New Leaf Nominations for August 2018 • What is It Good for? Absolutely Nothin': War

[Bookworm_Girl]

I nominate Goodbye Sarajevo: A True Story of Courage, Love and Survival by sisters Atka Reid and Hana Schofield. I wanted to suggest something that emphasizes the human impact of war. This book has an interesting perspective because it alternates between two sisters with very different experiences during the war. For those who like audiobooks, it is narrated by the popular and award-winning Bernadette Dunne.

Available at Amazon US ($8.95), Amazon UK (£6.71), Amazon CA (C$9.02) and Amazon AU (A$8.58). Also available at Kobo, Overdrive and Scribd. 352 pages.

From Goodreads:

May, 1992. Hana is twelve years old when she is put on one of the last UN evacuation buses fleeing the besieged city of Sarajevo. Her twenty-one-year-old sister, Atka, staying behind to look after their five younger siblings, is there to say goodbye. Thinking that they will be apart for only a few weeks, they make a promise to each other to be brave.

But as the Bosnian war escalates and months go by without contact, their promise to each other becomes deeply significant. Hana is forced to cope as a refugee in Croatia, far away from home and family, while Atka battles for survival in a city where snipers, mortar attacks and desperate food shortages are a part of everyday life. Their mother, working for a humanitarian aid organisation, is unable to reach them and their father retreats inside himself, shocked at what is happening to his city. In Sarajevo, death lurks in every corner and shakes the foundation of their existence. But when Atka finds work as a translator in an old, smoky radio station, and then with a photojournalist from New Zealand, life takes an unexpected turn, and the remarkable events that follow change her life, and those of her family, forever.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I will third And The Show Went On.

[gmw]

I second Goodbye Sarajevo.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by gmw

Thank you both very much. This book club thing is not good for me. I keep discovering more I want to read, but no one is giving me any more hours in the day. Oh, woe is me.

!! Tell me about it !!

[drofgnal]

If one wants to fully examine what war is good for you need a book about the aftermath of one. I'll nominate Leon Uris' Armageddon.

From Amazon:

At the end of World War II, American army officer Captain Sean O’Sullivan is commissioned with rebuilding Berlin. Reeling from the death of his brothers at German hands and faced with the direct horrors of the Holocaust, O’Sullivan struggles against his animosity towards the nation he is helping restore. Meanwhile, Soviet forces blockade Germany in a bid for power, and the Western Allies must unite to prevent a communist takeover. When the airlift begins, the Allies find their deepest convictions tested as they fight against a threat even more dangerous than Hitler.

Meticulously researched, this New York Times bestselling novel gives a historically accurate account of the early days of the Cold War and the fight for German redemption.

https://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Le...ords=Leon+uris

I've read this before, but would gladly reread it. My mother was born in Berlin in 1929 and lived there until about 1950, meeting my dad who was stationed there post WWII. She would not talk about it much so I was interested in reading Uris' account of life in Berlin post WWII. My mother also had two older sisters, and I was in horror reading what life was like for them and my grandmother. My grandfather died on the Russian Front.

This category also screams for 'War and Peace' like the category in May, 'Doomed to Repeat'. But I won't nominate it. Another good nomination would be Leon Uris' Mila 18, a story of life in a Polish Jewish Getto during WWII, an even more horrific story than Armageddon.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

This category also screams for 'War and Peace' like the category in May, 'Doomed to Repeat'. But I won't nominate it. Another good nomination would be Leon Uris' Mila 18, a story of life in a Polish Jewish Getto during WWII, an even more horrific story than Armageddon.

Okay, I nominate War and Peace.

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Okay, I nominate War and Peace.

It is rather long! Just sayin'.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

It is rather long! Just sayin'.

I wouldn't mind rereading War and Peace, but I think so soon after The Three Musketeers we'd have our own war on our hands.

[Catlady]

My nominations never get much traction anyway, so what the heck.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

My mother was born in Berlin in 1929 and lived there until about 1950, meeting my dad who was stationed there post WWII. She would not talk about it much so I was interested in reading Uris' account of life in Berlin post WWII. My mother also had two older sisters, and I was in horror reading what life was like for them and my grandmother. My grandfather died on the Russian Front.

I considered nominating A Woman in Berlin, a very powerful account of life during the fall of Berlin, but decided it was perhaps too upsetting. If you haven't read it, it might be of interest to you.

[Bookpossum]

The (German) film Downfall was very powerful indeed, and could also be of interest to you, drofgnal. I can well imagine it would be horrifying for you to learn what happened in Berlin and elsewhere at that time.

[bfisher]

I'm glad to see a lot more nominations coming. I was getting a bit worried about a very short list to vote on.

I third Goodbye Sarajevo.

[Dngrsone]

I have borrowed The Great Halifax Explosion from the local library, so I am set if the vote goes that way.

Halifax, being the only part of Canada I have visited, holds a special place in my heart.

Meanwhile, just to muddy up the waters, I wonder if anyone is interested in another non-fic: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond.

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by issybird

I considered nominating A Woman in Berlin, a very powerful account of life during the fall of Berlin, but decided it was perhaps too upsetting. If you haven't read it, it might be of interest to you.

Thanks, I will check it out.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by CRussel

By the way, I have no way of knowing, but that U.K. price (same at KoboUK I'm told) might well be promotional. If you have any interest at all, I'd strongly suggest "buying" The Great Halifax Explosion while it is free.

I've done just that, thanks for the pointer.