Too busy to write, but not too busy to read

As much time as I spend working and running stupid errands and taking naps and walking the dog, I still have time to read. As much as possible. Last Saturday I was at Jenn's in Guerneville and I had committed the entire morning to read a small book my friend Tom recommended: "The Order of the Day" by a French writer, Eric Vuillard.  It is a small book in size but a large book in stature. If I tell you a bit about it, you have to promise not to yawn and think it is boring. It is anything but boring. I read it straight through, in one 3 hour sitting.

In 1933 several leaders of commerce in Germany are called to a meeting in the country and asked to fund a new type of government by an unknown political wannabe.  These leaders pony up millions of dollars so that their pockets can be heavy with financial gain and so that this new leader, Hitler, can create and expand his Nazi party.

A few years later Austria is taken over by the Nazi party, the country's government replaced by Nazi officials. Greed wins out and for the moment, those leaders of commerce win. It is the beginning of Hitler's Third Reich. 

It is a remarkable book in its scope of history but even more remarkable in its beautiful narration of an ugly, brutal, atrocity that was the Nazi government. The insidiousness of that government's lies and deceit are presented in such a way that makes you keep reading, almost making you, the reader, uncertain of the outcome. As odd as that sounds, because we all know how that story ends, the writing is so compelling that it's like reading a mystery:  "how is this going to end?"

One can draw parallels to our current political climate but I am not going to walk down that path right now. Do yourself a favor, find this book, read it and understand that the history of 85 years ago is not that much removed from the history of this moment.  Different clothes, different names, same madness.



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