World War II Reading Challenge

Well, I have found one new 2021 reading challenge to join!  This year I did Russian literature/history (and not nearly enough of it; my pile is still tall), and now I shall do the World War II Reading Challenge at Becky's Book Reviews.  I have quite a tall stack of WWII books too.  They mostly cover Europe, from the UK to the USSR.

I don't know if this is the official image or not

So here are the rules:

2021 World War II Challenge
Host: Becky's Book Reviews (sign up here)
Dates: January - December 2021
Goals: Read, Watch, Listen, Share WWII related stuff

Books

  • Fiction published during 1939-1945
  • Fiction set during 1939-1945
  • Fiction that is about the leading up to the war
  • Fiction that is about the direct aftermath of the war
  • Nonfiction books about the War
  • Biographies or Autobiographies with sections about the war
  • Poetry or verse novels with a WWII setting OR publication date
  • Essays, Articles, Op-Ed pieces
  • historical-historical (straight up historical with no sub-genres)
  • historical romance
  • historical mysteries
  • historical coming-of-age
  • historical thrillers/suspense/spy novels

Music and film are also included, so check it out at Becky's page.

Here are two piles of WWII books, from the library and my own TBR:

Library books: mostly gory history


TBR pile: lots of domestic stuff and memoir

Comments

  1. I basically want to read ALL OF THOSE. And I have so much WWII fiction and nonfiction on my TBR shelves -- it's shocking. I guess I have a definite genre! I'm actually currently reading a WWII memoir, The Dancing Bear, by Frances Faviell, and I just finished The Street by Ann Petry, which isn't exactly a war novel but it was written and published in 1941 and the war and the draft are mentioned and affect the plot, though somewhat peripherally. Hopefully I'll get reviews posted soon and I can sign up!

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  2. Karen, I know! WWII is just endlessly fascinating. There is always another odd corner of experience you've never heard of, which merits several books.

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  3. Currently, I'm stuck in the Victorian era, but I'll have to read more about the second world war. I recently re-read The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie, though :)

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  4. Your new blog theme/logo is wonderful!

    This looks like a great challenge. I was tempted to pick up Life and Fate at the bookstore, Grossman is supposed to be an amazing writing. Looking forward to your reviews, as always :)

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  5. Oh my, I wish I could join but I know I'd be stretching myself. I'm looking forward to all your reviews!

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  6. It always seems like a good idea to me to focus on a time and really just read from/about it, but I can never stick to such plans. It sounds like fun though--enjoy!

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  7. This year, I liked trying to focus on Russian literature and history. I didn't read nearly as much as I would have liked, but I did get several done. I just tried to have one Russian book going along with everything else. I'm going to do with same with this -- just have one of these books going along with the other stuff.

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  8. I enjoy both fiction and nonfiction about WWII. Here are my favorite nonfiction books of the just the last two years:
    The Indomitable Florence Finch: The Untold Story of a War Widow Turned Resistance Fighter and Savior of American POWs

    The Liberation of Paris: How Eisenhower, De Gaulle, and Von Choltitz Saved the City of Light

    The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Plot to Stop the Nazi Atomic Bomb

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  9. I just read a fantastic nonfiction book about Prague during the Holocaust, called When Time Stopped. It's written by a woman who researches her father's experiences during the war, and finds out what happened to his family. I highly recommend it. Another book I loved this year was Code Name Helene, fiction but mostly biographical. There's so many amazing books about WWII. I hope you get a lot out of the challenge.

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  10. Oh, that sounds fantastic! I'd love to read about Prague.

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