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I never finished Remembrance of Things Past. I got as far as Sodom and Gomorrah, which is volume four out of Proust’s seven volume opus, and then I drifted off to something else. I never finished History of the English Speaking Peoples (four volumes), either. And I barely scratched the surface of Journey to the West (also four volumes).

Despite this list of non-completed self-assignments I have moved on to another project: I am reading Winston Churchill’s six book history of the Second World War. This time I have a strategy. I am going to read a volume, then read something lighter, then read another volume.

I finished the first book, The Gathering Storm, a few weeks ago. It begins with the end of World War I and Germany’s humiliation at the hands of the allies. Then Churchill describes how the democracies rigorously enforced the economic provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, wringing compensation out of Germany, but they got careless when enforcing disarmament, exactly the opposite of what they ought to have done. Under the radar (an anachronistic phrase) Germany rebuilt its officer corps, rebuilt its air force and finally re-instituted the draft.

Churchill is a wonderfully engaging writer. I was on the edge of my seat as I was reading about Hitler’s conquest of Europe and the collapse of one government after another. (You can’t just give away Czechoslovakia! Just hand it over to the Nazis?! What are you thinking!) He also writes in a style that evokes British boarding schools and exclusive, gentleman’s clubs. You can almost taste the brandy and cigars.

And Churchill includes so much detail that his books are effective instruction manuals for military strategy. He tells you how many military vessels you need to protect your merchant shipping fleet. He tells you how to cut off your enemy’s supply of iron ore and how to protect your own.

According to my plan, I meant to read an unrelated book after finishing Volume I. I picked a book about Ronald Reagan, Way Out There in the Blue. I found it so depressing that I quit in the middle and I moved back to Churchill ahead of schedule.

Now I am working on volume II, Their Finest Hour. It is about how the Brits held the Germans at bay while the rest of Europe was either defeated by Hitler or allied with him.

Good stuff.