#841 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday January 23)
Good morning,
Last week marked the last of the “books by the decades” that I’ve shared over the past ten weeks. Having covered the 1930s through the 2020s (one hundred years of reading!), I thought I would keep with the once-a-week sharing of books for a little while longer, each time following a particular theme.
The first of these themed lists is the “book club books,” intended to spark conversation (and even heated debate!). Ron Stern and I have been hosting a Zoom book club, which meets roughly quarterly, since the onset of the Covid lockdown. A good part of the fun is when Ron and I argue with each other over which book to choose for the next selection. We try to choose books that are told from an unfamiliar perspective, that might offer insights into our current moment, and that people might not ordinarily choose. It is a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
Here are the 18 books that we have read over these past few years (so far!), all of which I can recommend:
The Orientalist, by Tom Reiss. Part biography and part history—in sections over that time. As you’ll see, there’s a tremendous amount to discuss as the author reveals aspect of Jewish and world history as the protagonist makes his way around the Caucuses, the early days of Soviet Russia, and Italy and Germany in the inter-war period, all in a part of the world that few of us know much about. Here’s an excerpt from the Kindle review: “the true story of a Jew who transformed himself into a Muslim prince in Nazi Germany. Lev Nussimbaum escaped the Russian Revolution in a camel caravan and, as “Essad Bey,” became a celebrated author with the enduring novel Ali and Nino as well as an adventurer, a real-life Indiana Jones with a fatal secret. Reiss pursued Lev’s story across ten countries and found himself caught up in encounters as dramatic and surreal–and sometimes as heartbreaking–as his subject’s life.” 2020.
The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson. Here’s a conversation with the author on CBS this morning about the book. You can also read a review here. A historical novel about one of the world’s all time great leaders and his family life during the blitz, as well how a look at this time of upheaval and world war speaks to us about our own times. Larson’s prodigious skills at historical novels based upon actual events are evident in his other books, Thunderstruck (the stories of a murderer on a transatlantic cruise and Marconi, the inventor of the radio), The Devil in the White City (the well reviewed bestseller of a serial killer and the Chicago World’s Fair during the Gilded Age) and In the Garden of Beasts (centered around the story of America’s first ambassador Nazi Germany and his family life amidst the rise of Hitler in 1933-34). 2020
An Officer and a Spy, by Robert Harris. Historical fiction of the Dreyfus Affair as the backdrop, but told from the point of view of the French officer who helped prosecute then later exonerate Dreyfus. The book shows the French military, government, society and press all wrestling with the flimsy case against Alfred Dreyfus, together with the rigidity of the system and Dreyfus himself. Better to send one innocent Jew to a prison island than admit to the flaws in the system and that a true traitor was allowed to thrive in the French military. When one defends the defenseless, one becomes a target as well. Try also The Affair by Jean-Denis Bredin. As for Harris, one of his best is Fatherland, an alternative history where Germany wins the Second World War. 2020
Apeirogon, by Colum McCann. Here’s the review in the Washington Post. And an excerpt from the Goodreads entry: “McCann crafts Apeirogon out of a universe of fictional and nonfictional material. He crosses centuries and continents, stitching together time, art, history, nature, and politics in a tale both heartbreaking and hopeful. Musical, cinematic, muscular, delicate, and soaring, Apeirogon is a novel for our time.” The protagonists are a Jewish Israeli father and a Palestinian father, whose children are lost during the conflict. McCann also wrote the phenomenal National Book Award winning Let the Great World Spin. As McCann stated in that book, “…there is still an invisible tight-rope wire that we all walk, with equally high stakes, only it is hidden to most, and only one inch off the ground.” 2020
The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride. This is the story of the famed abolitionist, John Brown, known for fighting in “Bleeding Kansas,” the precursor to the Civil War, and leading the ill-fated raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. The novel, which I’m about to start, has as its central conceit the fictitious character of Henry, a young Black boy, whom John Brown mistakes for a girl. It’s a picaresque story, seen through the eyes of Henry (or Henrietta), a sort of Huck Finn-esque character. The great Daveed Diggs (who played Lafayette and Jefferson in the musical, Hamilton) plays Frederick Douglass. This is a smart and entertaining story, starring Ethan Hawke, who advocated for this production, as John Brown. It allegedly is a non-preachy, yet moving and instructive, a story of slavery, the abolitionist movement, religion, and zealotry in antebellum America. It was very well reviewed by the New York Times, The New Yorker, and others. Here is a great article in Slate about the historical accuracy and inaccuracy of the book and miniseries: What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in The Good Lord Bird. McBride also wrote the critically acclaimed Deacon King Kong. 2020
War: How it Shaped Us, by Margaret MacMillan. You can read the positive review of the book here if you get the New York Times digital. This book is an interesting exploration of why human beings fight, how wars begin, how they are fought, and how they affect citizens, history, and memory. We think this book, one of the New York Times’s best books of 2020, will make for a good discussion of history, conflict and the human condition. If you like MacMillan’s writing, definitely also try Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, about the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I, when the four victorious “great powers” carved up the map of the world. Their decisions affect our world to this day. 2021
Hidden Valley Road, by Robert Kolker. This book takes on the challenging issue of mental health in an engaging and revealing way, describing evolving theories of mental health through the remarkable story of a family of 12 children, six of whom developed schizophrenia. The issue of nature vs. nurture is one that has perplexed generations of physicians, psychologists, and scientists! Schizophrenia is among the most debilitating and least understood of mental illnesses. As difficult as these issues are to speak about, it is vital that we are well informed about the challenges faced by individuals and families – and most importantly the dangers that untreated mental illness presents to our communities. Our group touched on Jewish tradition and its complicated relationship with mental health. Perhaps Jewish inquisitiveness about our existence and our souls has driven so many Jews—beginning with Freud—to the study of mental health. 2021
We Germans, by Alexander Starritt. This short but powerful book packs quite a punch and a review can be read here. Looking at the Shoah through the eyes of a German descendant of a Nazi is an interesting perspective, as accustomed as we are to viewing its legacy through Jewish eyes. The conceit of the book is that it is a long letter from a grandfather to his grandson, telling the story of his experiences as a soldier for the Reich on the eastern front. He rationalizes and explains that he was not a Nazi. The grandson’s voice enters to consider how the story affects him. Here’s an excellent review: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/books/review/we-germans-alexander-starritt.html
Should We Stay or Should We Go?, by Lionel Shriver. The book begins with the story of a husband and wife who have lived through the aging and death of their parents. Having witnessed these events, they contemplate their own future, sometimes in a humorous way. The upshot is a decision to end their own lives, together, at a prescribed date at which they believe they will begin their inevitable decline. They talk about the end of life, decisions that loom before us all and a decision they consider in trying to take control of events themselves. Read a review here. Often a topic that many of us avoid contemplating, this book invites speculation about the variety of ways we can assert agency in our own mortality. It shows the multiple emotions and possibilities, as well as unforeseen considerations through several different endings to the story. (The book isn’t as dark as it might seem! And be warned, if you or a loved one are facing such decisions this conversation could be triggering.) 2021
People Love Dead Jews, by Dara Horn A description of the book can be found on the author’s website (here). This is an insightful, often disturbing, thought-provoking exploration of the world’s attitudes towards the Jewish community. You may not agree with every point Horn raises, but her exquisite writing and poignant story telling will draw you in and leave you with much to contemplate. It generated some powerful conversation. 2022
The Plague, by Albert Camus. In my mind, one of the greatest novels ever written. This seminal novel can be viewed as a meditation on individual strength and cowardice, a consideration of the role of faith, an allegory for the resistance in the face of the Nazis (the setting is in the 40s), the powerless of the individual, what it means to be part of a community, idealism in the face of a dark reality, and how some semblance of society, human decency and control can be maintained in the face of such devastation—it’s all there! The novel is set in Oran, Algeria, which was the site of prior bouts of the plague in the 16th and 17th centuries and a cholera outbreak in the 19th century. While the protagonists represent a number of French archetypes, the setting is in a place that, while Francophone, is both French and “not quite French.” 2022
The Passenger, by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz. The story of a not-too-particularly-religious Jewish businessman is confronted with the slow erosion of rights and changing perspectives and actions of people around him during the ascendant days of the Nazi regime. Through the story of a man leaving his home through being a passenger on trains around Germany as he tries to sort out his circumstances, this book provides a compelling glimpse into Jewish life in Germany shortly before some of the most extreme policies of the Nazi regime went into effect. As a period piece it is notable for its snapshot in time without the benefit of hindsight, which is characteristic of subsequent publications. We trust that you will find it compelling and no doubt disturbing. It no doubt will spark conversation. 2022
The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family, by Joshua Cohen. It is a laugh inducing, satirical, non-historical account of a visit by the famous family to a fictious college in New York state. It won the Pulitzer Prize. In interviews, the author has acknowledged that in its pages he intended a subtle commentary on current American and Israeli society as well as the complexity of Jewish identity in both. You can read a selection of reviews here. 2022
American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins. It's a book that has been described as everything from "trauma porn" to a poignant exploration of the migrant experience on the United States' southern border. While the story is compelling and well written, the true complexity of this novel is in the debate it raises of who should tell the stories of others. As an Oprah Book Club recommendation, it was warmly embraced by many critics at first. But then as the debate evolved regarding whether a white woman could write the story of immigrant Latinos, many of those were proponents became detractors. We'll enter into the debate ourselves and wrestle with the question of who tells our stories. 2022
White Noise, by Don DeLillo. It is a classic National Book Award winner by Don Delillo. Noah Boambach recently adapted and directed the book for a film starring Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver. The protagonist is a professor of Hitler studies at a fictitious American university. It explores consumer culture, families, religion, the influence of media (circa 1985 with obvious implications for today), and ruminations about death, as well as the effect of unforeseen catastrophe. 2023
When the Stars Begin to Fall, by Ted Johnson. A thoughtful critique of America’s complicated history with race, written by an a scholar who served in our armed forces and now teaches. From a review: When the Stars Begin to Fall makes a compelling, ambitious case for a pathway to the national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism. Weaving memories of his own and his family’s multi-generational experiences with racism, alongside strands of history, into his elegant narrative, Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society―not a color-blind one―is the true fulfillment of the American Promise.” 2023
Such Kindness, by Andre Dubus III. This is the story of an unusual protagonist and the people with whom he interacts—people different from most of us, who find themselves in extremis through bad decisions, bad luck, and bad policies, from The New York Times: “Tom Lowe is, well, low. Destitute. About as close to rock bottom as he can get. He was once a successful carpenter with his own business, a gorgeous house he designed and built himself — with the help of an (eventually disastrous) adjustable-rate mortgage — and a wife and child he adored. Now he’s divorced, estranged from his 19-year-old son and living in Section 8 housing in Amesbury, Mass.” Tom is unable to work, finding himself contemplating crime and ultimately finding value in a life where value is hard to find. This is a view of a world many of us don’t inhabit and a protagonist who in many ways has some familiar woes. 2023
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride. This latest gem by McBride (author of Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird) does not disappoint. The story of an early to mid-20th century Jewish neighborhood of Philadelphia that gives way to a predominantly Black neighborhood. A great murder mystery, exploration of the ways of life, interactions, and speech of both Black and Jewish communities. A great, literate review in The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/06/books/review/the-heaven-and-earth-grocery-store-james-mcbride.html 2023
A Tale of Love and Darkness, by Amos Oz. The book “is a memoir that was first published in Hebrew in 2002 and has since been translated into 28 languages. The book is a family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation and lived through its turbulent history. It tells the story of a boy growing up in the war-torn Jerusalem of the forties and fifties, in a small apartment crowded with books in twelve languages and relatives speaking nearly as many. It has been highly acclaimed and has won several awards, including the National Jewish Book Award. 2024
Pick one and have a great read!
Warmly,
Glenn