one must imagine me happy

in my WW2 era (maybe)

Writing this on the feeder bus that goes to the subway. Read a bit of a new book, On Earth as It Is Beneath.

There’s a bit of a sale going on for Kindle books which delayed my leaving the house today. Bought a few books about WW2.

All three books total for under 10USD. I had points for a 3USD discount so yay?

I’ve tried getting into the First World War but it was very European-centric. The second one is a lot closer to us. I mean, my grandmother went through the Japanese occupation of Singapore.

We’ve been taught the Imperial Japan part of WW2 as we grew up. Now I’m interested to know what happened on the other side of the world.

What fascinates me is not so much the ideology but how a bunch of regular people just followed orders and made the worst atrocities possible.

Anyway, I think the few pieces of media really got me looking at the Holocaust in recent years we’re the Jesse Eisenberg film A Real Pain and the TV show Man in the High Castle.

Film is about two cousins who go to Poland to honour their grandmother who had passed away. They go on a sort of tour. Parts of the film were even filmed in the actual gas chambers. For a film so simple it moved me.

The Man in the High Castle, on the other hand, was about an alternate reality where the Nazis won.

I guess this forms part of a “personal curriculum” learning about WW2.

Just opened Mein Kempf and omg what do you mean it’s almost 700 pages?????? I thought it was 70 pages. What does he have to say. I’m gonna skim. I just want to know the primary material before I start on secondary stuff.

Also I guess it’s a middle-aged thing where people, men and women alike, start getting into history if they haven’t already.

I prefer fiction in my reading or nonfiction that sounds like fiction. Things that tell stories. I guess history is close to that.

Shall report back when I make some meaningful progress.

Today is Thursday. We get to work remotely on Fridays. Gonna persevere despite my fucking cramps and back pain.