Before I get into talking about The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship by Patrick Bishop, a little confession: I haven’t quite finished the book yet. While I normally don’t like to write about books I haven’t finished — even if I’m scheduled to post a review as part of a book tour, as I am today — in this case, I’m fairly confident the last 100 or so pages aren’t going to vastly change my thoughts on this one; it’s not like there’s going to be a game changing plot twist… we know the warship goes down in the end.

But, I wanted to put that caveat out there anyway, in the interest of complete transparency about where I’m coming from as I write about the book, an account of the Allied attempts to take down one of Adolph Hitler’s most powerful naval weapons:

Winston Churchill called it “the Beast.” It was said to be unsinkable. More than thirty military operations failed to destroy it. Eliminating the Tirpitz, Hitler’s mightiest warship, a 52,000-ton behemoth, became an Allied obsession.

In The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship, Patrick Bishop tells the epic story of the two men who would not rest until the Tirpitz lay at the bottom of the sea. In November of 1944, with the threat to Russian supply lines increasing and Allied forces needing reinforcements in the Pacific, a raid as audacious as any Royal Air Force operation of the war was launched, under the command of one of Briain’s greatest but least-known war heroes, Wig Commander Willie Tait.

In general, my favorite kinds of history books are quirky history, the unknown or uncovered stories that give big events more color than you typically learn about in high school or even college-level history classes. I hoped that reading The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship would offer some of that color to World War II, a historical event that (if I’m being honest), I generally find pretty dry.

The book ended up being a mixed bag in that respect. I really enjoyed the sections of the book that focused specifically on the schemes developed for taking down the Tirpitz — they were full of heroic deeds and Hogan’s Heroes-esque sabotage plots that were funny, brave and fun to read about. But whenever the book shifted into the broader context of the war in the Atlantic or overall war strategy, my eyes glazed over just a bit.

I know, intellectually, why the broader context of the war in the Atlantic was necessary to tell this story. Without it, the hunt for the Tirpitz loses urgency. Because Hitler was so protective of the ship, the Tirpitz wasn’t actually out in the battle much — it’s the threat of the ship that looms over other military decisions that creates the push to take it down. Understanding the ship’s impact on the broader strokes of World War II also helps honor the lives of the men lost training for and executing the plans the Allies developed. If you don’t know why hunting the Tirpitz was important, it’s not clear what they sacrificed their lives for.

But even knowing that, I still couldn’t muster up a lot of interest for the contextual information, which meant entire chapters of the book — many of them in the first 100 pages or so — really dragged for me. I think that’s really unfortunate though because, as I’m writing this, I’ve just finished a really great section of the book. One of the later plans involved launching mini-submarines in coordinated attacks to drop bombs under the Tirpitz while it was anchored in Norway. The training, challenges and execution of this plan fascinated me, making me wish there were more of these kinds of stories in this book.

It’s hard for me to say anything definitive about recommending this book or not. I think if you are a reader that enjoys World War II history, this book will add a lot to your reading. If you’re less passionate about the topic, I don’t think it has enough broad appeal to pique your interest. I’m planning to finish it — I’m too invested now not too — but overall it wasn’t entirely up my alley.

Other Tour Stops: Man of La Book | Lit and Life | Strategist’s Personal Library | Tiffany’s Bookshelf | Layers of Thought | 5 Minutes For Books | JulzReads

Coming up later this month is a new-to-me event that looks like a lot of fun, the Bout of Books. Here are the details, for those who may also be interested in participating:

The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda at On a Book Bender and Kelly at Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long readathon that begins 12:01 a.m. Monday, August 19 and runs through Sunday, August 25 in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. — From the Bout of Books team

I love a good readathon, especially one that is low pressure and open to challenging yourself. I think that rather than challenging myself to read a certain number of books, I will be challenging myself to give up most television for the week and use that time for reading (or listening to audiobooks). There are also a few challenges and giveaways that sound like (book nerdy) fun.

Coincidentally, the weekend before Bout of Books the Estella Society is hosting the Dog Days of Summer Readathon, an special weekend for relaxed reading. It kind of sounds like every weekend, except with a built-in excuse for ignoring everyone I know for a few days. It’s good to be a book nerd.

Time // 9:00 a.m.

Place // My sister’s kitchen table in Uptown with her orange tabby, Merlin.

Consuming //We have plans for bacon and eggs soon, but for now I’m eating a VitaTop and a banana with a glass of milk.

Reading // It felt like I got a lot of reading done this week, but a look over to Goodreads tells me I only finished one book, The Distraction Addiction by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang (out Aug. 20). It was a very helpful look at how to bring mindfulness to our use of technology. This week I need to finish a book for a tour, The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship by Patrick Bishop. I am also excited to start The Cuckoo’s Calling, which I found on the bottom of a pile of ARCs I’d set aside earlier this year (it felt like uncovering a treasure, seriously).

On the ereading front, I’m in the middle of two ARCs, Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosch and Knocking on Heaven’s Door by Katy Butler (out in October and September respectively).

Listening// I finished Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (loved) and started Countdown City by Ben Winters (really like so far).

Watching // I didn’t watch much this week, but did discover that the final seasons of two shows I love finally showed up on Netflix: Fringe and Merlin. So, you have a good idea of what I’ll be doing over the next month or two! The boyfriend and I also got back into the fourth season of Breaking Bad.

I supposed you could also count my trip to the Guthrie Theater to see Pride and Prejudice as watching too. My sister and I got tickets because she loves everything P&P and I’m starting to love it too. The actor who plays Pete Campbell on Mad Men played Mr. Darcy and was surprisingly good — not as brooding as other Darcys but still sufficiently terse and vulnerable. He hit the first, failed proposal to Elizabeth just perfectly.

Concluding // I have a few more thoughts, but I’m typing on the screen of my tablet and it’s starting to hurt my hands… so I’m going to call it good. Happy Sunday, everyone!

Pictured but not mentioned: Cat cuddles with Hannah and Saturday morning’s breakfast on the go with my sister.

My sister, Jenny, and I are spending the summer revisiting the Harry Potter series, some of the most read and most anticipated books of our childhood. You can catch up with our thoughts on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (we read the British version), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, or just jump right in with us on book four. 

Kim: So this one starts out with a bang, huh? I know there’s been violence in the stories up until now, but that opening scene with Frank Bryce, Volemort, Wormtail and Nagini is really gruesome. Did that surprise you? It surprised me.

I also want to talk about the Quidditch World Cup. I know there are some plot clues planted there about Mr. Crouch and Winky and Ludo Bagman, but overall I’m not sure what other purpose it served. This book is really, really long and it seems like that may have been an area for some trimming. Thoughts?

Jenny: It was more gruesome than I remembered, but I think that it is just as gruesome as some other parts of the later books. I think it may be the most physically gruesome but only because a lot of magical deaths have no physical damage associated with them like a snake eating you.

I would not want to see the Quidditch World Cup cut from the book or trimmed down. It was and still is one of my favorite parts to a Harry Potter book. I think that it is a fun way to introduce the full wizarding world to a reader. I think that having read all of the books once before that we know much more about the wizarding world so the introduction seems redundant and unimportant. But if you are reading these books for the first time or living it like Harry, the World Cup is your first real exposure to the wide world of wizarding. For me that makes it important above and beyond the set up of the Crouch, Winky and Ludo story. I know that this book is long, but I felt drawn into it again and seem to go by really fast for me. I think it is a great action packed story that I liked.

I want to know how you feel about all of the assistance that Harry received during the Triwizard Tournament? Do you think this changes the way Harry faces future challenges?

Kim: I guess I didn’t really feel bad or guilty about the help Harry got in the Tournament, in part because he’s had help along the way in all of his challenges. Ron and Hermione helped out with the puzzles in the first book, Fawkes helped in the Chamber of Secrets, and a whole host of people helped out in book three. As much as these books are about Harry, he often has a lot of help along the way. Ultimately he does have to take on Voldemort by himself, but he builds up to that through these earlier books.

Given that Harry was illegally entered in the Tournament (and cheating is a time-honored part of the event), I think it’s ok. Do you feel differently? And how did you feel about the end of the tournament and Cedric’s death? It didn’t hit me as much this time when I knew it was coming, but I remember being just shocked when he was killed the first time I read the book. It happens so fast.

Jenny: I agree with you about the help he received; none of these stories are really about Harry trying to be a hero by himself.

Oh Cedric. I remember the first time I cried for a long time. When I saw the movie I cried a bunch too. I think the lack of shock value in reading it may take away a little bit from his death and its emotional impact for me. But I still got a little teary eyed especially when his parents are mentioned after the fact. I think it is hard to get emotional about his death when you remove the surprise factor because we really do not know Cedric that well. Had he been a more prevalent character in previous books his death probably would have been more emotional on a second reading. Do you have a different opinion?

And I am going to let you have first go at Rita Skeeter!! What do you think of her?

Kim: The time I got most emotional about Cedric, now that I think about it more, was the very end of Dumbledore’s toast:

“Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.”

I think that sets the stage for what is coming, that Voldemort will be responsible for killing innocent people that we care about and that there are going to be a lot of opportunities for the characters we care about to make tough choices. Yikes.

But, Rita Skeeter. I hate her. I might hate her more than I hate Dolores Umbrige (who is coming soon, boo!). I know that it’s really not productive to get all upset at a wizard journalist but man, does she give journalists a bad name with the lying and exaggerating and the pestering people. She’s just really horrible and I was so incredibly glad that Hermione figured her out in the end. I do sort of wish I had one of her magical quills though — that could make my job a lot easier.

Anything else you want to talk about? What are you excited or curious about as we head into book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?

Jenny: I am excited for the story to pick up and start building towards the climax. I think book five really begins the story of the battle of good versus evil. Books one through four I see as introducing you to all of the players and really getting you invested and interested in what happens to them.  Book five really begins the battle that will take three books to finish.

Kim: Same thing. I’m already into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it does feel like a lot of details are starting to pay off in a big way. I’m a little exhausted by Harry being nasty all the time, but we’ll talk about that soon.