Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. In this post, I will be doing a wrap up of all the books I read in September. This month I read 5 books and I DNF’d 1, so here goes:
1. BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR: Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich
Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 is the first book of a two-volume biography of Adolf Hitler, “indisputably the most studied, infamous, and reviled person ever to live.” Unlike The Hitler Years written by Frank McDonough, a historical account of Hitler’s rise to power and eventual downfall from 1933 to 1945 that I read earlier this year, Ullrich’s biography focuses on trying to discern who Adolf Hitler was behind his public persona. Hence, Volker Ullrich takes us back to Hitler’s childhood, to his years as a young man in Vienna and to his service during World War I. Ullrich also recounts Hitler’s missteps and successes in consolidating his political power, so the Hitler that comes across in these pages is one who hides his “megalomania, deep insecurities, and repulsive worldview in duplicity, an instinctive grasp of politics, and a gift for oratory.”
In 1919, England, France, and the United States signed the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty held Germany responsible for starting WWI and imposed harsh penalties on the Germans, including loss of territory, massive “reparation” payments, and demilitarization. Also, parts of the country were occupied by foreign troops and the German monarchy was abolished. Hence, a new democratic government was established: The Weimar Republic. To many Germans, however, including Hitler, these terms were humiliating and unfair.
In 1923, Hitler sought to topple the Weimar Republic with the famed Beer Hall Putsch. The Putsch, however, failed and Hitler was imprisoned. Overthrowing the German Republic, nonetheless, was one of Hitler’s most important objectives behind his rise in power. The other one was rendering the Treaty of Versailles null and void. Once in power, after he was named German Chancellor in 1933, economic collapse and “hyperinflation” as well as mass unemployment helped Adolf Hitler overthrow democracy in Germany. In addition, he was now able to militarize Germany once again and recover the territory the country had lost in 1918, something that started to occur in 1938 when both Austria and Czechoslovakia were annexed to Germany.
Despite all these events occurring in the background and which are important to help explain the rise of the Third Reich, however, Ullrich focuses primarily on Hitler and on how he uses his talent to take advantage of political situations to shape the Nazi Party and lead it to power. Also, in trying to figure out who the man behind the public persona was, Ullrich tries to understand where Hitler’s hatred of Jews came from. Hitler’s Jewish Question and the Holocaust, however, are analyzed and discussed in Volume 2, and I will be reading that soon.
This book is over 1000 pages long, and I know that might stop some people from picking it up but I think it’s important to keep reading about WWII to help new generations learn about and never forget about this period of human history.
2. CLASSIC: The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
Propaganda doesn’t have a good reputation and many books have been reviled as such, but if you stop to think that Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945 and that Leni Riefenstahl is known today as a film director and actress who produced Nazi propaganda, it’s no surprise that the Allies also used propaganda to fight Nazi Germany. And that’s what this book is.
Described by the author as “a celebration of the durability of democracy”, this book recounts how a peaceful and democratic village somewhere in Europe is invaded by a ruthless and aggressive army that has all the telltale signs of Nazi Germany. At first, the people of the village are confused and don’t understand why they’ve been invaded; they don’t even show animosity to their invaders. On the other hand, the soldiers that take up residence in the mayor’s house are not depicted as villains but simply as men doing their job, which is to get the coal from the mine. And we learn that this is why the village has been targeted. To do this, however, Coronel Lanser and his men force the townspeople to work and they don’t accept this meekly. Thus, Steinbeck sets the stage to explore how conquerors and the conquered are affected by the invasion while uncovering unsettling truths about war and human nature in the process.
This novel represents democracy’s fight against totalitarianism, and a people’s fight to survive against a great opposition. And this contrast between the democratic ideology vs. the totalitarian invader is clearly seen throughout the novel. Specifically, for example, in the mayor’s refusal to take away his people’s freedom of choice when he is told to make them work in the mine, or when the townspeople kill one of Coronel Lanser’s men as retribution for forced labor. It is clear thus which ideology this book is propagandizing, and why this novel was suppressed by the Axis powers.
I think this book is worth reading if you’re interested in the topic and/or want to contrast the type of propaganda that both the Nazis and Allies used to fight the war. I read it because I have been in the mood to read books about WWII lately, and I liked it well enough. It is also the first book I read by John Steinbeck, and I liked his prose well enough to pick up some of his other books sometime later.
3. HISTORY: 1776 by David McCullough (DNF)
I tried to read this book because I’ve wanted to read a little bit of the history of the United States lately, but I just couldn’t get into this. For starters, I didn’t like the writer’s style and second, the telling of the history itself felt all over the place. There was no structure or cohesion to it. Despite my interest in the topic, I couldn’t continue with this one.
4. FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION: Incarnations of Immortality (Book 1 and 2)
Oh boy. I picked the first book of this series because I found an edition that I liked and saw myself reading it. Funny how the aesthetics of a book matters when it comes to picking it up, but here is the proof. It does matter. This is the same reason why I picked up The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks a couple months ago. The other reason is because my husband recommended it to me.
Here’s what I liked. I liked the world and magic system. Both are heavily influenced by religion and myth and I like both. Plus, it is the only series that I have read in which The Greek Fates have a prominent role, and they are my favorites goddesses in Greek Mythology. In this series, however, Fate is just one woman with three different personifications—Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho—and she is one of 5 Incarnations. The other four are Death, Time, War, and Nature. Book 1 is the story of Death and how he learns to live by accepting his own death, in a way. I liked this premise, but when Luna comes into the picture (his romantic interest) as well as Satan (later added to the plot as the Incarnation of Evil), this book goes from bad to awful in seconds.
What is Satan’s beef with Luna anyway? This storyline continues in Book 2. Uggghhh! I hated this storyline in the first book and I hated it even more in the second. Bearing An Hourglass is one of the worst books, if not THE worst book, I’ve read in 2023. On A Pale Horse is close second, but this one tops it. Man! For starters, I hated the objectification of women in this book. Literally, and I mean quite literally, every woman in this book is introduced in terms of her sex appeal. What is up with that? Fate and Time are lovers in this one, and that’s fine. But only as her younger self. The mature and older personifications of Fate are not Time’s lovers. How does that even work if all three of them are supposed to be Fate? And why only Fate’s younger self? Because she is more sexually appealing than the others? Ugggh, I hated that. Besides, she’s almost a child. Second, this book is a nonstop treaty of physics and how time is supposed to work in this world. This was boring. I didn’t pick this book up to read about physics. And third, this book is slow. Oh my God, is it slow.
I am done with this series. The next book is Fate’s story, but I am not even going to open it because Luna shows up again. And I am utterly bored with that storyline already. Nope, not for me.
5. HISTORICAL FICTION: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
When I first started reviewing books, I saw The Book Thief by Markus Zusak everywhere. To say that it is a popular and very much loved book is an understatement. But it is both, and truth be told it took me a bit to read it because I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to the hype. And while I do think that it is an overhyped book, I did like it. I also think that I was able to appreciate the story more because of all the WWII books I’ve been reading lately, but this was only relevant in understanding the background of the story. It works just as well if you don’t happen to have read all those books.
The Book Thief is also one of the best books I’ve read thus far where Death has a prominent role. Some may not agree with me, considering that Death is the narrator and remains an aloof and detached character throughout the book, but having just finished On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony when I picked this book up I can safely say that The Book Thief was tons better in its depiction of Death. But that’s my opinion. Death is actually the best character in Anthony’s series, as far as I read anyway, and I liked him. I just didn’t like the story around him. He deserved better.
What I liked the most about The Book Thief though was that the author doesn’t shy away from portraying the reality of war, and that includes death. It is also a book set in Germany during the Holocaust and the zenith of the Nazi Party, and it shows how Germany’s own citizens lived during the war. But at its core, The Book Thief is a story about family in times of hardship and that was the best thing about it. And while many readers highlight Liesel’s relationship with her foster father, which is the most important familial relationship in the book, in addition to that of Liesel and her (dead) brother, I also think that Liesel’s relationship with Rosa Hubermann is just as important. And that she too had a significant impact on Liesel’s life.
That is everything I read in September. I still have to catch up with my October wrap up and I will post that soon. But for now, thank you for reading.
