A Thursday Book Review?

I was hoping that I could read fast enough to be able to post a Monday book review every week... But alas, today is Thursday and in case you hadn't noticed I haven't put up a book for the week.

BUT! To make up for it, I not only finished the book I was hoping to finish by Monday but I also read another one and started on a third!

First things first- For Monday I finished another World War II book called The Lost Wife. It was a very different side of the war than I have gotten in the other three books (guernsey literary and potato peel pie society (GLPPPS), the soldier's wife, and sarah's key). GLPPPS and The Soldier's Wife both took the viewpoint of gentiles in occupied Britain. They came into contact with Todt prisoners who were sent to the Island to work. In the Soldier's Wife the main character even hides a Todt in her attack hoping he'll be able to be sent to a safer location. Sarah's Key was written about a young jewish girl who was sent to a holding camp but was able to escape. This was the first book I had read that detailed what life was like inside of a camp.

 

The main character, Lenka, lives with her family in Prague. They are sent to a concentration camp called Terezin. Hitler informed the world that it was a "city for the Jewish." People were misled and told that it was a wonderful place where the Jewish people could embrace their religion and live in peace. The city, which was originally a fortress for soliders, was built to hold 11,000 people at fullest capacity. At the height of its use during World War II, Terezin held 55,000 people in terrible conditions. Terezin was not a death camp but was a work camp. Each inmate was given a job to do and if they failed to meet the guards expectations they were "sent east."

The Lost Wife was an eye opening story that painted a gruesome but beautiful picture of life inside the walls of Terezin. I was glad to get another perspective on the war and would definitely suggest reading the book.

As for my next book... I was done with World War II for a while. I didn't mean to get on a WWII kick and fought the desire to pick up the Kommodant's daughter as my next read (although it did make my list of books to read).

Instead I bought a book that I had picked up, perused and written down the title of while in a small bookstore in Vermont. It's called "The Dirty Life" and is about a woman who gets swept away but a young farmer as they begin a life building up a CSA farm in "The North Country."

The book confirmed my desire to one day live on a farm. Their days are long and tiring and if a single summer is too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry then its much worse than having a higher grocery bill. I'm not convinced I'm ready for that big of a commitment and that much uncertainty. I think I'll dream about a small farm with a few chickens (not the 100s they have), a milk cow and perhaps a few goats.

I would definitely suggest reading The Dirty Life but not if 1) you have any inclining that you might like to live on a farm and don't want to be convinced or 2) if you are extremely veggitarian (although I'd still suggest the book, you might want to skip over the cow, pig and chicken killing parts)

Lastly, I think Orange Juice companies have been lying to us! I don't get sick very often but I started drinking more and more OJ about 2 weeks ago and NOW I get sick. Not cool Florida's Best. Not cool.