I finally found a decent book. Quite a surprise, since my local branch library's new fiction section is 99% schlock.
It's about how a family that ran the Warsaw Zoo hid Jews during the Holocaust. It's not your usual ghetto memoir. It's a tale about animals and humanity. Maybe it's because I'm half Polish, but I did relate to the plight of Poland. The Poles were a conquered people only outdone by the Sicilians.
This book was recommended to me. I've decided that from now on I'm only reading books with personal recommendations; just going to the library is a waste of time.
3 comments:
Dorian, I always rely on your movie reviews. You've given me several nights of viewing pleasure.
But after reading (listening to, actually) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo I'm not too sure about your book recommendations.
I personally recommend this new book for you Annie. Lisbeth is a bit much, but it was written well. However, since the new recommendation is about the Holocaust the body count is high. I'm so convinced you will like it that if you don't I'll send you a dollar and a free Sham-Wow. Check out other reviews............
ORION MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES THE WINNER
OF THE 2008 ORION BOOK AWARD
Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story (W. W. Norton) has been selected to receive the 2008 Orion Book Award, which is conferred annually to a book that deepens our connection to the natural world, presents new ideas about our relationship with nature, and achieves excellence in writing.
"The Zookeeper's Wife is a groundbreaking work of nonfiction," said selection committee member Mark Kurlansky, "in which the human relationship to nature is explored in an absolutely original way through looking at the Holocaust." Kathleen Dean Moore, the committee's chairperson, said: "A few years ago, 'nature' writers were asking themselves, How can a book be at the same time a work of art, an act of conscientious objection to the destruction of the world, and an affirmation of hope and human decency? The Zookeeper's Wife answers this question."
I got the book out a couple days ago and I'm about a 1/3 of the way through.
Darn, no Sham-Wow or a dollar. I really am "enjoying" it. It's dawned on me that I've never read a nonfiction book about the Holocaust.
It's an absolutely incredible story and I'm already thinking of people who I want to recommend it to.
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