Books from the Backlog, hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books, is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your shelf unread.
I stumbled on this one thanks (again) to Chuckles. I have been toying with this one for a while because I have so many memes and features that I participate in, there are hardly time for reviews it feels like. But I am hoping this will also help with my whole TBR situation, so I can find some treasures that I have forgotten about.
Neglected Book of the Week
Why did I add The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich to my TBR?
Especially in middle school and high school, I was very fascinated by the Holocaust. I could not fathom how nation after nation could fall to Germany, to the Nazis who were so bent on exterminating and entire group of people. I could not understand how others could stand by and let it happen, even as bystanders and not participants. As such, I read everything I could find about Nazi Germany. Yet this book was not a challenge I undertook even as a young adult.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich became the very first book I added to my Goodreads TBR when I joined back in May of 2012. I let it linger as I went on a book-adding spree and then I got around to checking it out from the library. The problem is, someone is ALWAYS on hold for this one, so instead of being able to renew a few times before returning it, I always had to return it after my three weeks were up, and eventually I just moved on to other books, and put this one on my 'Pause' shelf.
Then last year my mom gave me an Amazon gift card and I bought a copy for myself, so I could read it whenever I wanted, without having to worry about getting it back to the library unfinished (it is physically painful to me to return books unfinished - excluding purposeful DNFs of course).
Still, this one remains unfinished. Part of the reason is because with the benefit of hindsight, it is so tragic and abhorrent and evil. That makes for slow reading. Especially now, when we are teetering on the brink of who-knows-what, with a 'president' who fancies himself a dictator as he hobnobs with actual dictators around the world, men who kill without care for the consequences because they know there are none.
Heavy stuff for the 4th of July, eh?
Sorry about that.
Have you read this book, or is it somewhere on your TBR? If you've read it, would you recommend it to others?
This is one I'd like to read, along with Speer's book on working inside the regime -- although they're not on my formal TBR. I have a couple of other big books on Germany I'll read first -- Ring of Fire and The German War, both on the German experience in WW1 and WW2.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a long, slow process with this one. And it is such a massive tome that even if I wanted to sit and read it, I have to sit at the table or lay on the floor, because there is no way to hold it sitting up. The military aspect has always been less appealing to me, not sure why. I have tended to focus on the Holocaust and the Nazi party, the human/inhuman aspects of the war.
DeleteI have always been drawn to stories set in and around the World Wars, although focus mostly on fiction rather than the nonfiction books (although I've read a few of those too over the years). This one isn't one I have read yet. I can see how it would be slow going. It sounds like a worthwhile read though!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger I read a good lot of fiction, but as an adult I find myself more drawn to non-fiction. I feel like it is THE must-read for anyone interested in the period, but it also comes in at about 1600 pages, so it is no easy feat. I hope to finish it in the next five years, and I say that in all sincerity.
DeleteI dipped into this YEARS ago as it was an assigned read in school when we looked at WW2. I think I didn't manage more than the few chapters we were assigned.
ReplyDeleteThere's just SO MUCH information. And it is all good, and valuable, but still there is so much. I am trying to give myself the reasonable expectation of finishing it in the next five years, but given my track record with my president reading goal...who knows if that is a goal I can actually reach!
DeleteI sometimes read books from this era. Have to be in the right mood though:)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! That is another reason books like this take so long, the topic is so emotionally exhausting and traumatic.
DeleteI read a lot of books about WWII and the Holocaust during my middle school and high school years as well. Like you, I was amazed that such a thing could ever happen so anytime we were given a choice of what to read for an assignment I choose a book in this category. I don't think that I was ever ambitious enough for this one though. I hope you get the chance to move this one to your read pile soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carole! My goal is to have it done in the next five years. It is also a book you have to be in a certain kind of mood to read also, so that contributes to the piecemeal way I have been reading it.
DeleteAt school I really became interested in history especially the world wars and I was always in the library looking for books about it! I wish I had more time to read these kinds of things!
ReplyDeleteI strayed pretty far from reading about the Holocaust once I was pregnant and especially after Eleanor was born. I just could not handle the graphic descriptions as I was once able to. I hope to be done with this book, honest truth, within five years.
DeleteYes, some of those books from the backlog remain unread because they are such a challenge. One of those for me is Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, about the time of India's liberation from British rule. I have started it twice.
ReplyDeleteLast year I did a challenge to read a book a month from the previous 12 years of TBR lists I keep. I went through the lists and picked the books that stood out as "oh I really wanted to read this." It was fabulous.
I am going to have to do something like that I think - I just can not control myself when it comes to adding new books to my TBR!
DeleteI confess that India is of no interest to me, but I am not sure why. I should read more about India, as I now almost nothing about the country, cultures, and people aside from the horrific news of brutal rapes and murders of young women especially in the rural areas, the caste system, and of course anything else that is negative that our media can use to grab attention.
i am trying to limit memes myself...at least for this year. i decided to do this one because i have an arm issue and am reading books off my tbr list and document list on my Kindle so I can delete them.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
I really try to pick a few that will be beneficial to me personally by holding me accountable, and then a couple that are fun and provide more social interaction in that way. Chuckles and I are currently doing a 'Tackling the TBR' challenge for ourselves and are keeping exact data and details about the numbers of books in and out each week. It has been phenomenal for me to really see just how crazy I go sometimes in adding books to my TBR. I have also been able to delete many books from the TBR that I am no longer interested in. Feel free to join us! There is no link-up or anything, we just dawdle along each week and constantly encourage each other :)
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