Sam's Fireside - Cosy Book Reviews & Recommendations

“All it takes to get along in this here man's town is a little shit, grit, and mother-wit.” Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison_ was February's read for #classiclitbookclub 📚, and I decided to listen to this one — which turned out to be a very good decision 🎧. I really enjoyed Joe Morton’s narration; he did a fantastic job capturing the many different accents as our unnamed protagonist moves from the Deep South 🌾 to the hustle and bustle of New York City 🗽. We never learn the protagonist’s name, even when he is given a new identity. I believe this reflects the invisibility he feels — as a Black man coming of age in a world with deeply blinkered views about how he should behave in the presence of “white folk.” Few books stay rent-free in my head 💭, but this may just be one of them. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy but you’re worried about struggling with the colloquial language, I highly recommend the audiobook 🎙️. This is definitely a book I’ll return to, and one I su...

I love this series from Marion Kummerow. The Berlin Wife’s Resistance is the third book in the German Wives series and we start this book as we finished off the second, where Julius and Edith are at the Swiss border hoping to escape Germany to begin a new life. Once again, I had my heart in my mouth throughout the entire book. Just what was in store for the families that were simply trying to stay alive in the country of their birth? A country that no longer wants them and will go to the utmost atrocities to rid Germany of these people, by any means necessary. Marion Kummerow always researches her books brilliantly, and this one was no exception. I always learn something new when reading one of her novels and as I closed the cover on this one I was blown away by the attitude of the women who tried to save their families. I recommend that you read this series in order to enable yourself to get the full story, and if you enjoy historical fiction and in particular a war story, then I hop...

I have just closed this book, and a shiver went right through me, as it did throughout the time I was reading it. We all know about Auschwitz and many of you will have read fiction books based on actual events throughout this time, indeed one of my favourite genres is historical fiction. However, I have never been as moved and affected as when reading The Stable Boy of Auschwitz. ‘A heartbreaking true story of courage and survival’, as stated on the cover; honestly, this is an understatement. Henry (Heinz) Oster was just eleven years old when the Second World War began and this book is his memoir as he revisits those heart-wrenching and traumatic years of his childhood. The first three chapters are primarily about the history of the Jewish people and how Adolf Hitler came to be in power. The next fifty-four are an account of Henry’s horrific story, how he coped and how he endured and survived the Holocaust. Told from a very personal viewpoint, The Stable Boy of Auschwitz is just one m...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another World War II story that needed to be told. Based on true events, The Orphans of Amsterdam by Elle van Rijn was first published in the Netherlands and has now been translated into English. Betty is our protagonist and comes across as such an inspiring young girl. She put her own life at risk, countless times, in order to try to save children from being deported to the dreaded concentration camps as the war progressed.  Most of us are aware of the concentration camps and what happened within, but I’m pretty sure few of us are aware of all the differing struggles going on elsewhere. The Orphans of Amsterdam is a heartbreaking story which once again shows the cruelty that happened around eighty years ago and once again I found it difficult to believe that human beings could be so callous. That thousands of children were taken from their mothers and simply put on trains to die is unfathomable.  If you are interested in learning about what happened during the war, then ...

⭐⭐⭐⭐ I listened to The Hidden Village, by Imogen Matthews as an Audiobook which was narrated by Antonia Whillans.  Set in Holland in 1943, The Hidden Village is a secret village that the Dutch people built to hide Jewish people and anyone else who needed protection from the Germans. We follow the variety of characters who are involved in the village, whether building it, living there or maintaining it and slowly we become immersed in their lives. Although rather slow, it kept me hooked, as I was desperate to find out how things ended for Sofie and her friends. Based on true events, I was curious how an entire village could remain hidden from the Germans for so long, and it was interesting to research this further once I’d finished the book. I have read many books set in World War II, and it’s eye-opening to read about it from another point of view, this time primarily from Dutch citizens. Everyone should know what happened in the war, and fiction books which are based on facts are ...

⭐⭐⭐⭐.  My first book review was for  The Dream Keepers  by Linda Keen which I reviewed in August 2020 for Online Book Club.   I found it quite difficult to grab my interest at the beginning and I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to finish it but how wrong I was! In essence, the book is about a young brother and sister who, together, learn to find their way in a world that isn’t always accepting or tolerating the people who live in it. The novel follows their lives as they develop from children into young adults and how they deal with various situations and other people along the way. From their families to their friends and from strangers both kind and not so kind, Star and Thatcher deal with whatever life throws at them as they continue on life’s journey, showing the true meaning of being there for each other. The book covers a multitude of life’s issues, from race and culture to suicide and near-death experiences and although it took me a few chapters ...