Two of my favorite novelists have birthdays today: Baroness Phyllis Dorothy James (b. 1920) and Leon Marcus Uris (b. 1924, d. 2003).
Although I like her detective novels very much, my favorite P. D. James novel as of now is Children of Men, a dystopian novel about a world where no children are born. I suggest that those who are struggling with the “quiver-full question” read James’ rather chilling picture of a future with no children at all. Read my review here.
Leon Uris is sometimes described as a “Zionist” and one obituary in the British newspaper The Guardian referred to him as a racist for his portrayal of Arabs in his admittedly pro-Jewish novels. I think this is an unfair accusation, but if you are Palestinian, or sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, you might not enjoy Uris’ novels as much as I do. Exodus, Mila 18, and QB VIII are all great stories with lots of historical information about Israel and the experience of modern Jews in Europe during and after World War II. My thoughts about Uris and James and their books on this date last year.
We sure like a lot of the same books. Haven’t read PDJames in a while but I should visit her newer books. I also LOVED Leon Uris when I was in high school. I read those books several times. Mila 18 still resonates with me when I read books like Milkweed and The Devil’s Arithmetic.
Leon Uris is also one of my favorites. I’ve read everything he’s written and Trinity has to be my personal pick, with Exodus a close second. Funny, I always thought of him as more anti-Britain than anti-Palestinian! Both Exodus and Trinity had that feel, as well as one I can’t remember the title of, in which Britain places Australian and New Zealander soldiers at the front lines of an impossible battle and basically treats them like plastic army men to do with as they please. I’ll have to figure out the title and re-read that one — it was great, too.