The History Book Club discussion

Here is your thread for 2014. Happy reading!

JANUARY
1. by Daniel James Brown
Finish date: Jan 2, 2014
Genre: Sport History
Rating: A+
Review: Fabulous book. A compelling story expertly written. A sports memoir of a little known group of 9 young men and their unlikely road to the 1936 Olympic Games held in Nazi Germany. The author does an outstanding job of weaving together the story of the young men who would eventually row, the development of the sport of competitive rowing and the premiere collegiate teams in the U.S., the art and science behind this gracious and grueling sport, the state of affairs of daily life in post-depression pre-WWII life in America, and how Hitler came to prepare Germany for the Olympic games. The fundamentals of teamwork are critical to this team's success, and this is also an important component of the story and told in a way that is authentic to the story. Yes, there is a lot going on this book, but the story line flows effortlessly and the author has just the right touch of developing imagery and emotion. A few photos are sprinkled among the pages, which was a nice treat.

I had no particular interest in rowing before picking up this book, but am glad I did. Living in Seattle brings this closer to home, but honestly it's just one terrific book.

Glad to see you on here, Alisa. You always find the most interesting books.....remember the one about cod? I am still laughing about that one.

I loved that book! It was great fun. I'm a sucker for the lesser told tale.

by Mark Kurlansky

Keep on reading, Alisa.

Alisa, glad to see you posting and reviewing books. Always great to read your input. Ditto Bryan. Your format is perfect but placed a sample for you on the thread.

Good job on the format too.

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.

Alisa wrote: "I loved that book! It was great fun. I'm a sucker for the lesser told tale.

by [author:Mark..."

I did like that book. I like books that look at history through a particular lens.

MAY
2. by Robert Sullivan
Finish date: May 4, 2014
Genre: Urban animalia, nonfiction
Rating: B/B-
Review: Rodents roam in the underbelly of cities all over the world, and in this peculiar little book the author sets out to examine rodent life in perhaps one of the most prolific rat infested cities in America: New York. Out of morbid curiosity and the need for some inexpensive escapist airplane reading material, I decided to give this book a try. Face it, rats are disgusting disease ridden vermin so I recognize reading about them can evoke repulsion, fear, and disgust. But rather than focus exclusively on the urban rat life, the author weaves in stories of politics, architecture, labor unions, obscure historical figures, everyday people, and of course rodent control professionals. It turned out to be an interesting and fun diversion from the usual. The ending didn't tie it up as neatly as it started out, thus the B-, but overall it was kind of fun for an obscure topic.

You read some of the most interesting books, Alisa. First is was cod and now it is rats!!!! To say the least, your tastes are varied and I love to read your reviews. Miss ya', gal.

Ha! Yeah, I veer off the beaten path. :-).

JULY
3. by J.R. Moehringer
Finish date: July 13, 2014
Genre: Memoir/coming-of-age
Rating: B
Review: I have to admit I was attracted to the idea of reading a book about someone who grew up in a bar. There is something about life in a neighborhood bar that is easy to romanticize, and the idea of a place where everybody knows your name and buys each other drinks to dull the pain and/or create a haven for the everyday is rather appealing. I'm not a lush but come on, what is not to love about a good bar?

A touching coming-of-age memoir about a boy's journey into manhood growing up in the 70's in Manhasset, NY. When he was a newborn his mother took him to move in with her parents, escaping her husband who had tried to kill her. His grandparents house was a refuge for other family members struggling to get by in life, and young JR didn't have much for male role models. At the age of 7, he treks to the local bar to get cigarettes for his uncle, and the men in the bar take to the young lad. The bar and the characters who were regulars would take him under their wing, such as it is for a group of regulars in a small town bar who had their own quirks and issues in life.

There is a good amount of this story that is horribly depressing, at the very least in part because it is a true story. The story does a good bit to glamorize the life that revolves around the bar, and at times a bit too much for my taste. You can see the devolution coming on so that in the end there aren't really any surprises. Like a good neighborhood bar however, the characters and their humanity shine through in the story. In the end I came to understand quite a bit about this young man and the lessons he learned about heartbreak, loss, and the struggle for identity which are very relatable even though his personal circumstances are very different from my own. Worthy read.

AUGUST
4. by Daniel Silva
Finish date: August 9, 2014
Genre: Mystery
Rating: B+
Review: Anything that smacks of scandal involving the Vatican is going to land on my reading list, even if it is fiction. Let's be honest, how do we know that fictional Vatican scandal is fiction at all? We don't, which is why reading about it stimulates the imagination. It may not be far from the truth, but we'll never really know, will we? The protagonist is Gabriel Allon, a former Israeli intelligence officer who just happens to be an expert art restorer. When a woman working on a special project involving the Vatican's art collection ends up dead on the floor of St. Peter's Basilica, Allon is called in to secretly investigate. The official word is that the woman's death is ruled a suicide, but nothing in Rome is ever that simple and certainly not something that occurs in the middle of St. Peter's. The story line takes a lot of twists and turns, and involves Vatican scandal, art antiquities traded on the black market, the mafia, and unrest in the Middle East. And of course beautiful women are involved because, well, Rome and Italians of course! Great story and a page-turner, very well written. I'm not much of a series reader but there are other books by this author featuring the Gabriel Allon character that are likely to hit my to-read list. Good stuff!

OCTOBER
5. by Nora Ephron
Finish date: October 27, 2014
Genre: humor
Rating: B
Review: I feel bad about giving this a three star rating because I like her so much, I just didn't love this book as much as I thought I would, or I should say as much as some of my friends seemed to think I would like it. Her commentary on the adventures of aging is wonderful and her writing is relatable, funny, and poignant. Maybe I will give this four stars after all. It wasn't the book that disappointed me, it was the hype. And I too feel bad about my neck but am not covering it up in a black turtleneck. At least not yet. Where's my moisturizer? . . .

Alisa funny about the black turtlenecks - sometimes books just do not hit you like they do your friends.

For me, I think she is a better screenwriter. I love her humor and irony, it just didn't translate as well into a book as it does into a movie. Good, just not my favorite.

Understood

DECEMBER
6. by Tavis Smiley
Finish date: December 20, 2014
Genre: Civil Rights Movement, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Rating: B+
Review: This is an interesting story and the focus of the last year of Dr. King's life is a unique focus and worth examining. I like how the author lined up the firestorm of activity during this period of time and provides insights into Dr. King's involvement including conversations with allies and foes. The book presents an unvarnished view of the disagreements inside the various factions of the Civil Rights movement of the mid-late '60's, how Dr. King was affected by these disagreements, and what he tried to do about it. Dr. King had his personal struggles to be sure, emotionally, physically, and intellectually, and the perspective on how he soldiered through those times was revealing. Smiley dissects the pieces and puts them out there for the reader to examine in the light that only hindsight can offer. If there is any shortfall, I wished for a wrap up at the end. Still, a very worthy read.

Good progress Alisa - we have set up your new thread for 2015 and hoping that it is a great year for you.

Good to know, Alisa, I heard good things about this book.

by Tavis Smiley