Yesterday was a quiet day off. Not a lot happened, so I can finally move off and talk about books. I always have my nose in a book - physical books before the digital age, books on my Nook app for the last 10 or so years. I'm a voracious reader and always have been since the time I first learned how to make sense from those squiggly characters printed across a colorful page. I get my love of reading from both parents - Dad loved more scholarly books (history was his favorite genre), Mom was more a reader of current "literature" - aka basic contemporary novels. Dad treasured and cared for his books, Mom absolutely desecrated them - tearing off the pages and tossing them away as she finished them so as not to have them cluttering up the house. (I always found that to be appalling, even when my own home was being overrun by books).
As I mentioned several days ago, although I normally am a reader of fiction, I ended up with four non-fiction books in a row on my TBR list. I'm currently almost through the last of the four, and thought I'd review them with all of you, my readers. (All four books were, of course, purchased as e-books).
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I ended up buying and reading this book because it sounded intriguing. I liked the approach of the author, and it was an easy read. I was reading this while I was on Jury Duty, so I got a lot of reading done in the hours of waiting and waiting some more - LOL. It kept my interest despite my circumstances. |
The first book in the list is by J Warner Wallace - "Person of Interest - Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible". This is far from normal reading for me. My computer guru, the son of a former Baptist preacher, and I argue theology often. I'm an unapologetic pagan, he's a "born again" Christian who loves to debate. We banter back and forth, neither giving up ground but each appreciating the arguments of the other. The POV of this particular book is quite different. It's written by a homicide detective and he constructs his argument in much the same way that he reconstructs a cold case that remains to be solved. It pulled me in, and I truly enjoyed reading the book and recommend it.
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"The Danish Girl" was new to me, probably because I'm not really a watcher of much film. I gather the film was quite popular and well done, though. I found the story to be fascinating. What a brave woman she was. |
Book #2 is "The Danish Girl" by David Ebershoff. Although not 100% accurate as a biography, it was a fascinating read about an amazing person - Lili Elbe, a transgender woman who was one of the first to undergo gender confirmation surgery in 1930 - really a LONG time ago. Although I have several trans acquaintences, I had never heard of Lili Elbe before. I didn't see the film (2015) and knew nothing of the artwork in which she was a featured model. But there was a Google Doodle about her and reading a synopsis of her life made me interested. So I purchased the e-book and read it. What a fascinating woman and what an amazing life she had. Again, highly recommended if you haven't read it.
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I'm well aware that this book won't be for everybody. But I've been studying and reading about Auschwitz and the other camps, etc for most of my adult life. My own ancestors were almost all killed here at Auschwitz. It's my heritage, I guess you could say. |
Book number three was a slow read - not because I slowed down my reading, but because of the subject matter. "The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World" by Jonathan Freedland is highly recommended, but not an easy read. This is a new book, published in June of 2022. It tells of Walter Rosenberg (who later changed his name to Rudolf Vrba), one of four young men who managed to escape from Auschwitz to bring the information to the world about what the Nazis were doing in Southern Poland. This is NOT an easy read, even for me who has read hundreds of books about the Holocaust and more than twenty just about Auschwitz. However, it reads well and is well researched and presented. After reading this you will have a better appreciation for how the few can dominate the many and how easy it is for people to just follow orders. It makes me want to hunt down The Auschwitz Report that Vrba and his companions released to the governments of the world, expecting that they would rise up against the Nazis and stop further transports of Hungarian Jews. That didn't happen, although Britain immediately increased their bombing raids. Most of the world governments, however, sat on their hands when they finally read the report. Shame on them! Shame on all of us. Read this book, if you dare.
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I wasn't sure what to expect from "Spare" but I was pleasantly surprised. It's highly readable, very well constructed, and I'm really enjoying the book (while being appalled at the British Press). I'm glad Harry moved to the USA. Our press is also a PITA, but not nearly as bad as the British press is. |
I'm almost finished with the fourth of my non-fiction books - "Spare" by Prince Henry. I wasn't sure what I would get when I started this, but what I did get was an eminently readable, coherent, and comprehensive book about the machinations of the British Monarchy and the British press. The press is reprehensible, and the Monarchy is excellent at turning a blind eye to them. Again, it's a very readable book about the younger of the two children of Princess Diana. I never thought I'd ever say this, but "I recommend this book" - LOL. I'm amazed and appalled at what the British press is able to get away with. I read this and understand without any hesitation, exactly why Prince Harry and Meghan moved to the USA. Our press is obnoxious over here too, but it's not nearly as horrid as the British press. Awful people, fun book to read.
So there you have it. Four non-fiction books that I've read recently IN A ROW! I'll probably finish "Spare" today and return to fiction, although these books prove, in many respects, that fact is far stranger than fiction in many cases. If you're looking for a new book to read, however, I've offered some up for your consideration. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini.
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