than special ops. They collected mountains of evidence and then proceeded to protest. They got the truth out there, and they did what they could to get people to listen. They were extremely supportive of each other, and they had support at home to look after the children.

The main issue I had while reading this book was my own ignorance. I had no idea that so many high-ranking Nazis were able to live regular lives after the war. They had no fear of being found out or held accountable for their past. Only a few of the ones mentioned and "hunted" by the Klarsfelds were actually doing any hiding. It was disappointing to say the least.

The thing I felt I was missing throughout the book was pictures. Both Serge and Beate would keep referring to photographers memorializing certain moments, and it just made me want to see it. But guess what? There are pictures after the epilogue! I wish there had been more of the "famous" ones, but there were enough to satisfy my curiosity.

I think the best way to sum up this book is to quote the book itself. Serge says, "My commitment to the victims involves elucidating and explaining their fate by reconstructing the circumstances of their arrest and deportation, restoring their faces by finding photographs of them, and making their voices heard." That's what happens throughout this book, and I'm really glad to have read it. I learned a lot, and I hope others will read it as well. Great Book!

The Man in the Brown Derby - Wells Hastings

This is the last book I had loaded on my Kindle and ready for a trip. From here on out, I'll be having to figure out what I want to read again!

Mason feels that everyone judges him because he has birthmarks on his hands. In many cases, he's correct, and it makes him feel alone. His father never accepted him, but even though his mother was his world, both his parents are now dead. Mason is on his own now, and he seems to be having issues finding a job. It starts out well, but when people see his hands, the interview is over.

Then he reads a strange advertisement that raises his curiosity. It asks for a young man that can make a quick decision. When Mason shows up, he is quickly assessed and dismissed, but then he fights back and is accepted. The "job" is to marry the man's niece. Mason is taken aback but agrees to meet with the woman and see what she thinks of the situation. After all, she may need help.

Once they figure out the situation, Mason and Nancy leave the city, but not everything is as smooth as they hope. It seems they're being followed by a man wearing a brown hat. Mason has no idea who he is, but when Nancy goes missing, he feels sure he knows who took her. All he has to do is have to figure out how to track them down.

I thought this book was okay. It's written in the first person, so being inside Mason's head when he's in the "throes of love" is a bit much at times. I also questioned a few of his decisions, but I'm not Mason, so I can't judge. I won't say I loved this book, but I didn't hate it either. It was just kind of middle of the road for me.

Becoming K-9: A Bomb Dog's Memoir - Rada Jones

I saw this book and thought, "Wow! A memoir from a dog's point of view! And a military working dog at that!" Instantly, I was intrigued.

Guinness is the last picked from her litter. She goes through a lot of training and eventually ends up in the military. Later in the book, she leaves the military to become a guard dog of sorts.

I'm not sure where to start with this book. When the age range said 12-18, I figured it was going to be a bit on the lighter side. I was wrong. People died. Dogs died. Dogs were injured. Guinness lost hope and wanted to die. It was a bit much. 

This is a work of fiction. And yes, of course it is, but what I mean is it isn't a "based on true events" kind of memoir like Warrior Dog or Senior Chief Turbo. The author had the artistic license to do what she wanted with the story, and she chose this. Death, maiming and sadness. And that's her choice, but there's also a 12-18 age range on this book. I would never let my 12-year-old read this. We're the type of family that is more upset when the dog dies in a movie than the people, and the content warning is hidden under the 'Read More' section of the summary. And the warning was for "graphic war scenes." Those weren't even what bothered me!

This is my personal preference. I don't know why the author chose to give Guinness such a backstory, but if you want to read more about the dog's story, the author recommends her medical thriller called Mercy. She warns that it's not a "kid-friendly dog memoir," and I would almost argue that neither is this. It may have a cute puppy on the cover, but if you're a massive dog lover, go in knowing it's going to be a rollercoaster.

The Yellow Letter - William Johnston

This is one of the books I had downloaded onto my Kindle for a trip, and I'm just now getting around to reading it. I'll warn readers right away that if you have any aversion to reading about suicide, steer clear of this book.

Harding Kent is trying to discover what happened to make his fiancé's sister try to kill herself. He enlists the help of this friend, a postal inspector named Davis. At first, the inspector doesn't want anything to do with the case. All Harding has is a yellow scrap of paper, but when a policeman shows up with more of the same yellow paper from another suicide, Davis is intrigued. Harding has an immediate suspect in mind, but Davis isn't as sure.

On the positive side, most of it was easy to read, and I did want to know what happened. It was short and didn't take me long to get through. But, there are some serious issues with the book that need to be addressed. First is the non-PC language. I understand it's a product of its time, but some of it made me cringe. Usually, I can get past that kind of language, but let me give you an example. Davis comments that criminals are all insane. They are a product of their parents, and their heads are misshapen. In the future, they will be able to have surgery to correct their heads and make them better...it just doesn't sit well.

Overall, I liked the first half a lot more than the second. It wasn't just the weird thoughts about criminals, either. The conclusion seemed to drag on forever for some reason. Davis is one of those "Sherlock" types that discern clues that no one else sees and then basically call everyone else stupid when they don't see it. Also, the "mastermind" was something of a disappointment. SPOILER: It's someone who doesn't show up anywhere else in the book. I hate that. I like mysteries where I feel like I am trying to solve the mystery while reading. It's a letdown when I find out I never had a chance.

The Queen of Spies - Major Thomas Coulson

Louise de Bettignies was a spy during the first world war. She went by the name Alice DuBois, and her network was called "The Alice Network."

This book covers her time during the war until her death in 1918. Some of the encounters are written as if the author were there with Louise, and others were written as if he had some details and wrote around them. I'm not saying that's a bad or good thing, it's just different.

There isn't much to say about the book itself. I couldn't find information on the author to determine his connection to Louise, but it was definitely an interesting story. Louise's friend, Marie Van Houtte (Marie Leonie Vanhoutte) was mentioned so often, especially at the end, that I was disappointed there wasn't any kind of resolution to her story. I did discover that she made it through the war while Louise did not.

Louise was a smart, brave, patriotic woman who stood up to the Germans time after time. She passed along information in creative ways that helped the Allies. She had an instinct that saved her life numerous times, and her network of spies was carefully chosen. She was an incredibly intelligent woman.

This book wasn't hard to read. It was interesting and kept me wondering what would happen. It didn't have a happy ending. In fact, it was a particularly somber ending. I was glad to learn about this courageous woman and everything she did for the Allies. She's an inspiration, and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the inner workings of a successful spy ring during WWI. Good Book!