Two cheers for Communism?

One of the problems, if one can call it that, with being a disorganized reader is the tendency to sound cleverer that you actually are.

Case and point, at the book club meeting this weekend (250 pages or less club), I commented that there are only two working examples of communism--a camping trip and Babar. This got some laughs from the room and I got the impression of people being impressed with my originality.

Alas, I can't take credit. The two examples mentioned were recent discoveries through the course of my reading. The first, the camping trip, is from AA Cohen's "Why Socialism?" a mini-book that discusses the principles of socialism through the thought experiment of a camping trip. Whether you agree with socialism or not, it is an interesting book for laying out the questions and giving possible answers.

The other example, Babar, is from an essay I read at the anniversary of Babar last year, I believe, in the New Yorker. The essay was part portrait the elephant king's story as well as a commentary of how it reflected a "white-washed" version of French imperialism and communist thinking that apparently occurs in France (I often wonder if reporters/politicians/pundits/marketers are pulling our legs about what people in other countries are talking about--trust us they say while handing out tinted sunglasses). It's quite a thick article, but its a trivia lover's delight as it saves you the research time to compile the information yourself. That thought is also stolen from my good friend Corrina (wise woman).

As previously mentioned, the topic of communism came up during a discussion at our book club. The pick of the month was the Good Woman (soul/person) of Szechun by Brecht. An interesting play, which I will have to put on my list of plays to see in person. Oddly enough the theme of communism has shown up in a number of our book club picks completely by accident. I think its due to the time period of the books (the recent batch have all been from the early 20th century).

Despite the ominous shadow of Russian communism, fun was had by all with German food and Canadian book fun. Are next book is a Rushdie novel (Haroun and the sea of stories). I'm looking forward to diving into it.

S