Books I’d like to see under the tree

The book about the silent film star

Two new books are on my Christmas wish list, even though I already have enough unread books on my home-office shelves to keep me busy until I croak.

One of the new ones is Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean. It tells the story of the German shepherd pup who was found in battle-scarred France’s Meuse Valley during World War I by an American corporal and went on to become a silent film legend.

I’ve seen Rin Tin Tin movies and remember thinking, this dog is fantastic! As a kid, I watched the 1950s TV show The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. Now I can get to know all about him. Plus, I’m a sucker for animal tales. Remember Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World? Yep, couldn’t put it down.

A review in The Christian Science Monitor that I clipped calls Orlean’s book “an eloquent, powerful inquiry into ‘how we create heroes and what we want from them’ and about what endures in our culture.” Here’s the link to the review: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2011/0927/Rin-Tin-Tin-The-Life-and-the-Legend

The other new book is What It Is Like to Go to War, in which Vietnam War vet Karl Marlantes wrestles with the idea of killing and urges his fellow veterans to talk openly about their experiences as a way to heal. Non-veterans like me can read this work and appreciate the impact of combat on a person’s soul.

Again, what I know about this book comes from the Monitor, and you can read the review at http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2011/0926/What-It-Is-Like-to-Go-to-War.