Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov
Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov is such a good book. Andrey was born in russia, but he feels Ukrainian. He wrote a few books so far and, while this is the first book I read by him it will not be the last.…
Non-Fiction
Live. Fight. Survive by Shaun Pinner
Live. Fight. Survive by Shaun Pinner – An ex-British soldier’s account of courage, resistance and defiance fighting for Ukraine against Russia – is a must read. I bought the book almost as it went out. It was only published 3 weeks ago. I was eager…
The Rooster House by Victoria Belim
The Rooster House by Victoria Belim – My Ukrainian Family Story, A Memoir – is such a wonderful book. It is a memoir written by an Ukrainian who lived most of her life in US and Belgium. She went back to Ukraine to search her…
You Don’t Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska
You Don’t Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska is a short diary kept by a 12 year old Ukrainian girl who fled Ukraine after russia’s full-scale invasion. I hoped that I would enjoy it when I saw it on the shelves at the library…
Hitler, Stalin, mum and dad by Daniel Finkelstein
Hitler, Stalin, mum and dad by Daniel Finkelstein – a family memoir of miraculous survival – is a fantastic book. His mother, Mirjam, was born in Germany to Alfred and Margarete Wiener. Her father started cataloguing Nazi crimes since 1933, even before they moved to…
The death of a soldier told by his sister by Olesya Khromeychuk
The death of a soldier told by his sister by Olesya Khromeychuk is a lovely, emotional, beautifully written memoir. It is not a biography of her brother nor is it about the war in Ukraine, these are secondary to the memoir. The focus is on…
Putin’s Prisoner by Aiden Aslin
Putin’s Prisoner by Aiden Aslin – My Time as a Prisoner of War in Ukraine – written with John Sweeney. I think Brits know Aiden’s name from the media coverage. He is born in Britain, went to Ukraine in 2018, joined the marines, and was…
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is a book I discovered on Kelly’s blog. I was curious and borrowed it from the library. My copy had both 84 Charing Cross Road and its sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. It was a mix to…
Stalin’s Apologist by S. J. Taylor
Stalin’s Apologist by S. J. Taylor – Walter Duranty: The New York Times’s Man in Moscow – is, in itself an apology to Duranty, which was rather unpleasant to read. It’s a dry book, the author talks about other people, and has the imperialistic views…
Our Own Worst Enemy by Thomas Nichols
Our Own Worst Enemy by Thomas Nichols – The Assault from within on Modern Democracy. I read another book by him, The Death of Expertise, and I enjoyed it very much. I liked this book and I recommend it. It is thought provoking and interesting,…
The Fight of Our Lives by Iuliia Mendel
The Fight of Our Lives by Iuliia Mendel – My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World – is a memoir by Zelenskyy’s former press secretary. It is a very good book, in parts autobiographical, but also covering…
The Flight of Andrei Cosmin by Tina Cosmin
The Flight of Andrei Cosmin by Tina Cosmin – is a memoir of an incredible woman who managed to save her husband. All the names are changed, including hers. The book was written in 1945 but published in 1972, after almost all the people died.…
Chip war by Chris Miller
Chip war by Chris Miller – The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology – is a fascinating book. It covers the topic of chips amazingly. It is a blend of history with technology viewed from a global perspective. It focuses on various people who…
The Russia conundrum by Mikhail Khodorkovsky
The Russia conundrum by Mikhail Khodorkovsky – how the West fell for Putin’s power gambit – and how to fix it – is written by a former russian oligarch. Despite profoundly disagreeing with him, I gave the book 4 stars. I did that for a…
Burying the typewriter by Carmen Bugan
Burying the typewriter by Carmen Bugan – childhood under the eye of the secret police – is a book written by a Romanian author, a memoir with her family in focus, as it was seen by a young daughter whose father was imprisoned because he…
We Need to Talk About Putin by Mark Galeotti
We Need to Talk About Putin by Mark Galeotti – Why the West Gets Him Wrong, and How to Get Him Right – is a good book. Very short, at under 150 pages, I think it is really worth reading. I decided to publish the…