Bogormen

Title: Pigen fra Auschwitz (The Girl From Auschwitz)
Author: Morten Vestergaard
Genre: Non-fiction, WW2
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 205
Date read: March, 2012

Arlette Levy Andersen lived in the concentration camps Birkenau and Auschwitz for more than a year near the end of World War 2. For four decades Arlette didn't even tell her own Jewish family what she experienced there.

In "The Girl From Auschwitz" Arlette finally opens the doors to the horrible experiences because she feels obliged to do so. "Soon nobody will be left to tell about what happened," is her way of expressing it. Arlette tells about her childhood in Paris, being arrested at her university, being deported in stock cars and the stay in the concentration camps. About surviving. About staying quiet and keeping her memories to herself. And about the love that took her to Denmark after the war, where she got married and made a new life for herself.


One of the most moving books I've read about concentration camps and WW2. I couldn't not read it in one sitting, and put it down with a heavy sigh and tears in my eyes.

What makes this book so powerful is that Arlette's story isn't unique. She is merely one of 1,3 million prisoner's of Auschwitz, but unlike 1,1 million others, she got out of there alive.

I'll never understand the Holocaust (nor do I really want to, actually!). Killing people in active war is one thing, but slaughtering people like that, in cold blood, is quite another. How could the soldiers make themselves do it? How could they live with themselves afterwards? I guess they must somehow have convinced themselves that they weren't proper humans, and that killing them was no worse than killing animals... at least, that's the only explanation I can find.

I'm glad Arlette decided to speak out, and agreed to have this book written. Granted, it didn't tell me anything about Auschwitz that I didn't already know, but hearing it from somebody who experienced the terrors herself and survived makes for a very powerful story.

Unfortunately "The Girl From Auschwitz" hasn't been translated to other languages.

Title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Author: Jules Verne Genre: Classics Rating: 8/10 # pages: 213 Date read: April, 2008

Summary: For some time past vessels had been met by 'an enormous thing,' a long object, spindle-shaped, occationally phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale."It is this "something" that Professor Aronnaz sets out to encounter--and thus begins the most incredible underwater journey ever. From Atlantis to the South Pole, the reader is taken through dangers, surprises, and the unsurpassed majesty of the marine world.

Review: I find that Jules Verne's books are of very varied quality. Fortunately this was one of the good ones, and I really enjoyed reading it. However, it is rather amusing to read about the technology he thinks will be available and how absurd some of his assumptions are - putting a bit of fantasy/sci-fi into an otherwise very realistic story.

My only 'complaint' is that I wish we knew what happened to Captain Nemo to make him like that.

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Title: Around the World in 80 Days Author: Jules Verne Genre: Classics Rating: 6/10 # pages: 82 installments at DailyLit Date read: January, 2008

Summary: Phileas Fogg rashly bets his companions £20,000 that he can travel around the entire globe in just eighty days, and he is determined not to lose. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, the reserved Englishman immediately sets off for Dover, accompanied by his hot-blooded French manservant, Passepartout. Traveling by train, steamship, sailboat, sledge, and even elephant, they must overcome storms, kidnappings, natural disasters, Sioux attacks, and the dogged Inspector Fix of Scotland Yard to win the extraordinary wager. Combining exploration, adventure, and a thrilling race against time, Around the World in Eighty Days gripped audiences upon its publication and remains hugely popular to this day.

Review: I read this first when I was young - no more than 10'ish I'd say - and loved it. Hadn't read it for years though, so I felt it was time for a reread. ... I'm thinking it must have been an abridged version I read back then, because though this version was short too, I felt it dragged terribly. I think the main problem was that Jules Verne told most of the story instead of showed it, which became quite tedious after awhile. I wonder if that's his usual writing style, or if it was just this one.

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