First Casualty by Toby Harnden

 First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11 by Toby Harnden -412 pages

This book, by a British journalist, gives an account of a CIA team sent into Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001. It describes the team members, their Uzbek allies, and the swift military developments as the Taliban initially crumbled. David Tyson and Mike Spann are the main team members profiled who wanted to prevent a second major attack on the U.S. Spann lost his life in an Al Qaida prison uprising that made headlines worldwide. The book sheds light on the human element in an intelligence agency (Spann's wife was also a CIA officer at the time) and how they work with foreign allies in very difficult conditions.  

Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles

Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles-315 pages

Based on the true story of Jessie Carson, an American librarian who changed the literary landscape of WWI Paris.

Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.

1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.

LOVED it...an exceptional read.

The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin

                                             The Keeper of Hidden Boks by Madeline Martin-402 pages

Zofia was leading a normal teenage life when the Nazis' bombed her city and looted and destroy her city.  Her best friend Janina is Jewish and is forced to live in the infamous Warsaw ghetto.  The girls share a love of literature and they find ways to smuggle books into the ghetto so that the people that live there have a sense of humanity; saving their culture and the community.

Wonderfully written..I highly recommend it.

The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes

The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes-368 pages

In 1946 Germany, the Library of Congress sends Emmy over to help the Monuments Men retrieve and catalog precious books that the Nazi's plundered. When she arrives she stands awed at a huge warehouse piled with books.  Emmy is one of many assigned the task of finding their rightful owners. She becomes enthralled by the inscription in one particular book and makes it her life's work to find out who the book was from and who it was given to.

Very intriguing with characters that bring a lot of depth and realism to the story.  I enjoyed it very much.  

 

Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown

 Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown-304 pages

Nightly air raid sirens are a fact of life in 1942 London.  Intent on keeping everyone in the family safe is all consuming.  Eighteen year old Nellie counts herself as one of the lucky ones to have everyone she loves still living.  Until one night, when in the chaos of the sirens, something unthinkable happens and her world is shattered.  

Very well written as you are transported to another time and place.  I enjoyed this very much.

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan

The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan-353 pages

Three women from very different backgrounds come together to save the community's beloved library during the Blitz in World War II London.  When the library walls suffer destruction the women move a large number of  books to the underground where the residents shelter every night for protection from the bombs.  Through reading stories and coming together as a community it passes the time and brings everyone closer.

Very well written.  I enjoyed it very much.