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My new years resolution, SPEED READ a book a day, of books of little interest to me, to clear out my library. The curious thing about this one is that usually, reading at that speed is zilch for recall till about 6 months later of what was read......but I dreampt about it during a nap today!
I suppose if I gave it an entertainment chance, which is not what speed read is all about, it could be something more than the book one use to pick up to read on the overseas flight.
I just finished Ben-Gurion by Michael Bar-Zohar. I never tire of reading books focused around the founding of the modern State of Israel. Indeed, one of the book's disappointments is not exploring how Ben-Gurion unilaterally picked the Jewish State's name when he announced its independence of May 15, 1948. I have often wondered why it was named Israel rather than after Israel's more successful sister kingdom, Judah. Indeed, we call ourselves Jews after the kingdom of Judah.
This book is a miraculous story about a miraculous man. Compared to most authorized biographies it is far from a hagiography. It does not elevate Ben-Gurion in death above what he was in life. Indeed, the description of the Lavon Affair and the beginning of his tragic, though inevitable decline was brutally honest.
A few quibbles. Like most biographies this book spends too much time on the subject's younger days, which were just not that different from other people's younger days. Like books about other prominent statesmen, too much time is spent discussing tawdry extramarital affairs, and the ebb and flow of marriages.
I will not spoil the book for others. The real shame is that most newly independent countries, after WW II, could not have been blessed with a totally incorruptible man of courage and, despite flaws, decency.
Interesting-- I see the book originally published before his death in 1973 but the newer editions are from 2013. I am definitely going to try to read this. I have only seen some clips of newsreels about him, so I'm really curious to read in depth about him. I did go to his very modest home which is a museum of sorts on Kibbutz Sde Boker.
A Year by the Sea....Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman by Joan Anderson.
Randomly picked up on the used bookshelf at the supermarket -for $1!!!. It could have been written for me. Every single page resonates with emotions and feelings I've experienced in the last couple of years. It's astonishing but it's also motivation for me to get my groove back. Like Stella
I also just started reading Biloxi Boys by John Grisham (LOVE him) given to me as a gift. It's already really good as are all his books IMO.
Totally worth every cent. It's hilarious and heartbreaking.
I looked up that book and it looks like a must-read for me. What an arresting title--shocking, really--yet those of us who grew up under the thumb of a terminally manipulative mother totally get how honest that statement is.
Sad that's how it was, yes. But an undeniably true emotion.
Now to see if any of the local libraries has it...
I just finished reading Evicted by Matthew Desmond. He won 7 book awards for this book and a Pulitzer Prize. If you're curious to see what hell if like, read this book, what all goes on with evictions nationwide, altho' this book focused on Milwaukee, the most segregated city in the coutry, and their hellish North Side slum and some slummy areas south of the city.
Some tenants are fearful calling 911 for domestic violence, as landlords don't want the police coming to their properties, and with 3 911 calls, you can be evicted.
And if you've had a prior eviction, then it makes it harder to find another place to live.
At one house, being foreclosed, 5 children were living there, mother was dead, no father in sight and they were surviving on dumpster diving for food.
So if you haven't been massively depressed for awhile, and miss being massively depressed, this is the book for you!
I also just started reading Biloxi Boys by John Grisham (LOVE him) given to me as a gift. It's already really good as are all his books IMO.
Oh! I was terribly disappointed in that book and I love Grisham. I wonder what your opinion will be once you've finished it.
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Ben-Gurion by Michael Bar-Zohar
