Memoir books from Ukraine
Recommended memoir books (7)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into memoir here are some memoir books from Ukraine for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
1.
A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Golinkin EN
Description:
A compelling memoir—"hilarious and heartbreaking" (The New York Times)—of two intertwined journeys: a Jewish refugee family in Ukraine fleeing persecution and a young man seeking to reclaim a shattered past In the twilight of the Cold War (the late 1980s), nine-year old Lev Golinkin and his family cross the Soviet border, leaving Ukraine with only ten suitcases, $600, and the vague promise of help awaiting in Vienna. Years later, Lev, now an American adult, sets out to retrace his family's long trek, locate the strangers who fought for his freedom, and in the process, gain a future by understa... continue
2.
Clara's War : A Young Girl's True Story of Miraculous Survival Under the Nazis by Clara Kramer, Stephen Glantz EN
Description:
On 21 July 1942 the Nazis invaded Poland. In the small town of Zolkiew, life for Jewish 15-year-old Clara Kramer was never to be the same again. While those around her were either slaughtered or transported, Clara and her family hid perilously in a hand-dug cellar. Living above and protecting them were the Becks. Mr Beck was a womaniser, a drunkard and a self-professed anti-Semite, yet he risked his life throughout the war to keep his charges safe. Nevertheless, life with Mr Beck was far from predictable. From the house catching fire, to Beck's affair with Clara's cousin, to the nightly SS dri... continue
3.
Looking at Women Looking at War : A War and Justice Diary by Victoria Amelina EN
Description:
Destined to be a classic, a poet’s powerful look at the courage of resistance WITH A FOREWORD BY MARGARET ATWOOD When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Victoria Amelina was busy writing a novel, taking part in the country’s literary scene, and parenting her son. Now she became someone new: a war crimes researcher and the chronicler of extraordinary women like herself who joined the resistance. These heroines include Evgenia, a prominent lawyer turned soldier, Oleksandra, who documented tens of thousands of war crimes and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, and Yulia, a librarian who he... continue
4.
Przemieszczenie by Margaryta Jakowenko PL
Description:
Historia Darii Kowalenko Petrowej, która urodziła się w 1992 roku w Mariupolu, lecz w dzieciństwie wyemigrowała z rodzicami do Hiszpanii, to opowieść o współczesnej miłości, problemach ekonomicznych, rodzinie naznaczonej emigracją, a zarazem świadectwo pokolenia, które żyje w trwałym kryzysie. To także historia dwóch rozczarowań – Związkiem Radzieckim w XX wieku i społeczeństwem Zachodu w wieku XXI.
U Margaryty Jakowenko, hiszpańskiej pisarki ukraińskiego pochodzenia, można odnaleźć ślady prozy Zadie Smith, tekstów Anne Carson czy reportaży Swietłany... continue
5.
Renia's Diary : A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel EN
Description:
The long-hidden diary of a young Polish woman's life during the Holocaust, translated for the first time into English Renia Spiegel was born in 1924 to an upper-middle class Jewish family living in southeastern Poland, near what was at that time the border with Romania. At the start of 1939 Renia began a diary. “I just want a friend. I want somebody to talk to about my everyday worries and joys. Somebody who would feel what I feel, who would believe me, who would never reveal my secrets. A human being can never be such a friend and that’s why I have decided to look for a confidant in the form ... continue
6.
The Language of War by Oleksandr Mykhed EN
Description:
When everyday life becomes a state of emergency, how can yesterday’s words suffice? ‘We were so happy and didn’t know it...’ A thirty-three-year-old writer lives in a quiet European suburb with his wife and his dog. His parents have bought an apartment nearby. On weekends they go out for brunch, cook and see friends. Life is good; it is normal. Then the invaders come. The Language of War is about what happens when your world changes overnight. When you wake up to the sound of helicopters and the smell of gunpowder. When your home is hit by shells or broken into by gunmen, and you spend another... continue
