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kwalksta_1390's reviews
91 reviews
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa
4.0
The talking cat doesn’t even steal the show! A thoughtful story and message.
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell
4.0
I learned a lot about a part of World War II (& modern) military history that I hardly understood before. Excellent research presented powerfully.
The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor by Eddie Jaku
5.0
When Eddie opens with calling the reader “my friend,” you immediately feel that you are. You don’t want to / can’t put the book down. May his memory be a blessing.
Fight Night by Miriam Toews
4.0
“Fighting means different things for different people. You’ll know for yourself what to fight. Grandma told me fighting could be making peace. She said sometimes we move forward by looking back and sometimes the onward can be knowing when to stop. Well, anyway, you know Grandma! We all have fires inside us, even you.”
This novel was a rush and I loved it all. Written as a letter to her absent father, the 9 year-old narrator tells him about being suspended from school for an extended period of time and all that happens then in her wild yet loving household with her mother, grandmother, and a sibling on the way. The dark humor made for some laugh out loud moments.
This novel was a rush and I loved it all. Written as a letter to her absent father, the 9 year-old narrator tells him about being suspended from school for an extended period of time and all that happens then in her wild yet loving household with her mother, grandmother, and a sibling on the way. The dark humor made for some laugh out loud moments.
The General and Julia by Jon Clinch
4.0
A well-done novel of historical fiction. The author gives us a new side to Ulysses S. Grant, someone who looms larger than life from a time in our history books that we may feel far removed from. His legacy is complicated, and we get reflective thoughtfulness on that in this version of Grant.
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
5.0
I think this is *my* book of 2024. My goal was to read this before the Hulu series comes out on March 28, and I did it with weeks to spare. I couldn’t put the book down—I needed to know what happened next. The author seamlessly wove together the true wartime experiences of each of her relatives (her grandfather’s immediate family, 10+ people) into one incredible story. She absolutely honors their memory and courage.
Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître D by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
3.0
3.5 stars. Slow to start and a lot of strong language that was gratuitous. Eventually you get to why you wanted to read it in the first place: very eye-opening about how a restaurant’s front of house operates — the good, bad, and very ugly. The author had an impressive career with the anecdotes to match.
Lovers at the Museum: A Short Story by Isabel Allende
A metaphor for the power of love and, I’d say, how magical and transformative museums can be.
The Men with the Pink Triangle: The True Life-and-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps by Heinz Heger
5.0
Heartbreaking in its honesty, this is an unforgettable memoir. Grateful to my friend and colleague, Dr. Jake Newsome, for telling me about Josef Kohout and where to read his story.