Review of Hitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War – Laurence Rees

This compelling book on Hitler and Stalin – the culmination of thirty years’ work – examines the two tyrants during the Second World War, when Germany and the Soviet Union fought the biggest and bloodiest war in history. Yet despite the fact they were bitter opponents, Laurence Rees shows that Hitler and Stalin were, to a large extent, different sides of the same coin. Both were prepared to create undreamt-of suffering, destroy individual liberty and twist facts in order to build the utopias they wanted, and while Hitler’s creation of the Holocaust remains a singular crime, Rees shows why we must not forget that Stalin committed a series of atrocities at the same time.

Using previously unpublished, startling eyewitness testimony from soldiers of the Red Army and Wehrmacht, civilians who suffered during the conflict and those who knew both men personally, bestselling historian Laurence Rees – probably the only person alive who has met Germans who worked for Hitler and Russians who worked for Stalin – challenges long-held popular misconceptions about two of the most important figures in history. This is a master work from one of our finest historians.

Hitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War

Laurence Rees

Viking

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Steve Litten

Once again, Laurence Rees has delivered a ripper of a World War Two history, but this time his focus is biographical. He compares and contrasts the leadership styles (and personalities) of perhaps the two most famous villains of twentieth century politics, Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.

Hitler and Stalin had quite different leadership styles and personalities, and I saw echoes of these in some current politicians. I won’t give the game away by naming names. The main crucible that these two different styles expressed themselves was World War Two. Hitler was certainly more of a gambler, frequently adopting a strategy of going the bank. This served well at the beginning but as most know, this is usually a losing strategy long term. Stalin was much more methodical. And we all know how WW2 ended.

Rees is a good writer. Here his focus is on Hitler and Stalin, not the outrages they caused to be perpetrated. It’s not that the outrages don’t matter, but rather how they were communicated and how those that actually committed them were co-opted. And this ability to get buy in to commit outrages is also explored.

Hitler and Stalin is a good read. There are a plethora of end notes, the majority from primary sources: this is not a synthesis of other people’s work. I liked it, but then I’ve several other books by Rees. These two leaders were among the most important politicians of the twentieth century, so understanding how they achieved their toxic legacy matters.

Read it.

Review of Flavourbomb: Fast fresh keto fun for Kiwis – Belinda MacDonald

Over 150 recipes from vibrant keto cook Belinda MacDonald – joint winner of My Kitchen Rules NZ in 2014 and now head chef/vlogger to The Ketogenic Switch, an internationally renowned weightloss group.

Belinda MacDonald loves creating super-fast modern keto dishes with clever twists to make you smile. Her passion is for fun, vibrant and flavourful food. During Covid lockdown she launched a new website called Flavourbomb to help people with kitchen confidence and clever ingredient swaps to make dishes keto, and which took off like a rocket.

Her new book has a wonderful selection of main meals plus a great mix of fat bombs, sweet treats, keto breads, crackers, summer party fare and a particularly vibrant veggie section. There is a section at the back called Flavourbombs, which has essential condiments, sauces, tangy pickles, zingy dressings and luscious dippy things to boost flavour. KAPOW!!

Flavourbomb: Fast fresh keto fun for Kiwis

Belinda MacDonald

Random House New Zealand

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jacqui Smith

I requested this book for review out of sheer curiosity. What could possibly be wrong with another cookery book? Well, quite a lot, as it happens.

I began by looking up the Keto diet, and read actual dieticians and nutritionists saying that it’s one of the unhealthiest fad diets out there. Not a good start. So, I looked through the book. Some very nice food photography, a good index, nice binding (I do like a ribbon in a recipe book, too, thank you).

Then I looked closer. The Keto diet is all about fats and proteins, lots of vegetables, but eliminating carbohydrates. This apparently means taking out potatoes, but not kumara. And yet, kumara has more carbohydrate (20g per 100g) than potato (17g per 100g) according to Google. There’s also extensive use of almonds and they have 21.5g carbohydrate per 100g. What?

There are more significant problems with all those almonds. First, they are very expensive. Along with the use of assorted weird and unusual ingredients, that ensures that this not the recipe book (or the diet) for people who have to budget. It’s rich in more ways than one. Second, my husband hates them and he’s not the only one (and others are allergic). Third, the cultivation of almonds in California is an environmental disaster. Yeah, right.

Next problem. The recipes frequently have long lists of ingredients and multiple processes. So, not so fast or at all simple. The writing is enthusiastic in the extreme, every introduction peppered with a plethora of exclamation marks that grew increasingly irritating (which might be fine if they actually said something informative instead of things like “you have to try this, it’s my favourite fat bomb of them all!’).

If your doctor or nutritionist recommends a ketogenic diet for you, I think it likely you’d find this collection of recipes quite useful. Otherwise… This has to be the most anti-diet diet book I have ever seen.

Please, we need healthy balanced nutritional diet books for people on a budget – that would be so much more useful to many more New Zealanders. This is not that.

Review of The Lighthouse Princess – Susan Wardell, illustrated by Rose Northey

Do you need rescuing from this tower?” he asked her.
“No,” she said, “I like it here.”

The Lighthouse Princess is almost perfectly happy. She takes care of the light that keeps ships at sea safe, catches fish off the balcony and swims with penguins and seals.

But one day, a little fishing boat with green sails sets out just as a storm blows up…

The Lighthouse Princess

Susan Wardell

illustrated by Rose Northey

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jan Butterworth

A princess lives alone in a lighthouse by her own choice, where she looks after the lamp that shines at night to keep ships safe.  She wasn’t lonely as she is kept busy with fishing off the balcony, making art from seashells, swimming with seals, and counting the boats on the sea.  One night there was a really bad storm and she could see a little fishing boat coming closer and closer before it capsized.  Sprinting into action, the princess dived into the ocean and rescued the boy from the ship……

The book is a practical A4 size, light but easy to hold with sturdy pages that won’t tear easily.  Bold black letters make the text easy to read and the illustrations are exquisite, they’re full of detail and bring the story to life – you can feel the joy on the princess’s face as she’s sliding down the banister of the lighthouse.

A modern fairytale about an independent princess who has an important job as a lighthouse-keeper.  She rescues a boy in a storm and they become friends.

I loved how she rescued the boy and then when he promptly offered to rescue her, she told him she didn‘t actually need rescuing, thank you very much.  Such a great message to send about independence and friendship, and shows that not every princess needs rescuing.  This book is delightful and needs to be on every child’s bookshelf.

Review of Dark Horse: Orphan X #7 – Gregg Hurwitz

Having just survived an attack on his life Evan Smoak isn’t interested in a new mission.

But one finds him anyway.

Aragon Urrea is a major drug-dealing kingpin in South Texas. But he’s also a local patron – providing legitimate employment, and a future to a people with little hope.

However, for all his money and power, when a vicious cartel kidnaps his daughter he is helpless.

Not only must Evan break into the fortress of a heavily armed, deeply paranoid cartel leader – he must decide if he should help a very bad man, no matter how just the cause.

Dark Horse: Orphan X #7

\Gregg Hurwitz

Michael Joseph

Supplied by Penguin Random House New Zealand

Reviewed by Jan Butterworth

The last book left us hanging – was Evan Smoak dead or alive?  Now the answer is revealed!

Now retired, Evan s hard at work rebuilding his penthouse apartment, hiring different teams of Mexican labour to work at night and in secret.  One young construction worker impresses him with his honesty so he gives him the 1-855-2-NOWHERE number to call if he needs help.  Days later someone does call needing help.

Aragon Urrea is not a good man.  He has a vast drug dealing network hat does bad things.  But he also cares deeply for his community and does good things for them.   Now God has punished him.  A rival cartel of sadistic killers has taken his beautiful, innocent, angelic daughter.

Evan is faced with a dilemma.  He only helps the worthy.  Does he forget the father and help the daughter?  Helping also means he breaks his agreement with POTUS that he would retire.

 He decides to help one last time.  But getting close is not easy.  And now someone is watching him.

An adrenaline packed thriller in the Orphan X series, this story is full of of action while raising some thought-provoking questions about morality.  It also shows Evan’s struggle to relate to people and become more ‘human’. I love the twist n the middle.

Another cliff-hanger ending – I’m desperate to read #8 but also a bit scared to. 

Prodigal Son: Orphan X 0#6 review here