What are you reading this week of January 15, 2017?

[TexasProgresive]

1. Still being mesmerized by Mitch Albom, "The Magic Stings of Frankie Presto"

Part of this story takes place in Franco's Spain. I hope this paragraph is not prophetic.

Perhaps you are wondering about Baffa (the titled character's foster father picked up by Franco's men), that poor simple soul. Frankie wondered, too. In the beginning, he asked El Maestro (his teacher) about his papa every morning, but there was no word. I have mentioned how the fear of tyrants chokes humans; to even inquire about a "disappeared person" in those years meant you might be next. The world was at war, Spain was under martial law, and anything that offended the Generalísimo's political or religious beliefs was punished by prison, even death. El Maestro told the boy it was too dangerous to speak about Baffa outside the house.