SUMMER READING

I almost never mention the books that I'm reading, even though I'm a voracious reader. I usually read at night, in bed. It's an effective way to forget my (many) problems - and I'd rather read than sleep.

Here are a few of the books I've read this summer. This is mostly a descriptive list - not exactly a review.

None of these books are new publications, but they're all still in print. Also, they are all non-fiction (my current favorite reading preference).

The first four are about survival and overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles. All are truly inspirational.

Adrift, by Steven Callahan

In January, 1982, 29-year-old American sailor Steven Callahan set out in a small sloop (which he built himself) from the Canary Islands, destined for the Caribbean.
Seven days later - in the middle of the night - a raging gale quickly sank his boat. He hardly had time to inflate the life raft and grab a few supplies.

For the next 76 days he drifted 1,800 miles alone in a five-foot leaky rubber raft, battling sharks and gales, and surviving on the few fish that he was able to catch (and eat raw).
A well-written and riveting account of horror and incredible determination.

All But My Life, by Gerda Weissmann Klein

A classic in Holocaust literature. Polish-born Gerda Weissmann's idyllic teenage life was shattered when the Nazis invaded Poland and confiscated her family's home and possessions. Gerda, along with her parents and brother, were sent to live in squalor in the Warsaw ghetto. Her family was eventually killed and she spent the next three years in German labor camps.

In early 1945 - in order to avoid the advance of the allied forces - Gerda was among 4,000 Jewish women  who were forced by the Nazis to walk from Poland to Czechoslovakia. This death march in the midst of winter covered over 350 miles and took three months. Of the 4,000 women, only 120 survived. By the time of their liberation in May, 1945, twenty-year-old Gerda was near starvation and weighed only 65 lbs.
Gerda eventually married one of her liberators, American Kurt Klein. At the time I'm writing this post, she is still alive at age 95. 

A Square of Sky, by Janina David

This beautifully written memoir of Janina David (Dawidowicz) is actually two books - A Square of Sky and A Touch of Earth. She came from a prosperous Jewish family in Poland. By the time she was ten, her family was on the verge of starvation - living in a tiny room in the Warsaw ghetto.
In a desperate effort to save her life, Janina's parents sent her to live with family friends (she never saw her parents again). When things became too dangerous, Janina obtained false identity papers and escaped to a Catholic convent, where she lived under an assumed name and hid her Jewish identity.
Written with optimism and without bias, this story is a testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.  Janina David presently lives in England and is 89 years old.

Tears in the Darkness,
by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman

I initially didn't think I'd like this book - - the subject of World War II in the Philippines didn't particularly interest me - -  but it was a surprisingly good read - an intensely fascinating and extremely well-researched account. 

It deals with the takeover of the Philippines by the Japanese Imperial Army, and the brutal treatment and extreme suffering of the American and Filipino prisoners of war. 

The story focuses on soldier Ben Steele, a young cowboy and aspiring artist  from Montana, who was innocently caught up in the unspeakable horrors and lived to tell about it. In April, 1942, Steele - along with thousands of other soldiers - was forced to make  the infamous 65 mile death march from Mariveles to San Fernando. The abuse and torture that these prisoners endured during the march, in the prison camps, and on the "hell ships" is meticulously related in terrifying detail.

What makes this book unique is that it gives a humane and unbiased account of both the American and Japanese sides of the situation.

This post is getting longer than I intended, but I'll include a few more books.

The Last Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky


I have always been fascinated with the history of Imperial Russia and studied (and performed) Russian music when I was a music student. 
I've also read an enormous amount of books about Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, who - along with their five children - were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

The Last Tsar is unique in that it is written by a native Russian - playwright Edvard Radzinsky - who had access to the (formerly secret) Russian archives and was able to obtain much previously unknown information concerning the Tsar's life and execution. 
It is also presented in a beautiful English translation from the Russian by Marian Schwartz. 

Nijinsky by Richard Buckle

Caution: this book will only appeal to the hardcore balletomane. 
Even though it's a biography of the legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, it also heavily concentrates on the history of Serge Diaghilev's famous Ballets Russes - which includes every aspect of all the ballets in the repertoire, and interesting information about the principle dancers including Tamara Karsavina, Mikhail Fokine, Leonide Massine, and Nijinsky's sister Bronislava.
Meticulously researched.

Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters
by Justin G. Turner and Linda Levitt Turner

I've read this book before but I'm presently reading it again - and absorbing more than I did the first time.
The wife of President Abraham Lincoln happened to be born on my birthday - December 13th.
Do we share anything in common?
Fiercely opinionated, unpredictable, enigmatic, often misunderstood, intelligent........fascinating......


This is definitely the most comprehensive and painstakingly researched biography of Mary Lincoln available, which is reinforced with the power of her own words in her letters (all of her known letters are included in this volume). 

In essence, she was a tragic figure. Her mother died when she was seven. Her father quickly remarried and produced nine more children, which overshadowed Mary's existence. Her later life was shattered by the deaths of two of her beloved sons, Eddy and Willie. Her life was destroyed by the assassination of her husband, which happened at the beginning of his second term of presidency in 1865.

The death of a third son Thomas (known as Tad) in 1871 sent her over the edge and greatly increased her erratic and often bizarre behavior. In 1875, her eldest (and only surviving) son Robert had her committed to an insane asylum in Illinois. She was released the following year. Her final years were spent wandering through Europe and battling increasingly bad health. She died at her sister's home in 1882 at the age of 63.


This post was more damn trouble than it's worth. I didn't bother to check for typos, which probably abound.