Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Welcome to My New Blog

I've been thinking about starting a blog now for months, figuring it would be a lot easier than emailing those of you who are always asking for a good book to read.  Hence this new blog!  No doubt other blogs like this exist, but this is mine, and if you are reading it, you know me (or of me) and you know a little bit about where my recommendations are coming from. 
This blog is intended as a place for you to find book recommendations, as well as a venue to recommend to others books that you have read and loved.  Please comment on my posts or email me with your good reads!
As this is my very first post, I will begin with a book that is not new but is a very old favorite of my own.  Strictly speaking, it's a pair of books that should be read one after the other:  The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk.  Some of you will have read (or were compelled to read) The Caine Mutiny or Marjorie Morningstar by the same author; the writing style is more or less the same but the story he tells in the War series is far more historical and epic.
The Winds of War introduces the reader to Victor Henry, a naval officer, during the 1930's and the slow build-up to World War II.  As the books go through the story of the Henry family, in a sort of soap-opera-ish way, Wouk intersperses the plot with chapters (fictionally written by General Armin von Roon, a supporting character) of straight history, written from the German's point of view.  The history segments are very accurate; Wouk appears to have done an incredible amount of research in order to write this book.  These sections serve the purpose of setting a historical backdrop to the story itself.
The actual plot, the Henry family and their various experiences throughout the World War II period, is fairly riveting -- most of the characters are well-drawn and complex enough that the reader is left thinking of them as real people.  This book has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager, and I re-read it periodically.  Every time I read it I find something new in it, or something new in my reaction to it.  Parts of it are extremely moving, and it's clear that Wouk meant this as an evocative work.  Read it and let me know what you think!

3 comments:

  1. Hm... I'm not sure you read faster than I do, but I'll let it go for now.

    Great idea, and in your first post you've already introduced me to some new reads!

    Nechama

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  2. Will you also be recommending books for lawyers lacking a decent English high school education -albeit receiving a superb Hebrew education- who happen to enjoy such classics as Encyclopedia Brown, the Hardy Boys, New York Post, and Sports Illustrated?

    A Certain Lawyer in Connecticut

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  3. I am a voracious reader too, but it seems I don't have time for much more than the newspaper these days. Thanks for the inspiration.

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