The Friday Five #7

1. What I'm Reading

Excerpt from the inside cover: "In Auschwitz: A New History, documentarian Laurence Rees excavates a wealth of information and offers a new perspective in his shocking portrait of this most infamous death camp. Informed by more than a hundred original interviews with survivors and Nazi perpetrators, Rees's study exposes the inner workings of the camp in unprecedented detail - from the continually refined techniques of mass murder to the shrewd psychological manipulations of inmates, and from the unimaginable living conditions to the bizarre microcosms that emerged, such as the brothel and the dining hall, where the line between guard and prisoner became surprisingly blurred."

I have always been fascinated by WWII, the holocaust, the survivors and their stories. It began with The Diary of Anne Frank when I was a child, and has continued into my adult life with writings by Viktor Frankl such as Mans Search for Meaning and his biography, as well as Night by Elie Wiesel, and an incredible book I highly recommend called Witness: Voices From the Holocaust by Joshua Greene. Auschwitz: A New History is a continuation of my interest in learning about how these atrocities could happen, the psychology behind the death camps and the history of how they came to be. I am almost exactly halfway through and have learned a tremendous amount, have been horrified, saddened and at the same time heartened by the human spirit. It is a lengthy and meticulously researched book, and the subject matter is, obviously, quite heavy. It is a book I can only take in for so long before I must move on to lighter thoughts. It is, however, a very good read if the subject matter interests you at all.

2. What I'm Listening To

I've been kind of smitten by Kelly Clarkson's Stronger.  It is peppy and I like the message.

3. What I'm Watching

Chris and I went to see this in the theater today. I liked it, but didn't love it. It was a bit slow to start with. Julia Roberts does a great job playing the evil queen, she is funny and snarky. The dwarfs really make the movie. I wasn't smitten with either Snow White or the Prince, their characters were...shallow? Nathan Lane also does a great job playing the queens secretary. It is a teensy bit predictable (outside of the story we all know). I don't know that it is necessary to see it in the theater to enjoy it.

4. What I'm Eating

Uhm...mostly we have been eating a lot of junk. It has been a relaxed food week here. We went out for breakfast this morning because the rain was so miserable, we went to happy hour last night at a local bar and ate chili cheese fries, we bought popcorn and red vines at the theater today. This train is going to come to a rather abrupt end come Monday.

5. What I'm Loving

I have had a great spring break just being able to spend time and relax with Chris with no pager or work interruptions. It has been very nice to be lazy, sleep in, futz around the house, run errands, hang out, go for walks and just enjoy. It was really great for him to take this week off with me and I really appreciate it!

What are your five?