Major Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a Red Army sniper during World War II who attained 309 (!) kills in combat. This book details her transformation from a factory worker in Ukraine to one of the deadliest snipers in history.

It's a brilliant read, with chapters detailing her first 100 kills against the Romanians and then moving on to the German army. Her attention to detail with weapons is amazing - I often read memoirs where former soldiers just generally describe their guns as "tommy guns" or "machine guns" but Major Pavlichenko always details the full name of whichever weapon she is talking about, and also throws in some technical specs. The most interesting parts for me were the chapters in which she details a counter-sniping operation against a German sniper, and the chapters dealing with her speaking tour of the US and UK. It was interesting to note the attitudes of pre-war USA towards this woman, with reporters seeming to care more about the cut of her uniform and which colour of underwear she preferred rather than actually asking this soldier about life at war.

Definitely one of the best war memoirs I've read regarding the Eastern Front of WWII, and well worth a read to anyone interested in snipers or World War II in general.