A Farewell To Arms   Ernest Hemingway

Re-read this novel after about 40 years, and loved it even more than the first time. Especially liked the recounting of Henry’s war experiences, the camaraderie with the other soldiers, the long , dangerous retreat, and Henry’s escape and decision to desert. Contains two of the greatest paragraph’s in all of American literature. This is the ending of the second one:

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

Underground Airlines   Ben H. Winters

Well-imagined, very readable novel about a present-day, alternative history United States where slavery was never abolished. Though the prose is good, this book was hard to read because of the subject, and there are scenes on a modern corporate plantation that are like a horror novel. Complex human dramas throughout, and unbearable tragedies. Glad I read it, and glad I’m done. Winters is a very interesting writer.