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Sunrise Over Fallujah Read-a-Long Final Week

February 28, 2014 by

This is the final week of the February read-a-long for Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers at the War Through the Generations blog for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

The questions are up, please stop by and offer your thoughts on pages 215-end of the novel.

  • Click here for this week’s questions. 
  • For the first week’s questions, go here.
  • For the second week’s questions, go here.
  • Third week’s questions are here.

Also if you have reviews for the Gulf Wars, you can link them here.

You’ll see my review for this book next week!

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, announcements, challenges Tagged With: , , ,

Sunrise Over Fallujah Read-a-Long Week 3

February 21, 2014 by

Today is the third week in the February read-a-long for Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers at the War Through the Generations blog for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

The questions are up, please stop by and offer your thoughts on pages 153-214 of the novel.

Click here for this week’s questions. 

For the first week’s questions, go here.

For the second week’s questions, go here.

Also if you have reviews for the Gulf Wars, you can link them here.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, announcements, challenges Tagged With: , , ,

Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan by Elizabeth Kim

February 20, 2014 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 240 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan by Elizabeth Kim is a memoir from a young Korean War orphan who never knew her father, was shunned as a non-person in Korea, and was subject to further psychological and physical abuse after her adoption.  This woman suffered greatly and mostly in silence for many years before and after her adoption by American, Christian fundamentalists.  The differences between her lush green Korean homeland and her new American desert home reflect the stark demarcations between her old life and being saved.

“There is no record of my birth, or of my name.  There is no record of my mother’s brief life.” (from the Prologue)

Born to a Korean mother, who left her tiny village for Seoul to sing, and an American soldier father, whom she never knew, Elizabeth has no notion of her birth name or date, nor her father’s name.  Her earliest memories are of life as a honhyol, a nonperson of mixed heritage shunned by the Korean culture, with her mother, Omma.  As outcasts in their village, they were subjected to shunning, stone throwing, and other abuses, but they were expected to bow to others and give way to the village leaders, Omma’s father and other family, when walking about.  Omma created a secluded and secure life for her child, though it was not without harsh work in the rice paddies or isolation.  The world they lived in may not have had a great deal of comforts and amenities, but it was certainly filled with calm and love.  In an honor killing, she is left alone in the world and dropped unceremoniously at an orphanage.

“Omma’s brother did all the talking.  He told her the family had discussed the matter again since presenting demands to her that afternoon in the field, and he, his father, and his wife were there to carry out the plan.  A family had offered to take the honhyol–me–into their home as a servant.”  (page 8)

“Sitting in the cage, nails dug deep into my skim, I tried to ameliorate grief by increasing my physical pain.  And just below the awareness of that misery, breathing rhythmically like a monster waiting to devour me, was the knowledge that it was because of me Omma died.  My face and my dishonorable blood had killed the only person I loved and the only person who loved me.” (page 33)

Like her Korean home where women are expected to be subservient to men and obey without question, Elizabeth is whisked across the ocean — to a land her mother described as full of promise — to America and new parents.  Her tiny life has begun again, but darkness descends upon her as she realizes that the American dream she’d thought was there is tarnished by a fundamentalism that snowballs into systematic abuse.  From her abusive parents to her physically abusive husband, Kim’s journey was rough and through it all, she struggled to survive, with the hope that there was freedom and something better in her future.

Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan by Elizabeth Kim demonstrates the clash of cultures between foreign adopted children and American homes, particularly homes with fervent religious beliefs, but also the continued discrimination she felt as a mixed race child, despite her father’s American heritage.  In Korea, she was a nonperson, and in America, she is treated in much the same way — leaving her with a battered and nearly non-existent self-esteem.  This dark memoir, however, does not focus on bitterness or resentment, but on how these events and abuses transformed her into a highly ambitious reporter and mother.  While still broken inside, she manages to give her daughter a loving home and stability as a single parent.  Although there are clearly moments of clear hatred of Christianity, particularly in its fundamental form, the novel is more about redemption and acceptance of oneself despite the outside forces that strive to strike us down.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Kim is a journalist and the author of the best selling novel “Ten Thousand Sorrows”, which has been chronicled in O, Oprah Winfrey’s magazine.

5th book (Korean War) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

 

 

9th book for 2014 New Author Challenge.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, borrowed copy, challenges, memoir, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: ,

Sunrise Over Fallujah Read-a-Long Week 2

February 16, 2014 by

This past Friday was the second week in the February read-a-long for Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers at the War Through the Generations blog for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

The questions are up, please stop by and offer your thoughts on pages 87-152 of the novel.

Click here for this week’s questions. 

For the first week’s questions, go here.

Also if you have reviews for the Gulf Wars, you can link them here.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, announcements, challenges Tagged With: , , ,

A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith

February 11, 2014 by

Source: TLC Book Tours and Random House
Hardcover, 352 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith is set in the 1930s when the United States was sending the mothers of soldiers overseas to France to the cemeteries where their children had been buried after WWI.  Smith bases her novel on the diary of Colonel Thomas Hammond, who began his career in the military with one of the pilgrimages of the Gold Star Mothers, and he appears as a young principled officer seeking to live up to his family’s illustrious military history.  As these mothers make their journey across the Atlantic to pay respect to their lost sons, Hammond is unaware how much the journey will affect him and these women.  Smith builds the story from a small island town in Maine where Cora Blake struggles alongside her neighbors to make ends meet as the United States wallows in Depression to the deepest emotional hum a human being can experience at a foreign graveside in a country that is still rebuilding after war.

“He was in grave number 72, identified by his dog tags, which were apparently nailed to a stake.  The second card asked that she state her relationship to the deceased and answer yes or no to the question: ‘Do you desire that the remains be brought to the United States?'” (page 15 ARC)

Cora Blake is a young widow, who also has lost her son to a war in Europe, but she’s just beginning to breathe and learn that there could be happiness around the corner with Linwood Moody, a recently widowed soil scientist.  Mrs. McConnell is an Irish-American who knows the struggle of working for the wealthier classes, while Minnie is a Russian-Jewish immigrant who has seen discrimination first hand.  Mrs. Russell is a woman who has been struggling with mental breakdowns for much of her married life, but is determined to see where her son died.  Just as determined as Mrs. Russell, railroad-heir Mrs. Olsen is seeking some form of closure from this trip.  Smith shines in her characterization of these mothers, showing how they are bonded over grief, but also that class distinction and experience can still separate them.  It’s a novel about the struggles for equality that still threatened to separate every American — immigrant or not — but how the great tragedy of war made no such distinctions when taking their sons.

“Cora’s world had expanded so rapidly, but not from the vista.  She remembered what Selma told her in the women’s waiting room in Boston.  ‘You got a lot to learn.’” (page 89)

Smith’s research into the time period, the Gold Star Mother’s tours, and the war itself — including the artillery and tactics used — shines through in the story, the plot, the characters, and the emotional roller coaster these women find themselves on.  Once in France, these women are swept along with military precision, but even the military is not prepared for the will of a mother’s love and her defiance against being told what will placate them the easiest.  They are here for the full experience, they want the truth of their sons’ sacrifices and will accept nothing less.  Along the way, they are treated to the best France has to offer, the eccentricities of Paris artists, the bigotry of Europeans who see Americans as arrogant, and the mysterious ways in which injured soldiers and American reporters, like Griffin Reed, cope.

A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith is stunning without being overwrought with emotion, weaving the lives of these women and their children into reader’s minds and souls.  In reflective prose, Smith deftly handles the grief of these women, the tension between grief and duty, and the peace that comes from knowing their loved ones are at rest.  From the cutting edge of facial reconstruction to the remnants of war that could still be found in the weeds of Verdun, Smith has crafted a novel that breathes life into history, ensuring that we never forget the past.

To win a copy of this book, you must be a U.S. resident, age 18 and over.  Leave a comment below by Feb. 14, 2014, at 11:59PM EST.  

4th book (WWI) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

 

 

 

7th book for 2014 New Author Challenge.

 

 

 

4th book for 2014 European Reading Challenge; this is set in France.

 

 

 

4th book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, ARC, challenges, giveaway, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, random house, Read in 2014, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: ,

Sunrise Over Fallujah Read-a-Long Week 1

February 7, 2014 by

Today is the first week of the February read-a-long for Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers at the War Through the Generations blog for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

The questions are up today, please stop by and offer your thoughts on the first 86 pages of the novel.

Click here for this week’s questions. 

Also if you have reviews for the Gulf Wars, you can link them here.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, announcements, challenges Tagged With: , ,

No Surrender Soldier by Christine Kohler

February 4, 2014 by

Source: Borrowed from Anna
Hardcover, 208 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

No Surrender Soldier by Christine Kohler is a well researched debut novel for young adults, though probably on the older end of the age range 11+ given the graphic pig slaughtering and mature themes.  Set in 1972 during the Vietnam War, it still has roots in WWII.  During WWII, the Japanese invaded and many of the inhabitants of Guam were used and abused by their captors, particularly the women.  Fifteen year-old Kiko Chargalauf inadvertently learns about his own family’s history with the Japanese invaders.  It’s more than he can take when he stumbles upon a straggler in the boonies on Guam behind his house, as he tries to separate reality from anger when he realizes the crimes Japanese soldiers committed against Guam’s residents.

“Stragglers are what we call Japanese soldiers who never surrendered after World War II.  As far as I was concerned, my parents used fear of stragglers as an excuse, like some people use the boogie man, when they didn’t want me to go into the boonies.  I shook my head.  ‘No straggler would last that long.'” (page 29 ARC)

At its heart, the novel is a coming of age story.  Kiko is struggling with his new responsibilities at the family tourist shop, as his brother is overseas fighting in Vietnam as a pilot.  But he also has become his grandfather’s babysitter as the old man’s dementia gets worse, transporting him to those terrifying days in WWII.  As Kiko struggles to become a man and still enjoy his childhood, he’s forced to grow up more quickly than he’d like — fighting every step of the way.

On the flip side, readers will see the internal struggles of Lance Corporal of the Japanese Imperial Army Isamu Seto as he not only scavenges for food, jumps at every noise, and tries to stay hidden from military forces that could imprison him.  Tenacity and courage bring Kiko, Seto, and the grandfather together as the past is forgiven and a mutual respect grows between them.  No Surrender Soldier by Christine Kohler is about perseverance, forgiveness, and growing up, but it’s also about how war threatens and shapes all of us, even those who are not directly fighting in it.

About the Author:

Christine Kohler is the author of NO SURRENDER SOLDIER. She is a former journalist, teacher and writing instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature (ICL).

3rd book (WWII and Vietnam War) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

 

 

 

5th book for 2014 New Author Challenge.

 

 

 

3rd book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Filed Under: 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, ARC, borrowed copy, challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: , ,

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

January 21, 2014 by

Source: Library Sale
Paperback, 144 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka is set in the United States during World War II shedding light on the Topaz internment of Japanese-Americans and how it impacted them and their families.  Following an unnamed family Julie Otsuka gives readers a false sense of security, providing a false sense of distance between the reader and the family.  A powerfully short novel that raises questions about how we react out of fear or fold in on ourselves to avoid confrontation as well as fear.

“She took The Gleaners out of its frame and looked at the picture one last time.  She wondered why she had let it hang in the kitchen for so long.  It bothered her, the way those peasants were forever bent over above that endless field of wheat.  ‘Look up!’ she wanted to say to them.  ‘Look up, look up!’ The Gleaners, she decided, would have to go.  She set the picture outside with the garbage.”  (page 8)

Otsuka’s prose is simply beautiful, but filled with symbolic imagery and heartfelt emotion.  Shifting from the mother’s point of view, to the daughter’s, the son’s, and the father’s, readers are immersed in the memories and emotions of these characters so that they become real, even though they are nameless.  The daughter clearly sits between being an adolescent and a young girl, striving to remain strong for her mother and brother.  In the father’s absence, the son struggles to remember what his father looked like and how they interacted, but he’s distracted by the changes in his life from the internment camp to his sister’s behavior and his mother’s despondence.

Each family member deals with the crisis in their own way, from withdrawal and despondency to anger.  Although the last chapter is a tad long, the passionate confession from the father is well placed and sheds light on his experiences while he was away from the family.  When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka explores life in the internment camp without the overwrought violence and horror of other novels, instead focusing on the emotional roller coaster this family experiences.

About the Author:

Julie Otsuka was born and raised in California. After studying art as an undergraduate at Yale University she pursued a career as a painter for several years before turning to fiction writing at age 30. She received her MFA from Columbia. She is a recipient of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Asian American Literary Award, the American Library Association Alex Award, France’s Prix Femina Étranger, an Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Check out her Website and Facebook page.

2nd book (WWII) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

 

 

 

3rd book for the 2014 New Authors Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, random house, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: ,

2014 War Through the Generations Read-a-Longs

January 17, 2014 by

Here’s the schedule of read-a-longs for the 2014 War Through the Generations Reading Challenge With a Twist.

  • February: Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers for the Gulf Wars (this one is about Operation Iraqi Freedom).
  • April: I Am Regina by Sally M. Keehn for the French and Indian War.
  • June: War Babies by Frederick Busch for the Korean War
  • August: Stella Bain by Antia Shreve for the 100th anniversary of WWI.
  • October: The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter for WWII.
  • December: Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien for the Vietnam War.

We hope that you’ll be joining us for at least one or more of these read-a-longs in 2014.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, announcements, challenges Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Join the 2014 War Through the Generations With a Twist Read-a-Longs

January 10, 2014 by

Since readers can read any of the war categories throughout the year, we thought it would be additional fun to host several read-a-longs.  Check out the rest of the challenge details.

In February, we’ll be hosting a read-a-long for Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers for the Gulf Wars (this one is about Operation Iraqi Freedom). SCHEDULE TBD SOON.

In April, we’ll be hosting a read-a-long for the French and Indian War; Book TBD.

In June, we’ll be hosting a read-a-long for the Korean War. Book TBD.

In August for the 100th anniversary of WWI, we’ll be hosting a read-a-long of Stella Bain by Antia Shreve.

In October, we’ll be hosting a read-a-long of The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter for WWII.

In December, for the Vietnam War, we’ll be hosting a read-a-long for Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien.

We hope that you’ll be joining us for at least one or more of these read-a-longs in 2014. 

If you have suggestions for the Korean War or the French and Indian War, please feel free to leave the titles in the comments.

Filed Under: 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson

January 9, 2014 by

Source: William Morrow and TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 400 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson is a historical fiction romance set during WWI.  Lady Elizabeth “Lilly” Neville-Ashford has lived a cloistered life in high society, but she’s always dreamed of doing more — going to university or helping with the war effort.  She buries her head in books to avoid conflicts with her mother, who believes that as a lady of society Lilly should be seeking a suitable husband.  After pushing for a new governess when she was a teenager to expand her education, she’s hit a roadblock in her twenties where her mother and father are concerned.  Her brother Edward, on the other hand, seems to have the easy life and he rolls with the punches, making jokes and letting the unpleasantness just pass by.  In many ways, she is jealous of his ability to smooth out the wrinkles of their aristocratic lives and to do what he wants — like join the soldiers at the front.  Lilly is above it all, looking down in judgment on her brother and her parents, but she rarely examines her own actions in the same way.

“He, and all his friends, seemed to regard the war as a great lark.  To them it was a blessed chance to do, to act, to be forged by the crucible of war into better men.  An improbable notion, Lilly was sure, though she could understand its appeal.  What had any of them actually done with their lives thus far, despite the riches and privileges heaped upon them?” (page 21)

In a final effort, Lilly is pushed to the brink, secretly learning to drive while away from her parents, and by then, she’s passed the point of no return.  She has to take her life in her own hands and mold it into what she wants.  Finding a job isn’t easy for a young woman of her stature, with no money and no skills, but her former governess Charlotte becomes an angel in her life.  Readers will find Lilly’s attitude toward others disconcerting at first because she’s at times affable and friendly, while at others secretive and softly judgmental.  However, once she gets a taste of what it means to be a common girl, with little money and her dreams just out of reach, she becomes even more determined to get what she wants.

“Before emptying the tub, she checked the water and was relieved to find no evidence of lice.  A month earlier, she’d been horrified to discover nits when combing her hair before bed.  Persian insect powder, mixed into a paste with petroleum jelly, had killed the lice in her hair, but then she’d inspected her clothes and found them infested with body lice, likely picked up from one of the walking wounded … ” (page 193)

Robson does an excellent job of placing the reader in the field hospitals, with Robbie — Edward’s university friend who becomes a surgeon — and with Lilly once she makes it to France as a driver.  While the romance is a bit overblown, the hardships of the nurses and surgeons is palpable, leaving readers shocked at the blood and split-second choices that have to be made when the wounded come pouring in.  Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson provides a detailed look at the life of those on the front lines of WWI who do not shoot the guns or drop the bombs — those tasked with cleaning up the mess of war.

About the Author:

Jennifer Robson first learned about the Great War from her father, acclaimed historian Stuart Robson, and later served as an official guide at the Canadian National War Memorial at Vimy Ridge, France. A former copy editor, she holds a doctorate in British economic and social history from the University of Oxford. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and young children. This is her first novel. Connect with her on Facebook.

1st WWI book for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist

 

 

 

1st book for 2014 European Reading Challenge; this is set in France.

 

 

 

2nd book for 2014 New Author Challenge

 

 

 

 

1st book for 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges, fiction, Harper Collins, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

2014 Reading Challenges

January 7, 2014 by

Everyone got a jump ahead of me on signing up for challenges this year. At least that’s how it seems to me. Anyway, here are my reading challenges and goals. I’ll try to update this if I decide on more or less. 

Click on the images for the challenge rules and sign-up pages.

1. Dive Into Poetry Reading Challenge 2014

Goal: Dive in and read 7 or more books of poetry

 

 

2.  2014 War Challenge With a Twist

Goal: Expert: Read 2+ books for each war for a total of 12 books

 

 

3.  2014 European Reading Challenge

Goal: Two Star (Adventurer): Read two qualifying books.

**I could increase this personal goal throughout the year.

I’m already revising this goal to Five Star (Deluxe Entourage): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.

4.  2014 Portuguese HF Challenge

Goal: Afonsine – 1 to 3 books

 

 

5.  2014 New Author Challenge

Goal: 50 New-to-Me Authors

 

 

6. 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Goal: Renaissance Reader – 10 books

 

 

 

7. 2014 Ireland Reading Challenge

Goal: Shamrock level: 4 books

 

What reading challenges have caught your eye that you’d think I’d be interested in?

Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 Portuguese HF Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges, Dive Into Poetry 2014, Ireland Challenge, New Authors Challenge Tagged With: , , , , , ,