I seem to have fallen off the thread(s) for no particular reason but I have been reading and enjoying all reviews, for which, as always, many thanks.
Anyway, here's what I've been reading:
Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein As good as everyone says and an interesting counterpart to Hadley Freeman's House of Glass. It was a sobering reminder of the atrocities committed by the Soviets as well as the Nazis in WW2.
Esther's Inheritance by Sandor Marai I'm sorry I can't remember who recommended this a while ago but I thought it was very atmospheric. Esther's lover, Lajos, a fantasist and liar, returns after 20 years and the novella recounts events of the day of his return alongside rememberances of the past. Originally published in 1939 and translated from the Hungarian by George Sziertes.
The Thinking Heart by David Grossman Very short collection of essays from 2017-2024 by the Israeli novelist and peace campaigner. Succinct and powerful. As he remarks, "...the real battle today is not between Arabs and Jews, but between people on both sides who aspire to live in a peaceful, fair partnership, and people - on both sides - who feed on hatred and violence."
The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel A fascinating biography of Marie Curie celebrating the science, her life and family, and the pioneering work of the scientists in her laboratories.
I knew Marie Curie was a remarkable woman, but this account of her life quite blew me away. She is surely one of the greatest scientists ever (and still the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields) and was working at a time of extreme disadvantage and prejudice against women, particularly in science, making her achievements even more impressive. Her husband, Pierre, was very supportive, but after his untimely death in 1906, she was left to bring up two small daughters alone as well as continuing with her ground-breaking work. She obviously had a very close relationship with her daughters, one of whom, Irene, went on to be an eminent scientist and Nobel Prize winner in her own right. What I hadn't realised was how many other brilliant young women - and men - she trained and supported in her laboratory and this book gives credit to their work too.
There was initially great hope for the medical benefits of radioactive elements and Marie Curie even drove a van that she oufitted with X-ray equipment to the front lines of WW1. However, inevitably, working with them also took its toll on the health of those involved, and the book charts the dawning realisation of its catastrophic effects on the human body, including of course Marie Curie herself.
As well as her personal life, the book covers the many exciting scientific discoveries - of radioactivity, new elements, the structure of the atom - being made at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. I thought the author explained the science very clearly, although I wish she had used the word explain rather than explicate, and did find a number of other Americanisms creeping in. But that is a very petty and minor niggle in what is otherwise a brilliant read. Recommended