Dorrance Publishing provided me with a free book in exchange for posting a rview on my personal blog as well as on a retail site.
The first book I chose was "Beneath the Snows of Stalingrad: Betrayed by Fate" ,by Frank J. Irganag PhD. This book is about a young medical student and his fiance who goes to nursing school. It is set in World War 2 Europe so, of course, the story is about this young man's journey through the war and it's effect on his life.
What I loved about this book is the different areas of the war the author took you too. Most of this type of book takes you to the concentrations camps or the ghettos through the eyes of the victims. This author, instead, takes us to Africa and to Russia at the same time reminding the reader of the often forgotten victims: the German people.
The main character volunteered to be a soldier and was deployed to Africa. Through his great leadership there, he was drafted to be a member of the fighting SS, the Death Heads with whom he fought with in Stalingrad. His trips home when he was on leave were great depictions of the people just trying to live their lives around what their politicians were doing. The parts of the story while he was away at war were very graphic in parts, graphics that aren't typically heard of in these types of books. The starving and freezing soldiers were there, but the medical atrocities caused by the weather and desperation of those troops were addressed as well as what was done withe the tens of thousands of dead bodies.
There were some things I did not like about this book. First, there wasn't really a plot. This book was written like a shot in time of a persons life, with no real climax or resolution, it was all just flat. Of course, there were exciting parts that could be conceived as climatic, but no high point to the story. Also, sometimes it was hard to love the main character. He cheated on his fiance and rarely felt bad about it. He lost many of his friends in war, but the author did not protray the characters feelings so the reader sympathized with him; it was very cold. What I liked least about the way this book was written is that there wasn't really an ending. Everything about the ending was just sad and unsatisfying.
I do recommend this book to anyone who likes this time period as it is different than most others. Overall, I really enjoyed it.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Just rambling....
So, I have another book blog post to make, but I thought I'd throw a fun post in here first.
So, as I have said before, Paul and I decided that it would be a good decision for him to quit his job. He was just so miserable there, for one thing. For another, he has so many goals and dreams, working nights seemed to never allow him to even get the smallest things done. For anyone who has ever worked the night shift, it sucks. I have never worked it, but through most of my childhood my mom did. I always remember her being so tired all the time, never around, never able to go to our games or horse shows because of work. She was always supportive, just never able to be there. It sucked. So, when Paul started thinking about quitting, I was so thrilled. I know I don't want him to miss out on our kids lives like my mom did mine and my brothers.
Now we are about six weeks after he left his job and, to be honest, I am not sure how I feel about it. When he was working nights, I got so much more done! To avoid the loneliness, I would clean almost every night. I did laundry twice a week, folded and put away, too! I made dinner almost every night and I even made time for the gym on a regular basis. Now, I haven't been to the gym in weeks, the house is a wreck, laundry piles up, dinner is a chore. I am much less motivated to do anything...except spend time with my honey!
I love all the time we get to spend together now. We get to watch tv and movies together, cook together, go to bed togehter, wake up together. So, I was just kidding when I wasn't sure how I felt about it...I love it. I guess I should just be greatful my husband doesn't really care how dirty the house is. If he gets too concerned, I guess he will just clean it himself :)
So, as I have said before, Paul and I decided that it would be a good decision for him to quit his job. He was just so miserable there, for one thing. For another, he has so many goals and dreams, working nights seemed to never allow him to even get the smallest things done. For anyone who has ever worked the night shift, it sucks. I have never worked it, but through most of my childhood my mom did. I always remember her being so tired all the time, never around, never able to go to our games or horse shows because of work. She was always supportive, just never able to be there. It sucked. So, when Paul started thinking about quitting, I was so thrilled. I know I don't want him to miss out on our kids lives like my mom did mine and my brothers.
Now we are about six weeks after he left his job and, to be honest, I am not sure how I feel about it. When he was working nights, I got so much more done! To avoid the loneliness, I would clean almost every night. I did laundry twice a week, folded and put away, too! I made dinner almost every night and I even made time for the gym on a regular basis. Now, I haven't been to the gym in weeks, the house is a wreck, laundry piles up, dinner is a chore. I am much less motivated to do anything...except spend time with my honey!
I love all the time we get to spend together now. We get to watch tv and movies together, cook together, go to bed togehter, wake up together. So, I was just kidding when I wasn't sure how I felt about it...I love it. I guess I should just be greatful my husband doesn't really care how dirty the house is. If he gets too concerned, I guess he will just clean it himself :)
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
"Blogging For Books"- Book 1
So, as I have described before, my sister-in-law told me about this program called "Blogging for Books" and I have decided to take advantage of it. Blogging for Books provide me a free book of my choice in exchange for a review of that book that I post on my blog as well as on a retail site.
The first book I chose to read was Tandem by Tracey Bateman. To be honest when I looked at my choices of books I wasn't too thrilled. This is a Christian publisher which is definitely not my style. However, I love to read and Tandem was the book I chose. I was not disappointed. When I read the back cover, I thought I was getting a murder mystery wrapped around characters dealing with family drama. However, I got a vampire book. It was well done, especially as that genre is so over done these days. It was different than every other vampire book. It isn't a sappy love story of desperation and complete unrelatabilty. The love felt in this book is real, all the ugly bits included.
The storyline was easy to follow, but not predictable. I found out at the end it is actually the second book of a series. I like that I couldn't tell, really.
The only thing I didn't like was the dark Christian undertones. The self destuction due to a characteristic that is contradictory to the Christian ideals of good and bad are disturbing. Also, the end of the book, where the character discovers God is extremely weak and seemed like an after thought.
I recommend this book for anyone who has become disgusted with the cheesy vampire books and wants a reminder that this genre can be good. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick and easy read as well.
The first book I chose to read was Tandem by Tracey Bateman. To be honest when I looked at my choices of books I wasn't too thrilled. This is a Christian publisher which is definitely not my style. However, I love to read and Tandem was the book I chose. I was not disappointed. When I read the back cover, I thought I was getting a murder mystery wrapped around characters dealing with family drama. However, I got a vampire book. It was well done, especially as that genre is so over done these days. It was different than every other vampire book. It isn't a sappy love story of desperation and complete unrelatabilty. The love felt in this book is real, all the ugly bits included.
The storyline was easy to follow, but not predictable. I found out at the end it is actually the second book of a series. I like that I couldn't tell, really.
The only thing I didn't like was the dark Christian undertones. The self destuction due to a characteristic that is contradictory to the Christian ideals of good and bad are disturbing. Also, the end of the book, where the character discovers God is extremely weak and seemed like an after thought.
I recommend this book for anyone who has become disgusted with the cheesy vampire books and wants a reminder that this genre can be good. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick and easy read as well.
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