BOOKS THREAD

Finished "The Hobbit" and am now into "Fellowship of the Ring" as well as "Empire Strikes Back" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". On a series kick right now...

 

If you really want to never forget, read "Auschwitz #34207", by Nancy Sprowell Geise.

The book, a memoir/biography of Holocaust survivor Joe Rubinstein, should be must-read material for students, and really, everyone. So they won't forget, a legitimate concern of historians with the now advanced aging and deaths of the generation most directly and personally impacted by World War II and the Holocaust.

The book's title says it all...almost, and yet, hardly. Despite its sobering content, it is not a hard read. It is so important, personal and affecting in ways that are deep, and yet, understated, and that allows the reader to stick with it and be able to take in the story at all.

We throw around references to "man's inhumanity to man," but it's usually in a conversational, intellectual way. You wouldn't do that around Rubinstein, a now-95-year-old who spent the entirety of World War II in concentration camps but survived to become a designer and manager of some of the most renowned shoe companies in the world.

He did it sans his entire family, which, other than him, died, and whom he never saw again once he was taken from his childhood home in Radom, Poland, in his pajamas and barefoot, in the middle of the night, at the age of 19. I simply cannot imagine going on, from my late teens through the rest of my life, never seeing my family again, and Rubinstein's story really brings home the fact that we can and should, truly, never forget the atrocities visited on others by the Nazis.

The book, in fact, includes a call for readers to contact the author or Rubinstein should anyone know of any existing old photos of any of Rubinstein's childhood family, because he has none. That's heart-breaking, and yet, Rubinstein's brighter future, positive personality and redemptive approach to life in general and his war experiences in particular, makes his story anything but that.

 

So, I randomly grabbed Don't Ever Look Back by Daniel Friedman out of the library. Didn't know anything about the book or author.
It was the second (of two) books in the Buck Schatz series. After reading the first one (Don't Ever Grow Old), I can say they're both super fun reads.

Buck's an 88-year-old former detective who's cranky and going senile. Since he's not an acting detective, he doesn't get cases. Instead, he begrudgingly tackles them when he can't find a reason to keep watching Fox News. So he's a delightfully crotchety knight errant.

Highly recommend both books.

 

I'm actually reading "Empire Strikes Back" right now, Doll.

 

Reading Pronto, Elmore Leonard. Just finished Killer Angels

 

Read "The Life We Bury"; college kid talks to convicted rapist/murderer who was released to assisted care facility for last 2 mos of his life. Really interesting read. Allen Eskens.

 

The story behind the making of Animal House, written by the producer. I found it on sale at Half Price Books last week. It was a quick, easy read, and enjoyable. The last chapter is a where-are-they-now about some folks associated with the movie, and the paragraph about the "Thank you, God" kid made the time I spent reading this book even more worthwhile.

Joe Bob says check it out.

 

Kyle Dickman's "On The Burning Edge" is a great account of the Yarnell Hill fire that killed 19 hotshots and a synopsis of US wildfire policy over the years.

 

I just read Funny Girl by Nick Hornby. Thought it was pretty good -- I really like his style of writing, even if a good number of the cultural references are lost on me as an American. A little navel gazing at times in the art vs. commerce debate that two of the main characters repeatedly have, but a fun read.