I thought I would do something a little different and figured that since I'm a pretty voracious reader, I would share some of the books that I have finished and my recommendations. Hope it's helpful!

So I just finished this book and well, I don't even really know what to say about it. It's absolutely heartbreaking to read through. This is a memoir written by Nonna Bannister who was born in Russia and grew up in a wealthy family right before the second world war. The entire book is written from her childhood diaries along with notes and pictures that she kept with her throughout the war when she was taken from Russia and sent to Germany to live in prison camps and kept hidden until she translated them into English before her death in 2004.

The story starts with some background about her grandparents and parents and how her grandfather was a member of the Tsar's imperial guard and was executed by the Bolsheviks during the revolution. Her grandmother moves the rest of the family to a small town in Russia where they lived together until her mother left to attend college in St. Petersburg. Then her mother meets a Polish man and they get married, have Nonna and her brother Anatoly and live in various cities in southern Russia. Because of her father's job, Nonna's family is not affected too much by the initial effects of Stalin's rule in Russia and the rationing of food and important items, but once the war escalates, the family moves back in with her grandmother in the northern countryside.

The book continues through the loss of Nonna's family as the war escalates and her and her mother's move with the Germans out of Russia and into a labor camp where they work in various mills and factories. When she was younger, Nonna's father taught her 6 different languages and because of that, she and her mother gain more privileges than the other laborers and get to move around to different factories and eventually land in a hospital where they no longer have to live in the camp barracks. Nonna's mother is eventually sent to a concentration camp and at the end of the war, Nonna fights for her freedom from Germany and moves to America to begin a new life.


I'm not really big into WW2 history but I really enjoyed this story and was moved by Nonna and the trials she went through. I can't imagine what that kind of life would have been like or even how you could build a normal life for yourself afterward but I'm glad that she was able to share her story with her family and with the rest of the world.

What frustrates me is the fact that we need these stories to educate people on what actually happened during the war. It amazes me that there are some people who refuse to believe that the Holocaust actually happened and I'm not sure if they do that either out of ignorance or the childish belief that humans could never be that cruel to each other. I don't understand how they can justify writing off survivors stories as fiction or lies and concentration camp sites and pictures as Hollywood's creation. Either way, I hope more people read this book and others like it and that it opens peoples eyes to the fact that these things actually happened and hundreds of thousands of people died and families were destroyed.


Anyway, off of the negative stuff. It's a great book and I really enjoyed reading it. The style of writing, from her diaries, makes it feel like you're actually having a conversation with her. The vivid descriptions and images make you feel like you're with her, experiencing her life through her eyes. You can almost see and smell the delicious food that her family prepares for their big Christmas feast and you can almost feel the cold seep into your bones when you read about how they survived a brutal winter in Russia with very little food and wood for fires.

I would recommend actually buying the real paper version of the book because it contains pictures of Nonna's family, her diaries, the pillow that she hid all of her belongings with her in during the war and other things that add to the story. She writes about how it was important to hide her diaries, photos, letters and memorabilia because it was proof of the Holocaust and the atrocities that were committed by the Germans. The Kindle version was sadly lacking and I wish that I had purchased the actual book.

If you do decide to read it, I hope you enjoy it! It's a great story of one woman's survival, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually, through tragedies that none of us can ever imagine living through. She comes through it with grace, forgiveness and love and I believe that's an important lesson for everyone. Even though her entire family was taken away from her at a young age, she still had the grace to forgive her tormentors and to love and cherish her family, husband and children through her long life.

Read it and let me know what you think!