August 6th marks the 67th anniversary of the destruction of the city of Hiroshima, Japan with the first use of an atomic weapon. Thinking men and women should spend some time investigating the back story of this event and its role in shaping the world as we know it. The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes (Simon & Schuster, 1986) This is the definitive work on the subject. Yes, it's long (over 800 pages) and not an easy read, but Rhodes writes in a gripping style and delivers facinating psychological insights into the personalities of the men behind the Manhattan Project. Rhodes covers it all: the theoretical origins of the bomb in the mind of Leo Szilard, the lab experiments spearheaded by Enrico Fermi and his crew of scientists at the University of Chicago, the building of the prototype, the test at Alamagordo, New Mexico, the training of the B-29 crews assigned to deliver the first two bombs and the missions themselves. He also delves into the struggle in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan to make the first bomb, as well as the political and military events that led to the destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Well worth the time and effort. Pandora's Keepers: nine men and the atomic bomb Brian VanDeMark (Little, Brown, 2003) VanDeMark puts his focus on the nine men who built the atomic bomb and how each struggled with the implications of their deadly creation. He does an excellent job of bringing these brilliant scientists to life in this examination of the moral ambiguity that exists in "an imperfect world that sometimes forges good from evil and evil from good." First, we witness science at work, in the act of creation that drove these talented individuals. However, then VanDeMark switches gears and tackles the issues of the aftermath, when the scientists, academics all, realized the real-world horrors and implications for the future that their creation had wrought. Pandora indeed. Shockwave: countdown to Hiroshima Stephen Walker (Harper Collins, 2005) This high-speed rollercoaster ride of a narrative recreates a (literally) minute-by-minute retelling of the Hiroshima bombing as remembered by American soldiers, Los Alamos scientists, and Japanese survivors. He examines the doubts and fears of the bomb's designers, the thought processes behind the selection of the targets, and the bewilderment of citizens of Hiroshima, who were victims not only of the U.S. bomb, but a Japanese government controlled by men who were determined to continue the fight at all costs. There are plenty of books and films out there with cheesy titles, whether intentional or not. But what could you come up with if asked to write the -literally- cheesiest title ever? Well, the good and creative folks over at Booklist, one of my favorite go-to sources for book reviews, spent a Friday putting Twitter to good use doing just that. I am compelled to pass along some of my top ten favorites... 10. To Havarti and to Havarti Not 9. East of Edam 8. The Scarlet Cheddar 7. Colby-Dick 6. Ricottahouse 5 5. The Island of the Blue Cheese Dolphins 4. Ethan Fromage 3. The Gouda Earth 2. The Old Man and the Brie From the Seattle Edible Book Show And my number one favorite: The Velveeta Rabbit! You can read the entire Best of #CheeseLit blog post at Likely Stories, a Booklist Online blog by Keir Graff. I ate up the Olympic Games when I was a child, Winter and Summer. I was glued to ABC, entranced by genial host Jim ("the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat") McKay, who also hosted "Wide World of Sports" ("spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport"). I was fascinated by the foreign locales and host cities. I was thrilled by the displays of grace and strength in exotic sports of which I could only dream. In fact, I remember a writing assignment in 2nd grade in which I kept a journal, complete with illustrations, written under the persona of an Olympic downhill skier. Nevermind that I had never skied in my short life, (and still haven't) flatlander Chicagoan that I was, bred and born! I was enthralled by the dashing French skier Jean-Claude Killy and his trio of medals in the Alpine events in the 1968 Winter Olympics held at Grenoble, France. (I confess that I think I still have that relic of my childhood education tucked away in a trunk in the basement.) Of course, back in the day, both the winter and summer games were held in the same year and thus came around only once every four years, so it seemed like even more of an event. Now, with the staggered schedule, there is less of an Olympic drought in between. Perhaps that is why I am a little more blasé about them as an adult, although yes, I still watch my fill. The 2012 London Summer Olympics begin in one week, so there's still plenty of time to do a little preliminary reading and research on this mega-event which celebrates the heights of athleticism throughout the world. How about starting with a little historical perspective? The Naked Olympics: the true story of the ancient games (Random House: 2004) Tony Perrottet A history of the original Olympic games depicts the events of the first competitions more than 2000 years ago, during which tens of thousands of sweltering-hot spectators watched nude athletes participate in such events as hoplitodromia, a full-armor sprint, and the pankration, a no-holds-barred lethal brawl. Travel writer Perrottet treats readers not only to a thorough picture of the games' proceedings but also to glimpses of the shameless bacchanalia, numerous (and often lascivious) entertainments and even corruption that accompanied them. Hmm, sounds like not a whole lot has changed...except the sporting goods companies like Nike and Reebok would never let their endorser-athletes complete sans apparel. How would they show off the swoosh? Perhaps a well-placed tattoo? History of a more recent vintage... Igniting the Flame: America's First Olympic Team (Lyons Press, 2012) Jim Reisler The author tells the little-known story of the first modern Olympics, the 1896 Summer Olympics, highlighting the difficulties faced by a fourteen-member American team which had virtually no support heading into the games, held in Athens, Greece. Here's one remarkable anecdote among many: an American Olympian shows up for the discus event, having never really tried it before; some accommodating Greek athletes offer to demonstrate, he practice a bit and winds up winning. Reisler skillfully weaves his story from several narrative threads: the resurrection of the Olympic Games, and the men behind their revival; the primitive means of travel and lodging (no fancy Olympic Village here with 24/7 food courts); and the stories of individual athletes and events. Hitler's Olympics: the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games (Sutton: 2006) Christopher Hilton The Berlin Olympic Games, which remain the most controversial ever held, will have their 80th anniversary in August 2016. Using newspapers, diaries and interviews to recreate the atmosphere during the XIth Olympiad, the author presents an account of the disputes, the personalities and the events which made these Games so memorable. Hitler, of course, used the Games as one of the largest propaganda exercises in history. African-American Jesse Owens won four gold medals in a shining moment for America. A suitable companion or alternative to the above might be... Triumph: the untold story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics (Houghton Mifflin: 2007) Jeremy Schaap Schaap (an ESPN host) touches briefly on Owens's life before and after 1936, including his Alabama childhood and his later work for the State of Illinois, focusing most of the book on Owens's track and field heroics. Blessed with amazing speed, he set NCAA records in numerous events. With the help of high-school mentor Charles Riley and college coach Larry Snyder, Owens qualified for the Olympics. After a debate about whether participation in the Nazi Games was ethical—a discussion that had special meaning for African-Americans, whose circumstances were indeed similar to those faced by German Jews—the U.S. elected to compete, setting the stage for Owens to show the world a true superman not descended from Aryan stock. Rome 1960: the Olympics that changed the world (Simon & Schuster: 2008) David Maraniss Whether you prefer sports, politics, or history, the author has you covered in this engaging study of the first commercially televised Summer Games. There were several other firsts in Rome: the first doping scandal, the first athlete paid to wear a certain brand, the first African-American to carry the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies. The games fed Cold War propaganda as the Soviet Union surpassed the U.S. in the medal tally. Maraniss loads his narrative with human interest stories (the barefoot Ethiopian Abebe Bikila), personal rivalries, judging squabbles, come-from-behind victories and inspirational stories of obstacles overcome (American track star Wilma Rudolph). It might not be true that these Olympics changed the world, but they definitely showcased the changing world of that era. A gold medal to anyone who finishes all five before the Summer Games begin!
I am not a "beach read" aficionado. Probably because I am constitutionally unable to do a lot of reading at the beach... or any place or time during a summer day. I am of the tribe of ants, who spend their summers toiling under the hot sun, rather than the grasshopper cohort, who fiddle from morning til night as the balmy breezes waft. When faced with a stretch of sand, whether a shell-strewn beach along the Gulf of Mexico or a pebbly shoreline on one of the Great Lakes, I am much more likely to set off on a hike to find a lightning whelk or a gnarled piece of driftwood or just exactly where that path up the dunes leads, than pull a book out of my totebag and settle in under the umbrella. However, this being the time of year when I am frequently asked to recommend "beach reads," I took some time out from spreading mulch to do a little research... Apparently, the main requirements of a good beach book is that it (1) be engaging and (2) you can finish most of it before your sunscreen wears off, i.e., it's not likely to be "literature," but it must definitely be entertaining. So, whether you like thrillers, chick lit, or something smart but not too heavy, with these books in hand (or on your e-reader), all you need to grab is your towel and sunscreen and you're ready to read. What Was I Thinking? 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories By Barbara Davilman and Liz Dubelman Oh, the stories women could tell. And 58 of them were willing to spill their guts in this Oprah-recommended read. They're funny and smart. But whoa, are they stooopid when it comes to knowing a relationship is dead. It can take years in breakup "Crazytown." Usually, despite countless clues, there's an epiphany: Mr. Right invites you to have dinner with his married girlfriend so you can be pals. He thinks deploying faux dog excrement at a party is hilarious. He uses "invertebrate" when he really means "inveterate" or comes home one day proudly flashing a cubic zirconia nipple ring. Try to top this heartbreaker: at the altar, he tells you he can't stand the embroidery on your wedding dress, would you mind wearing it backward? So many red flags wave in these witty, woeful tales, you'll think you're in China. A must-read for lovers of Schadenfreude. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake By Anna Quindlen She's one of my favorite essayists, so, although I won't be reading this at the beach, it's definitely on my summer reading list. In this collection, she gives us rueful insights into a generation that's "still figuring things out" and still wishing to have it all, even at 60. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows A delightful book club read (yes, I actually have read this one) that might serve well as a beach read. It's a light piece of historical fiction set on the Isle of Guernsey after World War II that will make you chuckle, bring a tear or two to your eyes, and give you something to think about (without weighing you down with thoughts too heavy for day full of cottony cumulus clouds). Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Imperative by Eric Van Lustbader Okay, so it's not by the original master, but if you are into thrillers, this one should serve to idle away a few hours while you are baking in the sun (and waiting for the next Bourne flick ("The Bourne Legacy") to premiere in August). Just remember the sunblock if you are prone to burns! Jason Bourne's rescue of a drowning man not only reminds him of himself (the man's an amnesiac too), it raises plenty of questions. Why is he being stalked by the Mossad? Could he really be a legendary terrorist assassin, or is this a case of mistaken identity? Elvis, Jesus and Coca Cola by Kinky Friedman Not a deep book by any stretch, but supposedly quite entertaining. Operative word here is "quirky." Singer/songwriter Kinky Friedman's flashy mystery stars a Greenwich Village musician named--coincidentally--Kinky Friedman. When a documentary filmmaker suffers a mysterious death, Friedman's search for the missing film forces him to relive his own dark past. If you're looking for a serious book with fleshed out characters that represent the plight of human suffering, just back away from this book, grab your over-priced coffee and go find some stuffy classic. If you're looking for a quick, amusing read that offers nothing more than a cheap thrill, then pick this one up and grab yourself a margarita and a burrito-to-go. It's Mother's Day, a day to pamper the lady who gave you life. It's quite a commercial enterprise, being one of the most popular days of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States and an occasion which generates a significant portion of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue. Americans spend approximately $68 million on greeting cards, $1.53 billion of pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and $2.6 billion on floral arrangements. (National Restaurant Association and Society of American Florists figures) Carnations, the traditional flower of Mother's Day A bouquet of carnations is the traditional flower of Mother's Day. According to legend, this association goes back to the passion of the Christ. Upon seeing her son's suffering, his mother Mary shed tears, which fell to the ground. From these tears sprang the fragrant and beautiful carnations. According to Anna Jarvis, one of the pioneers of the Mother's Day celebrations in the United States, white carnations symbolized the virtues of motherhood: purity, faithfulness, love, charity, and beauty. Hmmm, so then what would be an appropriate gift for the mothers we will now examine? Drum roll and a dead, rotting fish, please, for Ten of the Worst Mothers in Literary History (an entirely subjective list): "The Other Mother" (Coraline: Neil Gaiman) Coraline’s mother and father are so busy with household chores and work they don’t pay as much attention to Coraline as she would like. (Typical child!) When Coraline discovers a door that leads to a parallel version of her home and family, she meets her "Other Mother," who makes fabulous ‘Breakfast for Dinner’ meals and gives amazing gifts and showers affection on her. But when Coraline gets tired and wants to go back to her real home…things start to get creepy. “But this IS your real home,” says the Other Mother. Because everything IS better on the other side, provided Coraline is agreeable to having buttons sewn in place of her eyes… "Zinnia Wormword" (Matilda: Roald Dahl) Zinnia Wormwood is an oblivious, unpleasant, completely self-centered women who can’t recognize the special talents of her daughter, young Matilda, who teaches herself how to read at age three. She's much too wrapped up in watching television, playing Bingo and doing her nails. (Played to perfection in the film adaptation by Rhea Perlman) "Mary Jones" (Push: Sapphire) In the Harlem of 1987, Mary Jones is a callous and indifferent mother, consumed by watching daytime TV and psychologically dependent upon welfare. (And that's when she's being nice.) Ugh, the abuse dished out by this woman to her daughter Precious: physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, you name it. Gut-wrenching is too mild a description. "Eleanor Iselin" (The Manchurian Candidate: Richard Condon) Domineering Eleanor is not just a rotten mother, she's a traitor to her country as well. She's a ruthless power broker working with the Commies to execute a "palace coup d’état" to quietly overthrow the government, and install her hubbie, McCarthy-esque Senator Johnny Iselin, as a puppet dictator. The pawn? Her son, Raymond Shaw, who has been brainwashed into a "sleeper agent" political assassin. He's activated when he sees a Queen of Diamonds playing card. (Angela Lansbury aced her in the film adaptation.) "Addie Bundren" (As I Lay Dying: William Faulkner Here's a real sweetheart. Addie's a teacher who enjoys whipping her students. She resents having children, after all her "aloneness had been violated." She has an affair to rebel against her maternal duties. Turns out she only loves the son that results from this affair because he is hers alone, without any of her husband's taint. Even after she dies, she's still a stinker! "Beth Jarrett" (Ordinary People: Judith Guest) Here is one of the coldest of maternal fish. Beth is totally dedicated to maintaining the façade of her family's perfect life. So when her world starts to crumble around her-- her older son dies in a boating accident, then her younger son attempts suicide--she reacts by pretending none of it has happened. Well, honey, good luck with that! (Mary Tyler Moore nailed her in the film version.) "Margaret White" (Carrie: Stephen King) Poor Carrie probably has no chance of being normal for the getgo. Her mother Margaret is a religious whack-job who locks her in a "prayer closet" for hours at a time, makes her dress like a Puritan and never bothered to tell her about the facts of life. Once Carrie discovers and harnesses her telekinetic powers, she gets retribution on all the kids who bullied her by wreaking havoc at the senior prom. So what does Mama do? Stabs her with a butcher knife (apparently trying to cut the devil out of her). Then Carrie makes Mama's heart stop using only her mind. But in the end, as Carrie bleeds to death, who does she cry out for? Her mama. Which is proof that the mother-child bond is one thing that never dies. "Charlotte Haze" (Lolita: Vladimir Nabokov) Humbert Humbert's a monster. But what about Lolita's mother? She's an enabler first-class. When H.H. shows up looking for a room in her boarding house, the widow Charlotte Haze is so foolishly smitten with his Euro-trash airs that she is totally blind to his prurient interest in her way-underage daughter. Thinking her little romance with H.H. might be blossoming, she is only too anxious to get Dolores (aka Lolita) out of the house. Summer camp, boarding school, whatever! As long as it anywhere that's out of her mother's hair. True, this is H.H. telling the story, so we definitely have an unreliable narrator situation. But come on. I'm not seeing the love. Then, in a classic case of Karma, Ma gets creamed by a car (no pun intended). "Corinne (mother) and Olivia (grandma)" (Flowers in the Attic: V.C. Andrews) There are not one but two nasty mothers inflicting damage on innocent children this famous potboiler from the 1980's. After marrying her father’s half-brother against her family's wishes, Corinne Dollanganger is widowed, and forced to return to her estranged family home with her four children. Her mother Olivia agrees to let her move back in on the condition that Corinne hides the kids from Malcolm, her husband and Corinne’s father, until he dies. (He really had a problem with that marriage and any spawn that came out of it. The old incest thing again.) Instead of working it out on her own, she stuffs the spawn into an attic for years where they are generally ignored. Over time, they become malnourished, delusional, incestuous (apple and the tree?) and develop every social abnormality in the DSM. Oh yeah, she and grandma try to kill them off, too. "Ingrid Magnussen"(White Oleander: Janet Fitch) How does Ingrid fail her daughter Astrid? Let me count the ways, starting with cruelty, neglect, and abandonment. Of course, self-centered Ingrid wouldn't think of it as abandonment. After she murders her lover (for cheating), she's tried, convicted and hauled off to prison. But she didn't abandon her child on purpose! And then the poor child is foisted off on a series of foster homes, with each new mother worse than the last, in her own unique way. No carnations for this coven of "rhymes with witches." Whew, what a pile of stink! Their stench is worse than alewives washed up on the shores of Lake Michigan in the summer. However, no Mother's Day would be complete without a special Hall of Shame Mother's tribute to the classics: Murder, mayhem, mischief, and the original motherlover... crimes that only a *bad mother* could love!
On this day in 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. His mistress, and wife of one day, Eva Braun, poisoned herself and their dogs as well. Just eight days later, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a "1,000-year" Reich. In the Garden of Beasts (Erik Larson: 2011) Erik Larson writes nonfiction that reads like the best fiction: vivid, atmospheric page-turners that hold the reader in vise grip until the final paragraph. He's done it again in this mesmerizing portrait of Berlin the early years of Hitler's reign of terror. He paints his picture through the eyes of William Dodd, America's ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his 24-year-old daughter, Martha, who are initially enchanted and then repulsed by what they encounter. Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris (Ian Kershaw: 2000) Adolf Hitler was a contradiction riddled with self-created myths. Ian Kershaw reveals the character of the bizarre misfit who morphed into a demonic mass murderer over the course of his thirty-year rise from an illegitimate birth in an Austrian village through his early years spent in a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the aftermath of World War I. Kershaw brings to life the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the rabid anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the hellish cauldron of World War I, the nationalism that poisoned Bavaria in the 1920s, the extremism that undermined the Weimar Republic, the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, the shared madness that resulted in brutal attacks on Jews and others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race. Explaining Hitler: The Search for Origins of His Evil (Ron Rosenbaum: 1999) How does a Hitler happen? Rosenbaum tackles that question and more in this engrossing book full of conversations with and the viewpoints of historians, philosophers, filmmakers, and others who have attempted to make sense of Hitler's actions and find a root cause for the Holocaust. Rosenbaum sifts through the rumors: Hitler's alleged Jewish ancestry and physical deformity (what biographer Alan Bullock calls "the one-ball business") and the attempts to extract some psychological causation factor. We see a variety of Hitlers laid bare: the con man and gangster; the unspeakable pervert, the ladies' man, even the artist whose medium of choice was destruction. But Rosenbaum also examines the examiners to illuminate what an explanation of Hitler tells us about Hitler, about the scholars who attempt to explain, and about ourselves. The Lost Life of Eva Braun (Angela Lambert: 2008) What sort of woman loves a monster? Eva Braun left convent school at the age of seventeen and met Hitler a few months later in a camera store. She became his mistress before she turned twenty and remained so for 13 years until their joint suicides at the end of the war. Hitler humiliated her in public and she was mocked by the wives of his Nazi officials. Albert Speer described her as "very shy, modest. A man’s woman: gay, gentle, and kind; incredibly undemanding . . . a restful sort of girl.” Who was Eva Braun? Lambert's biography, only the second examination of the life of Eva Braun written in English, focuses a spotlight on the young woman who lived her life in the cold heart of the Nazi regime. We used to call them mix tapes...and then mix CDs, and then they became playlists on MP3 players, and now we can arrange them on Spotify... whatever... but if you are hanging with your librarian besties and you need some tunes to rock the house, here's another one by Canadian band Moxy Fruvous (from their 1993 album Bargainville). These guys name-drop Gabriel Garcia-Marquez and Michael Ondaatje, come up with a clever rhyme for Mario Puzo and find a way to toss in Doris Lessing as well. Turns out they wrote it in honor of a Toronto authors' festival. (Note to Printers Row Lit Fest: check into a theme song for next year!) @George Michael: if you cover this one and the Julian Smith ditty on your comeback album, I'll guarantee a built-in librarian audience. Maybe write a librarian song of your own and send it in to the Lit Fest committee. And then book a performance at the intimate Chicago Theatre. Unfortunately, these guys are no longer making satirical, politically-aware music together. But they deserve a place in the Librarians' Music Hall of Fame for another of their songs: a jazz-flavored, hip-hop riff on Green Eggs and Ham. If you're a reader, a serious reader, you have probably felt this way at one time or another...or many times, for that matter, depending on how often you get interrupted! |
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