Friday Reads: The Monuments Men

This Friday, I'm indulging in some reading just for me (that means I'm reading something written for adults). I'm reading The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel. It is fantastic.

Here is the official description, courtesy of Goodreads:

At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloging the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised. 

In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. 

Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.

Over the past few years, I've been trying to read narrative accounts of different events, wars, cultural upheavals, and so forth. It's an attempt to make history seem more real than it did when I studied it in textbooks throughout my education. Ideally, I'd pair this with visiting historical sights...but who has the money to do that?!

I read a brief description of The Monuments Men in a library newsletter highlighting books that were adapted into movies this year. Of all the many books, this was one I 1) had not read and 2) found very interesting. I love stories about everyday people who did extraordinary things during World War II--I blame Elizabeth Weir's outstanding books Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire for this. The book covers the path the Monuments Men took to become involved in the MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives) subcomission and the different monuments, sculptures, paintings, and other culturally significant works they strove to protect and recover. I never knew that Rembrandt's The Night Watch spent the war underground in Holland, but it did. Now I know what it took to keep it safe and how it was repaired and returned to Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum after the war was over.

The Monuments Men is a great, engaging read. I highly recommend it. In fact, I'm planning on picking up the author's other books after I finish this one. Check this book out from your local library or pick it up at your favorite indie bookstore! You can also find it at Barnes and Noble or Amazon, if you'd prefer. You can also read more about the author, the Monuments Men, the movie, and the three books the author has written about the MFAA here on the official website.

Friday Reads: Paper Valentine

This year I'm going to TRY to do a Friday Reads post every week. Note the emphasis on TRY. This is because sometimes I'm so busy, one book stretches from Friday to Friday.* There will be an abundance of YA titles, because my "work" reading has overtaken my "grown-up" reading. I have almost stopped reading anything but YA and MG titles, because those are what I need to recommend to others at work. I regret nothing. I tend to prefer YA over most adult books. YA has better fantasy.

You will probably get a bit of a lecture in literature while I'm at it. I'm sorry in advance. I really can't help myself.

As always, if you're interested in chiming in, head to the comments!

This Friday, I'm reading Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff. This is a new book at the library, though hardly a new release. I originally picked it up just to skim a bit. But then I couldn't put it down.

The reason for this is the characters, most specifically those of Hannah and Lillian. I am drawn to their rather non-traditional conversations (Lillian is a ghost), and while I read, I'm pondering whether Lillian is a ghost or a manifestation of Hannah's grief. I really love magical realism, which is a literary technique, developed in Latin America, in which the unreal coexists with the real in a plausible way, so the reader must suspend disbelief as the story progresses. Some great examples of magical realism include The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (who is a master of magical realism--this is just my favorite of her novels, even though that's sort of a cliche. I don't care. I love that book),Gabriel García Márquez's books,and Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma (a great YA title). You can also look up the paintings of Frida Kahlo as an example of how magical realism looks on canvas.

Here's the publisher's description:

The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls. 

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness. 

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

If you're interested, you can snatch this up at your favorite indie bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or (of course) at your local library!

* I blame exercise--it cuts down on the reading time. It does, however, guarantee that I'll be able to breathe while I read without asthma knocking me down dead, so I'm okay with that.