As a senior citizen I enjoy reading books about other mature adults who don't let age limit their lives. That certainly happens in this book and the story of Mrs. Plansky's adventure kept me engaged. It is a light and fun story about a serious and tough issue - internet fraud. Maybe at times it was a bit too light and fun as the subject matter can have devastating effects on the elderly. The ending was a bit too perfect and the writing a bit complicated (I often had to re-read sentences to figure out what was being said). However I'm glad I read the book and will recommend it to people who want a book about contemporary challenges that leave one feeling hopeful.

As an avid reader of both histories and mysteries, I found this book both informative and exciting and just what I was looking for with a true story as engrossing as fiction (no dry lists of dates and battles here). Even though I have a good knowledge about the people and events of WW2, this book taught me much I didn't know. It moved from location to location, from Allies to Axis, person to person. I thought this was a great approach, but it did require paying attention to chapter headings. Besides an engaging writing style and well organized plot lines, I was left pondering what a difference small twists and turns of fate make to our history.

I enjoy novels with multiple timelines, Russian history, and mysteries so this book was a delightful read. When I saw the title I thought I would be reading about the nesting dolls common in Russia. While the dolls in the book are a different type, the story gave me the feeling of those dolls within dolls. There were so many surprising reveals and connections it was a matter of unpacking to discover the next part of the story. There were times the writing seemed a little simplistic, but the story kept me going. I'll be looking for more books by this author.

This book takes us through 60 years of history, focusing not so much on the facts of the events, but the emotions these events stirred in the people living through them. It begins in the present and then goes back in time to tell the story of two families living in the years after WW2. While I struggled in the beginning to understand what was happening, after a chapter or two, the pieces began to come together and I didn't want to put it down. This book takes friendship and familial relationships, historical events, hope and despair and creates a stirring story that caused me to think about what I had read long after I closed the book.

I have read extensively on the Holocaust and appreciate the different perspective this book offers on the horrors and suffering experienced by so many. Esther Safran Foer doesn't offer a neat package of her parent's lives during the years of World War 2 and its aftermath. Instead we experience her search for answers and while some are reached, in some cases the silence reminds us that the traumas continue into future generations. The book is not extremely well organized and at times the story circles round and round. There are so many names it is easy to get a bit lost. However, this is also part of the value of the book...I was left feeling as if I had just had a conversation with a relative who is so caught up in the remembering and sharing her thoughts that logical organization is less important than the story itself...a story that is ultimately one of triumphant survival.

Set in Nigeria, this book describes a culture very different than my own. However those differences were forgotten quickly as the story describes emotions--hope, joy, grief, anger, loss, love-- that are universally understood. The author switches perspectives between two of the parties in a marriage and in so doing, enabled me to sympathize with both husband and wife. This was a book I read in two sittings and as painful as some of the scenes were the ending was satisfying.

Letters to the Lost is a novel of love and loss, of heartbreaking mistakes and ultimate redemption. Shifting between the present and the years of World War II we are caught up in the lives of people we learn to care about. There are a couple of almost too-obvious villains, but the majority, despite mistakes and failures, cause us to root for them. The ending is a bit too good to believe, but is ultimately satisfying. Iona Grey has written a book that begs to be discussed and would make a good choice for book groups who enjoy talking about characterizations.

Stories of Nazi occupation in continental Europe are a staple of World War II literature. But what if...what if the allies had been defeated on D-Day? This book is an engrossing look at what that might look like. The author has the ability to bring the reader into the mind of German soldiers, British women struggling to deal with the unexpected disappearance of their husbands on the eve of the occupation...and even a resistance fighter. The book is a good read for those who enjoy a first class story that makes you think about the individual's struggle with right and wrong, and the consequences of those decisions.