Tag Archives: Germany

Private Peaceful.

Posted on August 22, 2014 by readingmater

Private Peaceful, by Michael Morpurgo, is one of many books about WWI which are being highlighted this year in the library, schools and bookshops here in Abingdon. This is written for children/young adults, but is well worth reading by adults. … Continue reading →

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Two Brothers. Ben Elton

Posted on May 9, 2014 by readingmater

In the 1930s my father had a foreign pen-friend. (If you are young, think of FB messaging or email!) In 1939 his friend in Germany joined the Luftwaffe and my dad in England joined the RAF. Neither ever got back in … Continue reading →

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“Where butchers sing like angels.”

Posted on February 3, 2014 by readingmater

The title of this book put me off. The Master Butchers Singing Club? It doesn’t quite have the whimsy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, does it? And I’m a vegetarian! I’m also a pacifist, which turned out to … Continue reading →

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No Graves as Yet

Posted on February 25, 2013 by readingmater

Not my sort of book even though its setting is historical. It’s a spy and murder mystery, and one of Bud’s library books. I expected to breeze through it for relaxation and not think about the murder bits too much, … Continue reading →

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Birdsong: Sebastian Faulks

Posted on May 31, 2012 by readingmater

I have always loved the poetry of sorrow and anger and pain and loss that came from the First World War. At first came Rupert Brooke, but later Wilfrid Owen, and many others too. Patriotism was around me as a … Continue reading →

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Children and Fire: Ursula Hegi

Posted on March 18, 2012 by readingmater

“Dort, wo man Bucher verbrennt,verbrennt man am ende auch Menschen”- where they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people.(Heine) Ursula Hegi’s new book, “Children and Fire”, is set in the same small town, Burgdorf, as “Stones from the River”- … Continue reading →

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