I finished this books a few minutes after midnight on March 1, so this one probably really belongs in February's post. My book club read (and liked) Larson's Isaac's Storm several years ago, and I have had this one on my list for awhile. Now's a good time to gain better context on Nazi Germany, and this work provides a fascinating lens.
Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler
I pre-ordered this book back in December and had forgotten about it until it arrived in the mail -- that's my excuse for reading two Nazi books in a row (I've also started adding reminders in my calendar when I pre-order books).
This book, from the cover to the contents, is trippy. Since writing a paper about Hitler for 8th grade social studies (and also with English?), I will admit that I have not done much World War II military history reading. Ohler is a novelist and for a first work of non-fiction (and a translated one at that), there are some rough spots, however, I highly recommend the book.
For my archivist friends, Ohler's description of archives (and an actual individual archivist!) is refreshing/humorous:
Inside there is an overwhelming sense of confusion. Finding documents isn't easy; there are simply too many of them ... To help you find your way through the holdings, there are catalogues, computer hubs, and most importantly, the personal help of archivists, who effortlessly manage to cope with such complicated German specialist terms as Reichssicherheitshauptamt.
From the very outset Paul Brown ... dampens my hopes of finding everything about Hitler's personal physician here ... History, in Brown's view, always remains one thing: speculation drawing on the most relevant possible facts. Historical truth isn't something he can offer me.
Yup.
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
I think that I have now exhausted the backlog of Kinsella books I've neglected the last few years and this will be the last one for awhile. I haven't read a lot of Young Adult lit lately, and it was a nice compliment to all those books about Nazis. This one also deals with mental health recovery in a refreshing and approachable way, and I enjoyed it.
The Boy Is Back by Meg Cabot
I have read Cabot's other "boy" books, and this one follows the same text message/chat/email/journal formula (which facilitates a quick read - I read the whole thing in an evening). I heeded to the sage advice of multiple Amazon reviewers and ordered a (used) paper copy, avoiding the poorly formatted digital version.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
I'm not sure how I've never read this book before. This one is a Kindle Unlimited (digital and audio - I listened to Claire Dane's narration). Hulu is releasing an adaptation on April 26; I know I haven't seen it yet, but I'm already glad I read this one first.
