March Violets by Philip Kerr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s set in a fascinating time to me — the days before and just after Hitler took power. This was Kerr’s first book in this series and I’m looking forward to reading more of his books to get a sense of what it was like to live in Germany during that time.
Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Medical examiners are portrayed as big crime solvers in TVs and movies, but Judy Melinek shows that it’s a lot of routine work with an occasional insight, but few dramatic breakthroughs.
The book was interesting in the intersection of routine life, such as taking the children to the park, in the afternoon after a doing an autopsy after some grisly death.
Melinek also recounts what it was like working in the NY medical examiners office in the months after then 9-11 tragedy and how the suicide of her father impacted her
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Way outside what I would typically pick, but I enjoyed the book. That’s what trips are for.
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a detailed look at America’s role against the Gernmany and Italy in World War II. This phase looks at the some of the tensions between the United States and U.K., and also looks at how important this phase of the war was even though it’s importance fades after D-Day. But which phase of the war isn’t critical to the other?