61. In Paradise, Peter Matthiessen (2014)
Peter Matthiessen, author of The Snow Leopard, writes here about a group of people gathering at the site of a former Nazi death camp, with one character - Clements Olin - having to face up to his own and his family's ambiguous history.
62. The Death of Truth, Michiko Kakutani (2018)
"Without commonly agreed-upon-facts - not Republican facts and Democratic facts; not the alternative facts of today's silo-world - there can be no rational debate over policies, no substantive means of evaluating candidates for political office, and no way to hold elected officials accountable to the people. Without truth, democracy is hobbled. The founders recognized this, and those seeking democracy's survival must recognize it today."
63. Back in the Day: A Memoir, Melvin Bragg, Sceptre, 2022
I've listened to many 'In oefiur Time' podcasts, 'with Melvin and his guests'. This book is a detailed account of his upbringing in Wigton, a market town in Cumberland, Cumbria, England. Full of tender and sometimes harsh memories of working class life and boyhood adventures, especially in the Lake District.
64. The Shape of Sound, Fiona Murphy, 2021
A beautifully written book on being deaf, sign language, tinnitus, and dealing with life and people - 'While there is evidence of an increased risk of dementia in deaf people, it is not a simple cause-and-effect relationship. Anyone with hearing loss experiences social isolation - just as a young deaf brain needs language to flourish, so too does an older deaf brain. Along with a lack of conversation and companionship, people with hearing loss are also prone to 'brain overload' - trying to decipher sounds requires immense cognitive energy, which leaves fewer reserves for thinking, reasoning and remembering.' (p.197)
65. A Primer for Forgetting, Lewis Hyde, 2019
'People come for psychoanalytic treatment because they are remembering in a way that does not free them to forget.' (Adam Philips, quoted on p.122).
'Writing damages forgetfulness.' p.257
'The liquification of the fixed idea' p.119
'You have to be somebody before you can be nobody.'
John Cage to the painter Philip Guston, 'When you start working, everybody is in your studio - the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas - all are there. But as you continue painting, they start leaving, one by one, and you are completely alone. Then, if you're lucky, even you leave.' (p.80)
'What one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration.' Elizabeth Bishop, quoted on p.81
66. How not to be wrong, James O'Brien, 2020
'There is no point having a mind if you never change it'.
67. Brave Company, David Hill, 2013.
Brave Company (2013) is a Listener-award-winning book for young people written by New Zealand author, David Hill. It's a good way for anyone to read about the Korean War. It's fiction but set against the historical background of real events. "Sixteen-year-old Boy Seaman Russell Purchas is stationed on HMNZS Taupo, which has just entered hostile waters off the coast of Korea. It's 1951, and his ship is part of the United Nations force fighting in the Korean War." Goodreads.
68. In Pursuit of Champions - The Inspiring Story of the Puukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, Keith Woodley, 2022
An excellent book - well-written, interesting, good photos, lots of knowledge outlined lightly. The story of the centre from its origins in 1975 to the present. The book is worth reading and the shorebird centre itself is a fascinating place to visit.
69. The Daughters of Yalta, Catherine Grace Katz, 2020
The 'daughters of Yalta' were Sara Churchill, daughter of Winston Churchill; Anna Roosevelt, daughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt; and Kathleen Harriman, daughter of US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Averell Harriman. In February 1945 the Yalta Conference took place at Livadia Palace at Yalta on the Black Sea. With vast delegations came the leaders - Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. This book details the behind-the-scenes arrangements and the progress of the conference through the experiences of the 'three daughters', giving a human dimension to the conference by describing the logistics, the accommodation, the food, the transport, the arguments and much more.
70. Churchill & Orwell - the Fight for Freedom, Thomas E. Ricks, 2017
Ricks outlines the parallel lives and work of Sir Winston Churchill and George Orwell, born Eric Blair, with descriptions of their varying political views, determination, personal idiosyncrasies, health and ill-health, reputations and legacies. I hadn't realized how much Churchill's health and morale deteriorated towards the end of the Second World War.