The History Book Club discussion

Our Required Format:

JANUARY

1. by Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: March 2008
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.

JANUARY

1. by Camron Wright
Finish Date: January 2, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating B+
Review: Worthwhile read about living in the dump in Cambodia.
This book, although it shows the sadness of living in poverty does show the goodness and hope of people.

2. by Stephen R. Lawhead
Finish Date: January 4, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A-
Review: Book 2 of a series. Wonderful continuation of the story.

3. by Paulo Coelho
Finish Date: January 5, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: D
Review: Not really a story, but rather Coehlo's philosophy of life described in a novel. He uses the scriptures of the Old & New Testaments in a beautiful testimony of his own, but just didn't work for me in novel format.

4. by Stephen R. Lawhead
Finish Date: January 10, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B+
Review: I throughly enjoyed this trilogy by Lawhead, which is based on Celtic mythology.

5. by Boris Pasternak
Finish Date: January 14, 2014
Genre: Classic Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: I do think that I probably missed some of the beauty of this novel with not being able to read it in the original Russia. And I also do not truly understand or know the history of the country. But this is much more than what I thought was a love story.

6. by Melina Marchetta
Finish Date: January 14, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: Doing a reread. Am enjoying it more this time, and also reading before I read the other two books in the series. I do think I enjoyed this more this time through. There is something to be said for a re-read of a book.

7. by Melina Marchetta
Finish Date: January 20, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: Great second book in the series, but definitely left with cliffhangers!

Good progress Kathy.

8. by Melina Marchetta
Finish Date: January 27, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: B
Review: Nice finish to the series. A spunky heroine & hero live mostly happily ever after.

FEBRUARY

9. by Joe Abercrombie
Finish Date: February 5, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: C-
Review: Abercrombie is a very good writer, but this book on war and soldiers was not really a subject that I enjoyed all that much. If you like gritty war fantasy, then this book should be a winner for you.

10. by Paul Scott
Finish Date: February 7, 2014
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: Book One of The Raj Quartet. Beautiful writing and a nice introduction on India during this time period.

11. by Markus Zusak
Finish Date: February 8, 2014
Genre: Fiction (Young Adult)
Rating: B
Review: Once started I couldn't put this one down. The language is rough the first few chapters, but stick with it and as Ed changes so does the language. I thought the ending lacked a bit, but not sure what I really wanted there either.

12. by Brandon Sanderson
Finish Date: February 18, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A
Review: A re-read in preparation for the next book in the series which will be released in March 2014.

13. by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Finish Date: February 18, 2014
Genre: Children's
Rating: B
Review: A children's picture book. "A princess knows her treasures!"

14. by Peter Harris (no photo)
Finish Date: February 21, 2014
Genre: Children's
Rating: C
Review: Very cute children's picture book. On a pirate theme right now for kids books.

15. by Marissa Meyer
Finish Date: February 23, 2014
Genre: Fantasy (Young Adult)
Rating: C
Review: If you've read the series this far, you like them enough to continue.... Except this is not a trilogy. Another wait, another year, for another book to find out what happens to our heroine & her crew!

I see - you must have little guys and gals running around.

16. by Nathaniel Philbrick
Finish Date: February 28, 2014
Genre: History
Rating: A-
Review: Very interesting history of the Whaleship Essex tragedy. Extensive notes & Bibliography.

Bentley wrote: "I see - you must have little guys and gals running around."

A "Great Aunt," but no grandchildren yet.

Never mentioned the "grand" prefix. Aunt is better.

March

17. by Robert Lyndon
Finish Date: March 2, 2014
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: C+
Review: A good story. Nice historical fiction and not a disguised romance. Lots happens, maybe too much, and we meet people from France to Britain to Iceland to Greenland to Norway to Russia to Greece to Anatolia and lots more.

18. by Patrick Ness
Finish Date: March 3, 2014
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: A
Review: Amazing book using a retelling of the Green Man Myth for a story on coming to terms with loss. Amazing illustrations!

19. by Sophie Masson
Finish Date: March 5, 2014
Genre: Mythic Fiction
Rating: D
Review: Hmm. Puss & Boots meets the Devil. Read this because it was on the Endicott Mythic Fiction for YA and so many of the other titles I really enjoyed. Not sure about this one.

20. by Patricia A. McKillip
Finish Date: March 7, 2014
Genre: Fairy Tale Retelling
Rating: A
Review: Beautiful dreamlike story. A bit of the Tam Lin fairy tale.

21. by Margo Lanagan
Finish Date: March 11, 2014
Genre: Mythic Fiction
Rating: B
Review: A story using the selkies legends for the background.

Good progress.

22. by Brandon Sanderson
Finish Date: March 18, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A-
Review: Continues the story set up in Way of Kings. And sets us up for the next book, which is at least a year away I'm guessing. One of my favorite authors.

23. by Jane Yolen
Finish Date: March 19, 2014
Genre: Fairy Tale Retelling
Rating: C
Review: I loved the first part of the book. But the last bit did not seem to fit the voice and story with the first part. It was a jarring mix of Mountain story vs German fairy tale at the end. So 5 stars for the first part, but only 2 stars for the ending.

24. by Jane Yolen
Finish Date: March 24, 2014
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: Nicely done Holocaust story for YA.

25. by E.M. Forster
Finish Date: March 24, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: Beautiful writing. Describes the tension of Anglo-Indian relationships in British India and explores what makes friendships.

26. by Susan Cain
Finish Date: March 26, 2014
Genre: Science
Rating: A
Review: Well written and very interesting. Nice view into the differences between extroverts and introverts; although I do think many people are somewhere in between the two.

27. by Diane Setterfield
Finish Date: March 28, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: D
Review: Hmm. I never did quite figure out the motivation of Bellman in the story. The story just didn't quite work for me, although I enjoy Setterfield's writing. I do look forward to her next book.

28. by Lloyd Alexander
Finish Date: March 29, 2014
Genre: Fiction Young Adult
Rating: B+
Review: Delightful YA/upper elementary story.

29. by Lloyd Alexander
Finish Date: March 30, 2014
Genre: Fiction Young Adult
Rating: B
Review: Not as delightful as the first, more serious. Still very enjoyable. And onto the third & conclusion.

30. by Lloyd Alexander
Finish Date: March 31, 2014
Genre: Fiction Young Adult
Rating: B
Review: Nice little series. And almost Happily Ever After.

April

31. by H.G. Wells
Finish Date: April 3, 2014
Genre: Classic Science Fiction/Horror
Rating: A-
Review: Love the writing. This is great classic horror. Not the nasty slash & gore, but a creepiness that is written in and the suggestion of more.

32, by Kurt Vonnegut
Finish Date: April 5, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B
Review: War is insane as described by this novel. So it goes, so things happen without a why. In war, like the novel, one does not always know what is going on.

Kathy wrote: "32, by Kurt Vonnegut

Finish Date: April 5, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B

Review: War is insane as describ..."

One of the great books, in my opinion, although it has been many years since I read it. It is based on Vonnegut's actual experiences in the war.

Kurt Vonnegut

Kathy......you are on a roll!!!!!!

Thanks, Jill. Hope the foot is doing some better.

Thanks. On the pain scale it is now at a 5 from a 7, so I am getting better.

33. by Alexander McCall Smith
Finish Date: April 13, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: I love this series. These are my go-to feel-good books. I enjoy that they describe a kind and thoughtful humanity, I need to read about the good in people when so much of what I read seems to be the exact opposite.

Loved this part, " People believed in all manner of things, in the face of all the evidence, but if they did not, well, what then? What if we stopped believing in things that we could not prove? We had to believe in something, she thought. We had to believe in kindness and courtesy and telling the truth; we had to believe in the old Botswana values -- all of these things could not be proved in the way in which one could prove that nothing made a difference to colds, and we we had to believe them."

Nice add Kathy

33. by Susan Crandall
Finish Date: April 16, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: I really enjoyed the book, although the basic plot has been done before. (Early 60s in the South. Racial unrest.) But I loved our young heroine, Starla. And it is a happy ending about what really matters.

34. by Laini Taylor

Finish Date: April 21, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A-
Review: Lani Taylor is my go-to just for fun read. I think I have read everything she has written now though. No new surprises for me, but all worth a re-read. This book finishes the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series.

35. by Paolo Bacigalupi
Finish Date: April 22, 2014
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: A
Review: I started this book after reading my May issue of National Geographic magazine. On page 80 there is an article title, The Ship Breakers. The photos and story gave a very real image to this book when I started it. All the more heartbreaking in that parts of the novel are so very true.

This book is actually set in a dystopian future in America. It was the 2011 Printz Winner, and I do think it deserved the award. Well written, and about family, friendship, and trust.

36. by Jeannette Walls
Finish Date: April 27, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: Very quick and enjoyable read. A dysfunctional family that pulls together mostly. And how those who are weaker and poorer and still stand up for what is right.

37. by Mary Mapes Dodge
Finish Date: April 28, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A
Review: A delightful children's chapter book from another generation. Optimistic and happy, where goodness and honestly prevails.

May

38. by William Kent Krueger
Finish Date: May 1, 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: I won this book in a Reading Group Guides contest.
I really had no expectations for the book. Read the book blurb, but none of my friends had read it, so It did not come with recommendations either way. I was pleasantly surprised. This book is quite a good read. Well written and a moving story.