Recommending my Assigned Reading

     I know I have mentioned it many times before, but I am currently in a Jewish Literature class and have practically enjoyed all of the assigned readings to an extent larger than anticipated. For next week, we have been asked to read The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Its a novel published in 2004 which covers the 'what if' of Franklin D. Roosevelt being defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. As you may not have known, Lindbergh was a nazi sympathizer and a known anti-semetic, ideas that were large parts of his campaign. I have only read the first few chapters, but the book has a feeling of extreme timelines and relevance during all this madness. The writing can be a little dense at times, however the story carries through and offers an odd mix of historical fiction with the idea that this is truly something that could have occurred (and similar things still can and are occurring). 

     For those of you less inclined to add another book to your endless 'to-read' pile, HBO just made a four (?) part series on the book and they did a really great job. It has some pretty big names in it and I feel it pays great homage to the book, even though they slightly changed the ending (there's your incentive to read it too). 

     While I am in this promo, I want to reccomend a few other short pieces from this class that I have really enjoyed, the first being Perfection by Mark Helprin. I mentioned it before but I can send you the text through email if you are interested. It's a funny and odd story linking a Hasidic boy to the Yankees in a world of magical realism. Two others I will suggest were written in response to one another: What We Talk About when We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver, and in response, What We Talk About when We Talk About Anne Frank by Englander. I will try to link them but sometimes the links expires. The response text on Anne Frank, mainly follows a group of Jewish Floridians who get high and discuss the rather somber idea of "who would hide you?" A lot of Jewish texts focus on this idea of the melding of laughter and sorrow (Saul Bellow writes on this if you want to look it up) and I think this short piece covers that well; the context makes the scene funny at times, yet the material being discussed are topics no one should ever have to had thought about nor should have to think about presently. Yet, again, many of these pieces feel strangely relevant...If you have the extra time, let me know what you think!