City of Thieves - David Benioff ------------------- 4 Stars

I heard about City of Thieves on a recent podcast, and the individual shared it was one of his favorite books. As I dug deeper, it was really difficult to find anyone who had a bad thing to say about this book. Those positive impressions combined with it's short length made it an obvious book to give it a try, and I'm pretty happy I did.

As I had not heard of this book before and others might also not have awareness, a quick synopsis - this book tells the story of two Russians during the siege of Leningrad during World War 2. After some surprising circumstances, these two strangers end up being close friends as they work to secure a dozen eggs for a colonel's daughter's wedding. 

As I mentioned earlier, this book is a quick read, coming in at only 280 pages (it reads even faster). More importantly, it's a highly engaging and entertaining read that is delivered enjoyably by this strong author (learned after I finished the book that Benioff is a co-creator of Game of Thrones). While a serious subject matter filled with many violent passages and war heavy themes, this book seems to never lose its way as a playful story. Much of this is due to the sharp storytelling, funny dialogue, and a rich main character who never lets the seriousness of the war overtake the joy that exists as part of life. As I've written many times before, I love good dialogue, and this book offers some of the best back and forths and retorts between characters. As you may also assume from the unlikely plot, the search for the eggs is an intriguing centerpiece as the reader is constantly reminded of the heartaches of war.

While I found this a great read and difficult to put down, a few things held it back. First, the themes are mature and can be difficult to get through at some parts. Death is a constant part of the book and some chapters were difficult to read as the author had a way of making the reader feel the anxiety and tenseness of situations. Sex was also a constant theme (and often funny distraction) of the story. Second, I found it difficult to give a much higher rating with the shortness of the story. While I don't know if a longer book would have actually made the story better, it's hard to feel the "fullness" of a story or it's characters when you only get to know them over a short period of time (in this case, literally only 5 days).

As a whole, it's hard to not recommend this book. What a great return on investment for the little time needed to read! It's hard to read this book and not feel interested in the characters and engaged in the story developing. That's really the magic of the book - a great story!

Hawaii - James Michener ---------------- 3 Stars

It's a bit difficult to try to give a rating to James Michener's Hawaii. There are parts of it that are exhilarating and difficult to put down; while, coming at nearly 1,000 pages, it often it drags and struggled to keep me engaged. So, let's split the difference with 3 stars. 

James Michener was a prolific author of over 40 novels, most of them large, sprawling fictional sagas about families living in disparate geographic areas. I had never read one of his books before, and this one caught my eye as reviewers shared that the first chunk of the book had no characters. Instead, it was a detailed description of the literal creation of the Hawaiian island manys years ago. Following that introduction, Michener details different immigrant groups that come to the islands, beginning with the Polynesians from Tahiti over a millennium. The book finishes not long after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the melting pot of persons from China, Japan, the Philippines, native Hawaiians, and ancestors of 19th century missionaries.

This book is really a book of stories. Michener, at his essence, is a storyteller. While the connection to Hawaii hooked me into the book and provided me motivation to begin, his layered and well told stories are what kept me going and are the the heart of this book. Based on the long length noted, much of these stories had great depth. This includes rounding out all of the main characters and going into great detail about the various elements that are part of the story.

The other side, of course, is that there can be too much or it turns boring or repetitive. Take, for example, his retelling of the creation and detailing of the Kalaupapa leper colony on Molokai. First, I was happy he included this footnote of history as it was a fascinating part of Hawaiian history that I remembered well learning about as I grew up there. In the novel, he retells about an outbreak of leprosy in a Chinese labor camp and the eventual necessity for one of the main characters to go with her husband, who contracts leprosy, to Kalaupapa. Unfortunately, like he does often in the book, there is an excessive number of details and stories about the leper colony. And, while I presume they are mostly accurate (I believe he thoroughly researched the novel), they are also disturbing and extravagant.

As a whole, I did enjoy many parts of the book. And, like any good long family saga, I appreciated seeing the lives of the main characters change and learn about all the developments. I do think it's likely that this book would be too slow for many or would not offer the same level of comfort if you don't have a strong connection to Hawaii. Learning about the development of the land, people and culture was my favorite parts of the book (though, when done well, the strong storytelling is a close second).