[continued from previous message]   
      
   because it can seem like Octavia Butler was more than a fiction   
   writer.   
      
   "In the wake of the devastating fires in Los Angeles, many people   
   are referencing the work of the science fiction writer Octavia   
   Butler.  Butler, who grew up in Pasadena, was the daughter of a   
   housekeeper and a father who was a shoeshiner.  She went on to   
   become the first science fiction writer to win a MacArthur   
   'genius' award.  Her book 'Parable of the Sower,' published in   
   1993, paints a picture of a California ravished by the effects of   
   climate change, income inequality, political divisiveness and   
   centers on a young woman struggling to find faith and the   
   community to build a new future.   
      
   "The phrase 'Octavia tried to tell us,' which began to gain   
   momentum in 2020 during the pandemic, has once again resurfaced,   
   in part because Butler studied science and history so deeply.  The   
   accuracy with which she read the shifts in America can, at times,   
   seem eerily prophetic.  One entry in 'Parable of the Sower,' which   
   is structured as a journal, dated on 'February 1, 2025' begins,   
   'We had a fire today.'  It goes on to describe how the fear of   
   fires plague Robledo, a fictional town that feels much like   
   Altadena, a haven for the Black middle class for more than 50   
   years, where Butler lived in the late '90s.  ..."   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
   TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)   
      
   I finished THE GATHERING STORM by Sir Winston Churchill (Harper,   
   ISBN 978-0-395-41055-4), which is the first volume of his   
   six-volume history of World War II, called collectively THE SECOND   
   WORLD WAR.  I say "six-volume" but it also appeared in a   
   twelve-volume set (each volume in the six-volume set is actually   
   labeled internally as two "books"), a four-volume set (I assume   
   with three "books" in each), and a one-volume abridgment.  Given   
   that the whole work is 1,6000,000 words (not counting appendices),   
   many may opt for the abridgment.  (By comparison, Gibbon's HISTORY   
   OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE is "only" about   
   1,162,000 words, and has no appendices.)   
      
   Several things need to be said about this work as caveats to the   
   reader.  While most people agree that Churchill could craft prose,   
   there is more to history than that.  It is not that he is grossly   
   inaccurate, but first of all, the work concentrates on Britain's   
   role in the war, with other countries' participation as an   
   adjunct.  While I haven't gotten far enough into the volumes to be   
   sure, I suspect that means the Eastern Front and the Soviet   
   Union's participation is not covered as fully as it should be, nor   
   events in China.  (I am not sure how the rest of the   
   "Empire/Commonwealth", e.g., Australia, Singapore, and so on, will   
   fare.)   
      
   The second caveat is that Churchill is basically making himself   
   the center of attention, and this results in more focus on what he   
   was personally involved in.  This is understandable for an   
   autobiography, but less so for what is presented as a history.   
      
   The third caveat is that when Churchill wrote this right after   
   World War II, much information was still classified.  For example,   
   he could say nothing about code-breaking at Bletchley Park.   
      
   The result is that in spite of its size, this is not an exhaustive   
   history of World War II.  Then again, it's not clear that any one   
   person, or even group of people, would write such a thing.   
   Wikipedia merely says that "thousands" of books have been written   
   about World War II, and I think that may be only in English.   
      
   And one reason that the work is so long is that Churchill included   
   a huge number of already-composed sections: speeches, letters,   
   reports, and so on.  Some of these might have been better served   
   by a summary, and in fact, if he seemed to have summarized the   
   contents in introducing one, I often skipped over it, or at least   
   only skimmed it.   
      
   It remains to be seen whether I still "stay the course."  In many   
   ways, the examination of the causes of the war, and the events   
   leading up to it, are more interesting (to me, anyway) than long   
   descriptions of troop movements.  For now, I am taking a break   
   from Churchill and reading some of the books I bought a few months   
   ago at Second Time Books, as they are probably starting to feel   
   neglected and that I have forgotten them.  [-ecl]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
                         Mark Leeper   
                         mleeper@optonline.net   
      
      
              Every day you may make progress.  Every step may be   
              fruitful.  Yet there will stretch out before you an   
              ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path.   
              You know you will never get to the end of the journey.   
              But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the   
              joy and glory of the climb.   
                                              --Sir Winston Churchill   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)