The Haj

 After several very crazy weeks, my life slowed down this past week.  Summer 2024 has been the year of the drought in our area.  HOT!  DRY!  And this past Wednesday it began to rain.  No golf on Tuesday because there was state senior men's tourney and then it has rained steadily since Wednesday morning so no golf.  That frees up a lot of hours.  And then Sarah and Mark came for a visit and that leads to hours sitting on the porch.   A very nice respite after a bunch of craziness.  

But last night we sat on the porch after dinner and our talk ended up being influenced by the book Jason is listening/reading right now:  

Mark actually knows quite a lot about the middle east as he flew in and out of the area for many years.  And has first hand knowledge of places such as:  Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, Jordan:Amman, , Jericho,  Petra (Mark says Petra is amazing)., Pyramids in Egypt as well as seeing Cairo, Alexandria, within Iraq:  Baghdad, Mosul, Erbil, Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Riyadh, Jeddah, Damascus in Syria.

Mark was an army jet pilot who did VIP transport.  His job was to provide air transport to the US military and US government top brass and elected officials.

We talked about believers and infidels....and Mark commented that the only place he felt somewhat safe was in Jordan

I found myself thinking about the areas that Mark talked about and remembered that I had read the book The Haj by Leon Uris many years ago and liked it a lot at the time....could I walk right to the book now?  Yep....there it was on the shelf in the living room.  So I picked it up to give to Mark.  But before I gave it to Mark, I decided to take photos of the maps on the front and back covers.  And needed a place to put the maps....so here they are.

And a simple map that I took from the internet:

I can't remember much about the book.  I read it many years ago.  So I looked on Amazon for a synopsis.

The story of a Palestinian Arab family during the historic events of the 1920s-1950s as seen through the eyes of Ismael, the youngest son. Of the intent of the book, Uris said," It is urgent that we know what goes on behind the door of an ordinary Arab family…only by such understanding will we have the clues to mutual survival"

and

“The narrative is fast paced, bursting with action, and obviously based on an intimate grasp of the region, its peoples, their tradition and age-old ways of life.”—John Barkham Reviews

Remarkably Bright Creatures

 This book had a bit of a silly plot.  That is the word that springs to my mind when everything fits together so neatly.  And in this book there was a crazy amount of "stuff" to fit together.  But it was a pleasant read and that is what I had asked for when I finished by last book.  I had a busy month and I needed a book that didn't take much brain power.  I won't tell the basic story because that would ruin the read.  One of the main characters was an octopus who was stuck in an aquarium.  Another main character was Tova who cleaned the facility at night....and you could not help but like Tova a LOT....

Only the Brave

 

I can not seem to get away from the WWII books.  As soon as I finished the Words We Whisper, I downloaded Only the Brave.  This time the setting is Berlin itself.  Here is the synopsis on Amazon:

Sophia Alexander, the beautiful daughter of a famous surgeon in Berlin, has had to grow up faster than most young women. When her mother falls ill, Sophia must take charge of her younger sister, Theresa, and look after her father and the household, while also volunteering at his hospital after school. Meanwhile, Hitler’s rise to power and the violence in her very own town have Sophia concerned, but only her mother is willing to share her fears openly.

After tragedy strikes and her mother dies, Sophia becomes increasingly involved in the resistance, attending meetings of dissidents and helping however she can. Circumstances become increasingly dangerous and personal when Sophia assists her sister’s daring escape from Germany, as Theresa flees with her young husband and his family. Her father also begins to resist the regime, secretly healing those hiding from persecution, only to have his hospital burned to the ground. When he is arrested and sent to a concentration camp, Sophia is truly on her own, but more determined than ever to help.

While working as a nurse with the convent nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, Sophia continues her harrowing efforts to transport Jewish children to safety and finds herself under surveillance. As the political tensions rise and the brutal oppression continues, Sophia is undeterred, risking it all, even her own freedom, as she rises to the challenge of helping those in need—no matter the cost.