Halfway through the summer-some summertime reading

A few of the books that I have read this summer.  One I love, one was an interesting read, and the other I found lacking.  Two are fiction, the other is non-fiction.

The Zookeepers Wife by Diane Ackerman is the true story from World War II Poland.  I am usually

quite interested in stories from this time period, and really the actual story is fascinating. I didn't care for the author's seemingly rambling on, however.

This is the true story of Jan Zabinski, who was the director for the Warsaw Zoo, and his wife, Antonia. The bombing of the zoo in 1939 shattered the Zabinski's world.  Many of the animals were killed and/or wounded.  And as it became clear that the Nazi's intended to exterminate the Jews in Warsaw, Jan and Anotonia began to work with the Polish resistance to help as many Jews as they could.  Some three hundred Jews were smuggled to the zoo where they were hidden in either cages or the villa.

That is an amazing and fairly unknown story. But it seemed that the author would go on about other things that were happening, that while were important in history, didn't seem to relate well to the story.

I re-read Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger for this book group.   I wrote a blog on this site about this book on June 24, 2013 and at that time, stated that it was one of my favorite books.  That still holds true! All I can add is, if you haven't read it, do it! Great book!  Check out the blog for my summary of it.

I read another book by William Kent Krueger-Windigo Island. I didn't realize that Krueger had a Windigo Island is the 14th of the series.

series of books involving private eye Cork O'Connor.

The story takes place in Wisconsin where the body of a fourteen year old girl washed up on the shore on Windigo Island.  The body was of Carrie Verga who had disappeared a year before along with her friend Mariah Arceneaux.  Mariah was still missing and her mother begged the wise old Indian, Henry Meloux, to find her. Henry enlisted the help of Cork, who with his daughter Jenny, began investigating the disappearance of the two girls.

This was an interesting, entertaining story.  It highlighted the difficulties for many young Native Americans in these times who are trying to survive and escape poverty. This story was primarily about runaway children on the reservation and the abuse and deprivation that many of these children experience as they try to make their way.