Completed Books

Here you will find all of the books I have completed reading and blogging about. I've given some basic information; Title, author, date written, period it's set in, blurb and my personal comments about it. I'm trying to find a way to link it to my relevant blog posts but am unsuccessful as yet - I'm new to blogger and haven't yet got to grips with it all! Oh and one last thing - I'm going to do my best to keep it 'Spoiler free' but I can't guarantee it! 




Title: Between Shades of Gray

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Written: 2011
Set: 1941

Rating: 
*****

Blurb: Taken from the website - http://www.betweenshadesofgray.com
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother. They are being sent to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp. All is lost. Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing. She risks everything to use art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. Between Shades of Gray is a riveting novel that steals your breath, captures your heart, and reveals the miraculous nature of the human spirit.

Happy reading, Kate x

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Title: Lies we tell ourselves 

Author: Robin Talley

Written: 2014
Set: 1959

Rating:
****

This is a compelling story narrated by Sarah, a black 17 year old, and Linda, a white girl also 17. We meet them on the first day of Jefferson High School's integration of the races. We experience the trauma Sarah goes through in order to attend a White-Only high school. But we also see the events from the view of Linda - whose father is the editor of an anti-negro newspaper. The two girls find themselves involuntarily entwined in each others lives. But no-one can know the truth about them...

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Title: Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank 

Author: Anne Frank

Written: 1942
Set: 1942

Rating: 
****

This is a diary of a Jewish girl during world war two. Her family are forced into hiding after the Germans occupy Holland. She writes about her experiences in their secret annex - the stories, the arguments, the jokes and the fears. 

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Title: The Book Thief 

Author: Markus Zusak

Written: 2005
Set: 1935

'Narrated by Death, the book is set in Nazi Germany, a place and time when the narrator notes he was extremely busy. It describes a young girl's relationship with her foster parents, the other residents of their neighbourhood, and a young Jewish man hides in her home during the escalation of World War II.' - Wikipedia