Welcome to Litsy!

My Nov. brackets felt like Groundhog Day, since both my fiction and NF picks were by the same authors as my Oct. picks!

For NONFICTION: Another by the fabulous Hampton Sides. On Jan. 28, 1945, 121 U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March 30 rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. This is the tale of that mission.

A account of the Jan. 29, 1945 rescue mission in the Philippines when Army Rangers, Filipino guerrillas and Alamo Scouts staged a surprise attack on a POW camp where the last survivors of the Bataan Death March were being held. It‘s devastating to read the horrible things that humans can do —and have done—to each other in the name of war. This resonated personally right now as my son is currently deployed in the Middle East. #NFNR

A book about a few of the courageous heroes who put their lives on the line to ensure our freedoms seems a fitting read while volunteering at the polls on Election Day today.

#Alphabetgame #letterg

Thanks for the tag @Tera66 !

Hampton Sides' award winning debut nonfiction from 2002. It's the story of the the greatest wartime rescue in American history. In January, 1945, in Cabanatuan, Philippines a combined force of Filipino guerillas, US Army Rangers and Alamo Scouts surprised and fought off the Japanese to rescue 500 POWs, some of the last survivors of the Bataan Death March. Well researched & reported. Great read.

Full review: https://bit.ly/rvw-ghstsldr

The true story of the rescue of 513 American and British POWs by US Army Ranger Battalion in Cabanatuan, Philippines, in January 1945. The prisoners had survived the Bataan Death March but at the start, they numbered in tens of thousands. Japanese troops starved, brutalized and killed the POWs—hard to hear but war is never pretty.
Thank you to @EadieB for sending this to me for Christmas
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

#hiselderliness #bookreport

Good news! #hiselderliness had another eye injection on Friday so hopefully his sight improves again. A long story this week which will go in the comments. It‘s a “you couldn‘t make this stuff up” story.

He really enjoyed Ghost Soldiers and the first part of Threading my Prayer Rug (it‘s about a Pakistani Muslim woman who moves to the US) but he bailed when it started going into religion and politics. ⬇️

Good. I found the POWs story more interesting than the rescuers, though there were still portions of both that held my interest. The book started with a bang, describing the other POW camp and how almost all of them were murdered except for a very few who managed to escape. Then it switched to the story at hand, going back and forth. It did pick up in the last half to third of the book, as the rescue was about to happen, and as it happened

#RememberNovember @Klou
Day 20: Fury

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs @EadieB Thanks for the tag!

1. My family and my job.
2. A true story of perseverance and the horrors endured in war by soldiers and the civilians who dare to try to help them.

First book finished this year was not what I had planned! But I started this on audio a few days ago and then switched to my hard copy and could not stop reading... The American raid on the Cabanatuan Camp in the Philippines during WW2 is a stunning tale of true heroics, and Sides is a master at piecing the events together. Truly incredible.

Hampton Sides is quickly becoming one of my very favorite historical nonfiction writers. This was excellent, although fair warning, the level of detail of the horrors these prisoners endured is truly harrowing. Recommend for anyone who was a fan of The Narrow Road to the Deep North or Unbroken.

Hands down, my favorite passage from this book is the opening of this chapter about the beginning of the offensive assault on the Japanese POW camp at Cabanatuan in the Philippines. Have you ever seen warfare so beautifully described?

This book, about the Bataan Death March and the later mission to rescue American POWs from an infamous Japanese prison camp in the Philippines, is incredible. If you're a fan of Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken," you'd probably really like this one.

#shelfie #funfridayphoto Seems a good way as any to start a tough day.