Unbroken

by Laura Hillenbrand
p 473

This fascinating story of Louis Zamperini, Olympic athlete, WWII bomber and Japenese POW proves once again that fact is if not stranger, at least more compelling than fiction. Told by expert non-fiction story-teller, Laura Hillenbrand is a page turner front the beginning to end. With unbelievable detail, she weaves a tale of one of the most amazing lives in modern history that has never been told - or at least to this generation of readers. Living with Louie from troubled youth, to Olympic runner (1936), to Army bomber in the pacific to his unbelievable survival of 43 days lost at sea only to be captured by the Japanese and imprisoned under the most brutal of conditions, is a testament to the worst and best of human experience. I found this history lesson to be not only unforgettable but ultimately inspiring. This is a must read!!!
Giving it a full blown ROCK, CHALK, JAY, HAWK.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Great story!  I read this for one of my book discussion groups (the most fun one!) and everyone agreed that Hillenbrand's writing style makes her books highly readable, very accessible and hard to put down.  She's chosen a story as compelling as Seabiscuit...an Olympic runner who goes down at sea during World War II, is captured by the Japanese and tortured in various POW camps and eventually emerges and thrives, against all odds.  It's a quick read and the consensus of our group was "two thumbs up."
Kim F

DREAM WHEN YOU’RE FEELING BLUE

by Elizabeth Berg. Random House, 2007. 276 p.

World War Two turned the lives of most Americans upside down, not in the least the lives of Kitty Heaney and her two sisters. Between boyfriends going off to war, joining a defense job, and keeping up with USO dances and letter-writing, the sisters lives are centered around this major event in American history. Reading Elizabeth Berg is much like living: experiencing love, passion, heartbreak, jealousy, devotion, fear and an entire litany of other emotions. Descriptive yet succinct, she is able to bring to life both Chicago during World War Two and life as young, civilian women. Readers of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society with appreciate a keen story teller with a passion and understanding of the correspondence of yore, but who can also create a family so real they feel as if they are your own.