What I'm Reading Wednesdays: July 27

For the What I'm Reading Wednesdays blog:

Finished reading: "When I Lived in Modern Times" by Linda Grant. This short novel follows the journey of a young Jewish woman to Palestine before the creation of the state of Israel. Left rootless by the death of her single mother in England, the daughter is sent by her mother's lover to Tel Aviv, the modern "white city," which is in turmoil as Zionist settlers conduct guerrilla warfare against the British. Fitting in more with the colonialists than the Jews, she pretends to be a Christian hairdresser even as she spies for her guerrilla boyfriend. The novel dissects the historical ironies of life in Palestine before 1948. The narrative is extremely compelling and even-handed.

Reading now: "The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown" by Paul Malmont. This is an enormously fun work of historical fiction set during World War II. Famed "scientifiction" writers Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp and L. Ron Hubbard try to solve the mystery of a Tesla invention that went horribly wrong. One or two other famous people show up for cameos.

What's next: I keep putting of "A Moment in the Sun" (not quite the moment yet). Instead, I decided to read "Newsreel" by Irvin Faust (the former head guidance counselor at my high school). I bought the book (first edition) in 1980, so it took me 31 years to read it.