On the one hand: "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and on the other :"Time Traveler's Wife"

"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William Shirer
I know this was published in 1960 but it is just out on CD and is absolutely wonderful. Well, wonderful in a grim and profoundly disturbing way. I don't think anyone can understand the Third Reich without hearing the story from beginning to end. A lot of us know a lot about Nazis but to hear it all in context and detail from the very beginning is something else. There is nothing new and startling I found out. Everything has been out there for decades. But this is the whole tapestry. For instance, I kept waiting for the description of the Holocaust. It did not come until, probably, the last fourth of the book. When he did begin describing it, it had a profound impact on me. I needed everything I heard before that to be ready to hear again about the Holocaust. William Shirer was a reporter in Berlin for the early years of the Reich. He writes like a reporter and not a historian which adds a lot to the book. I did try reading this book before, years ago, but didn't get very far. Listening to this very long book takes a commitent but is worth it.

Now on a lighter side, there's "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. I'm listening to this now. I know it got high acclaim but I had to take a break from it to listen to a series of lectures on the French Revolution just to clear my mind. Because Henry is driving me crazy. The female character is actually interesting. I like her and descriptions of her family. I don't know how it ends, I didn't see the movie. But Henry has got to be one of the more irritating characters I've come across. I've started to plot in my head nasty things to happen to him and have to listen to the end to see if one of them comes true.