3 . The Best War Novels

The God of that Summer

by Ralf Rothmann

The masterful and painful story is set in Germany. Luisa, a young girl growing up in rural Germany during World War Two, has managed to escape the horrors of city bombing. Unafraid of the realities of life and death, Luisa supports her family until, one day, an incident changes her life forever.

The Librarian of Auschwitz

by Antonio Iturbe

Based on a true story, The Librarian of Auschwitz is about fourteen-year-old Dita. Keeping the libraries’ eight books safe, Dita knows she is putting herself in danger. But she also knows it can help her and her fellow prisoners maintain hope during the darkest of times.

Pippo and Clara

by Diana Rosie

Pippo and Clara are brother and sister. When their mother goes missing one morning, they both go in search of her regardless of the danger of the war. With Clara turning right and Pippo left, the children’s lives are changed forever.

All Quiet on the Western Front

by Erich Maria Remarque

This classic war novel of the First World War is written in the first person by a young German soldier. Paul Bauer is just eighteen and he enters the army with six school friends, each filled with optimistic thoughts. However, they witness such horrors and such severe hardship and suffering that they are unable to even speak about it to anyone but each other.

5 . Books open doors in our minds, allowing us to live an entire lifetime and travel the world without even leaving the comfort of our chairs. Here are 4 books you should read at least once in your life.

Number the Stars

by Lois Lowry

This novel tells the story of Annemarie Yohansen, a Danish girl growing up in World War Ⅱ with her best friend, Ellen, a Jewish. She and her family protected Ellen and her parents from the Nazis. Lowry’s novel is a reminder that cultural and religious differences are no divide between true friends.

The Little Prince

by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

The most-translated book in the French Language, the Little Prince, is the story of a little boy who falls to Earth from an Asteroid (小行星) to try to understand mankind. In his travels he meets a series of strange and delightful characters. It is a heartwarming story of the power of friendship and trust.

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is the story of the unlikely and complicated friendship between Amir, the son of a wealthy merchant, and Hassan, the son of his father’s servant until the war separates them. It’s a story about the enduring love of friendship, and the power of forgiveness.

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green

The story recounts the experiences of Hazel, a teenager with cancer, and the experiences of the other teens in her cancer support group. Green captures the struggles of terminal illness with tenderness, reminding us that love, friendship, and faith go beyond all.

8 . Critic Andrew Robinson reviewed some of the best science picks.

Assyria

Eckart Frahm

Basic Books(2023)

The world’s first empire developed and flourished in Assyria in the eighth and seventh centuries BC, and has long been seen as the epitome of barbarism(野蛮的缩影). But, as   Assyriologist Eckart Frahm reveals in his deeply informed, challenging history, Assyria produced many techniques of the modern world. Its innovations included long-distance trade and complex communications networks.

Hands of Time

Rebecca Struthers

Hodder & Stoughton(2023)

Rebecca Struthers, the first professional watchmaker in the United Kingdom to earn a   PhD in horology (钟表学), explores a series of key moments in watchmaking from the past500 years. Mechanical timekeepers, she argues, have influenced human culture as much as the printing press. Imagine trying to catch a train by depending on the sun’s position, or to perform an organ transplant without measuring the patient’s heart rate precisely.

The Deep Ocean

Michael Vecchione et al.       

Princeton University Press(2023)

“For most people, the deep ocean is out of sight and out of mind,”   write three zoologists and an oceanographer.   The zone starts where dim sunlight can no longer support photosynthesis(光合作用), about 200 metres down. This guidebook removes ignorance with superb colour photographs of astonishing organisms, accompanied by detailed descriptions and brief essays.

Tenacious Beasts   

Christopher J. Preston

MIT Press(2023)

Humans and domestic animals make up 96% of the mass of the world’s mammals. The outlook for wildlife remains terrible, writes philosopher Christopher J. Preston. But he describes signs of hope in his well-travelled, thoughtful study of recoveries.   He visits farmland, grassland, rivers, forests and oceans, exploring why only certain species are recovering.