Dispatches from Home – What Are You Reading?

Greetings! In the past year, I’ve read the following books—or tried to. I’m a slow reader and don’t always retain much of what I read. I wish my tiny brain was bigger and smarter. Have you read any of these books?

Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past” – Yikes! Tried wading through this tome, but didn’t get past the first couple of chapters of his seven volumes. Challenging, hard read…High Victorian literature for sure.

Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Grey” – I love Wilde’s plays! This book was a hard read, too. It’s written in High Victorian phraseology, beautiful but difficult. The book I read had a slew of sidebars, which informed the reader about what was happening in Wilde’s life at the time, along with historical events. The additional information helped me journey through dear Oscar’s tortured life and onward to its tragic end.

Frederick Douglass’ “An American Slave” – Easy, fascinating read about the “true” days of slavery. I love “Gone with the Wind,” but it’s a love story, not a history book. One of the many sad parts of the book was Douglass’s accounts of visiting pastors, who came to visit his masters, preaching love out of one side of their mouths and treating him like…well…a slave. Sad.

James Allen’s “Without Sanctuary” – Lynching Photography in America. This book brought tears to my eyes. It portrays a sad, sad part of our great country’s history. This book is not for the faint of heart!

Robert Jay Lifton’s “The Nazi Doctors-Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide” – I first read this in 1990. This was my third re-read. For those who know me, you know that I’m like a moth to flame when it comes to Nazi Germany. In a span of 12 years, how could a fat, WWI flying ace, a champagne salesman, a washed-up writer, a chicken farmer, along with a second-rate artist, practically destroy one of the most civilized countries in Europe, the land of Beethoven, Brahms, and Goethe? How could such evil take root and almost succeed? The brutality written about in this book will take your breath away.

Dr. David Jeremiah’s “Escape the Coming Night- A Message of Hope in a Time of Crisis” – After reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation again, I’m now reading this book about the end times that are mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Many churches think Revelation was written for 1st Century Christians only and is not a prophecy of what will happen when the current world ends. I for one don’t. Revelation is a strange book with some strange stuff in it! Dr. Jeremiah does an excellent job of explaining it all!

Take care, Literary Gaters, and stay safe!!

(Originally posted March 28, 2020)