What Am I Reading?

My Reads

Currently, I am continuing with Erik Larson and reading his non-fiction writing, In the Garden of Beasts. William E. Dodd, University of Chicago professor, and his family move to Berlin in 1933. He is the new U. S. Ambassador to Germany, President Roosevelt’s seventh choice, and will endure the rise of Adolf Hitler. At present, Germany is exploding with Nazi doctrine but awakening only a few. I like it so far.

I decided to stop reading Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi since the author uses so many references to the text in Lolita it is extremely difficult to comprehend. Nafisi is infatuated with Nabokov, so much it makes reading her book difficult to relate her students. I purchased the book Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and will read it prior to returning to Tehran and Ms. Nafisi’s students who yearn to develop and experience their personal revolution.

I completed reading The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. This is a non-fiction account of the beginning of the Civil War, the firing on Fort Sumter. I found it an excellent account of the general status of the nation, providing insight into the south's conviction to a way of life, their death grip on the need for slavery, and how Lincoln may not have had a real grasp or understanding of that conviction. Giving excerpts and painting pictures of people in the day, important people, politicians, and commoners alike Larson takes us from a few months before Lincoln is elected through the events along the way to Civil War. For me, one pointed fact jumps out, that communication was so difficult throughout the country and how much confusion that caused, regardless of a functioning telegraph system. It’s a good read, but a bit lengthy at 492 pages plus bibliography and notes.

Another book I must mention is Putin’s Playbook by Rebekah Koffler. This is a fascinating account of a Ukrainian woman’s experience with the world of US intelligence organizations and their workings. After seven years pursuing a position in the USA intelligence community, she provides an excellent account of Putin, his mindset and proactive attacks on the USA, and our failures to understand the Russian mentality. As a former employee of the military industrial complex with a security clearance, I can very much relate to Ms. Koffler’s situation and frankly can see the effect of Putin’s plans today. The Russians plan, not in days or weeks or months, not even years, but in decades with diligence and forethought. Simply, Putin is constantly revising and evaluating his options, their risk, and how far he can push the USA, and what our response will be to has actions. The Russian plan is to destroy the USA from within, turning us against each other through our naïveté. I like it, and if you are interested in geo-politics, it is a must read to become better informed about the Russian mentality. I will say this is difficult read and lengthy. It can be quite difficult to follow and understand without some deep thought. I listened to most of Putin’s Playbook as an audio book while exercising, it is much easier to consider it a university lecture rather than a read.

Good Night, Irene by Louis Alberto Urrea was a good read. It is a fictionalized account of his mother’s time in the Red Cross during WWII. Two women become lifelong friends, and with others, train, and follow the front lines of the European Theater as is moves forward providing coffee, donuts, and that much need “girl back home” esprit de corps, something so much needed by the troops. It was light, easy to read, and very insightful of the women and their magnificent contribution to the war effort.

The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes was questionable. A Denied Access Area CIA agent––an agent authorized to enter areas denied other CIA agents like the badlands aka: remote Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, pursues his missions. During a mission his compassion jeopardizes his life and his pursuit of the villain. His relationship with his partner suffers, but he is onward with the mission. This is a contemporary fiction novel of 787 pages with a twist at the end I did not like. Avoiding a spoiler, suffice it to say, I do not like suddenly mixing genres. To me, it comes across as––I don’t know how to end this epistle.

My final book for this update is another non-fiction I enjoyed, The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides. A 360 page well written and well researched account of Captain James Cook’s fateful and final voyage of July 1776. The HMS Resolution and accompanying HMS Endeavor traverse the seas at the dictatorial commands of Captain James Cook, revered for his previous two voyages. The book provides great insight to the mentality of the eighteenth-century sailor, Cook’s perspective of the places he discovered, and of course his ability to interact with peoples who had never seen those from another culture. There are many accounts of the voyage, the activities, and route followed by Cook and his crew. Of course, there is an account of his death; spoiling his credibility even today, especially in the Hawaiian Islands.

Past Reads:

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. In Barcelona, ten-year-old Daniel is mourning the loss of his mother in post WWII when his bookseller father takes him to visit the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books. A library where each book has a soul and as a first-time visitor, he is responsible to adopt a book making sure it never disappears and always stays alive. Daniel embarks on a journey when he discovers someone is destroying every copy of every book by the author of his book and he may have the last existing copy.