City of Thieves - David Benioff

My sister recommended this book to me as she knows I like books are a little different and se explained it to me as it is a book about trying to find eggs. I was intrigued and gave it a go and enjoyed it quite a bit actually. Here is why I think it is worth reading but although it appears to be a light read it does take some going. The book is about 2 guys who are thrown together. Lev is very very quiet and has not got much life experience and Kolya on the other hand has plenty and thinks himself a hero and complete romancer of all women. It is set is a time when their city is under siege from the Germans and it is freezing cold with most people ...  Read the complete review

In my quest to stretch my imagination by reading books I would not normally choose, I happened upon this book. The cover of my copy is a deep shade of red with gold writing, very eye catching as indeed it did catch my eye, complete with a paper wrapper proclaiming that if I bought the book and didn't enjoy it, they would give me two free books, sounds fair to me. The story is told by a Grandfather to his Grandson about a particular week in his life during WW2. The setting is Leningrad, Russia and it's 4 months into the siege, the city and it's people are starving. Lev(grandad) is 17 yrs old and is pretty much ...  Read the complete review

"My grandfather, the knife fighter, killed two Germans before he was eighteen." In my opinion this sentence stands a fair chance to be included into the all time list of brill first sentences. Whose curiosity isn't aroused? A young American screenwriter is asked to write an autobiographical essay for a magazine but realises that he's led 'an intensely dull life'. He decides to interview his grandfather who grew up in Leningrad and lived there during the German siege from September 1941 to January 1944. Although the old man gives him enough material to fill more than one book, he wants to have some details clarified. "A couple of things ...  Read the complete review