More Books I’ve Read & Liked

Emmanuel Carrère The Mustache & Class Trip

Philip Weiss American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corp

Lawrence Schiller  Into the Mirror: the Life of Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town; Cape May Courthouse, American Tragedy (some of these are collaborations with other authors.)

Vincent Bugliosi Helter Skelter, And the Sea Will Tell, Outrage: the Five Reasons OJ Simpson Got Away With Murder

David Sheff Beautiful Boy

Matt Birkbeck A Beautiful Child

Jack Olsen The Bridge at Chappaquiddick

Salinger: A Catcher in the Rye

Frank Conroy Stop Time

Tom Grimes Mentor

Wm. Faulkner As I Lay Dying

David Cullen Columbine

Nancy Schoenberger Dangerous Muse-The Life of Lady Caroline Blackwood

Joseph Wambaugh Echoes in the Darkness, Fire Lover

M. William Phelps Every Move You Make

Amanda Vaill Everyone Was So Young: Gerald & Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story

Julie Salaman Facing the Wind: A True Story of Tragedy & Reconciliation

Joe McGinniss Fatal Vision

Catherine Crier Final Analysis: The Untold Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case

Ann Rule Green River, Running Red; The Stranger Beside Me

Joyce Maynard Internal Combustion: The Story of a Marriage and a  Murder in Motor City; At Home In the World

Jon Krakauer In the Wild, Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Mary Karr The Liars Club, Lit: A Memoir

John Berendt Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

 

 

 

 

 

Ayn Rand

I’ve felt confusion about Ayn Rand ever since I read ‘We the Living’ and ‘The Fountainhead’.  I was a teenager when I read both.  At the time I didn’t know about Rand’s philosophy of ‘Objectivism’.  I think there was something about it on the flap of the book.  I also read ‘The Fountainhead’ around that time.  My mother is a big reader, and she told me about the film made from the book, and she loved both.

I approach reading, film from an artistic perspective, I think.  I’m not sure.  I just know I didn’t understand objectivism at all.  I was curious about it, and, based on ‘The Fountainhead’, I had the idea that it was about being true to one’s art, not altering it for the sake of others.  I could relate to that.   In fact, I loved ‘The Fountainhead’, and being entertained is my goal, usually, when I read.

‘We the Living’ seemed to me like a historical novel about the Bolshevik Revolution.  I read it during the Cold War, when Communism was the resident evil in the US.  I sort of understood her anger.  On the other hand, not being born into a life of entitlement and upward mobility, I was confused by it as well.

That, perhaps, is the crux of my issues with Rand.  Her views are anything but objective.  They are entirely subjective.  The corporate takes the place of government in creating wealth.  Like communism, if no one were greedy or power hungry, pure capitalism would work.  We know that is not the case.  The group has to have a consensus for the better of all, and the group has to be diverse.  Not everyone had her extreme ability to view the world in black and white.  She experienced her views and opinions, it seems, as the only acceptable reality for all, rather collectivist in my view.

Naturally curious, I read everything I came across that pertained to Rand and Objectivism.  I really wanted to understand Objectivism, but I’ve always been confused by the labels in Philosphy, and while I think I can grasp ideas easily, philosophy is difficult for me.  I think it means different things to different people.

By 1987 I was fairly knowledgeable about Objectivism, but not enough to explain it to anyone.  I say this because when Alan Greenspan became chairman of the federal reserve that year I was concerned.  I read of his relationship with Ayn Rand.  I read of him living at her home with a group of devotees, although I can’t find a reference to that at the moment.  I read of his participation in a group that read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ while she wrote it.  In 1987 and onward I was concerned that someone who had such a close relationship with Ayn Rand was in charge of the Federal Reserve.  It felt very unbalanced. I was only 24, so what did I know?

I tried to read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ but it didn’t engage me.  I’m lazy when it comes to reading.  If my interest isn’t piqued in the first 10 pages I put it down, especially with novels.  Fantasy is my least favorite genre in books and film.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts on Ayn Rand.  Just her position as a guru obviates her position as an Objectivist.  I haven’t read everything she wrote, but I read 2 books as a teen and they entertained me.  I felt a romantic admiration for Howard Roark, the hero of ‘The Fountainhead’.  I admired him for being true to his art.  I was also attracted to the modern art element in his work as an architect.  It impressed me more as a book about art and ideals rather than politics.  I guess I’ve always been a little political, even unconsciously.

I’m going to see if I have anything interesting to share with you.  Oh, here’s a photo of a great uncle with a ‘friend’, ca. 1922, I think.  Love it that he was able to enjoy his life.  At least I hope he did.  He died young of natural causes.

 

 

 

Postscript

In this post I talked about 4 books I’d read, and 1 I was in the process of reading.  I did read Frank Conroy’s ‘Stop Time’, and it was excellent.  To me, it was like Holden Caulfield meets Tom Sawyer.  I also finished ‘Mentor’.  ‘Mentor’ blew me away, and I recommend it above all the ones I spoke of in that post.

3 of the 1st 4 books and ‘Mentor’ were lent to me by a woman at work.  She was a resident.  Sadly, she passed on soon after I wrote the post.  The sad thing about her passing was she didn’t die of natural causes.  She was a vibrant, kind, humble person.  She was very able, didn’t have organic brain disease, and I think she was in her late 80′s.

She had a car accident.  From what I’ve been told, her chest was crushed and she, like many elderly people, couldn’t tolerate anesthesia.  If she could, surgery would have given her a good chance at life.  Instead she died, slowly.  I felt terrible for her and her family.

I’ve worked at this assisted living facility now for 9 months.  I love my job.  However, I haven’t quite mastered how to deal with the constant grief.  On average we probably lose 1 person per month.  It could be more, I’m not sure.  The longer I’ve worked there, the more I knew these people who passed.  I try to have good boundaries.  I don’t become excessively emotionally involved with residents, although I’ve become very fond of many of them.  I need to learn more about self-care in this field.  I’m not bad at self-care, but I’ve noticed some depression creeping up, despite being medicated!

I’m going to leave you with a picture of my family ca. 1971.  We had gotten our first 2nd car, a VW beetle.  In this picture are my oldest sister, Lynn, older sister, Betsy, my brother, David, me, and my Dad.  An introvert, I know my Dad must have felt “crowded” at times.  This image certainly is a perfect example!

Why so hard to motivate sometimes?

All I needed to do was get a shower, get groceries, and get dog food. It took hours to motivate. In fact, I’ve been doing an extraordinary number of crossword puzzles and word games.  I find USA Today puzzles are much easier than Thinks.com.  So, mindless crosswords at that!

I’ve also been reading a book by Lowell Cauffiel.  It’s called Forever and Five Days.  It’s about 2 seriously messed up women who were aides at a nursing home and murdered some of their patients by suffocating them.  I’m trying to figure out which of the two women is more dangerous, or are they just a deadly combo?  One of them had her first parole hearing in 2005.  The other is in prison forever.

I wonder if reading so much true crime depresses me a little.  It could be my job.  I love it,  but it’s so busy I feel exhausted when I get off.  In case I haven’t mentioned, it’s at an assisted living facility as an activities assistant.  I really love it.  I like the busy-ness of it also.  I lead residents in exercises, do crafts, take them on outings to eat or for entertainment, and a bunch of other stuff.  I also make all the wreaths and silk flower arrangements for the facility–something I love, but have little time for!

Oh, worrying about money depresses me, although it doesn’t make me manage it better.  It’s been a long time since my hubby has worked full time.  He hasn’t worked at all since before Christmas, save some tax returns he did.  I’m not complaining, just stating a fact.  He was ill a lot, and had a hard time keeping a job, or feeling confident in his abilities, so it’s been a long climb back up.

Eldest is doing great at school.  He’s a sophomore, and he’s coming home this weekend.  Youngest had a busy few weeks.  SAT’s on the 12th, Marathon Dance (28 hours, $160,684!!) the next weekend, and the following Wed. he went to Nashville with the chorus.  He had a great time with all of those activities.

Today was my day off, and I should have gone into my other job, but it was really hard to get going, and I had 3 other major priorities.  I’ll telecommute some this evening, and go in later in the week.  I have no desire to write poetry, or even read it.  I made a few greeting cards yesterday and today, and sent a few notes.

Blah, blah, blah!

The weekend was wonderful.  My VCU Rams are going to the Final Four.  Now I do love me some March Madness, and this is the best, maddest March ever.  Friday and Sunday I cheered my team on at the local eatery/watering hole.  I live in the suburbs, and for once, I was happy about that.  Instead of moshing and having beer sprayed all over me downtown, I was in a crowded, but not too crowded bar full of middle aged folks just like me screaming like hell!  That was lots of fun.  Note, both places are named the same and owned by the same person, just in different sections of #RVA.

Okay, I think we need a little Twain to cheer us up.

The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.
- “The Enemy Conquered; or, Love Triumphant”

I don’t believe in happiness as much as in contentment.  The older I get, the more contentment I feel.  I think it comes with wisdom.  I don’t ever want to stop learning, though. — Me.

Here’s a picture of Elsie, btw.  She became afraid when I was yelling and screaming during the #VCU game(s), which is why I ended up at the bar.

Mumma, why are you screaming?

 

 

Reading, read

Nightstalker, by Philip Carlo .  I think Carlo writes a lot of books about really evil, evil people.  Or people who have done evil, evil things.  I watched this HBO documentary called Ice Man a few years ago, and it scared me so badly I didn’t want to read the book.  Carlo wrote that book.  Nightstalker was better than I expected, and he had added a chapter about the women who love Ramirez (the serial killer) and that was kind of interesting.

I then started a book called Tailspin by Bernard Conners.   It’s about an air force Major named Jim Call, who the author believes murdered Marilyn Sheppard, in addition to the confirmed murder of a police officer in Lake Placid, NY.  It appears after the tragic, premature but natural death of his wife, Call went into a, well, tailspin!  He went on to a life of drinking & burglary (I believe he already had a gambling problem & issues w/ authority) and Conners ties him into the death of Mrs. Sheppard, a murder I’ve never studied. 

Got through about 1/2 of Tailspin, but it didn’t hold my interest well so I started (and am finishing up) Winter of Frozen Dreams by Karl Harter, about the cyanide murders of 2 poor, naive fellows in Madison, WI.  Oh, and I read a book about a woman in NC who killed all her husbands with arsenic.  A nasty death!!  Called, Preacher’s Girl, it was about a woman named Blanche Taylor Moore who is on death row in NC for aforementioned murders.

I don’t want to read about murder, per se, just about deviant behavior & how the principles become involved in situations detrimental to themselves and others.  I like memoirs a lot.  I really want something good to read, and the other 2 books I recently ordered aren’t looking like they are going to do it for me.  One is about the lab/company that has/had the remains of baseball great Ted Williams.  It appears quite disgusting, and another book about a service man from the 40′s or 50′s who was a spy or something.  I don’t know what I’m in the mood for, but it isn’t either of those.

I really would like a memoir, or an excellent novel.  I’m open to a novel that makes me think and/or, better yet, makes me laugh and/or cry!  In the meantime, I’ll troll for more interesting poetry by some of me faves.  I’ve been reading Mary Oliver book of poetry that I like but you know who I just love?  Billy Collins.  Reading his work made me realize I could write poetry, too.  Love his work!

Haven’t been writing much…

So much happening.  I’m writing about myself, which I know is boring to readers, but so much going on I must write.  Had the weirdest week.  Really horrid depression for 2 days, couldn’t control my emotions, only trigger was stress.  I think hormones were involved.  I’m peri-menopausal, I think, and sometimes the hormones are like when I was an adolescent.  I had lots of depression then!

Wednesday I decided to embark on a lifestyle change program called in8.  You can read about it on the website for Advanced Wellness.   There’s a blog on their site I plan to start reading.  The program combines education about and practice of healthy nutrition and exercise, as well as great tools to do it-personal training, meditation training.  They also have holistic practitioners on staff-chiropractors, physical therapists, hypnotherapists, etc. to assist with behavior modification, etc.  I decided to to this because, although I’ve had lots of emotional therapy and practice, I’ve never quite learned how to take good care of myself physically.   I describe the therapy as something like “The Biggest Loser” without the competition and Jillian.  The trainer at Advanced Wellness, Marc McKinney, is a cool, informed, gentle person.  It involves 2 small training/exercise classes with him twice a week, 3 at home exercise sessions of interval training for 30 minutes, nutrition counseling, protein and Omega 3 supplements, and just looks like a lot of support.  Seems to bring together everything I need to do to get into better physical shape, strengthen myself, which will help me live my life, and not watch it pass by.  I have cholesterol & sugar issues already, and I need to get them under control before they control me.

So, my last hurrah is taking place as this starts 9/29.  I baked a chocolate cake today.  I’ll now admit I’ve been smoking again for 2 years, after 10 years of not smoking, and I’ll have to cut that out, which I want to do anyhow.  Since I started working at a job with an hour commute, I’m awake for more hours of the day and I smoke while I commute.  This has brought my nicotine addiction to a higher level this time around, because I’m smoking more.  I’m also more stressed, and I need to learn to handle it better.

Last Sunday, instead of going to church, I attended the Richmond Family Peace Festival, which was better than church that particular day!   I became inspired to start crafting with recycled paper from old magazines, books, etc.  I’ve wanted to do recycled papercrafts for awhile, but I actually saw and bought some work by this amazing illustrator and paper artist, CoreyMarie.  I loved her work and it inspired me to go buy some old books & magazines at a thrift shop yesterday and see what speaks to me.  I may do cards with it, I may do something else.  I don’t want to copy Corey Marie, but her work definitely inspired me.  I always say I’ve never had one original idea!  It was funny, I bought a couple of Ladies Home Journals from about 1949 & 1960 and a BHG from early 1940′s, and I’ve been fascinated reading them, especially the ads!  They are all about making home life more convenient with appliances and processed food!!  The 1960 LHJ had a short story by my man, Kurt Vonnegut!

I’m still doing my Close To My Heart workshops, but I’ve often felt bad about the fact that so much paper is used and wasted, as well as the fact that I’m pretty sure the materials are not made in the US.  And there’s so damn much paper wasted here, I feel guilty buying it.  I hope I can create some things in this way.  I do have some fun card making and scrapbooking workshops planned for October.  Holla!

I’ve been reading, as usual.  I think since I started being treated for ADD a few years ago I’m able to read much, much more.  I read a book called A Twisted Faith by Gregg Olsen.  I like Gregg Olsen.  It’s about a church in the Seattle area where a lot of fucked up things happened.  It was slightly comforting, because a lot of fucked up things have been happening at my own church lately, and at I can say at least no one has been murdered.  Yet.  I’m not kidding, though.  I’ve never seen people act the way they are acting at my church.  It’s the most bizarre, inexplicable situation, and I’m just praying for Love, and to keep an open heart.  I’ve never witnessed anger and such an unwillingness to take any responsibility for it, from so many people at one time, especially in church.  I will say, however, I believe it is a microcosm of our society right now as a whole.  This has created a tremendous amount of stress and grief for all involved, including the very angry ones.  I feel for them all, as well as myself.

What else have I read?  I started reading a book called Tulia, which wasn’t badly written, but I just couldn’t finish it.  I guess it was dragging a little.  It’s about an undercover drug operation in Tulia, TX, gone awry, and just reminded me of how racist our country still is, particularly around the judicial process.

I read a book called Most Evil, by this guy, Steve Hodel, who makes a good case that his father, George Hodel, could be the Black Dahlia killer, the Zodiak killer and may have killed in Chicago & Thailand, I think.  It was very interesting.  He was a detective or investigator and started studying the Black Dahlia murder after he found some connection w/ his father, who died within the last 10 years, I think.  Before his father’s death, he had no idea he could be a murderer.  I read this book a long time ago by one of my favorite people, James Ellroy, who wrote City Confidiential. It’s called My Dark Places. It’s  my favorite true crime book ever.  It’s better than In Cold Blood.  His writing is visceral.  It’s about the murder of his mother.  Interestingly, when I read this book, I thought of the Black Dahlia, and I thought there were many similarities between these murders.  Now, I think that, but he probably wrote about them in the book!  Anyhow, Hodel believes his father did murder Ellroy’s mother.  I highly recommend My Dark Places. It’s outstanding.  Oddly, I’ve never ready any of Ellroy’s fiction, although I’m sure it would be entertaining and educational.  I have read some of his essays though.  I shall read some of his fiction!

I started reading The Night Stalker. It’s by Philip Carlo.  For some reason I always resisted reading about The Night Stalker, aka Richard Ramirez.  He gave me the creeps, perhaps somewhere in my subconscious I remember the fear, or perhaps if felt so sensationalized.  I also felt like reading it would be contributing to a psychopath’s ego.  Well, I heard recently the book was well done, so I got it.  It’s quite interesting.   One of the things I found interesting is he has/had temporal lobe epilepsy as a child & young man, and it was severe and untreated.  This is the area of the brain that controls behavior, and can cause obsessive sexual ideation on objects, and things most people wouldn’t find sexually stimulating.  Of course, growing up in an extremely violent environment didn’t help, I’m sure.  Part of that was his cousin coming back from Vietnam with his stories about and pictures of the raping and maiming of women.  He then witnessed this same cousin shoot and kill his wife.  Very weird.  And sad.

Well, that’s a handful!  I’m hoping my poetry muse will return.  I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to notice her appearance, but hopefully I will soon.  Ta!

What I’ve been reading, etc.

I read Family of Spies, Inside the John Walker Spy Ring by Pete Earley, a reporter for the WaPo.  Written in the 80′s, when the story broke.  It’s amazing.  John Walker, I believe, is a total narcissist & sociopath.  Has no regard for anyone but himself.  Fortunately, he’s still in jail.  His poor brother, who hardly did anything wrong, and then only out of fear of his brother, is in prison for the rest of his life.  John Walker could be paroled, and his son, Michael Walker, received parole in about 2000, at the age of 37.  I did a little research, of course, on-line.  The book dragged, and took me over a week to read.  Of course, it was a very busy week.

I’m reading the most interesting historical book, Unwise Passions, by Alan Pell Crawford, who actually lives here in Richmond.  It’s about the scandal of Ann Cary (Nancy) Randolph, and her brother-in-law, Richard Randolph.  It also presents the demographics and sociology of the time after the Revolutionary war.  I didn’t realize the division that resulted in the US Civil War started so early.  It’s quite fascinating.

I started a new job, which requires a solid 1 hour commute, so I’m listening to books on tape.  The first one is Andrew Young’s The Politician.  I am finding it very enjoyable, although the reader’s voice and inflections are overly dramatic.  I’d rather be reading it, but, alas, I need something to entertain me during my commute, and this is doing the job.  Andrew Young was John Edwards’s right hand man because he thought he would be president, and good for his career, and believed in the ideals Edwards presented.  He allowed himself to become the family’s lackey, and the results were practically catastrophic.   It’s juicy, and you know I like a juicy tome!

I started a new job this week, and it was exhausting, but great.  I love the job, the people, and where I’m working.  It’s on an old farm, on the James River, in Charles City County.  It’s beautiful.  Oh, I’ll give it a plug-it’s an on-line greenhouse, and we are taking orders shipping in the fall!  www.thegrowers-exchange.com .  We have just about every type of herb you can imagine, and beautiful flowers, not exactly what you will find at Lowe’s.  The prices are good, and we also have lots of beautiful planters, garden accessories and hand tools.  I really like my job.  And I’m still working at my old company part-time.

So, that’s it.  My muse, offended by my lack of attention, has vanished, and I’m kindly asking for her return.  I need to write poetry.  I’ve written in my journal, but it isn’t the same.

My muse

has been quite elusive.  I’ve been rather preoccupied with my job hunt, though.  I did finally start something else.  It’s called Bringing Down the House.  It reads quickly, and is very interesting.  I’ve wanted to read it for years.  It will be a quick read, then I can go back to the other book.  Perhaps.  I might move on to something new.

I think I’m needing some literary sustenance, poetry.  I’m liking Mary Oliver.  And I like Billy Collins and I love Theodore Roethke, even if he was a maybe pedophile.  I don’t think he was physically.  But he did love–who was it-Sarah?  He wrote of her.

Well, I’m getting to bed.  Will be spending Mother’s Day with my Mum.  Going to church w/ her in am.  Tim & Barrett are going to Tim’s parents’ in Williamsburg.  Makes me a little sad not to be w/ my boys this day, but it’s okay.  I need to be w/ Mama.

Still Reading…

The Nazi Doctors by Robert Jay Lifton.  It is slow going.  There seems to be a lot of repetition.  He’s really getting into the psychology of the participants, but it seems repetitive.  I’m about half way through, and usually I read faster than that, if you read my blog.  I’ve been distracting myself..

Tim gave me a plastic box to put all of the books I have lying around that are library books, borrowed books, books I’ve bought & not read, books I’m reading.  Sometimes I read more than one at a time.  Oh, and books I’ve read and I’m going to give away.  So, the box is pretty full.  I”m very tempted to start a new book, but I’ve found other ways to distract myself.

First, let me tell you about a fabulous documentary I watched last night.  It is called Bright Leaves by a film maker I can’t believe I didn’t know–Ross McElwee.  The work is very personal and moving.  I usually watch docs for info., but the film itself was a work of art.  He narrated, and his voice is gentle and melodic, with a soft southern vibration.  I was attracted to the film because it is about the NC tobacco industry, which is rather close to home for me.  My people are coastal, but I’ve known quite a few tobacco growers on the inner banks of NC.

Spoiler alert!!!!  The film drew an amusing parallel between a legend in McElwee’s family, and a legend in my family.  His first: (this is the spoiler part).  There was a film starring Gary Cooper & Lauren Bacall, among others, called Bright Leaf.  It was based upon a novel by a man with the wonderful name of Foster Fitz-Simons.  Fitz-Simmons and his wife, Marian Tatum, were creatives.  He was a dancer, a dramatist and, of course, a novelist.  He taught at Chapel Hill for years.

Ross McElwee’s family always thought the film was about his great grandfather, who purportedly had his tobacco trade secret stolen by Buck Duke, thus robbing the McElwee family of  all of the accolades and riches bestowed upon Mr. Duke.   In the film, the entire family always thought the Gary Cooper character was, literally, their ancestor.  Toward the end of Bright Leaves, McElwee speaks with Fitz-Simons’s wife and creative partner, Marian, who debunks the McElwee family legend.  He also tours the Duke Museum and realizes Buck Duke was the first to manufacture cigarettes on a large scale, which his great granddaddy hadn’t done.  So, a big letdown.

I think I’ve mentioned this here before, but my Great Uncle Frank was the sheriff of Dare County, NC, for about 35 years.  My Great  Aunt Cada, his sister in law, ran the main general store in Manteo.  Her husband was older, and a politician.   She always called him Mr. Tarkington, but Dad called him Uncle Lindsay.  Everyone else in the family worked for either Frank or Cada. 4 of Cada’s siblings (included Frank’s wife, and my Granddaddy) were pretty bad drunks.  They binged a lot.   Uncle Frank (the sheriff-I had 2 great Uncle Franks) was acquainted with Andy Griffith, who still has a home at Manteo.  I think you probably know where this is leading….  I will say Andy Griffith acted in The Lost Colony before he was famous, and knew my family.  My Dad was young and used to sell cokes there.  My 1st cousin once removed, Virginia, to whom I was very close and is the subject of my prior post, was an extra the first 2 seasons.  In case you don’t know, The Lost Colony could be the longest-running outdoor theatre production in the US.  I know it used to tout itself thus, but there might have been a few years there was no production or something.  I’ve linked to their website.

Anyhow, the White family legend has it that Sheriff Andy was based on Uncle Frank, Mayberry on Manteo, and Otis, the town drunk, was a composite of Granddaddy, his brother, and their 2 sisters.  The truth is, while there are parallels, Andy hails from the lovely Mount Airy, NC, which, understandably, bills itself as the famous Mayberry.

Anyhow, I thought that little parallel between McElwee’s family and mine was kind of funny.  His treatment of this disappointment is excellent-great, subtle humor.  I really recommend this film, and I think I’m going to watch another of his films called Sherman’s March right now!  Both films are available for playing on Netflix.

Could I, perhaps, be avoiding my Nazi Doctor book?  Must I finish it?  I’ll be honest.  I want to know more about Mengele and he hasnt’ gotten to Mengele yet.  I know.  Macabre.  Should I just read about Mengele?  Ta!

Started a new book…

Have been enjoying a poetry anthology & John Updike’s Hugging the Shore this week.  I think I read a true crime book, too.  What was it?  Oh, yeah, Jack Olsen’s Cold Kill.  He’s a favorite of mine, as you know if you’ve read my previous accolades about him and Updike, too.

Needed some more nonfiction.  So Better World Books was having an Earth Day sale & I ordered 3.  When they arrived, my husband told me he and Barrett were joking about the titles of the books–”A True Crime Interpreted via Documentary”, or some such thing.    I love documentaries, too.  If there is a Hollywood film out about a true story, I’ll check to see if there is a documentary on the same subject.  If there is, I watch that instead.

The titles are actually a little morbid than usual.  These are the books I ordered:  Nazi Doctors, Medical Killing & the Psychology of Genocide by Robert Jay Lifton.  I’ve started this very thorough book first.  I hadn’t studied the holocaust for a long time, and I’ve never studied Nazi ideology before.  I’m finding it interesting.  He interviewed many doctors who were Nazis and prisoners.  I also ordered Stiff-The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.  She is a science writer, and the book is macabre, but humorous, according to the reviews.  A Twitter friend said it was excellent.  The last book I ordered was Bad Blood-A Family Murder in Marin County, by Richard Levine.  It’s one of those I may have read before, but don’t remember.  I’ll may remember when I read it.  I needed a straight true crime story.  Something about them interests me.  I think it is “what happens to bring people to a point where they kill or are killed?”  I’m interested from both a psychological & a sociological standpoint. 

I think the Lifton book may be slow going.  Stiff appears to be a quick read.  The Levine book appears thorough.  I always respect true crime books that don’t have pictures, although, the pictures fascinate me.  It’s helpful to have a face to place with a name in the book.  However, if it doesn’t have pictures it seems a little more credible, and it usually is, and better written.

So, off to bed to read awhile, and I’ll keep you posted!

Ta!