Compulsive Reading with a Cantankerous, Opinionated, Old Broad, by Barbara Glass

Carolyn Jobe is my neighbor and good friend. Whenever I have a book question, she is the one I consult. Carolyn is also the undisputed queen of our neighborhood book club. In Carolyn’s words:,em/>

Are you a compulsive reader and on the lookout for suggestions for new books to read? I'll share with you a quick look at some of the books I've recently read, hoping that some of them intrigue you, too.

I'm currently reading two books - one of the marks of a voracious reader. Bruce Feiler is the author of America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story. Mr. Feiler points out many similarities in the book of Exodus and the settling and founding of this country. He also draws parallels with the Moses story and the Underground Railroad, the struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and some of the decisions of our recent presidents. Even if you aren't a history buff, you won't be bored.

The other current book is My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family's Past, by Ariel Sabar. This book is part biography, part memoir, part history, plus a little imaginative re-creation of some specific events. Mr. Sabar's family, Kurdish Jews who had lived in Iraq for nearly three thousand years and still spoke Aramaic, was forced by the Iraqi government to leave the country in the early 1950s, along with all the other Jews in the country. They first settled in the newly-formed state of Israel, then went to America in the mid 1960s. Mr. Sabar was never particularly interested in his family's background - until the birth of his own son. What he learned about his family background is fascinating and a marvelous mini-history of the Middle East. Mr. Sabar has an easy, conversational style of writing, and I'm definitely looking forward to other books by him.

Interested in some Americana? Here are two that will put a smile on your face. Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen, by Bob Greene, tells of the entirely volunteer efforts by people in the American heartland to make life just a tiny bit easier for young men going off to war in the 1940s. The only quarrel I have with this book its absence of photographs. Also set in the same geographic area is Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression, by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. While not making light of the privations of the Great Depression, Ms. Kalish shares several recollections (and high cholesterol recipes) that will make you smile, if not actually laugh.

Here's a book for you guys. It's a novel by Nicholas Monsarrat published in 1951 called The Cruel Sea. It's about the Battle of the North Atlantic and the British sailors who manned the ships. This is a book about naval warfare and is spellbinding If you can find a copy, grab it.

I hope at least a few of these titles pique your interest. So go pluck a volume from the shelves and share your enthusiasm with your friends.

,em>This little article is by Carolyn Jobe, a cantankerous, opinionated old broad who has lived in Carrollton for a very long time.