Ooh! I finished Fall of Giants and started the second book in the series, Winter of the World. This one starts in 1933, with the Nazis coming to power in Germany. To be honest, I hated it so much I almost stopped reading. There are some things that are horrifying and yet still kind of fun to read about- Hitler is not one of them.
The first few chapters made me feel sick and infuriated- but I told myself to stop being a wimp and read on. Sure enough, before long the storyline switched to America and I’ve been reading that part happily. I know we’ll get back to the Nazis, and I’m steeling myself. And I know the book overall will be great- I just have to stop being so sensitive. Sheesh.
From a historical perspective, Germany in the 1930s is fascinating (remember how I couldn’t stop talking about WWI when I read the first book? I’m having the same problem now with WWII.) The German people in the early 1930s didn’t have the perspective that we do now. The Nazis were just another fringe political party- most people didn’t love them, but they didn’t fear them as much as they feared the communists.
Also, the 1920s were a pretty terrible decade for Germany. It wasn’t completely unreasonable to think that democracy just wasn’t working. Hitler gave a lot of people hope with his “Make Germany Great Again” speeches (huh! That reminds me of something, but I can’t think what…) Hitler and his thugs did seem a little dangerous, but I can imagine people thinking “How bad could it really be?” (VERY BAD! Assassinate him! Flee the country! Don’t let this happen!!!) Ahem. You can see how I have a hard time reading it, but I know I’ll love the book overall.
Before I started Winter of the World, I read this book:
This is the first book I’ve read all year that I did NOT like. I’ve been on a Japanese murder mystery kick, and the other ones I read were pretty good. They tend to be very light on character development, but strong on ingenious solutions. This book had NO interesting characters, and the ending, instead of being ingenious, was preposterous. Plus, there were important plot points that were unavailable to the reader until the end. That’s not fair! Who made this book a “classic”, anyway??? What awards did it win? I think I’m through with this genre.
Lastly… I read Allison’s guest post on Engie’s blog. Allison shared a list of her favorite horror books. Horror is one genre I’ve never been interested in, but Allison has convinced me! I’m going to pick a couple from her list and try them. Sophie Hannah’s The Orphan Choir seems like a good place to start.
Do you ever read horror?
Is there a subject that just just can’t stand to read about?
16 Responses
I think we may have talked about this before, but have you read The Berlin Stories? I recently reread it – it was assigned for a university history course way back in the day. It’s so good. I feel like maybe you have, since you lived in Germany? I don’t know, it’s early morning.
A couple of WWI books (I know you’ve moved on but still) that I think are great are All Quiet On The Western Front and Johnny Got His Gun. They are not for the faint of heart though.
Right now I’m reading a book called Brooklyn which is a very quiet and slow-moving book about an Irish girl who immigrates to America in the 1950s and meets an Italian guy. It’s SLOW but I’m enjoying it.
Yes! I read The Berlin Stories while I was living in Berlin. I’ve heard of the other books you mentioned but never read them. I’ll check them out, although I might be too “faint of heart” for them.
Oooh–wait you lived in Berlin?! Say more!
I tore through this one, but think I’ll take a break before the final installment. I thought the Nazi parts were done well for precisely the reasons you mention…
Like how could they “nazi” that coming–haha!
Omg, ha ha. How could they “nazi” that coming…
Yes, I lived in Germany for a while in my late 20s and early 30s. I was working for a German company at the time.
I do think it’s a great idea to try new genres sometimes, but for myself, I am not a horror reader! I love the author T Kingfisher, but a few of her books veer hard into creepy/horror and when I was reading the most recent one, I was emailing my friend to ask, “does it get worse than this part? because I can barely handle this part!”
Okay, well we’ll see! Maybe I can start off with only “semi” creepy horror.
JENNY! There’s a part towards the beginning of the third book that I think you will really, really dislike. I don’t want to give it away, but I hope you don’t stop reading because it’s so good.
I think reading horror will be okay for you. If you can handle fantasy, you can handle horror. (Although I have not read The Orphan Choir, so maybe it’s scarier than I am giving it credit for.)
Don’t worry- I’ll push through. I’m really enjoying this second book, in spite of the difficult subject matter. I’ll read all three no matter what.
Yes- I used to not like fantasy and now I do, so I figured horror is up next.
This might be a repeat conversation, so sorry for that, but German movies from the late 20’s/early 30’s are incredible. And then there is going on IMDB to research the movies and the actors…I learned very quickly that if someone’s last screen credit was in 1933 that their biography was going to be very sad.
I haven’t read a lot of horror, but I really like suspense/dark stuff, and I can see myself reading more Stephen King.
Well, it was definitely a fascinating time period, and a lot of great art came out of Germany. I would imagine a lot of the actors from that time period did not fare well.
I cannot do horror. I am a sensitive reader in that regard! Another topic I tend to avoid is infidelity – unless someone tells me it’s handled well. I don’t like it when it is kind of romanticized which can sometimes happen in romance novels.
It is scary to see the parallels between the 1930s and modern times… Eeks. :….(
Yes, it really is scary, Lisa. In the history podcast I listened to, they emphasized that the Nazis took down democracy, but started in a democratic manner (all democratic nations, take note!)
I agree- i don’t like infidelity if it’s handled in a casual way. It is a SERIOUS subject- if it’s treated as such, I don’t mind reading about it.
Not a big sci fi fan. I’m open to most other genres.
I’v recently learned to like some sci fi, but it’s still not my favorite genre. I think I”ll probably like horror better than romance- that’s one genre I just don’t like.
The one thing I’ve really learned from reading so much WWII fiction and nonfiction is just how many people didn’t think the Nazi party was going to be anything more than a fringe thing… but then it caused a genocide. And while I wouldn’t say the Republican party is like that, there are definitely some similarities that are very striking and scary. There is SO MUCH riding on this election, and I really hope we don’t make the same mistake the Germans did. Oof.
I commend you for sticking with this book even when the subject matter was so difficult!