Nice Comment

Comment was by Chris B on October 20, 2020 at 3:17am

Just finishing "Spillover" by David Quammen, about zoonoses. It's from 2013, so Covid19 isn't in the book - only predicted. There's a lot about different outbreaks, their history and the way viruses use other animals and us, but we can see humanity as another outbreak too. A lot of the described research is about 'the next big one'. Fascinating reading in the middle of the next big one!

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on August 27, 2020 at 5:04pm

Too Much and Never Enough : Full Audiobook by Mary L. Trump PhD

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on August 8, 2020 at 3:42pm

That's not the same book as Bury my heart at wounded knee, is it?

Because I read it some years ago and just blew me away. 

Comment was by Chris B on August 8, 2020 at 3:51am

Yes, we would be kinder to others if we understood our own colonial history. I finished reading a history of slavery in Surinam by Anton de Kom (1898 - 1945), very humbling and an eye opener. Our government showed us nothing but pictures of happy black children...

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on May 21, 2019 at 8:53pm

Celestial Bodies wins £50,000 Man Booker International Prize

Celestial Bodies has won the £50,000 Man Booker International Prize for 2019.
The book was written by Jokha Alharthi, the first Gulf writer to win the award.
Her novel was translated by US academic Professor Marilyn Booth from the original Arabic.
Both writer and translator were praised for their work and the prize money has been divided between them. Celestial Bodies follows the story of three sisters in Oman as the cultural landscape of the nation slowly evolves.
Historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes presented the prize at a ceremony at the Roundhouse in London.
She said of the winning book: “Its delicate artistry draws us into a richly imagined community – opening out to tackle profound questions of time and mortality and disturbing aspects of our shared history.   “The style is a metaphor for the subject, subtly resisting cliches of race, slavery and gender. The translation is precise and lyrical, weaving in the cadences of both poetry and everyday speech.
“Celestial Bodies evokes the forces that constrain us and those that set us free.”
Luke Ellis, chief executive of Man Group, added: “As one of the first literary awards to celebrate the work of international authors and, in recent years, to celebrate fiction in translation, the Man Booker International Prize plays an invaluable role in encouraging a diversity of voice in fiction worldwide.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/news/celestial-bodies-wins-£50000-man-booker-international-prize/ar-AABHnjq?ocid=spartanntp

Comment was by Chris on March 9, 2019 at 11:53pm

I don't think many understand how they were unable to  stop fascism.

Thanks for the post.

Just finished a book that I recommend.  It is a fiction novel, "The Garden of Beasts", by Jeffery Deaver.  This is kind of a thriller, set in 1936 Germany.  The story line is, a Senator hires a hit man to go to Germany to  assassinate a minister of the military, who is building up Germany's military strength.  The story centers on two characters, the hit man, who is, interestingly,  portrayed in a complex and sympathetic way, and a police detective in Berlin, who is also portrayed as someone who is a good, intelligent, caring man in a country that has gone all to hell, and who is an excellent sleuth.

I liked the portrayal of ordinary  Germans of the time.  Many were very anti-Nazi, caught up in a totalitarian nightmare where they could be denounced for the slightest criticism of Nazis or the Gestapo, and such denouncement could lead to incarceration or torture or murder, no trial.  

I have always been highly conflicted about my own German ancestry - I'm about 1/2 German, and all had emigrated to the USA in the mid to late 1800s - and despite the book being fiction, this 3-dimensional portrayal gave me pause, less likely to condemn ordinary Germans of the time, and my family who were American and had enlisted in the US Army to fight against the Axis powers.  It's interesting that a novel can have that effect on my mind.

It was also interesting, given the contrast to the current social and political climate of the USA, what are the possible parallels to pre-Nazi Germany.  There are many differences, but some parallels are chilling.

Interesting and though provoking read.

Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver

Comment was by Chris on March 5, 2019 at 10:31am

Curios how were the Swiss able to stay out of WWII?

Can your recomend a book about that?

Comment was by Chris on March 5, 2019 at 10:29am

Daniel W,

I don't read fiction.

I wonder and loøk at things different than many others.  I think that there is a 60/40% ballance.   Within Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia  fascisim the 40% it seems were conquered buy capital.

What do you think?

Comment was by Mrs.B on March 3, 2019 at 7:54pm

That does sound like an interesting read. I may just have to check into that, thanks, Daniel.

Comment was by Mrs.B on February 10, 2019 at 2:21pm

She's a great role model, & I've only gotten as far as the preface. I'm rather stalling as we have to leave town soon for my next hip replacement, & don't want to bring the book with me. My small e-reader is a better traveller.

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