Merry Christmas!
This month has been unusually warm so far but this weekend it got a lot more seasonal. My tree is up, my gifts are wrapped, and I've got my car's radio tuned to the "All Christmas Songs" station. I've been busy but I did get to read a couple of books this month. Interestingly, there are several coincidences here. They are purely serendipitous.
Miscellaneous
Slaughter House Five - Kurt Vonnegut ($6.99/$4.25, copyright 1966, 215 pages, Paperback)
I read the book before I saw the movie. Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time and experiences the events of his life out of chronological order. War and absurdity ensue. In other words, it's a collection of non-chronological events in Billy's life - his experiences in World War II (specifically as a German prisoner in Dresden during the bombing), his life after the war (the wife, the daughter), and his abduction by the Tralfamadorians (the zoo, the woman). Though usually classified as Science Fiction, I think this is Vonnegut's way of coming to grips with his experiences during the war - he was that prisoner in Dresden. So it goes. I enjoyed it.
Off The Shelf
The Caine Mutiny - Herman Wouk ($2.95/$2.95, copyright 1951, 639 pages, Paperback)
I saw the movie before I read the book. The plot is pretty simple, Willie Keith, the son of a rich family, joins the Navy rather then get drafted into the Army. He's assigned as an Ensign aboard the Caine - a run-down minesweeper with a slip-shod group of officers. A by-the-book captain - Queeg - soon takes over and the officers start to resent him. They ultimately relieve him of command and a court martial follows. Like Vonnegut, Wouk has used his experience on minesweepers to bring a lot of detail to the book. His characters are well written and, in my opinion, Bogart did a great job depicting a man who was overwhelmed by his position. I enjoyed it.
That's it this month.This is going to be my Granddaughter's first Christmas and I can't wait to see how she reacts to things. So ...
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And ..
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