Mandy added a quote:
"Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are." — Mason Cooley

Mandy read and liked Scot's review of City of Thieves:

"Read this coming-of-age novel soon, because the author is a very successful screenwriter, and with a story this compelling, with such a mix of life-threatening action, grim suffering, and momentary but elusive snippets of pure joy, it is bound to be ...more Read this coming-of-age novel soon, because the author is a very successful screenwriter, and with a story this compelling, with such a mix of life-threatening action, grim suffering, and momentary but elusive snippets of pure joy, it is bound to be made into a film soon. And when it does, it will be a popular movie--which means, fewer people will take the time to read the book, which I am already sort of regretting, because I think this is the kind of book you could use to get young people who don't like to read very much to see some of the varied benefits that one can get from reading, so then they might try reading more on their own--and that would be a very good thing for all of us.

It is a story set during the Nazi siege of Leningrad. It's only 1941, but things sure are looking bleak for Mother Russia. The tale has three main characters: the central figure, a shy smart dark seventeen year old boy named Lev learning to get by on his own; a dashing blond daredevil young runaway soldier named Kolya; and a mysterious female freedom fighter the pair meet when thrown together by fate and sent on a mission (in lieu of prison or death) to make a colonel's daughter's wedding banquet a bit less bleak by finding some eggs, a luxury item the starving citizens of Leningrad have not seen or tasted in months.

The story is constantly engaging, and although the subject matter can be quite grim, the language is downright lyrical at times. A sense of final triumph to come flows underneath it all, even in the darkest moments, as we know the story is based on the recollections of a grandfather living in Florida. I love the ending, how it all ties together and helps connect the relevancy of what might seem to be far off and distant experiences with the immediacy of the present. (less) "