Back to school books
Even though local schools head back obnoxiously early around here, September still feels like the true back-to-school month. It’s still not cozy-up-and-read weather, but surely we’re getting closer!
Here’s a look at the four books I read this month.
Week 1: Children of Nazis by Tania Crasniaski
An uncomfortable read, yet fascinating. The author devotes a chapter to the children of each of eight high-ranking Nazis. Some referred to Hitler as Uncle Adolf and others were even named for him.
All children of privilege, their post-war stories are of torment. For some, it’s due to the loss of their beloved father and for others it’s the shame and horror of knowing what their fathers did. In some families, the siblings were divided in how they viewed their father’s legacy.
One of Albert Speer’s daughters explained she didn’t feel guilt, as she was only a child during the Holocaust. However, she felt great shame for what her father – called “the Devil’s Architect” – had done. She dealt with this shame by selling her inherited wealth of ill-gotten artwork and using the money to create a charity to support Jewish women in their artistic endeavors.
Week 2. All Souls by Michael Patrick MacDonald
This was another tough book to get through. Gary bought me All Souls several years ago and it remained near the top of my “read upon retirement” stack.
The reference on the front cover to Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela’s Ashes is misleading, I’m sorry to say. This memoir lacks the warmth and unexpected humor McCourt somehow charmed into his troubled tale.
Instead, I dreaded each new chapter of All Souls, just as I had with Tobacco Road so many years ago. The descendants of Irish immigrants on the south side of Boston struggled mightily during the 1960s and ’70s as forced busing, absent fathers, drugs, and crime nearly destroyed the neighborhoods, which were soon overtaken by mobster Whitey Bulger.
Toward the end of the book, though, there’s hope. Young Michael somehow fights his way out of the abject poverty and seemingly hopeless criminal situations and saves his very soul.
Week 3: Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam, Jr.
If you’ve seen the wonderful movie October Sky, you already know the true story of young Homer Hickam and his dreams to, along with four schoolmates, enter the Space Race from their poor coal-mining town in West Virginia.
As is nearly always the case, the book is even better than the movie; we get to know sweet, smart Homer as he describes his high school years and how a supportive mother and forward-thinking teachers kept him aiming for the stars.
Week 4: A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Shortly before Gary’s birthday, I told him about a Vanity Fair article I’d just read about Truman Capote. That touched off a memory of a movie Gary’d seen on television years and years ago. He remembered it was about Truman as a young boy, going pecan-hunting with his distant (in age and relation) cousin in order to make Christmas fruitcakes for friends, including one President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Gary has a soft spot in his heart for the original John-Boy Walton film, The Homecoming. The Capote television movie from long ago rests in that same spot.
A quick search on Roku was discouraging. Happily, the book was easy to find, and arrived in time for Gary’s birthday. Amazon also led the way to a DVD of the TV movie, which was part of the ABC Studio 67 series. What a great birthday surprise!
We decided to wait to watch the movie – starring Geraldine Page – during our next visit to Connecticut (we’ve just returned). The warmth of the sweet story, coupled with the voice of Truman Capote as narrator, could only have been surpassed by the fact that my parents also remembered watching A Christmas Memory on television back in December of 1966. We lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, then … a thousand miles away from a young farm boy who would someday become their only daughter’s treasured husband.
Onward to October! I’m thinking we could build one of those cute Tiny Houses out of all the books I’ve set aside for retirement reading.
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