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1724 reviews
KIM PHILBY: The Spy I Married by Eleanor Philby
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Kim Philby: The Spy I Married is Eleanor Philby's recounting of the years she was married to Kim Philby, one of Britain's most notorious spies who had loyally served Moscow for 30 years, all while presenting to his friends, colleagues, and Eleanor herself the veneer of an urbane, witty, compassionate, and suave Englishman (who had risen to the highest ranks of Britain's MI6, which is analogous to the CIA).
This book makes for sobering reading and shows the costs deception can exact within a loving relationship. Philby comes across as a person with a certain sensitivity and disingenuousness in his personality. But his fealty to the Soviet Union, to which he pledged himself while a student at Cambridge during the early 1930s, proved to be total and absolute, overriding all other personal attachments in his life. I felt sorry for Eleanor because she had fully invested herself in her marriage to Philby (even to the point of going to Moscow to be with Philby after his January 1963 defection from Beirut, Lebanon -- where the couple had made a life together for 4 years) and ended up being cruelly deceived by her husband. In case you're wondering: the marriage did not last.
This book makes for sobering reading and shows the costs deception can exact within a loving relationship. Philby comes across as a person with a certain sensitivity and disingenuousness in his personality. But his fealty to the Soviet Union, to which he pledged himself while a student at Cambridge during the early 1930s, proved to be total and absolute, overriding all other personal attachments in his life. I felt sorry for Eleanor because she had fully invested herself in her marriage to Philby (even to the point of going to Moscow to be with Philby after his January 1963 defection from Beirut, Lebanon -- where the couple had made a life together for 4 years) and ended up being cruelly deceived by her husband. In case you're wondering: the marriage did not last.
Summer Crossing by Truman Capote
emotional
medium-paced
3.0
Summer Crossing is a previously unpublished work of Truman Capote that was likely left undone around 1950. It was discovered by chance, vetted and read by a number of reputable writers at the request of the Truman Capote Literary Trust, and published in 2005, 21 years after Capote's death.
The story is set in New York shortly after the end of World War II and is centered around a young woman, Grady McNeil, who hails from a very affluent family in Manhattan. The oldest of 2 children, Grady is a carefree socialite in her late teens. Along with one of her oldest friends, Peter Bell, she sees her parents off on a ship to Europe, where they'll be spending the summer. This was a time when the affluent classes would regularly vacate New York for the summer, rather than endure the humidity there.
A few months before, Grady had made the acquaintance of Clyde Manzer, a World War II U.S. Army veteran home from Europe who was parking cars at a lot where she liked to park her convertible from time to time. Clyde is from a working class Jewish family in Brooklyn, which is worlds apart from the type of people with which Grady normally associates.
In reading Summer Crossing, I couldn't help but feel that Grady took up with Clyde just to see what would happen. I didn't get any sense of there being a romance between the two, just an opportunity both are taking advantage of just to see what happens.
I admit Capote's prose from the beginning took some getting used to. It was the first time that I had read anything from him since a short story in high school about 45 years ago. But the more I read Summer Crossing, the more I became settled into its rhythm. This is a story that could be adapted for the screen or TV and made into a short drama.
At 126 pages, this is a book that can be read in one sitting. Capote fans: Eat your heart out.
The story is set in New York shortly after the end of World War II and is centered around a young woman, Grady McNeil, who hails from a very affluent family in Manhattan. The oldest of 2 children, Grady is a carefree socialite in her late teens. Along with one of her oldest friends, Peter Bell, she sees her parents off on a ship to Europe, where they'll be spending the summer. This was a time when the affluent classes would regularly vacate New York for the summer, rather than endure the humidity there.
A few months before, Grady had made the acquaintance of Clyde Manzer, a World War II U.S. Army veteran home from Europe who was parking cars at a lot where she liked to park her convertible from time to time. Clyde is from a working class Jewish family in Brooklyn, which is worlds apart from the type of people with which Grady normally associates.
In reading Summer Crossing, I couldn't help but feel that Grady took up with Clyde just to see what would happen. I didn't get any sense of there being a romance between the two, just an opportunity both are taking advantage of just to see what happens.
I admit Capote's prose from the beginning took some getting used to. It was the first time that I had read anything from him since a short story in high school about 45 years ago. But the more I read Summer Crossing, the more I became settled into its rhythm. This is a story that could be adapted for the screen or TV and made into a short drama.
At 126 pages, this is a book that can be read in one sitting. Capote fans: Eat your heart out.
Gaudi Afternoon by Barbara Wilson
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Gaudi Afternoon I found to be a delightful and richly entertaining novel to read. Cassandra Reilly is a globe trotting, Irish American lesbian translator and amateur detective working in London on a translation of a best-selling novel by a woman Venezuelan writer when she receives a call from Frankie, an American actress. Frankie was put in the know about Cassandra from Cassandra's friend Lucy in San Francisco, where Lucy keeps watch over Cassandra's place and correspondence there whenever Cassandra is on her far flung travels. Frankie requests a meeting with Cassandra in London upon arriving there the next day to better explain herself and why she needs Cassandra's help.
Though showing a reluctance to take on Frankie's case, Cassandra is intrigued. Besides, the initial show of money Frankie offers for her services is tempting enough. So, the two meet in London and Frankie explains that she needs to track down her estranged husband Ben, whom she suspects is in Barcelona. Where exactly in Barcelona, she's clueless about. Nor does Frankie speak Spanish or Catalan. But Cassandra, given her fluency in Spanish and previous contact with Barcelona (where she has 2 close friends, Ana, who is a conceptual architect, and Carmen, a lesbian hairdresser with a very strong personality and spirit) makes use of the phone numbers Frankie provided her with, and is able to gather a fairly good idea of where Ben is in Barcelona.
Once both Frankie and Cassandra are in Barcelona, the story becomes more convoluted, colorful and intriguing with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Some of the main characters prove to be different from what they at first show themselves to be. That's all I say about that.
Notwithstanding the roller coaster nature of the novel, Gaudi Afternoon was very well written and fun to read.
Though showing a reluctance to take on Frankie's case, Cassandra is intrigued. Besides, the initial show of money Frankie offers for her services is tempting enough. So, the two meet in London and Frankie explains that she needs to track down her estranged husband Ben, whom she suspects is in Barcelona. Where exactly in Barcelona, she's clueless about. Nor does Frankie speak Spanish or Catalan. But Cassandra, given her fluency in Spanish and previous contact with Barcelona (where she has 2 close friends, Ana, who is a conceptual architect, and Carmen, a lesbian hairdresser with a very strong personality and spirit) makes use of the phone numbers Frankie provided her with, and is able to gather a fairly good idea of where Ben is in Barcelona.
Once both Frankie and Cassandra are in Barcelona, the story becomes more convoluted, colorful and intriguing with lots of unexpected twists and turns. Some of the main characters prove to be different from what they at first show themselves to be. That's all I say about that.
Notwithstanding the roller coaster nature of the novel, Gaudi Afternoon was very well written and fun to read.
MERS EL-KÉBIR 1940: Operation Catapult by Ryan K. Noppen
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book tells the story of a series of bold naval and air strikes by Britain against the French fleet in its anchorage of Mers el-Kébir in French North Africa early in July 1940. These strikes were carried out on the insistence of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who, in the immediate aftermath of the French defeat in June 1940 and France's subsequent signing of an armistice with Nazi Germany, was fearful that that French Navy's warships would be ceded over to Germany, thus augmenting the Kriegmarine's surface fleet.
Mers el-Kébir 1940 fleshes out in considerable detail the intrigue and actions of both the British and French high ranking political and naval officers as both nations, once allies, yet not quite official enemies, warily dealt with each other amid Churchill's fear of some of France's most powerful warships falling into German hands. The book, like all Osprey publications of its kind, has lots of photos and 3d illustrations showing the offensive actions staged by the Royal Navy against the French fleet near Oran (French North Africa)
Mers el-Kébir 1940 fleshes out in considerable detail the intrigue and actions of both the British and French high ranking political and naval officers as both nations, once allies, yet not quite official enemies, warily dealt with each other amid Churchill's fear of some of France's most powerful warships falling into German hands. The book, like all Osprey publications of its kind, has lots of photos and 3d illustrations showing the offensive actions staged by the Royal Navy against the French fleet near Oran (French North Africa)
Bf 109E: Battle of Britain by Andy Saunders
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Bf 109E: Battle of Britain highlights the record of the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, Germany's premiere fighter plane, during the Battle of Britain. This was the first great air battle in warfare that, from July 10th to October 31st, 1940, proved a decisive Allied victory, frustrating Hitler's bid to win air supremacy over the Royal Air Force (RAF) and invade and occupy Great Britain.
Like other books of its type published by Osprey, this one is replete with photos of the Bf 109E, accounts of the pilots who flew it during the Battle of Britain, and 3D diagrams detailing a number of combat operations during the Battle of Britain in which the Bf 109E that played a prominent role. Any aviation enthusiast will love this book.
Like other books of its type published by Osprey, this one is replete with photos of the Bf 109E, accounts of the pilots who flew it during the Battle of Britain, and 3D diagrams detailing a number of combat operations during the Battle of Britain in which the Bf 109E that played a prominent role. Any aviation enthusiast will love this book.
Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls by Susan Seidelman
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
It was sometime last summer that I became fully aware of Susan Seidelman, award winning movie and TV director. I was listening to the Jessica Shaw Show on Sirius XM radio in which Seidelman was being interviewed about her life and career. I was enthralled and made a check with my local library to see if Seidelman's new memoir was available (it was). And so I borrowed the book. But with other books I then had on a higher rung of my TBR List, it was only within the last 2 weeks that I took up the book and read it.
I became absorbed in Seidelman's life, from her formative years in the suburbs of Philadelphia during the 1960s and early 1970s as the oldest of 3 children; her life in New York after her college graduation and subsequent admission into and graduation from NYU Film School; her early attempts to be taken seriously by a movie industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s in which women directors were rarer than hens' teeth; her first successes with the movies "Smithereens" (1982) and "Suddenly Seeking Susan" (1985) which helped solidify the flourishing of 'Madonna-mania" which went on to sweep the world (I was then in college and remember that very well - then I thought Madonna would peak after the success of her song Material Girl and disappear - how wrong I was! Kudos to Madonna); and the sheer richness and diversity of Susan Seidelman's life and career from the 1980s to today. She certainly knows how to tell an engrossing and captivating story.
For anyone who enjoys reading well-told, engaging memoirs, look no further. DESPERATELY SEEKING SOMETHING is the ticket.
I became absorbed in Seidelman's life, from her formative years in the suburbs of Philadelphia during the 1960s and early 1970s as the oldest of 3 children; her life in New York after her college graduation and subsequent admission into and graduation from NYU Film School; her early attempts to be taken seriously by a movie industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s in which women directors were rarer than hens' teeth; her first successes with the movies "Smithereens" (1982) and "Suddenly Seeking Susan" (1985) which helped solidify the flourishing of 'Madonna-mania" which went on to sweep the world (I was then in college and remember that very well - then I thought Madonna would peak after the success of her song Material Girl and disappear - how wrong I was! Kudos to Madonna); and the sheer richness and diversity of Susan Seidelman's life and career from the 1980s to today. She certainly knows how to tell an engrossing and captivating story.
For anyone who enjoys reading well-told, engaging memoirs, look no further. DESPERATELY SEEKING SOMETHING is the ticket.
THE DIARY OF PRIVATE JESSE STOLLAR, UNITED STATES 2nd ARMY AIR SERVICE, 25th AERO SQUADRON, AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, WORLD WAR I by Steven Biedenbach
informative
fast-paced
3.25
This book is a collection by Steven Biedenbach of a diary, postcards, photos, and a ledger that was kept by Private Jesse Stollar (1899-1949) during his service with the U.S. Army Air Service with the 25th Aero Squadron. (Biedenbach is a grandson of Stollar who was born several years after Stollar's death.)
The 25th Aero Squadron was the only fighter squadron in the Air Service to fly the British S.E.5A fighter plane over the Western Front. It had arrived in England in January 1918 and spent the next 6 months receiving training courtesy of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and its successor, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The 25th Aero Squadron was then placed directly under U.S. Army command and shipped over to France in August 1918. It arrived at the Front shortly before the Armistice that ended World War I, seeing only limited action over the lines without encountering the enemy in the air.
The value of this book comes in giving the reader a tangible sense of what an enlisted man experienced during his stint with the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I. There are also some details about Stollar's postwar life back in Ohio.
The 25th Aero Squadron was the only fighter squadron in the Air Service to fly the British S.E.5A fighter plane over the Western Front. It had arrived in England in January 1918 and spent the next 6 months receiving training courtesy of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and its successor, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The 25th Aero Squadron was then placed directly under U.S. Army command and shipped over to France in August 1918. It arrived at the Front shortly before the Armistice that ended World War I, seeing only limited action over the lines without encountering the enemy in the air.
The value of this book comes in giving the reader a tangible sense of what an enlisted man experienced during his stint with the U.S. Army Air Service during World War I. There are also some details about Stollar's postwar life back in Ohio.
Up from Orchard Street by Eleanor Widmer
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Up From Orchard Street is Eleanor Widmer's paean to the life she knew as a child in a Jewish family who lived in a tenement house in a close-knit neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the 1930s and 1940s.
This is a novel that vividly describes the lives of 3 generations of a Jewish family (the Roths) in New York. Its head is Manya, a Russian immigrant from Odessa who immigrated with her husband Misha (who later died of tuberculosis and through overwork) to the U.S. during the early 1900s. She's a remarkably strong, loving and resilient woman who is a superb cook who, goes from working for a baker to having her own cooking and catering business within the tenement house she bought on Orchard Street. There is also her son, Jack, his wife Lillian (both of whom share a deep love for the theater and the clothing business in which both work), Jack and Lillian's two children (Elka - who is precocious with a deep love for reading - and her younger brother Willy, a sensitive lad with a knack for whistling flawlessly many of the Broadway standard songs from popular musicals), and the family's adoptive son Clayton, an African American Manya had taken on as a young orphan who stayed with the family through early adulthood.
As a reader, one becomes absorbed in the lives of these people - their ups and downs. Indeed, I formed deep attachments for the Roths, their friends in the neighborhood, the 2 doctors (Dr. Koronovsky and Dr. Scott Wolfson, his younger protégé) who became integral parts in their lives, and the various people with whom the Roths struck up friendships during a summer outing to a holiday resort in Connecticut. Manya was "the glue" who kept the family together, a beloved mother and grandmother.
Up From Orchard Street is a heartwarming story that beautifully illustrates the immigrant experience in early 20th century America. I highly recommend it.
This is a novel that vividly describes the lives of 3 generations of a Jewish family (the Roths) in New York. Its head is Manya, a Russian immigrant from Odessa who immigrated with her husband Misha (who later died of tuberculosis and through overwork) to the U.S. during the early 1900s. She's a remarkably strong, loving and resilient woman who is a superb cook who, goes from working for a baker to having her own cooking and catering business within the tenement house she bought on Orchard Street. There is also her son, Jack, his wife Lillian (both of whom share a deep love for the theater and the clothing business in which both work), Jack and Lillian's two children (Elka - who is precocious with a deep love for reading - and her younger brother Willy, a sensitive lad with a knack for whistling flawlessly many of the Broadway standard songs from popular musicals), and the family's adoptive son Clayton, an African American Manya had taken on as a young orphan who stayed with the family through early adulthood.
As a reader, one becomes absorbed in the lives of these people - their ups and downs. Indeed, I formed deep attachments for the Roths, their friends in the neighborhood, the 2 doctors (Dr. Koronovsky and Dr. Scott Wolfson, his younger protégé) who became integral parts in their lives, and the various people with whom the Roths struck up friendships during a summer outing to a holiday resort in Connecticut. Manya was "the glue" who kept the family together, a beloved mother and grandmother.
Up From Orchard Street is a heartwarming story that beautifully illustrates the immigrant experience in early 20th century America. I highly recommend it.
Fw 190 Sturmjäger: Defence of the Reich 1943–45 by Robert Forsyth
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Fw 190 Sturmjäger: Defence of the Reich 1943–45 provides the reader with a concise, comprehensive history of the development and deployment of the Fw 190 Sturmjäger "bomber killer", which was a heavily armored version of the redoubtable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter, whose role was to tackle the growing formations of USAAF heavy bombers over Germany.
The book goes into some detail in describing the tactics used by the units flying the Fw 190 Sturmjäger and has 3d illustrations depicting some of the combat operations undertaken by these units. (There are also plenty of photos.)
Tackling a heavy bomber was a highly dangerous undertaking, given how heavily armed each USAAF bomber was, along with the collective firepower a bomber formation could hurl against attacking Luftwaffe fighters. Plus, there was also the growing threat, from 1943 onwards, posed by Allied escort fighters, which could blunt any Sturmjäger attacks on the bombers. Flying skill, marksmanship, and sheer guts were essential for any Fw 190 Sturmjäger pilot to be successful and survive. Eyewitness accounts in the book by the veteran Fw 190 Sturmjäger pilots further convey the perils and challenges they faced every time they went aloft to take on USAAF bombers over Germany.
For any aviation enthusiast or anyone with an interest in World War II aviation, I highly recommend Fw 190 Sturmjäger: Defence of the Reich 1943–45.
The book goes into some detail in describing the tactics used by the units flying the Fw 190 Sturmjäger and has 3d illustrations depicting some of the combat operations undertaken by these units. (There are also plenty of photos.)
Tackling a heavy bomber was a highly dangerous undertaking, given how heavily armed each USAAF bomber was, along with the collective firepower a bomber formation could hurl against attacking Luftwaffe fighters. Plus, there was also the growing threat, from 1943 onwards, posed by Allied escort fighters, which could blunt any Sturmjäger attacks on the bombers. Flying skill, marksmanship, and sheer guts were essential for any Fw 190 Sturmjäger pilot to be successful and survive. Eyewitness accounts in the book by the veteran Fw 190 Sturmjäger pilots further convey the perils and challenges they faced every time they went aloft to take on USAAF bombers over Germany.
For any aviation enthusiast or anyone with an interest in World War II aviation, I highly recommend Fw 190 Sturmjäger: Defence of the Reich 1943–45.
YUGOSLAVIA AND GREECE 1940-41: The Axis' aerial assault in the Balkans by Basilio Di Martino, Pier Paolo Battistelli
informative
medium-paced
5.0
YUGOSLAVIA AND GREECE 1940-41: The Axis' Aerial Assault in the Balkans offers a concise account of the air war that was waged in the Balkans between the Axis and Allies between October 28, 1940 and April 30, 1941. It was an air war that took place in 3 phases.
The first phase was the Italo-Greek War, which began on October 28, 1940 when Italy invaded Greece from its bases in Albania. Mussolini, feeling outdone by the sweeping German victories in Western Europe and Scandinavia during the previous spring, was anxious to conquer Greece and secure Italian dominance in the Aegean and Mediterranean. But he failed to take into account the factor of the weather and some of the shortages and deficiencies his Regia Aeronautica (air force) faced in fulfilling its assigned tasks. The Italian offensive lost impetus after a short time and the Greek Army staged a counter-offensive, which pushed some of the Italian forces back into Albania, leading to the Greeks gaining a toehold in that country. The book details the struggles waged by the Regia Aeronautica, the Roval Hellenic Air Force (Greece), and the Royal Air Force (RAF), which sent in some of its bomber and fighter units from Egypt to assist the Greeks.
The second phase of the air war took place over Yugoslavia between April 6, 1941 (the day of the German invasion) and April 15, 1941 (when Yugoslavia surrendered to Axis forces after putting up a spirited resistance). The Yugoslav Air Force, Regia Aeronautica, and Luftwaffe figured prominently in this aspect of the air war. The book goes into some detail describing the role air power played in helping the Axis conquer Yugoslavia.
The third phase of the air war took place in Greece through most of April 1941 in which the Luftwaffe - with a supplementary role played by the Regia Aeronautica - supported the Wehrmacht in defeating Greek and British Commonwealth forces in Greece who, by month's end, despite VIII Fliegerkorps' best efforts to prevent them from escaping from Greece, managed to evacuate the bulk of its forces to Crete. The air campaign as waged by the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica against the remnants of the Royal Hellenic Air Force and RAF are vividly described.
The book also has lots of photos, illustrations, maps, and three-dimensional diagrams which provide the reader with a fleshed out account of this air war which extended from the Balkans into the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean.
The first phase was the Italo-Greek War, which began on October 28, 1940 when Italy invaded Greece from its bases in Albania. Mussolini, feeling outdone by the sweeping German victories in Western Europe and Scandinavia during the previous spring, was anxious to conquer Greece and secure Italian dominance in the Aegean and Mediterranean. But he failed to take into account the factor of the weather and some of the shortages and deficiencies his Regia Aeronautica (air force) faced in fulfilling its assigned tasks. The Italian offensive lost impetus after a short time and the Greek Army staged a counter-offensive, which pushed some of the Italian forces back into Albania, leading to the Greeks gaining a toehold in that country. The book details the struggles waged by the Regia Aeronautica, the Roval Hellenic Air Force (Greece), and the Royal Air Force (RAF), which sent in some of its bomber and fighter units from Egypt to assist the Greeks.
The second phase of the air war took place over Yugoslavia between April 6, 1941 (the day of the German invasion) and April 15, 1941 (when Yugoslavia surrendered to Axis forces after putting up a spirited resistance). The Yugoslav Air Force, Regia Aeronautica, and Luftwaffe figured prominently in this aspect of the air war. The book goes into some detail describing the role air power played in helping the Axis conquer Yugoslavia.
The third phase of the air war took place in Greece through most of April 1941 in which the Luftwaffe - with a supplementary role played by the Regia Aeronautica - supported the Wehrmacht in defeating Greek and British Commonwealth forces in Greece who, by month's end, despite VIII Fliegerkorps' best efforts to prevent them from escaping from Greece, managed to evacuate the bulk of its forces to Crete. The air campaign as waged by the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica against the remnants of the Royal Hellenic Air Force and RAF are vividly described.
The book also has lots of photos, illustrations, maps, and three-dimensional diagrams which provide the reader with a fleshed out account of this air war which extended from the Balkans into the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean.