Recent Reads

My Life In France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme.  This book was utterly delightful.  I grew up watching Julia on PBS and have always had a fondness for her.  Her complete rapture over food and life practically explodes from the page.

Death on Demand (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 1) by Carolyn Hart.  This was the first of the Death on Demand Series.  I like that there is minimal back story on Annie and Max since back story can bog things down.  sometimes I wonder why I read this series when I don't really like the main characters.  I guess I find the story's interesting enough despite the main female character being incredibly stupid.

The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscencesby Dr. Frederick Treves.  Only a short portion of the book is about Joseph Merrick the rest deal with Treves' medical career.  the book was published in 1923, 33 years after Merrick's death which might explain Treves' errors and lack of details about the case.  The rest of the book is about various episodes in Treves long and distinguished medical career.  It is especially interesting considering all the changes in the medical field during that time.  If you're looking for information on the Elephant Man, this is not the best book.  If you are looking for the memoir of a great doctor, it is a worthwhile read.  I wouldn't mind reading Treves' other books at some point.

The Murder of Adolf Hitler: The Truth About the Bodies in the Berlin Bunkerby Hugh Thomas.  I get the feeling the murder part of the title was thought up by the publisher to boost sales.  Thomas starts with the idea that all the eyewitness testimony of the people in the bunker at the end is not to be trusted so he looked to other sources.  One source was Albert Speer who wasn't in the bunker at the end and who would say anything to make himself look better, self-serving jackass that he was.  The other main source was the reports on the bodies by the Soviet authorities which the author admits were written at a different time than they are dated.  Now my favorite totalitarian dictator Joe Stalin was insistent that Hitler had committed suicide and equally insistent that Hitler had escaped.  If I was having to write a report for Stalin in those circumstances, I'd be less concerned about accuracy and more concerned with putting something down that could serve both stories.  I will give Thomas credit for not insisting that Hitler was murdered but presenting it as a hypothetical case that was no ore ridiculous that the official story (and the murder takes up maybe ten pages of the whole book).  My problem is his claims about Eva Braun Hitler.  To explain his view of the Soviet reports, he claims Eva attempted suicide to avoid actually having to commit suicide then as Hitler was murdered another female body was smuggled into the bunker, dressed in Eva's blue dress with Eva's dental bridge put in it mouth allowing Eva to escape.  What a mess.  The Red Army is a couple hundred yards away and Martin Bormann is doing a shell game with bodies?  What happened to Eva if she escaped the bunker?  If she didn't want to die with Hitler, why did she chose to come to Berlin?  I'll believe the silly story that Hitler was murdered before I'd believe Eva didn't die that same day.  She was dumb as bricks, but she was loyal.

The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Sagaby John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov.  I have long been interested in Russian history.  This was a different take on the end of the Romanov empire in that it focuses on the extended family and not on Nicholas II and his family.  It starts with the murder of Alexander II which is a good place since that sets up all the Romanovs who were alive at the time of the revolution.  It is somewhat hard to keep track of everyone with so many similar names and nicknames.  The Romanovs seem equal parts devoted to Russia and to stupid to live given their reluctance to leave and their lack of foresight in having funds outside of Russia.  They really seemed to not be able to grasp that the people wanted to kill them (silly considering the story starts with the tsar being blown up by a bomb).  Nicolas II's sister Olga seemed pretty cool and the only one to really grasp what was going on.  It's also rather striking what a close-mindeed, stuck up group they were, particularly about marriages.  Guess they conveniently forgot Peter the Great's beloved wife Catherine from whom they are descended was a peasant and a camp follower.