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What is the favorite book you remember as a child?
It was a big old green hardcover edition of Robin Hood. My parents stocked the bookshelves outside my room and that’s one I devoured while curled up under the bed covers. I loved the brave and clever Robin Hood and how he and his mates fought tyranny. After my parents passed away, I found that book and reread it with delight and nostalgia.
Tell us about your book in ten words.
Nazis coming. Young Dirk faces down danger, protects little sister.
What are you reading right now?
I’m reading Woods Runner, a kids’ novel by Gary Paulsen about a young man whose parents get kidnapped by the Redcoats during the Revolutionary War. With the help of a clever friend, the boy tries to find and liberate his parents.
Do you have any bad book habits?
Yes. I get a lot of books from the library and every so often, I lose track of where one is for a few days.
E-reader or print? Why?
I like print books better mostly because that’s what I’ve been used to for most of my life.
Dog-ear or bookmark? (don’t worry—Librarian Judith won’t hold it against you—much.)
I use bookmarks and I use anything handy as a bookmark. It could be a hardware store receipt, a random string I found, or the book flap if it’s a hardcover book.
Least favorite book you’ve read this year?
I don’t like to criticize authors because I know how much hard work goes into writing. So I won’t name the book, but my least favorite book was a romance. The author didn’t do the work to show why they fell in love and that’s a pretty important element of a romance novel. The man thought the woman was really cute and that was it. Are you kidding me? What about how their personalities meshed? Was he good at making her laugh? People in love feel more complete with their significant other. But the author didn’t show that either.
Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II is a well-researched account of that movie star’s teen years as she lived through WWII in the Netherlands. She lived just two and a half miles from where my novel takes place, so that was pretty interesting. The author serves up poignant details of what it was like for her to live through what the Dutch call “Hongerwinter” (Hunger Winter). Audrey Hepburn once went three days without food, for example. I learned from a different source that her family had to eat dog food because for a time it was their only alternative. Also, her mother met Hitler before the war and found him very charming. Prior to the war, people around the world hailed him for how he brought the German economy out of ruin.
Favorite places to read?
I read in my office with a big glass of water nearby and classical or jazz music playing from my computer. At bedtime, I enjoy reading in bed just before going to sleep.
What would make you not finish a book?
If I feel the author doesn’t think about what he/she is writing in terms of plausibility (fiction) or is careless in style or with facts (nonfiction) I won’t finish reading the book. Having said that, it is harder than it looks to write fiction that’s believable and interesting. If I tell you I bought a gallon of milk, that’s believable but dull. If I tell you aliens landed on my front yard and ate my car, that’s somewhat interesting but not believable. By the time you read a scene in a published book, it’s probably been rewritten and edited multiple times to make it work. In addition, several fully developed scenes that the author worked long and hard on probably got cut.
At 1:45 a.m. Otto Adler rose from his recliner, walked to a table, and picked up a sheet of paper. He scanned it and set it on the table. “Johann went to kill Ingelse but didn’t come back,” he said to the empty room. He pounded the wall with his fist. “I bet the Dutchman outsmarted him and suckered him into talking. I told Johann not to talk! Just shoot him! But he never listens to his older brother,” he growled. “I won’t make that mistake.”
He made a phone call.
“You ready?” Good. I’ll be there at 2:20.” He reached for the sheet of paper. “Yes, I’m going to go over it again.”
He listened.
“So we get it done. Ingelse is a snake that slithers away. But not this time. Ten minutes to get there. We watch the house for fifteen minutes.”
He drummed his fingers on the phone table.
“At 2:45 we walk up to the house. I stand on the porch, and you crouch in the bushes with your gun.” He shaped his free hand like a pistol.
“I knock on the door and say, ‘It’s Windmill.’” He smiled. “I tell him I have an important delivery. When he looks at me, you jump on the porch. You shoot. We leave.”
He was silent for thirty seconds. “Yes, I’m sure. That Jew-loving Ingelse will be dead in an hour.” He hung up the phone and fed his notes to the flames in the potbellied stove.
Life conspired to get Rob Currie to write Hunger Winter: A World War II Novel. His father is a World War II veteran and his wife is Dutch. An award-winning author, it was only a matter of time before he would focus his writing on World War II. Research for Hunger Winter included numerous books, interviews with Dutch WWII survivors, and three weeks in the Netherlands. His investigation revealed astonishing details about the Dutch experience of the war, which begged to be turned into a book.
Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, he graduated from Cornerstone University and went on to earn a master's degree and doctorate in psychology from St. Louis University. He has taught psychology at Judson University since 1987. His hobbies include playing basketball, cooking, and writing poetry.
Author Web Site: http://www.robcurrieauthor.com
Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Winter-World-War-Novel/dp/1496440358/
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ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an excellent read!
ReplyDeleteSuch a big responsibility for a little boy. I would want to read more.
ReplyDelete