In the garden of beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin is about the Dodd family and their experience in pre-WWII Germany. William Dodd, the American Ambassador to Germany in the 30s, lived in Berlin with his family, including his daughter Martha. Mr. Dodd hoped that Germany’s government would never take on beliefs and practices of the Nazi party forming under his nose.
In the Garden of Beasts
My Thoughts
I enjoyed the description of how the Nazis came into power and how so many of the people really couldn’t believe what was going on. As our country is going through a populist phase, it is all too easy to draw parallels to the same kind of things happening today in our very own great country. Freedom of speech and religion is overwhelming important. We can not lose these freedoms…
Recommendation
I became a little lost with all the characters introduced in the book. It was an important book and I’m glad I read it but I had to push through some slow periods.
The Operator: Firing the shots that killed Osama Bin Laden is the autobiography of Robert O’Neill. He was a kid from Montana who ended up joining the Navy and became a SEAL. It also happened to be him that killed the most wanted man in our time.
The Operator
My Thoughts
I have read through other descriptions of Navy SEAL training and those who have gone through it but I really enjoyed it this time around. I found his story to be authentic and to ring true with what I know of military service. He was always making sure the reader knew he didn’t do it on his own. I particularly liked his description of the Navy SEAL wife network. Good book and great to peal a layer or two back from that time in our nations history.
Recommendation
Not for the younger reader but it was a great book.
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly is a non-fiction book that tells the story of the contributions of African American women to NASA during the early days of the space race. The book provides a detailed account of the lives of these women and their work at NASA, as well as the broader social and historical context of the civil rights movement and the Cold War.
Hidden Figures
My Thoughts
Having grown up out West, the idea of racism wasn’t really played out in front of me. Before the trolls start lambasting me on that comment I feel I should mention I hold a degree in sociology and I’m well aware of the systemic and institutional forms of racism which are much more difficult to discern. That being said, it really wasn’t a thing for us. I grew up in a culture where we were constantly told that the white male was taking advantage and yet we were pretty much all white. Then I moved to the East Coast…
My first day of government service was at the Pentagon. I was attending orientation and was sitting next to a former Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant who happened to be black. We got along pretty well and spent our lunch together. He asked me if I was racist. I told him I didn’t think so. He told me, “You will be.” He then told me about how he had spent his entire career on the West Coast and no one had ever had an issue with the color of his skin until he came out East. He told me of an incident at a bowling alley just the week before involving his wife and some men who didn’t seem to believe she and their family should be there. (I have come to refer to these folks as rednecks.) Many experiences out here has demonstrated time and again that racism is still a thing along the coast.
Yet, it goes two ways as well. My first day on the job, before I even had a desk or a place to put my bag, a woman accused me of being racist and sexist. I was the incoming supervisor and the outgoing supervisor was writing up this person for not showing up to work on time. I sat in the corner of the room and didn’t say a word through their interaction. Yet, I was labeled sexist and racist because she felt I should have defended her. I’ve learned through sad experience after sad experience that this is the modus operandi of many federal workers. The good news is these folks are as easily spotted as the rednecks were in that bowling alley.
What does this have to do with the book? Well, I am particularly thankful for those who stood up for what is right and continue to do so. There are wonderful people of all colors and creeds who are a credit to themselves and their respective cultures. However, there are more than a few folks, again of all colors and creeds, who put the brakes on this progress by acting the fool. This book was a painful reminder of both sides of that coin.
I felt the message was powerful and something we should know so we can avoid the same pitfalls in the future. Yet, as a story, I felt it could have been much better put together. Perhaps the movie is better in this sense, but the book jumped around through too many people and too many time periods to keep my attention.
Recommendation
If asked, I would tell someone to see the movie. The book was hard but I had to will myself to continue.
George Orwell made such a splash with this book it is still used as required reading in schools across the nation. Animal Farm is the bedrock of anti-totalitarian books and was published during the second world war.
The book is a story of the animals on a farm who throw off their oppressive masters and start living their lives as equals. As time passes, many things change and very quickly the animals learn that some are “more equal”.
Animal Farm
My Thoughts
I’m so glad my daughter was given the assignment to read this book as it had been far too long since I had even thought of it. I remember the phrase “more equal” being quoted to me while I lived in Bulgaria and was being told about where the “party members” lived. The Bulgarians were very familiar with the concepts of communism and much of the story rung true their experience.
I think the story does a great job of showing even how the best of intentions can go astray. How the best of us can be corrupted and misused if we are simply given something we can believe in. The horse Boxer’s mottos of, “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right” are good examples of this. He had the ability to stop what was happening but he clung to the ideals and ended up working himself to death.
Recommendation
A good quick read. No one has put it better than Orwell.
The last book of the Narnia Series is the Last Battle. It is the seventh novel in the series and was published in 1956. The story starts many years after the last visit to Narnia with King Tirian now leading the country. There has been peace throughout the years and no one has seen Aslan for so long… Narnia is fooled by a false Aslan and is soon overrun by enemies. The Last Battle is indeed the last battle for Narnia.
The Last Battle
My Thoughts
So much Christian symbology… Aslan even sets up the analogy of Christ and Satan when he sets himself opposite of Tash. It really was an odd story when you back away from it. The notion all the Narnians could get so worked up over a false prophet… There is precedent enough in history I suppose. Still, it seemed too easy. They were too trusting…
I enjoyed some of the off moments such as when Aslan demonstrates the dwarves wouldn’t allow themselves to be helped. Also the description of Susan, to paraphrase, ‘she was in such a hurry to get to the silliest part of life and then tries to stay there as long as possible.’
My Own Words is a collection of essays and speeches by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The book covers a wide range of topics, including gender equality, women’s rights, the law, and her personal life. Ginsburg’s eloquent and powerful words demonstrate her unwavering commitment to justice and equality for all, particularly for women and marginalized communities. Through her speeches and writings, she shares her personal experiences and reflections on her life’s work, including her time as a lawyer fighting for gender equality, her appointment to the Supreme Court, and her legacy as a trailblazing feminist icon.
My Own Words
My Thoughts
This was a little hard to get through. I don’t agree with some of her political leanings however, I enjoyed the repeated calls of civility and collaboration she has made through the years. I liked when she refused to make guesses as to how she would pronounce judgments when she was nominated on the grounds that the law is complex and each circumstance is different.
Her husband was hilarious and it was indeed sad when he passed away. She is an icon of women’s rights but, in this reading, seemed to be all that she was about. We all have our axe to grind I guess.
Recommendation
I don’t know that I would read it again but I was glad I did.
Bill O’Reilly’s book on the assassination of Lincoln comprises the end of the civil war and the few days after the funeral of one of our best known presidents. It was published in 2011 and was on the best seller’s list for 65 weeks. There were some criticism of the book and there were changes made in subsequent versions.
I enjoyed the read and feel I learned a great deal. I do feel there were more than a few points where I stopped and thought, “there’s no way we know that”. Mostly, this is when the author tries to read the thoughts of the people as they are going about their day. Yet, I feel the book gave a balanced look at what happened and even gave time to discuss the conspiracies.
Julia Baird’s biography of Queen Victoria was published in late 2016 and was named one of the best books of the year on Amazon but I couldn’t find the reference. I did find this though. Not every monarch has a whole era named after them but Victoria was ruled for a long time and over a time of great change and expansion. This book takes us from her birth to her death and gives the context through those years.
Victoria the Queen
My Thoughts
I guess the biggest revelation was that she was short and plump. I knew about her being linked to hemophilia but didn’t know she was in as good of health as she was purported to be. I also didn’t know how devoted to her husband she was. I don’t recall the name Albert being linked to her at any point before. I had heard to John Brown though and I had no idea of how much of her life was edited by her daughter.
Reading about the royal families is difficult. I wish I had started with this before I read Elizabeth II’s autobiography. It would have made a lot more sense having this background.
Recommendations
An interesting read. I would recommend it if you are interested in the Queen.
The Silver Chair was published in 1953 and Decades have passed in Narnia since the Voyage of the Dawn Treader and now King Caspian is an old man. Eustace Scrubb, now in boarding school and having learned not to be such a selfish jerk, finds his way back to Narnia with his school mate Jill Pole. They quickly find themselves on a quest with a “marshwiggle” named Puddleglum.
The Silver Chair
My Thoughts
The marshwiggle character was interesting. Why not make up your own creature and put him in the middle of everything. Part mud, part Eeyore, part superhero, Puddleglum is interesting to say the least. He would be a much more fun character if it wasn’t for his worldview. I found I couldn’t connect with the humans very well as neither were that likable.
The story seemed to have a lot of inspiration from Jack and the Beanstalk. (There is a whole giant section…) The whole story seemed to meander around. When we finally meet the missing Prince, the story seems to go very quickly.
Recommendations
Though I enjoyed it more than the last and it was still a good read, it is not my favorite.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the next book in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Series. Published in 1952, it distinguishes itself by being the only book in the series that doesn’t have a main villain. The Dawn Treader is a ship commissioned and sailed by Prince Caspian. They are trying to get to the far East (Aslan’s county). It brings in a new character, Eustace Scrubb. He is the cousin of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. Eustace is nuisance and ends up learning a great lesson.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
My Thoughts
This was an interesting book. I’m not the fondest of boats and the like so it wasn’t my favorite setting. However, the islands were interesting. This book reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. Not my favorite but a good read none the less.
Recommendation
My least favorite of the books thus far but still worth reading.
