Look at what just arrived! - August 9, 2010

This meme was originally hosted by Marcia @ The Printed Page. It goes on tour beginning August '10 and is hosted this month by Chick Loves Lit. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do).

So here's another set of four books I received last month. This time, the theme is World War 2, which is one of my favorite themes. I won these books at Jen's blog, The Introverted Reader. They were part of her birthday giveaway to one lucky reader. I have to say that I considered them as a birthday gift to Moi truly, since my birthday was just 15 days before hers, plus all four books were in my top wishlist for so long! (Thanks again, Jen!)

So first off is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, written in epistolary format. I have mostly heard positive reviews of this book. Readers either agreed or disagreed with the book presentation - told wholly in letters. The first such book I read is Dracula, and I loved the letter style mainly because there is so much to be told from the timing and the address of each letter. Anne Frank's Diary was another book of that category. So this is one I am definitely looking forward to.

The second book is Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. Now I know this is a must-read. I've been recommended this book so many times that I am ashamed to say that I still have not picked it up. I blame it on the hype. The Book Thief is the story of a girl who steals books. She shares the books she steals with her neighbors during bombing raids and the Jewish man in the basement of her house. Well, I don't have an excuse anymore! This time, I can't wait to really read it. I've heard the premise of this book and it sounds definitely promising to me!

Lately, Chris Bohjalian's Secrets of Eden has been doing the rounds. It was later that I came across this book by him - Skeletons at the Feast. I haven't read either of his books, but I have been more curious about Skeletons at the Feast, which focuses on a group of people trying to cross the remnants of the Third Reich.

And finally, Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy. This is a story of six women and four men, who fought and died, worked and worried through the WW2. So now you can see why a WW2 buff would be excited with this set! As a side-note, I still have HBO's The Pacific to watch. I prefer watching them on a stretch, rather than one episode a week. So that's what I have for the week!

Have you read any of these books?