Trifecta!

My book club selected David Benioff's novel City of Thieves for this month's reading. I am feeling lucky because

1. Although it is available in paperback in bookstores, I was able to obtain a copy from my library and save even more money.

2. That library copy is a LARGE PRINT EDITION. Listen, I'm not getting any younger, folks, and neither are my eyes. They really appreciate large type when I am reading around midnight.

3. I was reading this book around midnight because it is so good! It is so entertaining in fact that I purchased a copy for someone for a Father's Day gift and plan to recommend it to high school students looking for outside reading suggestions.

City of Thieves opens with a frame story device. A screenwriter named David visits his retired grandparents in Florida, curious about their experiences in Russia during World War II. When David asks his grandfather to clear up some some holes in the story, points of confusion, his grandfather tells him, "You're a writer. Make it up." From there, readers are treated to the story of 17 year old Lev Beniov, living in Leningrad ("Piter" to its inhabitants) during the Nazi siege of 1942. Lev must join forces with Kolya, a charismatic Russian soldier, on a dangerous and darkly comic quest. City of Thieves is so full of grim details, action, and humor that I had great difficulty putting it down. As I said, it was a win, win, win reading experience!