Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

The Paris Library  By Janet Charles  Rating 3/5  Genres : Historical Fiction, World War 2, Romance  This story is based on a set of true events that happened in Paris during the World War 2. A bunch of librarians risked everything to provide literary support to subscribers and prisoners/patients of war by delivering books to cheer them up and keep them in high spirits. Some of them got booted for aiding jewish readers, some were sent packing back to their homelands but the group's indomitable resolve to do their part kept them afloat till the very end .. when the war is finally over and German occupancy of Paris came to an end.  Its a great idea in theory but I felt that the execution/narrative failed to really stir any hard emotions for me. Perhaps because the World/Paris where war was under progress, where people are suffering and getting sent to concentration camps and the World/Paris where the librarians were cheerfully carrying on their book del...

All the light we cannot see  By Anthony Doerr  Rating :4/5  Genres : Historical Fiction, World War 2, Germany, France. Its a beautiful story. Although it has some sad and deeply troubling aspects to it, the overall detached tone the narrator takes makes it bearable and informative. The plot alternates between the years 1940 where preparations for an upcoming war are going on and 1944 when the war is taking place in full force in Saint Malo, France. There are three main characters in the plot - one is a blind girl Marie LaRue whose childhood is shaped and nurtured by her loving father, the second is a mathematical and physics genius Werner who works for the German army but years for his sister and home where things are less violent, third is an old gem collector for the German army/museum and is suffering from a malignant tumor. Their paths evolve separately but there are subtle links occasionally before they get together under one roof battling the same war an...