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6,80235
Exceptionally Obsessed

PostJan 15, 2018#11

HoserLauren's Reveal:


Sons And Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned With the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler by Bruce Henderson

Joining the ranks of Unbroken, Band of Brothers, and Boys in the Boat, the little-known saga of young German Jews, dubbed The Ritchie Boys, who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s, came of age in America, and returned to Europe at enormous personal risk as members of the U.S. Army to play a key role in the Allied victory.
In 1942, the U.S. Army unleashed one of its greatest secret weapons in the battle to defeat Adolf Hitler: training nearly 2,000 German-born Jews in special interrogation techniques and making use of their mastery of the German language, history, and customs. Known as the Ritchie Boys, they were sent in small, elite teams to join every major combat unit in Europe, where they interrogated German POWs and gathered crucial intelligence that saved American lives and helped win the war.
Though they knew what the Nazis would do to them if they were captured, the Ritchie Boys eagerly joined the fight to defeat Hitler. As they did, many of them did not know the fates of their own families left behind in occupied Europe. Taking part in every major campaign in Europe, they collected key tactical intelligence on enemy strength, troop and armored movements, and defensive positions. A postwar Army report found that more than sixty percent of the credible intelligence gathered in Europe came from the Ritchie Boys.
Bruce Henderson draws on personal interviews with many surviving veterans and extensive archival research to bring this never-before-told chapter of the Second World War to light. Sons and Soldiers traces their stories from childhood and their escapes from Nazi Germany, through their feats and sacrifices during the war, to their desperate attempts to find their missing loved ones in war-torn Europe. Sons and Soldiers is an epic story of heroism, courage, and patriotism that will not soon be forgotten.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/14624977

5,291323
Exceptionally Obsessed

PostJan 16, 2018#12


dancing-dog's reveal:


We Were Liars by E. Lockhart


Book Description
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends, the Liars, whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

2,857482
Exceedingly Obsessed

PostJan 20, 2018#13

Kiri's Best of 2017 Reveal

Passing Strange

by Ellen Klages


offered in ebook format

Reviews at Goodreads (click here)


San Francisco in 1940 is a haven for the unconventional. Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the World's Fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer "authentic" experiences, straight from the pages of the pulps; and the twilight world of forbidden love, where outcasts from conventional society can meet.

Six women find their lives as tangled with each other's as they are with the city they call home. They discover love and danger on the borders where mystery, science, and art intersect.

Kiri's Thoughts:

This was a beautifully evocative novel. The setting and plot are amazing and done so superbly I want to buy the author a drink. Honestly she does her stories (set locally) so well its just .. well if you lived around here ... its like walking about in the story going.. yeah.. yeah.. YEAH... and then thinking it's been a bit too long since you've been a few of these places, and hey why haven't you been to "x"?. (Unlike some authors I could name who even can't be bothered to consult a city map... patterson...)

Klages was one of my "finds" for 2017, courtesy of Shaunie's Sci-Fi Challenge. I would have offered Time Gypsy, but it's a really short novella and doesn't qualify for the swap. However I seriously encourage you to find and read that.

Her stories are well written, vivid, and usually include some kind of time travel (or shifting in time). One caveat, her stories deal with the LGBTQ(?) communities. If this makes you uncomfortable be aware, however her writing is not explicit and frankly at the moment I cannot think of a better introduction to the topic in terms of fiction. (mind you I am no expert!)
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