Reading List for August, 2022

August being the anniversary month of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it was originally my intention to read several books on the two bombings this month. However, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I miscalculated the amount of time it would take to read the last few books in July and actually finished reading John Hersey's Hiroshima ahead of schedule.

The first two books read in August were Susan Southard's Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War and The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians edited by Cynthia C. Kelly.

I had read that Southard had been concerned that, although much had been written on the bombing of Hiroshima, relatively little had been written on Nagasaki. She certainly made up for that neglect. Her book was similar to Hersey's in that like Hershey, she concentrated on the experiences of a few individuals. The difference being Hershey's book (or rather magazine article) was 106 pages and Southard writing more than 400.

There has been much written since 1945 as to whether or not the dropping of the two atomic bombs was necessary in order to end the second World War. As far as Hiroshima is concerned, I'm not sure how to answer that question. The arguments both pro and con the bombing seem reasonable to me. But, I have to say that in my opinion, the bombing of Nagasaki three days after Hiroshima was unnecessary and could possibly approach the level of a war crime.

I found the book on the Manhattan Project to be a bit tedious. Most of the essays and stories in that book were more about the "wonderful" achievements of the project, and less about any moral objection to the use of atomic weapons during the war.

When I had had my fill of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I went on to lighter fare. I did not post a review of Tracy Chevalier's book - I did, however write something on my thoughts on the work of Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

In July, I read the first of Dorothy L. Sayer's mystery novels, Whose Body? . I enjoyed that book enough to read more of Sayer's novels in August. I've written posts on two of those books - Cloud of Witness and Unnatural Death. . I've enjoyed the four books by Sayer that I've read this month; I thought I would manage a fifth one - The Five Red Herrings but I was unable to finish that ebook before the end of the month.

I have excuses, of course, as to why I'm still reading The Five Red Herrings . I've recently discovered a podcast which has taken up a lot of my time - The History of English Podcast. The podcast started in June of 2012. I've got quite a bit of catching up to do. I highly recommend this podcast to anyone nerdy enough to have an interest in the history of the English language.

Another reason why I've not finished with The Five Red Herrings has to do with Sayer's writing style with this particular book. The story takes place in Scotland, and Sayer thought it necessary to have many of the characters speak with a heavy Scottish accent. This makes it difficult to read. Here's an example from Chapter VII:

"Ay," said Jeanie, philosophically, "I'm no surprised. She's troubled in her mind aboot Mr. Farren. And nae wonder, wi' him mekkin' a' that disturbance and gaein' aff that gate an' never comin' back for twa nichts."
"Two nights?" said Wimsey.
"Ay. Nicht before last it was he went aff on his bicycle, swearin' somethin' awfu' an' nae ward tae say whaur he was gaein' nor what he was gaein' to du."
"Then he wasn't at home last night for dinner?"
"Him? Hame for's denner? 'Deed no, nor ony time o' the day. Monday nicht it was he come back an' fund Campbell i' the hoose an' sent him packin', an' after that there was sic a collie-shangie it nigh frighted my brither's wife into a fit an' her verra near her time, tu. An' oot he gaes and away, wi' Mistress Farren runnin' oot o' the door after him wi' the tears fallin' doon her cheeks. I dinna ken for why she takes on so aboot the man. I'd let him gae an' be daumed tae him, wi' his jealousies an' his tempers."

At any rate, here's the list of books read in August, 2022.

Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War   Susan Southard
The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians   edited by Cynthia C. Kelly
Girl With a Pearl Earring   Tracy Chevalier
Before the Coffee Gets Cold   Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Tales From The Cafe   Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Cloud of Witness   Dorothy L. Sayer
Unnatural Death   Dorothy L. Sayer
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club    Dorothy L. Sayer
Strong Poison   Dorothy L. Sayer