Challenge: Read 3 books, 1 non-fiction, 1 based on a true story, and 1 YA fiction.
March Madness is upon us once again, but this March, thanks to Vladimir Putin’s War of Aggression against Ukraine and (inevitably) the whole free world, March “Madness” does not refer to basketball…
Seriously, this March, who has time to READ a book?
Every day the news brings us the horror and tragedy of Vladimir Putin’s Madness inflicted on the nation of Ukraine. Vladimir Hitler (oops, Putin) seems intent on starting World War III (one way or another) and hell-bent on destroying the world in one nuclear blast for all humanity.
We are literally (humanity), quite possibly, living our last days on this planet.
So, if you have better things to do than read a book, I get that.
Reading, in your free time, is not a priority, not in these trying times…
Well, just in case the good people of this world find a way to save us from Vladimir Hitler, I have a challenge which might be, somehow, peaceful? Calming? Relaxing?
Or at least take our minds off all the crazy shi+ going on…
So here is my proposal: Read 3 books. You choose your 3 books.
Below you can see the 3 books I have chosen to read, complete with their covers and blurbs (descriptions to inform readers).
For my three book choices, I have chosen an autobiography (nothing more non-fiction than this) because it deals with freedom from the point of view of a man who had been a slave, that is to say, a man who was denied freedom, from birth, from the very first moment he was alive.
How precious freedm is, today, when Ukraine, is being denied its freedom by Vladimir Putin.
In the same vein, the topic of freedom denied, I have selected two books of which I am the author.
The first is a book based closely on a true story, relating closely to freedom, yet from a moral and ethical viewpoint. Jewish and Nazi Shoah U-Boat Catchers puts the protagonist in a role where the ultimate question becomes: What is the price of freedom?
Further, what happens when that price is NOT paid? The connection with Ukraine is obvious, and for this reason alone, I revisit my writing…
My third choice is my masterpiece, Five Short Stories. Why did I choose this book? I love reading short stories and I love writing short stories. And to come full circle, I write the kinds of short stories that I enjoy reading.
So, without the shadow of a doubt, I shall once again (yes, again) read Five Short Stories. I am guaranteed to enjoy myself, because (I confess) I have always written to please myself. In this way, I have managed to please countless readers who have in common with me the enjoyment of short stories.
To close, I remind you (again) about our March Madness Reading Challenge:
Read three books this month.
One (1) non-fiction, one (1) based on a true story, and and one (1) YA fiction.
Non-fiction, for the sake of reality, another one based on a true story, for the sake of connecting to real events, and finally, a different one from the other two, YA fiction.
This one is for the sake of escaping from reality in a youthful, hopeful, fantastical way.
Maybe just to see the world in a completely different light, one of imagination, creativity, and love for one another as human beings…
And of course, let me know about your reading. Leave a comment here, brief or long, and I will answer you back. Or let me know what you think about my choices.
For example, should authors read their own books in a three book reading challenge? What are the pros and cons of that? Is it “cheating?”
And as I finish each book, I will write a book report talking about my reading experience with each book, for your comments. You can do the same, and I will comment on your posts (just let me know where to go (your blog) to read about your reading experience and leave you a comment.
Well, now let me tell you about the three books that I will read this month:
- My Bondage and My Freedom by ex-slave Frederick Douglass
My Bondage and My Freedom is an autobiographical slave narrative written by Frederick Douglass and published in 1855. It is the second of three autobiographies written by Douglass, and is mainly an expansion of his first, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
The book depicts in greater detail his transition from bondage to liberty. Following this liberation, Douglass went on to become a prominent abolitionist, speaker, author, and advocate for women’s rights.
The book included an introduction by James McCune Smith, who Douglass called the “foremost black influence” of his life.
Audio Recording: My Bondage and My Freedom (public domain) https://tinyurl.com/3ee5ce94
FREE Download: My Bondage and My Freedom (public domain) https://tinyurl.com/bdfdj4jx
Ex-slave Frederick Douglass’s second autobiography-written after ten years of reflection following his legal emancipation in 1846 and his break with his mentor William Lloyd Garrison-catapulted Douglass into the international spotlight as the foremost spokesman for American blacks, both freed and slave.
Written during his celebrated career as a speaker and newspaper editor, My Bondage and My Freedom reveals the author of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) grown more mature, forceful, analytical, and complex with a deepened commitment to the fight for equal rights and liberties.Edited with an Introduction and Notes by John David Smith”.
Jewish and Nazi Shoah U-Boat Catchers: An Amazing Tale of Holocaust Betrayal in World War II
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ~ Elie Wiesel
The Holocaust showed the world that it is a very good idea to rethink ethical dilemmas. Life or death? What makes humans civilized? Is it our willingness to help our fellow human beings?
Then why did we betray the Jews in World War II? How did the Nazis manipulate us? Why did we refuse to stand up to evil? This book will help you to search for the answer to the question that only you can answer for yourself…
The Holocaust, the Shoah, or any other name you use to speak of this dark time in world history, is gradually losing some of its urgency.
Why do I say that? September 2nd, 1945. It’s been almost 80 years since World War II ended. Eight decades is long enough to remember, to forgive, and to forget. Is forgetting a good thing?
To forget or not to forget? It all depends on your perspective.
Surely Vladimir Putin wants us all to forget the lessons of history as he tries his best to take us all back to that very time, when one diabolical man (Adolf Hitler / AKA Vladimir Putin) and his nation brought death and destruction to the European continent.
If you are German, you want to atone for the past. Apologize and move on.
Nobody should have to pay for the sins of their grandparents, should they?
If you are Russian, you ask us to forgive your nation because Putin is a madman, insane, and a dictator, just like Adolf Hitler was. Putin’s fate, his destiny, is already determined, just as Hitler’s was. Sooner or later, he will pay the ultimate price for crimes against humanity, either by his own hand, a Brutus among his oligarchs, or at the hands of international justice…
And if you are Jewish, you can never forget…
Centuries upon centuries of abuse and mistreatment simply can not be forgotten, ever.
One can forgive, yes. But forget, no, not now, not in these times, not in any time, not ever…
Five Short Stories by Thomas Jerome Baker
Are you loking for a wonderful Christmas gift? This Christmas, give the gift that keeps on giving…This collection of magical short stories will delight readers of all ages with the joy of reading. Five short stories await your reading pleasure.
Amazon.com: Top 500 Reviewer Dennis Waller: “An Interesting Perspective to a Historical Tale” a review of: Boudicca: Warrior Queen
“This Love Story Has It All” a review of: Looking for Catarina
“Mystical, Magical, Enchanting Journey” a review of: StoryTellers
1. “What you are depends on the stories you read.” Five must-read stories are told: Journey of a Hero, True Love, Impossible Love, A Woman at War & lastly, Peace.
Who is a hero/heroine? Answer: Anyone who does something requiring courage, bravery, disregarding one’s own personal safety. Could someone be a hero/heroine without even being aware of their actions? Yet the journey, a quest if you will, for riches, wealth, and power, will be undertaken.
True Love is a love that conquers all obstacles to be together, and in this second story, there will be a seemingly unconquerable obstacle. Our hero will risk everything for the woman he loves…
Impossible Love, we know this story well, for have we all not loved? Under circumstances when it would have been the wiser course of action not to have loved? Impossible Love is not bound by the dictates of reason and logic…
In the fourth story, when love does not live anymore, then it must be WAR, and there is no war more terrifying, than when it is a wronged Woman At War.
In the final story, we seek PEACE, and a seemingly innocent hero, unaware of anything except the present moment, must make a choice. Will it be the right choice?
Read this book to find out the surprising answer…
Why Read A Short Story?
“[The short story creates] a vivid realization for the reader of that which moved the author to write, be it incident, be it emotion, be it situation…. thus the art of the short story becomes as much an art of tone as of incident.” ~ H. S. Canby
“The first necessity for the short story…is necessariness. The story, that is to say, must spring from an impression or perception pressing enough, acute enough to have made the writer write.” ~ Elizabeth Bowen
“The short-story writer knows that he can’t proceed cumulatively, that time is not his ally. His only solution is to work vertically, heading up or down in literary space.” ~ Julio Cortazar
“The real challenge is to pull as much of life as a story can bear into the fewest possible pages: to produce, if possible, that hallucinatory point in which time past and time future seems to co-exist with time present, that hallucinatory point which to me defines the good or great short story…” ~ Maurice Shadbolt
“The essence of the short story is to isolate, to portray the individual person, or moment, or scene in isolation…detached from the great continuum…at once social and historical…. the short story is a natural form for the presentation of a moment whose intensity makes it seem outside the ordinary stream of time, or the significance is outside the ordinary range of experience.” ~ Wendell Harris
“I see today a new art of narration, a novel literature and category of belles-lettres, dawning upon the world. And this new art and literature–for the sake of the individual characters in the story, and in order to keep close to them and not be afraid–will be ready to sacrifice story itself…. The literature of individuals is a noble art, a great earnest and ambitious human product. But it is a human product. The divine art is the story. In the beginning was the story…. Within our whole universe the story only has authority to answer the cry of heart of its characters, that one cry of heart of each of them: ‘Who am I?'” ~ Isak Dinesen
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