The World At Large

I have recently tried to make a conscious effort to read more.  I used to read all the time, and that habit sadly has fallen by the wayside.  So I’ve decided to try to have at least an hour each night to read and practice German.  (Which has not happened much in the past couple of weeks either.  I feel terrible and will never learn anything at this rate.) 

I did use the snow days we had a few weeks ago to read a great deal.  It was wonderful.  I finished one book, read another book in its’ entirety, and began a third book.  Two of them were very interesting, the other was just a short mindless fiction that isn’t worth describing.

The first book, “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” by Diane Ackerman details the life of the Warsaw zookeeper and his wife (if you couldn’t figure that out on your own) during WWII.  They were well known and respected for their zoo.  The zookeeper, Jan, was very involved in the Underground, and the family saves over 300 Jewish people by hiding them on the grounds of the zoo or in their house until they can be moved to a safer place.  It was a very stressful thing to do, for anyone who saved Jews (or anyone else who was discriminated against) but they were in the heart of Warsaw and constantly surrounded by German soldiers.  It was very easy to read, and written more like a novel than a history book. 

I’m currently working on “Sin in the Second City:  Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul” by Karen Abbott.  This book is fascinating.  It’s about the most famous brothel in Chicago in the early 1900′s, the Everleigh Club.  It was run by two sisters who were born in Virginia, though the details of their early life are not well known or completely confirmed.  It was a swanky place-you had to have a lot of money to be a patron of the club, and to work there you had to be the best of the best.  (There was a waiting list to work at Everleigh!)  This book has it all-sex, drugs, backstabbing (the figurative kind, although I’m sure the literal kind was to be found somewhere), reformers, overdoses-the list goes on.  While the Everleigh Club was in operation, the move to end white slavery and the trade in women began.  It’s interesting to see how the red light district, the police force, politicians, lawyers, clergymen, and madams are all intertwined.  I highly recommend this book.

And on a side note, we did see a great film a couple of weeks ago.  “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges was playing at the Naro.  I had heard a little about it, and I knew Jeff Bridges was nominated for an Oscar for this performance.  It’s about a washed up country music singer, which Jeff Bridges plays brilliantly.  All of the actors were good, and I also enjoyed the music.  (I even downloaded a couple of the songs from Itunes once we got home.)  I have not seen all the performances by those nominated for leading actor so I can’t say that Jeff Bridges deserves to win, but he did a great job. 

I’m not sure what book I’ll begin next.  I’m thinking about “Revolutionary Road.”  I saw the movie last year and it was well done.  It was an uncomfortable movie for the most part, so I’m curious to see how the book reads.  Of course, I have a huge stack of books that I bought from Walden’s before they went out of business, so I have many more options.  I just hope I’m able to squeeze in that little bit of time each day to get through some of them.