My lover has an inexplicable, abiding interest in the Holocaust and what the Nazis did. His explanation is that he’s attempting to understand what and how it happened. I see it as little more than car-accident-watching.

He’s reading a new, well-researched book about Auschwitz. While we’re discussing it, I recommend my copy of Night to him. He doesn’t start on it, so I decided to reread it. It’s been many years since the first and only time I read it and I wanted to be sure of my reasons for encouraging him to read it.

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I reread Hannibal last week (for the umpteenth time). In it, Thomas Harris clearly describes the “memory palace” that Lector built for himself over the years. I haven’t read The Memory Palace of Mateo Ricci because Harris describes the concept clearly.

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Here’s a short list of books that I’ve enjoyed and have recommended to a number of people. Books that I recommend to only one or two people don’t make the list. (Books are in no particular order.)

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