WELCOME TO THE READER

                               
Each month this blog presents two books for consideration. One fiction volume and one historical non-fiction book. The two books related by historical events, particular places, singular people or characters, the same or similar subjects.
    These may not be current bestsellers or even recently published books. So it is possible that the reader may have already read one or both of them. If so, it is hoped that the reader will peruse the post here and read the books again. To paraphrase Hemingway - if writing is rewriting then, perhaps, at least some reading is rereading. If these books are new to the reader, the hope is that the reader will pick them up at the local library or bookstore, or load them onto an E-reader or other device - and Enjoy!
   The idea is that the reading of one book will lead to the reading of the other - in any manner the reader likes. Sequentially perhaps, or if the reader is feeling adventurous, concurrently.
    We might read the novel straight through. Followed by the historical volume. Or, while engaged with the novel, we might flip through the historical text, perhaps, checking out any photographs, maps, or illustrations. 
    For example, in Kate Walbert’s novel  A Short History of Women we are told of British propaganda posters of Germany and its soldiers being plastered all over London. If we go to Adam Hochschild’s To End All Wars, the second photo section, we see a lurid poster caricature of a German soldier as a rampaging ape - a large club in one hand and a struggling damsel in distress tucked in the crook of its other arm. At the bottom of the poster, the single word: ENLIST. More to come...