For a non-fiction book that reads like a grand adventure full of brave and remarkable characters go with Code Girls: the Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, by Liza Mundy. Amazing research here, and of top secret jobs (even well into her 80's one code breaker was reluctant to talk of what she did), too. Loved learning how they worked on the messages they'd intercept from the enemy ... and what they'd look for to crack the code.

While reading D-Day Girls: the Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, Helped Win the War, by Sarah Rose might prove a bit too intense when partnered with Code Girls (I read some light fiction in-between), they are both excellent reads. Dark, intense, brutal ... and powerful, awe-inspiring, and just plain amazing, D-Day Girls follows several women and men through their training and then their work for the Resistance. Be sure to at least skim the notes and bibliography section, the amount of research will blow you away!

Are you a serious bird watcher, or know someone who is? Then you, or they, should enjoy The Field Guide to Dumb Birds in North America, by Matt Kracht. I'm not much of a birder and I still chuckled while reading this book. :-) Presented in the format of the usual field guide, there is the 'dumb' name for the bird (along with the real one) and some silly facts as to why they are dumb. Too much use of some swear words for me, it would have been just as funny, if not more so without them, I did enjoy this on a cloudy afternoon with a cup of tea and a dog snuggled up close.

Reading Hermit With Dog