Nancy Wake: SOE's Greatest Heroine by Russell Braddon

 
I finished another female spy book the other night but hadn't had a chance to list it here till now. Nancy Wake was a 20-something woman during World War II. She was originally from New Zealand who had immigrated to England. When World War II broke out, she was living in Marseille, France, married to a Frenchman. 


She started her spy efforts by aiding the French Resistance by giving them money and food since her husband was wealthy. She gradually took on more duties like being a courier delivering messages by train to other French cities. For her own safety in 1943, she went to England but signed up with the SOE and returned to France to work undercover.

Buy the end of the war she was a full-fledged spy, arranging parachute drops of supplies, weapons, and people, as well as whatever else needed to be done to defeat the Bosch/the gerries/the Germans.

This book was written relatively soon after the war, in 1956. I found the writing to be almost comical in places, but it was partially just the style of the time, I think. Fascinating woman though she could be irritating as hell at times, almost playing dumb, but she was obviously intelligent and probably used her feminine wiles to her advantage to get what she wanted.


I read online that the first two seasons of Wish Me Luck were based on some of her experiences. I wrote a Squidoo article on Women Spies in World War II, if you want to read about more of these brave women.
 

Book Read: Nancy Wake:  SOE's Greatest Heroine

Author:  Russell Braddon

ISBN:  978-07524-5485-6

The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy by Judith L. Pearson

I got on a female spy kick when I innocently checked out the BBC series Wish Me Luck about a month ago. I almost took the three sets of DVDs back to the library but stuck one in one day and was instantly hooked.

Wish Me Luck was a fictional account of British women spies who helped the French Resistance during World War II. Much of the information was accurate (the training they went through and the undercover nature of this dangerous job including changing their names, learning the French habits and changing everything about themselves including French dental work, feminine products, cigarettes, and clothes to name just a few). It was fascinating.

Then I watched Charlotte Gray again and another spy movie. Then I read The Wolves at the Door. Virginia Hall was an American who was declined by the U.S. to do secret work in Europe during the war because of her handicap. She'd lost part of her leg below the knee in a shooting accident. She worn a wooden prosthetic she named Cuthbert.

She was a brave, fascinating women who spent four years working undercover in France for Great Britain's SOE and finally for America's OSS. If you love a good read, that's also a true story, you'll love this one!

I did find several typos near the end of this book. Ridiculous! I guess the proofreader was tired. 

Do you have any female spy novels or nonfiction books to recommend?

Book Read: The Wolves at the Door:  The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy

Author:  Judith L. Pearson

ISBN:  1-59228-762-X

In One Person by John Irving

Okay, I just finished John Irving's new book, In One Person. And not a minute too soon. I really like John Irving's writing. Usually. But this book, full of descriptions (not explicit, mind you) of a bisexual man's sexual exploits just didn't do it for me, to use a turn of phrase. And I don't care a bit for Shakespeare (go ahead, shoot me), which is quoted throughout the first part of the book. I don't like reading most classics (again, shoot me), which are referenced (namely Madame Bovary). So, in part, this just wasn't the book for me as far as being able to relate to it goes.

And I am not a prude. I don't mind reading about things of a sexual nature, but this one was more of a "I don't care" than anything else, I guess. I don't know what it was really, but I never felt invested in the story. Can't put my finger on it, to use another turn of phrase.

Toward the end, I felt like it was a textbook, in fact, trying to teach me, the reader, about the AIDS epidemic and transgender phraseology and what not instead of answering some questions (like why didn't Billy Abbott seek out Miss Frost and Kittredge as an adult)?

Oh well. I still enjoyed In One Person. I chuckled aloud more than once (several times each time I read the book, in fact). But this was not my favorite John Irving book.  And I love many of his books, especially The Cider House Rules.

Have you read In One Person? I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Book Read: In One Person

Author:  John Irving

ISBN: 978-1-4516-6412-6

Slam by Nick Hornby

I just finished reading Slam by Nick Hornby. Wow, what a fun book! I picked this up at a used book sale a few years ago. It's a young adult novel, but I really enjoyed. And I think it would be an excellent book for all teenagers to read.



Tony Hawk Half... Buy This at Allposters.com

Sam is a 16-year-old boy who loves skating (skateboarding) and has a poster of Tony Hawk on his bedroom wall. That might not seem so unusual, but Sam talks to Tony Hawk. And Tony answers him. Read it. You'll see what I mean.

I have no idea if this is the poster referred to in the book but Sam has read Tony's book so many times the words are in Sam's head and Tony "speaks" to him.

It is so good. I've loved the other Nick Hornby books I've read (almost all of them) and this was just a different take. The human condition, younger.

Are you a skater? A Nick Hornby fan? If so, which of his books is your favorite?

Book Read: Slam

Author:  Nick Hornby

ISBN: 978-0-399-25048-4

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Well, it only took me 2-1/2 week to finish this book, less time than I thought. But those last few hundred pages fly by when you want to know what's going to happen.

If you haven't read 11/22/63, do! This was one of the most original ideas and executed novels I've read in a long time. Surprising doesn't describe it. Original. Fascinating. Thought provoking. And a few dozen more adjectives might start to do it justice.


I was especially impressed with the detail from 1958 to 1963. I was around for most of that time but very young, so I don't know firsthand how accurate ol' Steve was, but I have a feeling, pretty. 


Have you read this book? Are you going to?

Book Read: 11/22/63

Author:  Stephen King

ISBN: 978-1-4516-2728-2

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Oh, I'm so glad I picked up this book at the library from the new books section. It is fabulous!

Patrick deWitt has written one of the funniest novels about the Old West (1850s) and the Gold Rush ever written. The Sisters brothers are Charlie and Eli Sisters. They are hired killers. 

As you've noticed, if you read this book blog, I don't like to give away anything, just give a book a thumbs up or a nah, don't bother. This one gets two thumbs up. I'd give it more if I had more.

The recurring theme of teeth brushing plays nicely through the book.

Book Read: The Sisters Brothers

Author:  Patrick deWitt

ISBN: 978-0-06-204128-9

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 and Schmidt Steps Back

Or I could call this post Long Time No Post but Two Books to Report. I started reading the first book, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003, and read most of it. It is highly amusing in places, serious in others, but good writing all around. This book series is edited by Dave Eggers, and each year a new edition is published with somewhat overlooked writing worth reading.

Then I got Schmidt Steps Back by Louis Begley and just finished it last night. You might have heard of About Schmidt, either the book or the movie starring Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, and Kathy Bates. I saw the movie but didn't read the book. Schmidt Steps Back is the third Schmidtie book; the second is Schmidt Delivered.

 
I was struck by how different Schmidt was in the book from the character in the movie. The film makers changed him quite a bit and once I accepted that fact, the book was fine. 

I'd recommend either book or both.  

Books Read: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 and Schmidt Steps Back

Editor:  Dave Eggers, Author:  Louis Begley

ISBN: 0-618-24695-9 and 978-0-307-70065-0