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Thursday, October 22, 2009

War Through The Generations Challenge - Recap

I've completed the War Through The Generations - World War II Challenge! This challenge will continue next year with a focus on a different war - I can't wait to see which it will be.

The goal of this challenge was to read five books that pertained somehow to WWII.

I only read one book from my original list:

  1. Red Rain - about the Japanese incendiary bombs that were dropped on the Western US - I couldn't get into this story
These books were added to my list during the course of the year:
  1. Number the Stars - a young adult book about children in Denmark during the war - highly recommended for introducing kids to this time period
  2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society- this book deserves all the hype I'd heard about it - it's one of my favorites this year
  3. Beside a Burning Sea - fictional account of the survivors of a bombed hospital ship who are stranded on an island with a traitor - somewhat predictable but still good
  4. A Thread of Grace - a novel about how Italians protected Jews during the war - a fabulous book
I intended to read the following books as well but didn't get to them:
  1. The Greatest Generation Speaks
  2. Once Upon A Town
  3. The Rising Tide
  4. The Steel Wave
Books 3 and 4 on that list are part of a trilogy that hasn't been completed yet. That's why I removed them from this year's list; I hate reading part of a series and not being able to finish it! I do hope to get to each of these books in the coming year though.

Anna and Serena did a wonderful job hosting this challenge. In addition to posting our reviews (yes, they did get behind sometimes, but I'll forgive them since they did so many other things too) they also posted author interviews and WWII-related news on the dedicated challenge blog. As I said, I can't wait to see which war they will focus on next year!


NOTE: I'll be posting within the next week about my Gram who lived in England during WWII and her thoughts on several WWII-era books she's read lately - I hope you'll enjoy hearing her opinions!

10 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Congratulations on finishing the challenge! I've got one more book to read for it, so I should finish this one too. I agree - Serena and Anna are great challenge hosts.

Lezlie said...

Nice job! This was one of my favorite challenges this year.

Lezlie

Audible Books said...

Great Job in the challenge. Im about to finish mine by the end of the week :)

Audible Books

Anna said...

Congrats on completing the challenge! And thanks for the kind words. It's been a hectic year, and this challenge grew to be way bigger than we expected, so it's not surprising that we fell behind. I'm thrilled that people are enjoying it, though, and I'll be playing catch up over the next few weeks.

Thanks for participating!!

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

BermudaOnion - I'll look forward to your recap post coming soon!

Lezlie - It was a great one, wasn't it?!

Audible Books - Way to go!

Anna - Thanks, and congrats to you and Serena for putting together such a wonderful challenge.

Alyce said...

Congrats on completing the challenge! This is one challenge that I wish I would have joined. I'll have to keep my eyes open for the next one.

Anonymous said...

Congrats :) Would love to listen your Gram's thoughts om WWII.



Freedom Debt Reviews

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Alyce - Definitely consider joining next year, no matter which war they choose to spotlight!

Justin - Thanks. :) I'm working on her post now but she just had her 2nd round of chemo and isn't feeling well so I can't ask her too many questions at the moment. Hopefully I'll get it up early next week ...

Literary Feline said...

I completely forgot that this challenge continues on next year. I knew that going in, but forgot in my mad dash to give up all challenges for next year. I wonder if I can count this as one long challenge so I still can participate or if I should stick to my guns and say no more for awhile after I finish this first half.

Congratulations on completing the WWII challenge, Heather!

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Literary Feline - Well ... you could go either way on this. :) I'd say keep it in unless you REALLY need a break from challenges! ~LOL~

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