#12 The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
This book is based on a real person's life. The tone was a little different from other similar stories, focusing more on the main character wheeling and dealing to get food for others. I liked the emphasis on people helping others but in other ways some serious aspects of these camps weren't stressed.
I was surprised that I liked it when I read it because I’m not a fan of historical fiction. If you’re interested the author has published a second book in continuation of this one.
15) Monash: The Outsider who Won a War by Roland Perry General Sir John Monash is a legendary figure with respect to WWI. This is a wonderfully written biography of the first Australian commander to be given command of Australian forces independent of British influence (keep in mind at this point Australia was a young nation having only been federated just 13 years prior to the outbreak of WWI). Perhaps his greatest legacy though was leading the organisation of annual ANZAC Day commemorations as he felt that those who died on the battlefield should remembered every year and also the planning of The Shrine of Remembrance war memorial in Melbourne. This also touches on the prejudice he faced as unlike the British high command he was not a career soldier, he was from a British colony and he was also ethnically a German Jew and as such was looked down upon by many and it has been suggested that his Jewish background was one of the reasons why he was never promoted to the rank of Field Marshal despite his excellent leadership and command qualities
16) Tales from 1001 Nights by Anonymous the famed collection of stories from the Middle East. Truthfully, up until now, I had never read the whole collection and only had ever read the stories I was most familiar with (Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves). I admit though that some of the stories seemed really drawn out and I lost a little interest in the end
