Welcome to Litsy!

I finished this remarkable alternative history classic yesterday. There is much to say about how terrible Roth was as a person. But as a writer he showed a far greater sympathy than he was capable of IRL. In lieu of a review, I'm linking to the recent 15 minute video by pop culture site watch mojo discussing the far right plan for #45 inauguration Project 20225. The fact that a site that usually discusses celebrity news is discussing the (CONT)

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Of course 4 loans would come in at the same time. 🫤

#BookCoverChallenge
Day 195.
Here I will note 365 books (or as many as I will have before I get tired) that have shaped my taste in literature. No explanations, no reviews. Just the cover of the book.
I do not challenge anyone. You are all welcome to take part.

In this alternate history, WWII is raging when a Hitler-embracing Charles Lindbergh runs for President against FDR and wins. Seen from the vantage point of one Jewish family, there is first fear and turmoil, then things get even more sinister. This was published in 2004 and many events feel so real and frightening after 2016. It‘s good but chilling.

I enjoy alternate history novels. In this world, Charles Lindbergh becomes president of the United States, and embarks on a course of isolationism and appeasement of Hitler. The story is told from the perspective of a Jewish child growing up in New Jersey. I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the time period and the speculation of the political situation. The ending was a bit rushed, but the narration was excellent.

Funny , I can‘t find the tagged book , I know it‘s around here somewhere.🤔Philip Roth‘s birthday is today March 19th (1933-2018)Sometimes I didn‘t like his characters, but I mostly always liked his books.

In an alternate history Charles Lindbergh wins the 1940 US elections. It seems plausible: he was a national hero at the time. One that sympathized with Hitler however. The fear among the jewish population is told by the young Philip. The menacing euphemistic talk from the White House, the divided population, the Jewish resistance: Roth‘s story is not only easy to imagine, the comparison with contemporary America is unavoidable either. #1001books

#WeeklyForecast 06/21

An ambitious week. I started the tagged one already (print and audio). The other ones will have to wait until I finish my current read, The Wonder. The New Me is my #bookspin, The Headmaster‘s Wager my #FoodAndLit/#ReadingAsia2021 choice and if there‘s time left I want to finally start A Children‘s Bible for the #ToB21!

Jan 2021 - reread / dystopian - good words, interesting premise, some might find it close to home atm

Oh my. Too many parallels to the present day for comfort. #deweys24hourreadathon #readathon #deweysoct2020

Alternative history: what if the US had supported Nazi Germany? Roth blends fiction and facts and his depiction of the descent into a totalitarian regime is realistic. Our current political climate makes this book even more unsettling. Very scary

Thanks for the tag @MallenNC

Tagged set in Newark, NJ & the series filmed some in my town.

Lots from conventions & my hotels. Authors Sherrilyn Kenyon, Melissa de la Cruz, & Danielle Page. Other famous ones are Tim Curry, the Coreys (Haim & Feldman), Tracy Lords, Scott Wilson from TWD, Dick Dale, Gedde Watanabe..

I can't wait to get back to live concerts!

Would new friends @DHill @Varshaa @Jennaree3 like to play?
#thankfulthursday @cosmosmoon

This book is so scary.

I finished this one today. It is incredibly eerie and reflective of our times. It is 1940, Pearl Harbor never occurs, and Charles Lindbergh the republican candidate for president wins on an anti war platform. Quickly the country devolves in to antisemitic policies, racism, and propaganda. I found this story very scary, and there are many parallels with what is happening on the US today. I was just not thrilled with the ending. 3.5⭐️

I saw this recommended somewhere. Published in 2004 it‘s a fictional account of the war years in the USA with Lindbergh as president. I could not help but draw comparisons with what is happening in US right now. Have since found out it‘s an HBO series. Seems Roth , before his death in 2018 cautioned against drawing to close a parallel between his Lindbergh and Trump. Now I want to see the series to see if he does.
#2020joybooks.
@MrsMalaprop

I had to keep reminding myself that this alternative history novel—where a foreign power helps to place a bigot in the White House in 1940—was not actually reality. Roth's convention of using his own childhood, his own family and friends, actual historical figures to craft this terrifying story is incredibly successful. It's not hyperbole to say I don't think I've read anything quite like it.

Interesting review and some historical details and photos:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-history-behind-plot-against-america-...

I was stunned by this novel when I read it , not long after it was published in 2004. David Simon has turned it into a HBO series.Dystopian fiction that is more relevant in Trump times. Link to NPR interview with Simon here. https://www.npr.org/2020/03/13/814602908/in-plot-against-america-david-simon-fin... Air date March 16th

This novel is on my #Bookspin list. Written decades ago, mirroring the ascendancy of Trump. Might have to move to my nightstand pile. Have to believe David Simon will do a great job bringing it to HBO! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/arts/television/plot-against-america-hbo-davi...

Up next!

This one took a while to get through. It‘s great, but a bit dense and definitely not a light read. But the prescience of Roth‘s novel, written 10 years before Trump was elected, is pretty impressive and a bit creepy!.
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#Roth #politics #DogsOfLitsy #Sancho

#Roth #quote

#Roth #Quotes #truth

She #snores, too.
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#Hester #dogsoflitsy #bedtime #Roth

#Roth #Quotes #BookQuotes #ThePlotAgainstAmerica

The prescience of this book (published in 2004) is a bit creepy and frightening.
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#Roth #StrangerThanFiction #Fiction? #nightstand #FridayReads

Starting my first #Roth novel.
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#Hester #DogsOfLitsy

#paranoia
#anglophileApril

One of my all time favorite books.

Touted as #paranoid fiction, this is the fictional account of the presidential win for Charles Lindbergh. Obviously, he never ran for the presidency, but suppose he did. Having once called Hitler “a great man,” what would the world have been like should Lindbergh have been elected in 1940?

A co worker lent me this book unsolicited years and years ago. I wasn‘t at all interested in reading it, but wouldn‘t you know, I LOVED it. #anglophileapril

5⭐️ This is a must read for everyone. #oneofthebestin2018

Next up because the library hold came in. Everything else to back burner! I‘ve waited for almost six months for this one! #florida

Set in the 1940s, this novel postulates an alternative history where the Republicans nominate a fascist candidate who reveres Hitler and runs for United States president on a slate of fear, hatred and bigotry. When he wins the election, he proceeds to target religious minorities in the country for persecution and oppression. Reading this right now in the midst of the circus that is the Trump administration, all I can say is Holy. Shit.

It‘s a sad day but we must continue to fight the good fight.

#OctoberXFiles #OneWayOrAnother

One way or another? Alternative history fiction, of course. 😉

There‘s a lot happening in this book which is uncannily similar to what‘s happening in this country right now. The restricted POV of a Jewish-American child keeps the scope limited to the rapid rise of antisemitism in this alternative-historical novel of WW2.

Doing this. Actually kind of with trepidation bc it seems terrifying but ok...

The trip to Half Price Books tonight was a success!! Both my aunt and I found books, AND I had a gift card so both books were free for me 😍🤩🎉 The Left book is ‘Gulliver‘s Travels & A Modest Proposal‘, The Great American Read on PBS got me intrigued

Philip Roth has died. No matter what your feelings may be about white male novelists, his was a major American voice and we should mark his passing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/books/philip-roth-apprasial.amp.html

(Photo courtesy of the Times.)

After reading this amazing, terrifying book I became interested in the story behind it and came across this great article by the author in the NYT. Worth a read 📰: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E7DB1338F93AA2575AC0A9629C8B6...

This book is sooooo terrifying and soooooo terrifyingly relevant 😧

#septembowie #thisisnotamerica
This is my only philip roth but what an astonishingly prescient picture of trumps America this book presented as fdr loses a pre war election to charles Lindbergh . It is definitely not the wonderful America i see in litsy, in the pages of books, art, film, and culture.

I decided that it was time for a re-reading of this book after the Nazi rally in Charleston, South Carolina this year. I never thought that I would see so many Nazis marching in America in my life. But everything that has happened since this despicable "President" took office was beyond my imagination a year ago. I feel like we have gone through the looking glass. So many minor indignities in this book can be related to current events.

I've posted this stack before but I'm not near my books right now. This is the stack I collected after the election and my own little type of #resistance. Knowledge is power 📚💪#JuneTunz @Cinfhen

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Amazing. Also listened to a discussion of the book on Slate's Trumpcast podcast from March 13.

"'There's a plot afoot all right, and I'll gladly name the forces propelling it-hysteria, ignorance, malice, stupidity, hatred, and fear. What a repugnant spectacle our country has become! Falsehood, cruelty, and madness everywhere, and brute force in the wings waiting to finish us off" (p. 315). Though this statement was being made about anti-Semitism in America in the 1940s, its sentiment rings true today.

Just beginning this book. It's my first time reading this author.

Living in the alternative reality that is the United States right now, this book scared me. However, it also gave me hope that good people working together can preserve human dignity.