Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America by Jay Parini

For the holiday, here is a book about the evolution of our national character.

If you are like me, and you probably are, you have not read all of the historically important books. You may find lists of such books interesting and resolve to read them all. If so, you will appreciate Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America by Jay Parini. Thirteen books is such a reasonable number to contemplate reading. Also, Parini's reports on the books may tell you all you want to know and relieve you from the self-imposed obligation to read them.

I found that I had read five of Parini's thirteen:

• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• Walden
• Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• On the Road

It has been years since I read any of these, except Twain's book about Huck Finn. I enjoyed rediscovering the stories and learning what impact they have had on literature, politics, and society.

Of the other eight, I did not even know of The Promised Land by Mary Antin. According to Parini, this 1912 memoir was widely read at a time when many immigrants from Eastern Europe were struggling to fit into an American society that was not so accommodating as they had been led to believe it would be. Reading Parini's summary is enough for now. I learned much about the willpower that made many immigrants succeed.

I also will not plan to read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock, or The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, for I think I have read plenty of the titles they spawned.

I have read portions of Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, The Federalist Papers, and The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Reading only selections is recommended for all of these.

That leaves The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches by W.E.B. Du Bois. It sounds like it might be a very interesting read.

If you want more than thirteen books, Parini does add a list of 100 more in the appendix. Happy reading.

Parini, Jay. Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America. Doubleday, 2008. 385p. ISBN 9780385522762.

Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife by Francine Prose

Francine Prose has been reading and rereading Anne Frank's Diary since she was a young girl. The devoted fan and prolific writer matured as a reader while rethinking what Anne Frank wrote and how she wrote. She recognized long ago that Anne Frank was consciously writing for the public, not just for herself as is sometimes stated in curriculum guides. She was, of course, very interested when The Critical Edition, The Definitive Edition, and The Revised Critical Edition were published, each showing that Anne Frank did indeed rewrite much of the early writing, determined to polish her diary into a literary work. Prose tells all of this and reveals much of what she has learned about the young author in Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife.

I was drawn to this new title after hearing Prose discuss Anne Frank on an NPR podcast. I was intrigued by the relationship of the book to the subsequent play and movie, both of which were popular and highly acclaimed. Being young, Prose initially liked the adaptations, but she now has a rather different view. She recognizes that both on stage and on screen Anne Frank has been reduced to a sweet, naive girl, missing much of her wit and savvy. Prose reluctantly admits that these dramatizations, as mistaken as they are, have drawn millions of people to the book, which she considers a good thing.

Prose also defends Otto Frank, who has been sharply criticized for editing his daughter's notebooks and loose papers into the original Diary published first in 1947. She notes that he actually left much more of the controversial content in than most fathers might have been inclined to do. His edit, she says, is still the most readable and most popular in schools that actually read the book. Unfortunately, many schools teach the sweetened play instead. "Chapter Ten: Teaching the Diary" is the most disturbing chapter, as Prose tells how badly some teachers teach the book and how some modern ultra-religious parents object to its teaching of tolerance.

Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife is an interesting mix of biography, memoir, literary criticism, and history, which should attract many readers.

Prose, Francine. Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife. Harper, 2009. ISBN 9780061430794