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Michael Hoffmann's avatar

Some interesting new books in the history and current affairs section of today's post, especially the book set in Ukraine where a homicidal Putin looms over all life. I finished reading "Warsaw Testament" by Rachel Auerbach, the last (and posthumously) published of her four books stemming from surviving the Warsaw ghetto during WWII. I found that the farther I read, the slower I read -- knowing the end game approached -- while she tolled the lost Jewish writers, artists, and intellectuals of Warsaw and Poland. Her book reminded me of Nadezhda Mandelstam's "Hope Against Hope" Vol. 1, which details life in Soviet Russia for writers and intellectuals during Stalin's ongoing purges over a quarter-century. Both Auerbach and Mandelstam were survivors who wrote for future generations which might not fully grasp the inhumanity of our species when given opportunity and the means. 

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Reader By The Water's avatar

I'm reading Things in Nature Merely Grow, and it is wrecking me.

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Jaymi “the OC BookGirl”'s avatar

Did you know about the subject matter before you started it? I can only imagine going in blind would be unsettling.

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Reader By The Water's avatar

I did know the subject. No one should go into this book blind, and I'm curious how it will be received. I keep thinking, "Did she really just say that?" Phew. Tough.

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Jaymi “the OC BookGirl”'s avatar

Now you’ve got me super curious!

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KatyLA's avatar

I saw the title The Joy Reset and I immediately realized I need this book.

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Jaymi “the OC BookGirl”'s avatar

That title grabbed me too. I can share my copy when you're out here next!

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