A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of WWII by Adam Makos and Larry Alexander is a New York Times and international bestseller. Regrettably I was not a keen history student in school, but am doing my best to "make up for it" now as I certainly enjoy historical fiction. This book, I must admit, is not my typical choice, although I have read many stories set in this time period. This is what I would call an aviation story, a true story of two WWII pilots- a German and an American. They "meet" in the skies over Germany in December of 1943. A badly damaged American bomber was struggling to fly, with twenty-one year old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown at the controls. Half of his crew were wounded or dead. Suddenly a German fighter appears, piloted by German ace Franz Stigler... he could destroy the Americans with the simple squeeze of a trigger... What happened next would astound you, and later be called "the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II." The encounter haunted them both for years, until as old men they decided to search for each other...It's an incredible story, a well written story of human compassion and mercy. It is enlightening to read how the German population suffered under the Nazi regime, as well as how many of the German pilots were loyal to their countries but not to Hitler. Well worth the read....
These are some of the books on my bookshelf, awaiting my attention. What are you reading these days, and what books are you looking forward to?
Peace,
Linda
"Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean, they show us how to live and die." ~Anne Lamott
5 comments:
Definitely sounds like it would be a very interesting book. I've just finished 2 of Patrick Ness's books: A Monster Calls and The Knife of Never Letting Go both of which I really enjoyed and found hard to put down. Am currently reading Dr. Joseph Mercola's Effortless Healing which I'm really enjoying too.
looks like a couple of pretty good reads. I don't read as much in summer as I am outside as often as I can be. But, I reading a book about female saints. I can't remember the name of it right now but it was written by the same author who wrote Laurel's Kitchen back in the early '70s. It's pretty interesting and easy to read at the beach as it is separated into sections.
Well now, I finished up re-reading To Catch a Mockingbird in anticipation of the new Go Set a Watchman. Now the critics are rising up and so I will wait to see what you say when you get down to it. It has been suggested that a good editor is as good as or better than a good author. The book you reviewed sounds very interesting. I love nonfiction.
"The Rose Effect" is the latest Big Thing here, but I haven't read it yet. There is a true crime book at the library waiting for me to collect it, about the first railway murder in England.
That sounds interesting. I am reading the new Susanna Kearsley book called Desperate fortune and am enjoying it immensely. I love the way she weaves the past and present together.
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