Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum  270 pp.

This book was the basis for the classic 1932 film by the same name starring Greta Garbo, John & Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, and Joan Crawford. It is the story of patrons of the luxurious Grand Hotel in 1920s Berlin. One resident is a WWI veteran who has lost half his face and spends his time hidden behind the daily newspaper in the lobby. There's a famous ballerina who fears that she is growing old too quickly, a businessman who's company is failing, and a clerk who is spending his savings on a last hurrah after receiving a fatal diagnosis. It's an interesting social commentary on an era of tremendous change in Europe.