Review: City of Thieves - David Benioff

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Genre: Historical fiction
Pages: 272
Published: 2008

Four months into the siege of Leningrad, the city is starving. Seventeen-year-old Lev fears for his life when he is arrested for looting the body of a dead German paratrooper, while his charismatic cellmate, Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested for desertion, seems bizarrely unafraid. Dawn brings, instead of an execution squad, an impossible challenge. Lev and Kolya can find a dozen eggs for an NKVD colonel to use for his daughter's wedding cake, and live. Or fail, and die. 

In the depths of the coldest winter in history, through a city cut off from all supplies and suffering appalling deprivation, man and boy embark on an absurd hunt. Their search will take them through desolate, lawless Leningrad and the devastated countryside surrounding it, in the captivating journey of two men trying to survive against desperate odds.

This was a great book, the language flowed and he has real talent. He also writes screenplays, and I have seen the movies but I can say I like this book better.

The book takes place during the siege of Leningrad (St Petersburg), young Lev gets caught stealing from a dead German and brought to prison. There he and another man, a deserter gets a choice, bring him 12 eggs and they will get back their freedom. Not the easiest thing to do since the siege has lasted for a long time and there is nothing to find in the entire city. Only one thing to do, leave the city.

This book has it all cannibals, the horrors and brutality of wars, the civilians who suffer, and those who just try to get by. It is not really a tale about war. Since it focus on the hunting for the eggs, but while they hunt they see all these things. What the war has done to the people of the city and those behind enemy lines. The truth is always horrible.

I like Lev, he wants to survive, and being Jewish does not help later on. Kolya boasts about everything, women, his knowledge, and he also complains about not having gone to the bathroom for 9 days. They are a odd couple, and Kolya is trying to learn his little friend a thing or two about women.

It is a captivating story, great characters, and they are not entirely caught up in the whole propaganda machine. The book was researched and he captured the country. Not to mention he managed to make it less horrible too, they could still smile about things and that sure helped the reader too.

I do not think I have ever read a book about the "enemy", since when I think about those years I think about the 2 wars we fought against the Russians. Since they and the Germans had divided up Europe between them and tried to take everything they could. And we who were on the side the Russian wanted were the only ones to so to say get away. And we were mentioned too. Of course they had to mention the knives, honestly even I think about Finns like that. I also learnt something new, did not know we had the worlds best sniper. Funny that, learning something new about your own history. He sure did his homwork.

Blodeued's Cover Corner: Nice and fitting

Reason for reading. Library book

Final thoughts. Highly recommended

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Burrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society
by
Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Burrows

First I would like to thank Amy C @ Romance Book wyrm for coming up with this brilliant idea of reading and passing along this book to others. If you want to join us then head over here.

How to do this justice, I am going to use the back blurb to help me along.

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb.

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island--boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.


I started, and I couldn't put it down. The book was delightful, wonderful, and entirely in letters. First I wasn't sure how that could work, and how I would keep track of everyone, but soon enough they become all dear to me. I got to know them just the way Juliet did. And at the end I didn't want to part from them.

Juliet is a writer who gets a letter from a man in Guernsey, and she writes back asking some questions. Soon enough many in the literary circle is writing to her, and more letters are on the way. She finds out how they had it during the occupation, and she becomes more and more intrigued by it all. She wants to write a book, and she wants to see her new and dear friends. Dawsey, Isola (the witch), sweet Kit, and all the rest. I did like them all, but Elizabeth struck a cord in me. And I went trough the same emotions as Juliet did. They had all such wonderful and tragic stories to tell.

This made me want to write long and witty letters to strangers. Not to mention start a book club, why are everyone so bad at reading here *sighs* They made it sound so fun. And I loved that some never really had read, but now they found the love of books in the shape of The Bronte sisters, Charles Lamb etc. To fall in love all over again with books, now that would be a joy.

When we get to hear the whole story, we get even more. The story continues and still with letters. And I just enjoyed it so much that I am lost for words. What more can I say then read this book, you will not regret it.

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

It seems this book wasn't what I thought it was about, but that was just fun.

It's a book about 3 people, even though it focuses mostly on 2 of them. First there is a Jewish captain who is sent to see if Rudolf Hess is crazy or not. He is being held prisoner in Welsh. Then there is the main focus of the story, Esther, a 17 year old Welsh girl. She works in the local pub, and she longs to see more of the world outside. She meets a soldier, Colin, an English soldier who is there building a POW camp.

It's also the story of a German soldier, we meet him before he was capture and learns why he went to war. And then he end up in a Welsh POW camp.

Rooted in the story is the word cynefin, it has no English meaning. It has to do with the sheep, they know where to stay on the hill and never venture further. The know where they belong. It's seen through out the novel, Esther wants to escape, the Jewish captain who's mother is Lutheran and he is too, still he had to flee. And he keeps saying he is not Jewish. And at last, Karsten, the POW, who ordered his men to surrender to save them, and is troubled by this.

There is also the nationalistic angle in this book, the Welsh frown upon the English that is everywhere and they can't even write letters in Welsh cos the censures can't understand it.

It's a good book, I read it easily and I wanted to know what would happen. It was very well-written, but even if I didn't love the book it was worth reading

Not that I so much about Rotheram, the Jewish captain but he was an interesting character. He started and ended the book. I did like Esther, I felt that I could understand her and her doubts. And I even liked Karsten. It's not a book that points and says he is the bad guy, no they all have faults, and they all have those things that make you understand them. He has managed to capture something genuine in this book.

I will give the book a 3/5, because even if it was a great book, I felt it was just ok. Worth reading yes, but that all depends on the person reading.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

The Cellist of Sarajevo

This is a book about the siege of Sarajevo that lasted from 1992 until 1996, the longest siege of a city in modern times. Even if it in the book takes place under a shorter period.

It's a tale about the cellist who plays for 22 days to remember the 22 victims of a shell at the bread market. He is a sitting target for the enemy when he brings back hope in the hearts of the citizens.

It's a tale if the counter sniper who watches him from a window, while looking out for enemy snipers that want him dead. Can she keep the cellist alive, and what will the cost be of that?

It's also the tale of a man who every 4th day picks up his water canisters and make a hazardous journey to the only place you can get free water. To get there he must cross the entire city whole looking out for the men on the hill, the snipers and the shells.

And at last it's a tale of an old man who works in a bakery, and cos of that gets free bread to feed his family. But to get the bread he must walk to a city that is dangerous, and when he stands at the intersection every day he faces a horrible choice, to cross can mean death if the sniper decides to aim at him.

This book is beautiful in a haunting way. I feel like I am there, standing at the side of the road and seeing someone get killed, and knowing that I have to cross too. Every day is a fear or snipers and the shells falling over the city. Not to mention the lack of everything else.

Galloway knows how to write and bring emotions into it. Like the notes the cellist plays he writes about the notes in the human soul and the decisions that are made.

I was young when the war started and back then what did I know about war? It was the end of the world back then, but now I of course see how close it really is. And I can't believe that it could last as long as it did. It was in our own backyard.

This is truly a book worth reading, Galloway has balanced his words perfectly and they flow. It's an easy book to read in a way cause of that, but at the same time it makes you think.

I would give it a 4/5.