November 2021 in Books

There's a lot going on, so my reading time has been cut back substantially.  This is the first month in a while where I didn't get any juvenile/YA in, but it was a great reading month overall.  Very heavy on the historical fiction.  Here are the recaps:

A Most Clever Girl - Stephanie Thornton - historical fiction - four stars - This is the story of Elizabeth Bentley, a cold war double agent.  She is drawn into working as a spy after meeting some communist friends and then a lover, and becoming part of their web.  At first she is fighting against the Germans by helping the Russians because the Americans are reluctant to join the war.  Later, the lines become blurred.  She is a very successful spy/handler for the Russians, but when she sees the walls closing in, she turns and begins to help the Americans.  It was really interesting to me how she was pulled into life as a spy, but also how she was used by the government once she became their asset.  The one thing I wasn't crazy about was the way the story was told, she is narrating it to a young woman who confronts her and blames her for ruining her life.  So the story stops and starts and there are brief interludes/conversations between them.  The story is so compelling in its own right I really didn't think it needed that device.  

How Lucky - Will Leitch - fiction - four stars - The one non historical fiction book I read this month.  It's supposed to be kind of a thriller/suspense book.  It's about Daniel, a disabled man who witnesses an abduction.  But it's a very slow burn for a thriller and most of the book isn't really particularly suspenseful, it's more just about Daniel, his relationships, and his disability.  I thought overall it was pretty good, but thought it was kind of strange that he started and perpetuated a correspondence with the abductor.  I liked Daniel and his friends, and really it was more like just a book about Daniel and learning about him and his life, with an abduction tacked on.

The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls - Luca Crippa - historical fiction - five stars - This is the story of William Brasse.  Brasse was a Polish man who refused to become a Nazi when the Germans invaded, despite his German heritage.  As a result he was sent to Auschwitz.  There, he became the prison photographer (his uncle had been a photographer and he had assisted him).  In the beginning they photographed all the prisoners, including the Jews.  Later they had to stop photographing all prisoners due to the huge increase in volume.  Brasse's photographs survived because he disobeyed orders to destroy them all when Auschwitz was being evacuated and they provide a record of the prisoners, the soldiers, the medical experiments, etc.  It's an amazing story, highly recommend.

The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles - historical fiction - five stars - I loved this one.  It's the story of Emmett Watson, who was just released from a juvenile work farm.  His plan is to pick up his little brother Billy (his father passed away while he was in detention), sell their family farm, and move to Texas.  Billy has different plans  He wants to go and find their mother, following the route she took when she left them, along the Lincoln Highway.  That's the plan until two of Emmett's friends/acquaintances from the work farm, Duchess and Wooley, show up.  They ran away and want Emmett to take them to complete a mission.  Things go sideways repeatedly as Duchess and Wooley first borrow Emmett's car and then take other unplanned detours when Emmett refuses to help them.  Emmett and Billy then head out to retrieve the car.  The diverging and converging paths of the characters is unexpected and keeps you on your toes.  I loved Billy and Emmett.  A must read.

Three Sisters (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #3) - Heather Morris - historical fiction - five stars - Morris' third book focuses on the Cibi, Magda, and Livia, Jewish Slovakian sisters.  They swore to their father, who passed away before the war, that they would always stay together and take care of one another.  The sisters eventually end up in Auschwitz where they cross paths with some of the other characters from Morris' previous books.  This book stands alone and is a wonderful story in its own right.  The story covers their lives during and after the war.  Another wonderful book from this author.

The Personal Librarian - Marie Benedict  - historical fiction - five stars - This is the story of Belle da Costa Greene, the personal librarian of J. Pierpont Morgan.  Morgan wanted to create a library filled with art, rare manuscripts, and books to rival those of other institutions around the world, and to make it available for the public.  Greene was hired to help curate the library and became an institution herself.  She was known as a shrewd negotiator and was active in the social life in New York City and abroad.  The fascinating thing about Greene was that she lived a double life.  She was born Belle Marion Greener and her father was the first black graduate of Harvard and an advocate for Civil Rights.  Her mother decided when she was a child that the family should cross the color line.  They moved from Washington DC to New York City and changed their names.  As a result, Belle's father left, and they had to scrape by.  A fascinating book about a fascinating woman/situation.

I really loved all the books this month, although if I had to choose a favorite it would be The Lincoln Highway.  Currently I'm working my way through China In One Village a non-fiction book that is a bit of a slog thus far.  Next up are Falling and The World Played Chess.  Please share what you're reading!