The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Not for the first time, I committed the sin of seeing the film before reading the book. I doubt I’m alone in having seen Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather before reading Mario Puzo’s wonderful novel. The adaptation is impeccable with scenes and dialogue lifted effortlessly from the pages of Puzo’s book, which adds a lot more depth to the story of the Corleone family with the eventual fall of Vito Corleone and the rise of his son, Michael, as head of the family. One or two elements seemed needless but the overall story is a delightful read as we live with the Corleone family through one of the biggest crises in their history, and look at how they strive to bounce back mercilessly against the rival families in New York. A fast-paced, relentless and great read.

DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL – ANNE FRANK

It’s seems an injustice to give Anne Frank’s diary anything other than five stars. This intimate, sometimes funny, but very often moving account of her many months spent hiding in Amsterdam from the Nazis, is both tragic and fascinating. Anne is thirteen when she begins her diary and as the time passes we can see the change in her as adolescence is left behind and she begins her journey to womanhood, talking about periods and her growing fondness for Peter, the son of another family that is hiding with the Franks. There is something of a cold chill when you read that final diary entry in August 1944, when Anne, her family and the others in hiding were discovered and taken to concentration camps. It’s a tragedy for everyone that perished in the Holocaust but it leaves a bitter taste to learn that Anne died mere weeks before the camp she was in was liberated. Her legacy is without question and it is a thoroughly deserved one.