In the Garden of Beasts | WWII

If you want a unique look into Germany right before the war and those events that led up to it, if you want to read about some of the everyday people who lived and loved and suffered in that country during that time, read this book. It was fascinating and entertaining and a little haunting.

Heaven Is Here | Book Club

Stephanie’s thoughts about love and happiness, discoveries that not many people make, are deep and abiding. Only those who are steeped in the furnace of affliction—truly immersed for months and even years of in that fire of suffering—can easily see those truths that others struggle to understand: you can choose happiness; it doesn’t choose you.

Slaughterhouse-Five | WWII

This book is an interesting look at the typical soldier—and Billy does symbolize any soldier with his non-existent personality— forced to participate in a war not of his choosing.

To Kill a Mockingbird | Book Review

This book touched me on a number of levels, but mostly it taught me to have faith in humanity, to have faith in the good in people. This alone makes the book worth reading.

Read the World Wrap-Up | Germany

I knew before I started this Read the World journey that it was going to be awesome. I mean, how could exploring a country be anything but fun? I just wish I had gotten underway a little sooner, and then I could’ve added a few more books to my list. Maybe a travelogue or a children’s book (or…

Germany: A New History | Germany

Germany was so fragmented for so many centuries that, upon finding an identity, it wanted to stretch—so to speak—its fledgling wings.

Hidden Figures | WWII

This book should be read for how it inspires, for how it illustrates hard work and determination and a lack of self-pity can go so far, for how it shows people of all genders and races and nationalities can accomplish so much together.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich | WWII

I knew intellectually that Hitler was something of a mad man. I mean, you can’t murder millions of people with a matter-of-fact, blasé attitude without being crazy. But after reading this book, after the peek I had into his mind, it’s my opinion that he was a completely, repentantly psychopathic monster. He was the worst type of psychotic: brilliant and psychotic. They do the most damage, and he was the tool of the deaths of multitudes.

More Than the Tattooed Mormon | Book Club

I love how Al Carraway spoke matter-of-factly about the problems and fear that we all have, those things—like trials and temptations—that make us feel alone when in fact they are universal to every human being.

Floating in My Mother’s Palm | Germany

I finished my first German book, Floating in My Mother’s Palm by Ursula Hegi (or at least, my first German book that I’m not reading for my WWII project). Overview: This book takes place just after World War II in the town of Burgdorf, Germany. Our main character is Hanna, a girl between the ages of unborn and 14…

Rouladen | Germany

In order to really experience Germany this month (as much as a person can from across an ocean), I decided to explore German cuisine. When you think of German food, do you think of Bratwurst and sausage? Well you should. Those Germans are all about their sausage. But they’re also about more, such as rouladen….