De-occupied by Bogdan Logvynenko – Stories of Ukrainian Resistance – is a wonderful book, a must-read. I got it from Ukraine and it’s not widely available, unfortunately. Hopefully this will change in the future, as I think many would want to read the stories told…
Delicioasa poveste a cozonacului românesc by Tatiana Niculescu Bran is one of the books I got while in Romania. It was an impulse purchase and I am glad I got it. It is in Romanian, so this is going to be a very short review…
Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front by Serhii Plokhy – An Untold Story of World War II – is a book that landed on my lap. While I was in Ukraine, a fellow volunteer went home, but asked the other volunteers who want to read…
Private War by Eugene Slawomir Lazowski – Memoirs of a Doctor Soldier 1933-1944 – is a book I found as a pdf online. I can share it with anyone wanting to read it, just mention that in a comment and I can email it. Lazowski…
Chernobyl Roulette by Serhii Plokhy is the third book I read by him. The other 2 are The Gates of Europe and The russo-Ukrainian war. I gave all these books a 5 stars rating, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that I am recommending…
Cum s-a românizat România by Lucian Boia – How Romania became Romanized by Lucian Boia – is another book I bought while in Romania. It is a short and fascinating book. I am not completely happy with the English translation of the title, as I…
A fost ca-n filme [It was like in the movies] by Liviu Tofan and Stejarel Olaru, is one of the books I bought on my trip to Romania earlier this year. Because it is in Romanian I don’t think any of my readers would be…
River kings by Cat Jarman – the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silks Roads – is an interesting book. I recommend it, but with an important caveat, hence the 2 stars. Horod is a city/fortification in Slavonic languages, she said it was “russian”. Well, russia,…
Gândurile mele din vremea războiului by Regina Maria is the first book in Romanian I read in over a decade. In English is My thoughts during the war by Queen Maria. She was the Queen Consort from 1914 to 1927. She was born into the…
We play on by Andy Brassell – Shakhtar Donetsk’s fight for Ukraine, football and freedom – is a book recommended by someone who likes football and is a fan of Shakhtar Donetsk. I didn’t watch them play and I’m not that keen on football either.…
Blood of Others by Rory Finnin – Stalin’s Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity – is a book I wanted to read because I saw Finnin at a few events and he is such a great professor. At one of the talks he described…
Ukraine by Yaroslav Hrytsak – the forging of a nation – is the second book I read by this author. The first one was a lovely book about Christmas in Ukraine. This is a history book, but with a difference. While it has all the…
The picnic by Matthew Longo – an escape to freedom and the collapse of the Iron Curtain – was a book I wanted to read because of the great reviews it received and a book I found lacking in analysis. Also, he mentioned Hannah Arendt…
Mariupol 2013-2022 by Hana Josticova – Stories of Mobilization and Resistance – is a fascinating book on narratives and how they create a national identity. She looked at Mariupol and the Donbas region from 2013, pre-Maidan and until russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Mariupol was…
A small town in Ukraine by Bernard Wasserstein – Krakowiec and the storm of history – is the history of a small town, from its establishment in 1423 to 2022. Wasserstein’s family lived there and half of the book is about WWII and the Holocaust,…
Fatal silence by Robert Katz was an interesting book, which I would recommend, but which I awarded only 3 stars. Its subtitle is “the Pope, the Resistance and the German occupation of Rome” and the book was mainly about the resistance. Considering that it starts…