The Battle of Stalingrad

Stalingrad was the first Antony Beevor book I bought, in Gothenburg 2002 as I duly noted on the first page, since then I have bought most of Beevor's books on the Second World War, which I now have unread in my bookshelf. It took me ten years to get to Stalingrad but now I have finally arrived.
The book is filled with detailed reconstructions of what happened during the prolonged battle, but what Beevor succeeds with the best is to balance the information from both the Germans and the Russians.
There are some parts where I think Beevor's conclusions are too widely drawn especially concerning the feelings of the people involved. However, for the most part this is a good book rich in details and facts.
Josefine

Title: Stalingrad Author: Antony Beevor ISBN: 978-91-89442-36-9

Writing characters

I read a lot of chick-lit, where one of its most prominent feature, is the character driven narrative. However, I have just finished two books, Last Christmas by Julia Williams and An Absolute Scandal by Penny Vincenzi, where there are several main characters and the authors jump between their narratives that sometimes intertwine and sometimes work in parallel.
I do think it is more difficult to make a story believable when using several main characters that not necessarily always interact with each other. With An Absolute Scandal I definitely think it has become too much and half the characters are not necessary. Vincenzi could have made the book half the length and still got the point through. I find that you spend such a short time with each character that you feel you never get to know them.
In Last Christmas I found an other problem where Williams sometimes repeat events to put the reader up to speed on the characters feelings, which become repetitive as it doesn't bring enough to the table to bring the story forward.
Neither of the books were written to my taste, even though I did appreciate Williams plot more than I did Vincenzi, and it does makes me reluctant to pick up another of their books.
Josefine

Title: Last Christmas Author: Julia Williams ISBN: 978-1-84756-086-5

Title: An Absolute Scandal Author: Penny Vincenzi ISBN: 978-0-7553-3680-7

St Patrick's Day

In honour of St Patrick's Day, my plan was to recommend some books set in Ireland or by Irish authors, but then I realised that Irish books are all so sad. Its troubled history, mainly with Britain and the effects thereof has really coloured the books I have read about Ireland not green, but rather black.
That's when I turned to the always reliable Marian Keyes to cheer me up, so today I am drinking Guiness, eating potatoes and re-reading Sushi for Beginners and leave the sad books to another day.
If you still want to tackle the sad stories from Ireland, these are some of the ones I have read.

The Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor
Frank McCourt's autobiographical trilogy Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, The Teacher

and one that is on my To Read list:
The Speckled People by Hugo Hamilton

Enjoy!

Can he possibly improve more?

After my first Yates, Revolutionary Road, I looked forward to read Easter Parade as well, a book I'd been recommended by friends and I must say that I think Easter Parade was even better than Revolutionary Road. The characters are beautiful described and very believable, while the language flows.
It's a book well worth reading.
Josefine

Title: Easter Parade Author: Richard Yates ISBN: 978-0-413-77345-0

Consequences of the Spanish Civil War

The text on the back of Guernica by Dave Boling, is filled with sadness, pain and tragedy. Despite this, in the book I also found humour and happiness, which made it easier to take in what was really important in the book.
I knew very little about specific events during the Spanish Civil War and the air attack on Guernica, so it was interesting and valuable to see it from the perspectives of the civilians on the ground and inspired me to read and learn more.
That it was Boling's first book and you could see that in some places, especially where he felt the need to over-explain the character's feelings. Sometimes it is better to say less and let the readers interpret what the characters feel.
Josefine

Title: Guernica Author: Dave Boling ISBN: 978-0-330-46066-8

Lines in a book

Sometimes when I read, there are lines that stand out more than others. Lines the author really has nailed. Sometimes it's the content I like, sometimes the flow of the words, sometimes what the words implies, what memories they evoke etc.

I came upon one of these lines when reading The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Sparks.

"anecdotes which needed an audience hilariously drunken, either with alcohol or extreme youth, to give them point” (103).

What lines from a book are your favourites?
Josefine

Title: The Girls of slender means Author: Muriel Sparks ISBN: 978-0-14-002426-5