My Reading Frenzy

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 24, 2020

I did some solid reading this week, but liked less of it than I usually do. 

 

 

Read:

I moved quickly through Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (Library book) the 11^th book (published in 2018) in the Mary Russell series. Mary and Sherlock travel to Venice, Italy to find the missing aunt of a close friend. The story explores the treatment of the mentally ill as well as some women's rights issues. Delightfully, the American composer Cole Porter plays an important role too. While I appreciated the inclusion of music in the story, his appearance represents one of my least favorite elements of historical fiction. I know many writers of historical fiction strive to closely parallel actual events and lives, but they also make changes for dramatic effect or to fit into the plot. This is difficult for me because I want to know the non-modified story. This almost always leads me down a rabbit hole of research. Not necessarily a bad side effect.

 

• During the week I realized listening to the 17 hour and 49 minute The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson (audio elibrary book) at a leisurely pace was not going to work out well because it is a library book. I waited a few months for it to be available therefore a renewal was not going to happen. I stepped up the pace by going to the gym and listening while doing chores around the house. Thus, I finished this morning on the drive to the VA public library to return books and pick up a hold. As always, Larson's research is impeccable and satisfying. I am inspired to read more about Churchill.
• I also picked up volume 14 of Giant Days at the library last week. I was tempted to read it in the car in the parking lot so I could return it immediately, but I am in a constant rotation of picking up and returning books so there was no real reason to rush through it. In the end, I enjoyed it minimally. This is ostensibly the final volume since Esther and Daisy have graduated and moved onto jobs while Susan is finishing medical school. The action involves Esther's two evil co-workers who follow her to a reunion between the three former roommates. It was bland. I don't know if I will read more if the story moves on.

 

Reading:

• Last week I mentioned starting Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (elibrary book) While I was drawn in by what I read, I have not read any more of it this week. 
• Playing for the Ashes the 6^th installment in the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George (elibrary book) came through from the library of few weeks ago, but I held off because I just finished the 5^th in the series. But again, haunted by the pressures of finishing to return the book on time, I jumped in. I don't regret it so far.  
• I also began the recently published volume 5 of Monstress (independent bookstore purchase) the comic book by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. Reading comics via trade paperbacks is better for me than reading individual books as they come out each month, but also has the drawback of a significant wait between volumes. I am not sure how much longer this series will continue, but I will need to reread it all at once someday. 

 

Listening:

• During the drive home from the library this morning, I began listening to A Promised Land by President Barack Obama (purchased from Audible). I am only about 40 minutes into it so far, during which he is reviewing early life. He said in the introduction that he felt he needed to set the context for his Presidency. I don't have to worry about rushing through this one since I pre-ordered it in anticipation of its November 17^th release. 

 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

 

 

**A note on the picture. I always use an image from the Prints and Photographs collections of the Library of Congress. I like these because they are interesting, and freely available because they are in the public domain. I mainly choose images of people reading. If you click the image in any of my posts you will be able to see the Library's bibliographic record which includes whatever they know about the image including its creator. There are also usually links to other similar items or to the collection the image is a part of.***

Is it ok to skip the classics?

This is really a two part question: 

Should we read and study the classics as part of coursework at colleges and universities or as independent readers?        YES!

Should we teach the classics to high school students?        It depends.

(I believe this for the classics of any language or culture, though my experience is with and examples are from American and British literature.)

 

 

 

 

Benefits of reading the classics (from my point of view):

*Please note: The examples I provide come from my experience as an English major, English teacher in the United States, and independent reader and are in no way meant to trace the history of literature in a comprehensive way

• To gain an understanding of the origins of the writings of a country or culture 
  • Beowulf
  • Gilgamesh
  • The Iliad and The Odyssey
• To experience the progression of those writings through the ages
  
  • Shakespeare's plays and poems
  • The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
  • Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi's poetry
  • Religious texts such as the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, the Qur'an, the Bhagavad Gita
  • The ideas of the early Greek and Roman philosophers
• To experience the products of great thinkers and writers
  • Virginia Woolf
  • Thomas Hardy
  • Jane Austen
  • Gabriel García Márquez
  • Franz Kafka
  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • Margaret Fuller
  • Henry David Thoreau
  • The Brontë sisters
  • George Eliot
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Oscar Wilde

The dangers of the classics are that too often the lists that make up the canon are missing works by marginalized voices including women and people of color, they are not necessarily well-written, and the context in which they were written is often lost on contemporary readers, especially teens. Additionally, when we force students to read texts we have chosen because we think they will be "good for them" we remove the freedom of choice that leads people to become life-long readers. If one of the goals of literature courses is to instill a love of reading, asking students to read what we have chosen from a list of books that are far removed from their experiences and context will not work.

Classics I would toss out:

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - Holden is whiny and angsty. This however is typical of many novels featuring teens who are lost and traumatized. What I think is harmful are Holden's attitudes toward homosexuality. There are many contemporary novels that deal with the same topics and themes as Catcher that take place in an era more relevant to today's teens without the problematic parts. Alternatives: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky or The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (there are others, but these are two I have read)
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - Only twice in my career did I teach this novel. Both times I was bothered by the use of the "n-word" but did not know how to undertake a conversation with my students about the problems of the novel. That oversight was a weakness in my teaching. But, I was also incensed by the behavior of Tom Sawyer in the last section of the book when he knows that Jim has been freed in Widow Douglas's will. Instead of jubilantly sharing this information immediately, Tom decides to plan an elaborate escape for his own entertainment, thus subjecting Jim to additional unnecessary captivity and emotional turmoil. We can have honest conversations about the history of slavery and racism in the United States with better books. Alternatives: The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass or Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - This has many of the same problems as Huckleberry Finn, but adds the classism evident in the portrayal of the Ewell family. Alternatives: To encourage conversations about racial injustice, Monster by Walter Dean Myers or All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely. To encourage conversations about sexual assault, Speak (fiction) or Shout (non-fiction) by Laurie Halse Anderson or The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

There are a number of other novels I would take out of the high school curriculum for a variety of reasons such as Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (literary blasphemy, I know), and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I may write another post about these, or just ask why if you are interested.

 

 

Classics I would keep teaching:

• The novels 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell and the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller - All three of these works were written to address events witnessed by their authors. Orwell's predictions about our lives under surveillance by our government as well as the rise of communism and fascism have relevance here and now. Miller's play about metaphorical and literal witch hunts is far too relevant to current events. Another contemporary classic I would add here is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. (I would not read this one with freshman or sophomores, but I think juniors and seniors have the maturity to have meaningful conversations about the novel.)
• Any of Jane Austen's novels with Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma as first choices - Austen's commentary on society and the mores that unfairly target women and anyone not of the upper class are still relevant today. Students may feel removed from the time period, but the themes are fresh. If Austen's work seems too removed for students alternatives are: Pride by Ibi Zoboi or Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal.
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Anyone who knows me well knows this is my favorite novel. It is not without problems, but it is beautifully written with a tight structure. I believe it also offers opportunities to discuss sexism, sexual double-standards, hypocrisies of religion, as well as being a portrait of a resilient woman and single mother.
• The Importance of Being Ernest and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - I have previously discussed my love of Wilde's satire. I believe the personal relationships, humor, and word play in Ernest are accessible to modern students. Dorian Gray offers a more insidious, but equally compelling look at the superficialities of society.
• Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - This is a novel I first read as a senior in high school, then again in college, and then chose to teach to AP Literature seniors. I have always loved it. Hardy was ahead of his time. Tess is trapped between the old and new worlds in ways that leave her without the resources to thrive in either. Her experiences with hypocrisy, stigmatization of sexual behaviors, and learned helplessness serve to set her up for unhappiness and failure whatever choices she makes. (I am not doing this justice. I would love to go back into an English class to read this again with students.) If I were to teach a course on early feminist literature I would use this and The Scarlet Letter as two texts written by male authors in conversation with Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Indiana by George Sand among others.

 

 

What are the classic works you would toss out? Which would you keep?

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 16, 2020

This was a light reading week. I traveled to visit M. in rural MA for a few days. We generally isolated ourselves because while there are small towns in the Berkshires, the weather was dreary and rainy and it was nice to stay warm with wine and take-out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read:

Over the course of the week I finished both the books I had been reading in the last update.

• The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix - As I anticipated, this book should be the beginning of a series, but no announcement to that effect has yet been made. The title is a misnomer because there are both left-handed and right-handed booksellers in London, as well as other magical entities. In a phrase the whole book was "right up my alley." I went ahead and put two of his other stand alone books on hold: Angel Mage and Newt's Emerald.
  • The good news: Nix has an extensive backlist of books to keep me busy until the second (Who do I talk to to make sure this happens?) in the Booksellers series comes out. 
  • The bad news: This means I am adding another author whose works I want to read in their entirety to my TBR list, which knowing how I can put pressure on myself to read, means some stress. 
• Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane - This means I have read all of McFarlane's available work, including a short story, After Hello, which I also read this week. 

Reading:

• On my Kindle, I started Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (elibrary book -  I am only on page 6, but the world building has begun with a police officer gathering eye-witness information from a ghost about a recent murder. I'll keep reading for sure. Some of the atmosphere and jaunty tone remind me of the Jackaby series by William Ritter. 
• Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King (Library book) - This is the 11^th book (published in 2018) in the Mary Russell series. When I wrote my post about mystery series I have loved, I realized I hadn't read one of these in a while. This is the first of only two I have not read. Since these are both mysteries and historical fiction, I look forward to the jump back in time, and that the mystery is not always a murder. The current story takes place in the early and mid 1920s. While Mary and husband and sleuthing partner Sherlock Holmes have not yet left England, the blurb and helpful map tell me at least some of the story will take place in Venice, Italy. 

 

Listening:

Since The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson (audio elibrary book) is 17 hours and 49 minutes long, I anticipate a few more weeks of updates before I finish. BUT, I did pre-order A Promised Land by President Barack Obama, which will be released tomorrow. I will be torn even though the logical thing to do is finish the Larson first because it is a library book for which I waited quite long time and I will own the Obama book through Audible. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

 

**A note on the picture. I always use an image from the Prints and Photographs collections of the Library of Congress. I like these because they are interesting, and freely available because they are in the public domain. I mainly choose images of people reading. If you click the image in any of my posts you will be able to see the Library's bibliographic record which includes whatever they know about the image including its creator. There are also usually links to other similar items or to the collection the image is a part of.***

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 9, 2020

Despite the distractions of last week, I managed to read quite a lot. I definitely indulged in some of the graphic novel reading I did on Tuesday night while refreshing the election results. I knew we would not have an answer until much later in the week, but I did not want to try to go to sleep with dread in my heart like I did in 2016. All that to say that I am calmer now and had a weekend of lovely weather, celebration, and reading!

 

A note on the picture. I always use an image from the Prints and Photographs collections of the Library of Congress. I like these because they are interesting, and freely available because they are in the public domain. I like to pick images of people reading, but this week I looked for something patriotic and found the image I used. I though it represented a nice mix of patriotism and books. If you click the image in any of my posts you will be able to see the Library's bibliographic record which includes whatever they know about the image including its creator. There are also usually links to other similar items or to the collection the image is a part of. Happy exploring!

 

 

 

 

Read:

Over the course of the week I finished a few books I had been reading in last week's update.

• Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George (I have the next one in this series lined up on my Kindle, but I am going to take a quick murder mystery break.)
• Shit, Actually by Lindy West was hilarious all the way through. I got a kick out of her irreverent look at so many popular movies, ALL of which I have seen. That made it even more fun because I knew exactly what she was talking about every time. Her take-down of American Pie was my favorite. 
• Drawing the Vote by Tommy Jenkins illustrated by Kati Lacker - This was not a light, easy graphic read at all, but I think it could be a great addition to studying the history of elections in the United States. It was well-researched and chock full of important information. I would use it in chunks though as it is dense.
• Class Act by Jerry Craft - This is a follow-up to the 2020 Newbery winning New Kid. While Jordan and Liam play a prominent role in the novel, this is Drew's story. I appreciated his perspective. I wonder if Craft will continue to show us these young people as they move through middle and high school.
• Apparently it was a week for Newbery winners because I also read Meg Medina's 2019 award winner Mercy Suárez Changes Gears. I think it was last week that I said I might need to read fewer middle grade novels....this book is a clear exception. While 6th grader Mercy is the main character, we are invited into her family in a way that makes this feel like the story of the Suárez family and how Mercy sees herself in relation to her brother, cousins, aunt, grandparents, and parents as well as her classmates. So deserving of bountiful honors. 
• Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and illustrated by Wendy Xu. I like witch books. This one was not for me. 

 

Reading:

A few weeks ago I watched a Zoom chat between Garth Nix and Maggie Stiefvater. I signed up for it because of Maggie, but ended up being intrigued by the newly published Nix book The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. This is the first of his works I have read and am happy to have given it a chance. I am not quite at the half-way point and already feel that this is likely to be the first in a trilogy or series. 

Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane - I like McFarlane's romances. The heroines are smart and capable, but they choose partners poorly sometimes, but as in all good romances, they get it together for a happy, but not necessarily perfect, ending. I like the mix of reality and fun of her novels. 

 

Listening:

I have made the decision to go back to the gym. Because DC is currently in Phase II of reopening, gyms can be open but members must be masked at all times and equipment is constantly being cleaned by staff and there are sprays and wipes for exercisers to use as well. It has been quite empty each time I have been there. AND since the weather has been so nice the windows have been open for extra ventilation. So far, I feel confident they are doing everything they can to keep the space safe and I am doing my part as well. 

As I knew it would be, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson is dense with facts about Churchill, Great Britain, and the war before and during the Blitz of 1940-41. That, along with the reading by John Lee, is keeping me engaged as I run on the treadmill. 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?

My Self - Imposed Reading Pressures

Last week I explored the ways reading is good for mental health, both mine and that of others. Today I want to explore the corresponding stresses I sometimes feel around reading. 

 

The Pressure to Read

Like many avid readers I feel the self-imposed pressure to read many, many books. I am under no obligation to read at all if I do not want to. As a librarian, I can choose what to buy based on professional reviews and recommendations. As a blogger, I can write about whatever strikes my fancy. I am not obligated to read in either of these situations. But my desire to read ALL the books is an intrinsic pressure whether or not it makes sense.

I set a Goodreads goal for myself every year, but I set a realistic goal based on the number of books I read the previous year. I do not think this contributes to the pressure to read more. For the past few years I have bumped up the goal as the year progresses because I am reading more than anticipated. I think I can say that this number is not significant to me outside of helping me to track what I have read. 

(Goodreads is the only place I record EVERYTHING I read so I can refer back and check on whether or not I have read something. A  few years ago I accidentally deleted my account and lost all my records. I was bereft because I knew I would not be able to remember everything I had read over the previous five years. Now, as books pop up that others are reading or I randomly remember having read a book I add it back.)

 

The Avoidance of Reading 

Conversely, when I find myself in a situation where I am expected to read a book, I employ avoidance tactics and read anything but the book in question. This happened when I served on the Virginia Reader's Choice committee. I would come home from our biannual meetings with a stack of books I had agreed to read as part of my role as a committee member. I would look at that stack of books for 5.5 months before jumping in to be able to speak to whether or not we should consider the books for the high school list.

This also happens to me when in a book club, which is even more ludicrous because I love being in a book club. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss books while socializing with other readers, but even so, I often put off reading the chosen book until the last possible minute.  

I want to apply to be a reviewer for Booklist and School Library Journal, but I fear that as soon as books arrive that I "have" to read, I will freeze up and dread reading them even if they are books I WANT to read. This makes me hesitate to apply.

 

Do I Really Need to Have All These Books?

When I was a child and teen I would wait until I was ready for a new book to read before perusing the family shelves or visiting a bookstore or the library. But then, for no reason that I can identify, I started wanting/needing to have shelves of books I had not read available at all times. As soon as I discovered a book I wanted to read I would buy it or get it from the library. Then it would sit there while I read other books. Sometimes I would end up returning the book to the library or getting rid of one I owned without having ever read it because my enthusiasm waned or other books would come along that I wanted to read immediately. I have mainly reined in this tendency by creating lists of books I want to read on Goodreads or Amazon, list are much easier to weed than shelves of books. This need to have lots of unread books around has also been curbed by moving. When I had to pack up all the books I own, both read and unread, I culled my collection significantly. I discuss how I made the decision about what to keep and what to let go in this post. I also had to accept that I was wasting money buying books that I would eventually give away or sell for much less than I paid without having read them which also helped me to stop. 

 

I Didn't Bring Anything to Read! 

My last reading concern goes hand in hand with my addiction to reading. Whenever I am somewhere waiting, I get antsy if I do not have anything to read. This does not happen very often. If I know I am going to an appointment I bring a book. If I am riding the Metro I bring my Kindle. If I am driving I have an audiobook ready to go. It seems therefore that I have almost no times when I do not have anything with me to read, but it does occasionally happen. The reason any of this is an issue is because I think it is bad that I get anxious when I have to sit without reading material. I worry I cannot just sit and be. I have tried recently to sit mindfully, observing my surroundings rather than separating myself. 

 

What pressures do you association with reading?

What I've Read - What I am Reading - November 2, 2020

It has been two weeks since posting one of these updates, and I would never have guessed I had read so much. This is why I use Goodreads to keep track of my reading. 

 

Read:

I finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The main character is given the opportunity to explore the books that tell her life story had she made different decisions at various points. It was interesting to think about my own decisions and how life might be different had I chosen differently. I also appreciated the perspective that it is not just the "big" choices that may lead to an alternative outcome, but all the day to day variances that can have a ripple effect.

The next few titles are those I listened to over the two weeks. I did more driving than I have in recent months, but also tackled home projects both here and at M's house that offered opportunities to listen.

•  Meaty by Samantha Irby - I am not sorry to have traveled to Irby's earlier work since I discovered just as much insight as in her more recent work. Hilarious and worth every minute of my time.
• Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle - I debated with myself about listening to this one since I had already listened to the next book, Untamed and therefore know "what happened." But there was so much insight into how she made the decisions she explored in Untamed that I am glad I listened. She also revisits her childhood, teen years, and pre-wedding 20s in ways that also connect to her most recent stories.
• Break Shot by James Taylor - This was an Audible special production that was just an hour and a half of Taylor revisiting his own childhood years up to age 21 interspersed with singing pieces of songs written during that time. I really wanted this to be a full length book.

 

I also read a bunch of graphic novels:

• You Brought Me the Ocean by Alex Sánchez
• If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie  - I did not know what this one was all about when I ordered it and then brought it home after it arrived in our library, but I think it is an important story. It is a mix of fiction and non-fiction based on a letter written to the Winnipeg Chief of Police by fourteen-year-old Jonnie as a protest against the way the disappearance of indigenous people is handled.
• We'll Soon Be Home Again by Jessica Bab Bonde, illustrated by Peter Bergting and Kathryn Renta, and translated by Sunshine Barbito - The book is a series of six first person accounts from Holocaust survivors. With the passage of time and the loss of survivors to old age, it is even more important to continue to publish stories about the Holocaust and other genocide so we never forget the dangers of fascism and complacency.
• The Midwinter Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag - I think I may need to read fewer middle grade graphic novels. I read both this and All Together Now by Hope Larson. I will continue to bring these graphic works into my library and send them to my niece as gifts, but I think I am going to rely on reviews and recommendations rather than reading. I am so far removed from the worries and ordeals of this age group that I find myself growing irritated. These are stories that are important for my students and readers because they do speak to their experiences, so I do not want my judgement about the quality of the book to be clouded.
• Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder - This memoir is Feder's love note to her mother who died from cancer when Feder was only 19. The emotions surrounding her mother's illness and death are tied up with Feder's loving memories in a way that show that her story is so much more than "my mom died when I was young." 

 

I love picture books, but usually read them in bulk each time we receive a shipment at the library, but this was a personal purchase that will be a gift to a dear friend the next time we have a distanced front porch hangout. Julia's House Moves On by Ben Hatke is lovely and a nice continuation of Julia's House of Lost Creatures and Nobody Likes a Goblin. 

 

This fortnight's COVID reading days are rounded out with my two favorites for escaping the reality of this pandemic and election year as well as bolstering my mental health - murder mystery and fantasy: 

For the Sake of Elena is the 5th book in Elizabeth George's Inspector Thomas Lynley series. I was ready for another of her books and found it exciting as usual. I probably need to slow down so I do not run out, but as you will see below, I haven't. 

Over two nights last week, I finished The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. This has been a long time coming, but not because I did not want to read. I devoured the first two of the series in a few days and moved just as quickly through the first 2/3 of the third, but then I took a break. In part because I was saturated in the story and needed to step back and in part because my brain had wandered to home improvement projects, work, and other distractions that I wanted to get past before savoring the end of the story. I was right to have waited. Chakraborty did not disappoint in bringing Nahri, Ali, Dara, Jamshid, Muntadhir, and Zaynab back together in Daevabad to work toward healing the city and the relationships between their peoples and the other tribes of djinn. Now that I have finished I feel confident in recommending the trilogy to all types of fantasy readers. Based on a bookseller recommendation (Yes, I do ask when I visit bookstores.) my next fantasy read is likely to be The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. 

 

 

Reading:

Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George - Even though I just finished the 5th book, when this one popped up from the library I downloaded it and started reading. I really do not know what it is that I find comforting about reading murder mysteries - maybe it is that the ones I read have a solution. They always find out "whodunit" and there is a satisfaction in that even if justice is not necessarily served or there are more victims before they figure it out. If there is more to my attraction, I don't know what it is. Any ideas?

Drawing the Vote by Tommy Jenkins illustrated by Kati Lacker - I was wary about reading a book about elections just before one of the most stressful elections I have experienced, but this book is well done because it is broken down into chapters that are both chronological and topical. He takes one topic related to voting, such as women's suffrage and explores its full history before moving to another point of view. I especially appreciated his look at the electoral college. I probably will not finish this before tomorrow night when the returns start coming in, but I will finish. This is a great addition to our collection.

 

 

Listening:

I am currently listening to Shit, Actually by Lindy West, which is hilarious. This book is a bit of a departure for West because it is not overtly political like both Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman (which was made into a Netflix series that I binged over the summer) and The Witches are Coming. Instead, in these essays, West revisits movies she liked from the 90s and early 2000s. Her rating system is based on what she considers the most perfect movie: The Fugitive. She rates a wide variety of films from action to comedy to angsty teen flicks. And it is hilarious! You won't be able to think of these movies in the same way ever again. (And don't worry, the essays are not totally devoid of political commentary.)

Today, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson came through from the public library. I have been waiting for this one since I put it on hold in March. Many of my favorite books of historical fiction and time travel take place in this time period so I appreciate a non-fiction perspective as well. 

I have listened to everything I have read by Larson. His books are brimming with splendidly researched information (makes my librarian heart go pitty pat) that I don't think I would have the patience to read myself. I listened to a sample before putting it on hold and think I am going to like being read to by John Lee. The hold came up at a perfect time because I went to the gym today for the first time since March and like the added motivation of a good book to get me there 3-5 times a week. 

 

 

What have you read? What are you reading and listening to?