recent reads:
ll our longest days: a people's history of ww2 ll
this is about the mass-observation project that began in britain in 1937 and ended in the 60's. the project's aim: to record daily life in britain. thus, an archive was created (now housed @ sussex universitiy) thanks to the hundreds of volunteers (approx.500) who kept journals of their daily life. luckily (or interestingly, rather) they captured the second world war as it happened to them. this is simply a compilation spanning the war years from several of these individuals, both men and women of all ages, who wrote about the war. i enjoyed it very much, and i wish i could replace every history textbook with works like this. what better way to remember history than from real people?
ll the dew breaker ll by edwidge danticat
a "dew breaker" is a creole nickname for torturer. this web of glimpses into haitian/american lives surrounding the political climate and strife during and after jean claude-duvalier's gruesome 15 year dictatorship, devotes its pages to healing, nurturing and ways of filling the empty spaces. it is not uplifting, but powerful in its purpose.
currently reading:
ll the river wife ll by jonis agee
it's marketed as an historical fiction novel, leaning towards chick lit.--but it deviates from both of those models and it's sort of it s own epic saga . for example, it isn't bogged down with minute details of rote things to appease our curiosity of "how things were back then." no detailed descriptions of butter churning, or carriage rides that demonstrate the authors vast research. still, it is apparent that things are happening in the 19th century. and it isn't the typical chick lit kind of read either, it deals with issues that span a lifetime, not just the modern working woman. true and dirty human emotion is a strong thread throughout the lives of the women, both in love and loss. what has caught my attention is the deep symbolism given to rivers, and the processes of construction and destruction on many levels-- houses, hopes, lives, dreams, pain, love... yes, yes, it is a great piece of escapistic literature (and this function is a very good thing, it's nice to get lost in another's story and think for a bit, unfettered....)
