What Are You Reading

[LizzieMaine]

I have an entire floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that lives on the porch, with a broad mix of stuff on it, but my all-time favorite porch book is a ragged paperback copy of George R. Stewart's "Earth Abides." It has no cover, and is held together by friction tape, but a year doesn't go by that I don't sit on the porch rereading it. By far the most thoughtful novel of the 1940s.

I haven't read Beauchamp, but I'll keep an eye out for her.

 

[Fading Fast]

I have an entire floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that lives on the porch, with a broad mix of stuff on it, but my all-time favorite porch book is a ragged paperback copy of George R. Stewart's "Earth Abides." It has no cover, and is held together by friction tape, but a year doesn't go by that I don't sit on the porch rereading it. By far the most thoughtful novel of the 1940s.

I haven't read Beauchamp, but I'll keep an eye out for her.

I just looked the book up - sounds like it was echoed later in "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank. I will keep it on a list to be checked out.

 

[AmateisGal]

(Cross posted in the "Loungers in Print" thread)

I just finished "Nebraska POW Camps: A History of World War II Prisoners in the Heartland" by Melissa Amateis Marsh - our fellow FL member AmeteisGal - and wrote the below review to encourage everyone to go out and buy a copy because (1) it is an outstanding book, (2) it is great to support one of our own and (3) it will inspire people to write more histories.

"Nebraska POW Camps: A History of World War II Prisoners in the Heartland" by Melissa Amateis Marsh (aka AmeteisGal to us here at Fedora Lounge)

If you aren't familiar or, like I was, are only vaguely familiar with the who, what and why of POWs in the United States during WWII, then you'll find "Nebraska POW Camps" enlightening and enjoyable. If you are well versed in the mainstream WWII history books, then this book will add a niche element of the story to your overall war narrative.

As Amaties points out, the book is neither a straight scholarly study nor general history, but a combination of the two. As a reader, you'll notice that some parts are fact-based like scholarly papers and can be, not boring, but more "dry", while other parts sing with the anecdotal stories and personal observations that make history come alive.

While the scope of the POWs in the US - about 400,000 Germans, 51,000 Italians and 5,000 Japanese - wasn't small, the detailed historical record, as Amateis highlights, is thin, especially as she focuses on just those POW camps in Nebraska. That said, her diligent work brings out the details needed to understand the story behind why they were brought here - the UK was running out of room and resources (could not have been fun for the British official who had to call and ask the US for one whopper of a favor) - and the logistical and political challenges of housing POWs in the US.

As you move through this relatively short book, you'll learn how the camps were built, who commanded them, who guarded them, the day-to-day lives of the prisoners and the US military's compliance with the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of POWs (overall, taken very seriously, if for no other reason than the US wanted American POWs treated well in Axis POW camps). You'll also learn about the work the POWs did while here - mainly much needed agricultural, but also, at least one example of - and in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions - munitions factory work. Further, the book analyzes how the system dealt with the hardcore Nazis (mainly by corralling and isolating them from the rest of the POW population) and what efforts were made at re-education (sincere, inconsistent and lacking the necessary records to make conclusive statements as to their effectiveness).

Away from all that, you'll get an intimate feel for the life of the POWs and their interactions with the local populations that they were, quite often, working for day in and day out. Here is where the fun stories and humanity come through the loudest: despite the rules, farm families were constantly giving the POWs extra food during long work days (strawberry shortcake parties were a hit) or having marksmanship competitions (yes, shocking, but it highlights the trusting bonds that were formed). Ameteis also relates how many POWs kept in touch for decades with their American friends and some - when able - emigrated to the US and moved to Nebraska to start new and successful lives after the war.

This last fact is less surprising -- Ameties points out that she could find no instances of prisoners complaining about their imprisonment. It seems that many POWs were happy to spend the duration of the war in POW camps (escape attempts were rare), the US military, largely, played by the rules and the local populations who employed the POWs were good to and happy with (actually, desperate for) the added manpower.

While WWII histories are usually about colossal battles, ideological and philosophical conflicts writ large, massive loss of life and treasure, geopolitical machinations and out-sized personalities and leaders, "Nebraska POW Camps" provides a poignant view into a very human, somewhat removed and, at times, quixotic corner of the 20th Century's defining war.

Thank you, thank you, for the wonderful review!!! I am so very glad that you enjoyed it.

 

[MisterCairo]

Reading for the umpteenth time my favourite novel, Bleak House.

 

[Retro Spectator]

Red Badge of Courage, and the New American Bible.

 

[AmateisGal]

War Bonds: Love Stories from the Greatest Generation by Cindy Hval

 

[Harp]

Considering Maureen Corrigan's So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures

 

[jamespowers]

Finally finished A Tree Grows in Brooklynn.

Ttotally disappointing. A completely disjointed and blind run through time with only one character being even slightly believable. Clearly it is semi-autobiographical but it is just disjointed. I hope she was never as over dramatic and airheaded as her main character is portrayed. :doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Still plugging along on the porch with Moby Dick. Getting into rough seas, but I intend to stay with it.

Meanwhile, in bed, I'm rereading Sinclair Lewis's "It Can't Happen Here," the 1936 "What If Huey Long Had Lived" satire/warning novel postulating the rise of a Fascist state. The first time I read this, about twenty years ago, I went thru it in a single sitting, so gripping was the story. What it lacks in suspense this time around it makes up in subtle humor, not the least of which stems from Lewis's Dickensian character names -- the Huey Long figure is "Senator Berzelius Windrip," who is in alliance with the Father Coughlin manque "Bishop Prang." The chief protagonist, a William Allen White-type newspaperman is "Doremus Jessup," while Windrip's sinister henchman is "Shad LeDue." An evil Windripite general, with more than a bit of MacArthur about him, is "Dewey Haik."

Lewis is an author who's considered dated and a bit preachy by many moderns, but when he's hitting on all six, as he is in this novel, he's hard to beat.

 

[Fading Fast]

Considering Maureen Corrigan's So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures

Somehow - as a big F. Scott fan - I missed this when it came out last year so thank you for pointing it out. I just added it to my long and expensive Amazon cart.

 

[esteban68]

I've just finished 'The Lost Luggage Porter' by Andrew Martin, a quaint crime thriller set in Victorian England and specifically in the north following a railway detective on a case involving murder, robbery and a trip over the channel to la belle France...a good interesting read.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

The Lady from Zagreb , the latest edition of Phillip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series.

 

[Fading Fast]

I've just finished 'The Lost Luggage Porter' by Andrew Martin, a quaint crime thriller set in Victorian England and specifically in the north following a railway detective on a case involving murder, robbery and a trip over the channel to la belle France...a good interesting read.

I just looked this up based on your recommendation and saw it is one of a series - have you read any of the others? Would you suggest any order / does it matter if you read the earlier ones first?

 

[AmateisGal]

Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade, a Cold War thriller. I just started it last night and was immediately hooked.

 

[Dennis Young]

Currently reading Matt Helm: the Silencers (by Donald Hamilton) I was pleasantly surprised to learn this book version of Helm was very different from Dean Martin's portrayal in the films. (Although I do love the Martin films)

 

[jamespowers]

Currently reading Matt Helm: the Silencers (by Donald Hamilton) I was pleasantly surprised to learn this book version of Helm was very different from Dean Martin's portrayal in the films. (Although I do love the Martin films)

Hey! Hey! There was nothing in the world like Matt Helm's morning orange juice.
https://youtu.be/Efo6ohuHC2w

 

[Fading Fast]

Currently reading "Finding Laura Buggs" by Stanely Gordon West who wrote "Until They Bring Back the Streetcars" (which I posted about when I read it, but basically is a novel set in the '50s in St. Paul that follows the life of a high school kid - very nostalgic, well written). "Laura Buggs" takes us back to the same high school and follows the life of another one of the kids. It's not a sequel or prequel, but a look at the same period through a different lens. These are nice, well-written, but not challenging, take-you-back-to-another-time books that are fun escape.

Also reading "Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World--from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief" by Tom Zellner which is a quixotic history of trains done in a "travel writer" style where the author takes trips on trains that were famous or meaningful in the development of trains and uses that to discuss the history, meaning, technology or past and present social or economic impact of the train. It's done in a very informal style that doesn't require you to be a "train geek," but just someone who has a small interest in trains and the people who build, maintain or ride them.

 

[pawineguy]

Just finished "The Thin Red Line" and starting a re-read of "The Fall of Berlin 1945" by Antony Beevor. Two brutal books, I'll need something light after this.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Not Automatic," a first-hand account of the founding of the United Auto Workers, as told by Sol and Genora Dollinger. There's a strong emphasis on the role of women in the founding of the union, which was much more substantial than is commonly understood, and Genora -- one of my personal heroines -- gives her first-person account of the drama behind the scenes at the GM Sit-Downs of 1936-37. Makes me proud to be a paid-up member of UAW Local 1981, The National Writers' Union.

 

[Bob Roberts]

"The Longest War" by Peter L. Bergen.