What BOOK are you reading right now?

I just started Driving over Lemons. I'm not sure yet if it's A Year in Provence knock-off. A few more hours will tell.

I liked Driving over Lemons much better than Y in P, gee, even the title;

What a relief to be able to log on! This forum has been sticky today.

The French book I'm reading is called Marxism and the French Left by Tony Judt.

plainoldme,

I've read some of Tony Judt's excellent essays in the NY Review of Books. Is this book written in French?

The book is in English! When I was in France, I was able to read the Routard guide to Brittany and, a few years earlier in Montreal, I read movie reviews in French. I also read one scholarly article in French for my thesis . . . but, I am not up to an entire book!!

What I'm reading now
Just started volume 2 of "Hitler 1936 -1945 Nemesis" by Ian Kershaw. Volume 1 has a very disturbing last chapter: "Working towards the Fuhrer" that is frightening in the parallels I detect in America's seeming enthusiasm for President Bush. I have found that period of history to be most interesting and Kershaw illuminates it brilliantly.

Interesting thought, kul91, re parallels between the enthusiasm for Hitler and warm feelings for Bush now. While I don't think we're on the verge of a totalitarian takeover here, it's clear to me that we live on the same planet as those who supported Hitler back then. What I mean is, the appeal of politicians who wrap themselves in the flag and offer easy answers isn't a new phenomenon.

On a lighter note, I just started "The Optimist's Daughter" by Eudora Welty.

Mention of Kershaw's bio sent me to Amazon from which I excerpt one paragraph in a reader's review:

"Perhaps equally as interesting as how Hitler used his power is Kershaw's analysis of how he held on to it. Kershaw convincingly argues that following the defeat at Stalingrad, the German people lost faith in the 'heroic' image of Hitler. There was a growing awareness and acceptance that the war was lost and yet people continued with support for Hitler. He remained fully in control, soldiers continued to fight, and people continued to sacrifice and die for his cause. The July 1944 bomb-plot, planned in the belief that there was support for his removal, we know, failed. Kershaw shows that this brought about an immediate reversal of fortunes for Hitler. His popularity once again surged. Puzzling. A notion which is all too frequent when we investigate any aspect of Hitler's life and his relationship with the German people. Perhaps the greatest puzzle remains, even after this biography. How could a man so patently evil be afforded so much power and be so venerated? Indeed it remains a mystery and a question for others to answer as it is an issue that Kershaw does not tackle."

Tartarin: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen does attempt an answer (convincingly I believe) in "Hitler's Willing Executioners - Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust".
I just started here and am gratified a "seasoned member" noticed my post. Thanks.

I'm pretty newly seasoned, Kul, just talkative!! Forgot to welcome you warmly -- welcome! Didn't Goldhagen catch some hell for his views? Perhaps Walter Hinteler, another seasoned member and a German, will weigh in here. Have you read Arendt? The complications of Hitler's popularity lie deep in human nature (as do the origins of Bush's following). These aspects of human nature are areas many don't want to know about. I always refer to Fromm and Arendt but I'm looking forward to reading Kershaw. The psychology of followership is fascinating.

I read Arendt not too long ago. Of course, she caught a lot of hell over her ideas (and she still does, post-humously), but I think she has a lot to say. There are those who have a vested interest in viewing what happened back then as somehow uniquely evil. Arendt said otherwise. Stanley Milgram, in his somewhat infamous experiment in the U.S. after the war, showed that people will often follow orders even when it's clear they're inflecting pain on innocent people.

Anyhow, an interesting digression in this thread. And, yes, welcome, kul!

Well, I agree, D'art. I remember back in the days when Arendt's views were subject to automatic, angry dismissal, I thought that was really stupid and unjust. Haven't read her lately and should reread. You mean the electric shock experiment? And then there were the blue eyes/brown eyes experiments in schools...

On the liberal side of the equation (mine), there has been a tremendous amount of denial -- "they are like that, we are not." Well, we all are, or have the potential, and our failure(s) to address that have really held us back. Kul -- do you have that Arendt essay on tap? D'art? I kept it SOMEWHERE. Could be anywhere, buried in dust... Let sleeping dogs...

Just as coq au vin is a digression from boiled chicken, our digressions contain a lot of pleasure and nourishment!!

I think we're talking about the same experiment, Tartarin. Milgram tricked his subjects into thinking they were administering electric shocks to other people (in another room). The "shocks" were administered as punishment for wrong answers. The unwitting subjects kept triggering ever more painful shocks, even when the supposed subjects were screaming and passing out. Scary stuff!

I have Arendt's book: "Eichmann in Jerusalem". It was based on articles she wrote for the New Yorker. Let me know if you'd like to borrow...

Thanks, D'art -- I may take you up on that! But I have a kind of physical memory that it was not the New Yorker but something along the lines of Encounter or... what else was I reading in those days...?? Life is one long senior moment...

How is Optimist? I have it. I have a 1st. But have I read it? No. I think my favorite short story of all times (a wild exaggeration, I realize, as I think of Chekhov..) is Why I Live At The PO. Just writing the title out gets my juices going...

I loved that story, too. I'm enjoying "Optimist". It's moving slowly, which is interesting as it's a short novel. But I like the pacing--perfect for a warm summer day...

I love Why I Live at the P.O.! It's definitely my favorite Welty story.

Love coq au vin!! Which, by the way, is easy to prepare and is a wonderful winter dish.

Love this discussion. I think people my age (56) were turned off by WWII stories when we were kids. As adults, with some life experience and a little knowledge, we find the subject much more interesting and I think it is now time for us to evaluate that period.

There have been some interesting and compelling programs on public television about the war. One, narrated by actor Tim Piggot-Smith could not have been more disliked by the American audiences but my son and I found we could not stop watching. Another dealing with the escapes of British POWs was fascinating: these men, now in their late 70s and early 80s were amazingly sharp and had fascinating stories to tell.

Being TV-challenged as I am, Plain, I didn't see the Tim Pigot-Smith program (but think he's terrific), and wonder what it was which Americans found off-putting?

I'm reading Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace, first time I've read a book by an american author, it's odd.

Tartarin,
My 18 y/o son and I were mesmerized by the show which featured PiggotSmith narrating (truly an actor that we do not see enough of) while the screen presented maps, statistics and some old footage as well as stills. A few people told me they found the show dull.

Dux,
Since Lew Wallace was a 19th C American, perhaps that is why you find the book odd. Maybe a more recent writer will be more to your taste. Wallace was not considered a literary writer but a populist like some of today's blockbuster authors.