Each Little World: What I've been reading

What I've been reading

These are the books I've been reading in between a stack of garden titles.

"The Splendid and the Vile" by Erik Larson.

What can one say; Larson does it again. This was a very inspiring and moving book to read: A country and its leadership where the majority was doing the right thing and pulling together. Made me weep at the political crisis we are embroiled in, with no chance of resolving except by the coming election. Will we all still be quarantined by then? Knowing the devastation wrought by Walker in Wisconsin and still being enacted by the GOP-dominated legislature, I know that even electing a Democratic presidential candidate will be only the first tiny step. It will take a lot longer to undo Trump’s destruction than it took to create it.

Central Press/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images/downloaded from The NYTimes

"The Wife Between Us" by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

How do two people write a book together that flows so seamlessly? I wonder if they each wrote one of the alternating chapters about the two main characters; who knows? One more title in the mode of “Gone Girl” where the book suddenly turns 180 degrees and does it again and again. Never quite what you thought was happening or where you thought it might end up. A great escape book for this moment.

"1947: Where Now Begins" by Elisabeth Asbrink.

I thought it would be interesting, maybe fun, to read about the world in the year I was born. Wrong. Though the war had ended, it seemed like economic and mental depression, hatred, and aggression were as strong as ever and being acted out in different ways around the world. The few positive notes could not stand up to the onslaught of disturbing information. Made myself finish it, but would not say I really enjoyed it; though Asbrink is an excellent writer.

Mathew Brady

Henry James with his father in NYC in 1854

"A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists 1854-1967" by Rachel Cohen.

I started this two different times in the years it’s been on my bookshelves. Not sure why I stopped, other than the fact that it is book crammed full of information, stories, musings, reflections by the author and her subjects on art and literature. Beautiful writing and a brilliant concept. A slow read but endlessly satisfying at every turn.

The book opens with the very young Henry James having his photo taken, along with his father, by Mathew Brady in NYC in 1854 and ends with Norman Mailer and Robert Lowell at the March on the Pentagon in 1969. In-between we meet Whitman, US Grant, Twain, Steichen, Steiglitz, Stein, Baldwin. Everyone to-ing and fro-ing in the most amazing dances across the years.

Posted at 06:00 AM in Books, reading, reviews, Family, History, Photography | Permalink