The History Book Club discussion

Ragan, this is your thread for 2019. I have included the link to the required format thread and an example. If you had a 2018 thread - it will be archived so when you get the opportunity move over your completed books and formats to the 2019 thread - but we will allow time for you to do that.

Please follow the standard required format below - I hope you enjoy your reading in 2019. Here is also a link for assistance with the required guidelines:

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Our Required Format:

JANUARY

1. by Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: January 2019
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.

IMPORTANT - THE REVIEW SHOULD BE SHORT AND SWEET - THERE ARE NO LINKS OF ANY KIND IN THE BODY OF THE REVIEW ALLOWED. NONE. DO NOT REFER TO ANY OTHER BOOK IN YOUR BRIEF REVIEW. THE ONLY BOOK CITED IN YOUR REVIEW IS THE ONE YOU ARE REVIEWING - NO OTHERS. ALL LINKS TO OTHER THREADS OR REVIEWS ARE DELETED IMMEDIATELY - THERE WILL BE NO WARNING. WE CONSIDER THIS SELF PROMOTION AND IT IS NOT ALLOWED AND IS IN VIOLATION OF OUR RULES AND GUIDELINES.

Ragan, I have archived your 2018 thread. I will provide a link here to your archived 2018 thread if you have any other 2018 books that you have completed and want to add.

Here is the link: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

This is your 2019 thread. Happy Reading.

JANUARY

1. by Jane Austen
Finish date: January 7, 2019
Genre: Classics
Rating: C
Review: I have very mixed feelings about Jane Austen. I read one book of hers that is now in my top 5 favorite books, but everything else of hers that I have read has not really interested me. They tend to be the kind of books that I forget the minute I put them down. This one was a little more enjoyable to me than most.

2. by Patricia Bracewell
Finish date: January 7, 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: B
Review: This is the second book in a series that takes place in the English royal court in the early 1000s. The story includes royalty, vikings, court intrigue, ghosts, and politics. All things that make for a fun historical fiction novel. I don't know that I would call this excellent writing, but I enjoyed reading it. It was slightly more enjoyable than the first book in the series.

3. by Peter Vilhelm Glob (no photo)
Finish date: January 15, 2019
Genre: Anthropology/Archaeology
Rating: C
Review: An interesting but very shallow dive into the history of mummified bodies discovered in peat bogs throughout Europe. If you are looking for a scientific explanation as to why/how this mummification happens, this is not the book for you. It basically just provides a run-down and description of a handful of bodies discovered prior to the 1960s. Good descriptions and lots of pictures.

Great progress - you are off and running

FEBRUARY

4. by J.K. Rowling
Finish date: February 11, 2019
Genre: Children's, Fantasy
Rating: C
Review: Because I am reading this series for the first time as an adult I missed out on the magic of growing up with these characters. I think that is why these books haven't impressed me as much as others. While I think the world they take place in is interesting and imaginative, I just can't relate to or connect with any of the characters.

5. by Sharon Kay Penman
Finish date: February 21, 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: A-
Review: Penman is one of my favorite historical fiction authors. Her books are extremely well researched and very detailed. This was no different.

Ragan why did you like this book so much. You gave it a great rating. It looks very interesting.

Bentley wrote: "Ragan why did you like this book so much. You gave it a great rating. It looks very interesting."

Penman's books are extremely detailed and well researched. So, as far as historical fiction goes they are more accurate than most. I felt like I learned a lot while also being entertained! This is the third book in a series about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II and Penman wrote the story in a way that I felt like I understood these people from such a different time and place.

I don't know if her books are for everyone. They are long and pretty dense, so they can be slow going at times. But, I've thoroughly enjoyed every single one.

Very interesting - I will keep that in mind for one of our Monarchy - Historical Fiction Reads.

MARCH

6. by Agatha Christie
Finish date: March 3, 2019
Genre: Mystery
Rating: C
Review: Enjoyable, but not my favorite of the series.

APRIL

7. by Dian Fossey (no photo)
Finish date: April 5, 2019
Genre: Nonfiction
Rating: B-
Review: Between working full and time and attending grad school it took me much longer to read this than it should have. While I did enjoy this book, I felt that it had less heart than other books I have read written by other scientists who studied primates. There was also a lot of repetition. Regardless, it was an interesting read and I learned a lot about gorillas.

Good progress Ragan.

Bentley wrote: "Good progress Ragan."

Thanks!

8. by Madeline Miller
Finish date: April 21, 2019
Genre: Fiction, Mythology
Rating: A
Review: I loved this. The author did an excellent job staying true to the original tale of Achilles and adding emotion to the story. Each character felt really real with the flaws and quirks that real people have. The book was fast paced and easy to read, but was also extremely well written. I look forward to reading other books by Madeline Miller in the future!

MAY

9. by Daphne du Maurier
Finished date: May 7, 2019
Genre: Classics
Rating: A+
Review: This is one of my all time favorite books and I have reread it many times. It never disappoints.

10. by Sylvia Plath
Finished date: May 8, 2019
Genre: Short Stories
Rating: C
Review: Short stories aren't really my thing. When I read fiction I want lots of character development and plot building and that is hard to come by in a short story. Although I really enjoy Sylvia Plath's writing, I found that the majority of the stories in this collection suffered from these typical issues. A few of Plath's diary excerpts were included in this book and it was interesting to read those and compare them to her stories (since most of her stories are extremely autobiographical). I think those comparisons were what I enjoyed most about this book.

11. by Madeline Miller
Finished date: May 21, 2019
Genre: Mythology
Rating: B+
Review: I've really enjoyed Madeline Miller's mythology re-tellings. This was a quick and easy read, but still managed to have a lot of great character development and an interesting plot. I loved that unlike a lot of re-tellings Circe was not depicted as an evil witch, but as a complicated women with faults and redeeming qualities.

Good progress, Ragan. This is a book that I have been considering. Thank you.

Lorna wrote: "Good progress, Ragan. This is a book that I have been considering. Thank you."

Thanks. It's definitely worth reading!

JUNE

12. by
Finished date: June 3, 2019
Genre: Children's, Fantasy
Rating: C-
Review: I don't really have much to say about this that I haven't said about the other 6 books in the series. I think I might have appreciated these books more if I had read them when I was younger. I didn't relate to any of the characters. While I think the world that Rowling created is interesting, I found the story to be very predictable. Maybe my expectations were too high due to all of the hype?

13. by N.K. Jemisin
Finished date: June 5, 2019
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: I was very impressed by N.K. Jemisin. Her writing style is so unique. I found this book to be captivating and refreshingly different.

14. by Alison Weir
Finished date: June 30, 2019
Genre: History
Rating: C
Review: It was interesting to compare this with fictional accounts of these historical figures. I enjoy Weir's books, but this one seemed a little more dry than others I have read.

Good progress, Ragan.

Lorna wrote: "Good progress, Ragan."

Thanks!

JULY

15. by N.K. Jemisin
Finished date: July 16, 2019
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: B
Review: This was the second book in a trilogy which takes place on Earth in an alternate reality. In this reality there is a group of people who have the power to manipulate the Earth through magic. This group has an especially important place in the world as the story takes place in a post apocalyptic setting. This book was so unique and Jemisin's writing style is different than any I have encountered before. So far I have found this series to be captivating.

16. by Edith Wharton
Finished date: July 28, 2019
Genre: Classics
Rating: C
Review: I was very surprised by this novel. While it was very similar in tone to other Edith Wharton novels, the subject matter differed from what readers would normally expect. Rather than being a novel of New York high society, Summer is the story of a young woman who was adopted into a middle class family, but was born into an extremely poor family living on the "wrong side of the tracks." This novel was considered scandalous when it was published due to some of its subject matter (premarital sex, abortion, etc.) and I did not expect to read about these things in a Wharton novel. While I enjoyed reading a different type of story from her, I did not like this novel as much as some of her more well known works.

AUGUST

17. by Robin McKinley
Finished date: August 8, 2019
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling
Rating: C
Review: I enjoyed most of this story, but it felt really anticlimactic. It was an interesting take on the fairy tale that everyone knows, but I have read versions that I liked better.

Ragan - great progress

Bentley wrote: "Ragan - great progress"

Thanks!

18. by N.K. Jemisin
Finished date: August 24, 2019
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: C+
Review: I liked the first two books of this trilogy a lot, but didn't enjoy this one nearly as much. It felt like the author had agreed to write three books but ran out of material. The first half seemed to drag on and a lot of it seemed unnecessary to the overall story. I was pretty bored through a lot of it. The second half was enjoyable and the ending was well done.

SEPTEMBER

19. by Dodie Smith
Finished date: September 11, 2019
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A+
Review: This was a reread for me and this is one of my favorite novels. It is a coming of age story about a young girl named Cassandra. She lives in a dilapidated castle with her family. Her father is an out of work author who hasn't published anything or made any money in years. When the owners of the land on which the castle sits come in to town and begin to take up residence in a nearby estate the families lives are turned upside down. Cassandra has a very engaging voice and her story is a delight to read from start to finish.

20. by Anthony Horowitz
Date finished: September 27, 2019
Genre: Mystery
Rating: C+
Review: Anthony Horowitz is an author who is well-versed in the mystery genre. This familiarity with the mystery genre is apparent in his novel, Magpie Murders. Magpie Murders has two plot-lines and is divided into two, nearly equal, roughly 200-page long sections. The first half is an unfinished manuscript written by a man named Alan Conway, the second follows the present-day investigation into Conway’s sudden death. The manuscript follows an experienced detective named Atticus Pund as he investigates two deaths in a small-town called Saxby-on-Avon in the 1950’s. The second half of the book follows, Conway’s editor, Susan Ryeland, as she begins work on his manuscript only to discover that the final chapters are missing. Susan uses her amateur sleuthing skills, obtained through years of reading mystery novels, to determine what happened to the missing chapters. In the process, she discovers that Conway’s death may not be what it seems. This novel is extremely fast paced, with introductions to at least eight characters in the first fifty-pages alone. Readers will find themselves sucked into these page-turning mysteries and their twists and turns as they, as well as the novel’s sleuths, try to determine just who committed the grisly crimes in Saxby-on-Avon and Suffolk, England.

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Full disclosure: I'm currently taking an Adult Services in Public Libraries course for my Master's in Library Science and the course requires that I read fiction from different genres and write short reviews about them. The first week's reading was to be in the mystery genre, and this is my review for class. These reviews are not supposed to be focused on my actual feelings about the book, but instead on how I think readers might react and what the appeal of the book would be to those interested in this type of book. Many of my reviews moving forward will be in this format as this class will be dominating my reading for the next few months. I will say that I enjoyed this book, but was disappointed by the ending. The killers "motive" was very flimsy and kind of ridiculous, so it definitely impacted my feelings about the ending of the novel.

OCTOBER

21. by Sharon Kay Penman
Date finished: October 9, 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Rating: C-
Review: Penman, who is arguably more well-known for epic historical fiction novels, took a foray into historical-mystery with The Queen’s Man (1996), the first in a four-book series about an amateur investigator named Justin De Quincy. In the opening of the novel, Justin happens upon the scene of what appears to be a burglary gone awry. He attempts to fend off two outlaws as they attack a man in the woods. Unfortunately, he is too late and the man, a local goldsmith, has been murdered. Justin is astounded when he discovers that the murdered man was carrying a secret letter intended for Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Queen of England. Throughout the novel, Justin finds himself pulled into a world of knife-fights, thievery, and betrayal as he attempts to find out who killed the goldsmith, Gervase Fitz Randolph, and why. Was he killed to protect the queen’s secret? Or because one of his family members was tired of him being in the way? Will Justin and the local sheriff be able to catch the killer or killers before they strike again? In The Queen’s Man, Penman uses her background as an author of historical fiction to intertwine historical detail with suspicion to create a fun and unique mystery novel.

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This book was fun, albeit kind of ridiculous. The murder's MO was especially silly. The characters were at times flat, and I didn't particularly love the way Penman portrayed most of the females in the book (although I do realize that some of that is due to the limitations of women's rights in the time period in which the book was set). Penman's straight historical fiction novels are some of my favorites and this story did not live up to those. It fell a little flat for me.

22. by Philip K. Dick
Date finished: October 17, 2019
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: C-
Review: This novel was well-received and nominated for a Nebula Award in 1968. The story of bounty-hunter Rick Deckard and his android targets became an instant success and an enduring SciFi classic. Though the novel was the inspiration for the movie Bladerunner, about the only thing the two have in common is a couple of character names and the post-apocalyptic setting with bounty-hunters who kill androids for profit. Otherwise the novel and movie are completely different (truthfully, the movie is better), so don’t go into this expecting the characters to have the same motivations or personalities. Don’t expect to learn much about the characters at all. The novel is entirely plot-driven, and the characters are distant and underdeveloped. Despite that, or maybe because of that, the book is fast-paced and action oriented. Dick had a unique take on the bleak, post-apocalyptic future and I think that is what made this novel successful. While it wasn’t necessarily the book for me, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? May appeal to those who are looking for a quick, futuristic read.

Wonderful progress, Ragan.

23. by Georgette Heyer
Date finished: October 23, 2019
Genre: Romance
Rating: B-
Review: Heyer, a prolific author of romance and detective novels, was a giant in the literary world in her day. She wrote over 60 novels from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. True to Heyer’s oeuvre, The Convenient Marriage, is set in the Regency Era. The novel follows a young woman named Horatia and her marriage to the Earl of Rule. Their marriage, as the novel’s title would suggest, begins as a marriage of convenience as Horatia’s family needs money and the Earl of Rule has a lot of it. This novel is equal parts comedy of manners and romance. Horatia, younger than her more worldly husband, struggles to find her place in society and her new home and constantly finds herself in scrapes and awkward situations. Eventually, after the Earl has rescued her many times, she learns how to fit in and comes to love her husband. While she is the primary focus of the novel, other characters such as her brother, Viscount Winwood, steal the reader’s attention with their antics. Thanks to Viscount Winwood and the Earl of Rule, there is also plenty of swashbuckling and scheming to hold the reader’s attention. Truthfully, Horatia is the least interesting part of this novel. Heyer utilized the typical romance novel heroine tropes to describe Horatia and those characteristics represent almost her entire personality. Despite this, The Convenient Marriage, was a fun and charming read. It will appeal to fans of clean romance novels with comedic elements.

NOVEMBER

24. by Michelle Moran
Date finished: November 1, 2019
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Rebel Queen was published in 2015 and nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction later that year. This novel, like all of Moran’s works to date, is historical fiction and tells the tale of a strong woman excelling during a difficult period of her life. Rebel Queen tells the story of British colonization of India the mid to late 1800s. Though the title suggests otherwise, the book is not really about the queen, but about a group of female warriors called the Durgavasi who serve her during this difficult time. Specifically, it is about the journey of one member of this army, Sita, as she trains to join the Durgavasi and eventually, serves and protects her queen. However, the queen and remaining soldiers are interesting secondary characters. Moran’s story is rich in historical detail and she describes Sita’s surroundings in great detail. Despite the story’s optimistic beginning, the novel’s tone becomes increasingly bleak as the British colonization spreads throughout India and touches the lives of each character. The end of the novel is heart wrenching and violent. Many altercations are described in gory detail; this is definitely not a light and breezy read. Although colonization is inevitable, readers will find themselves rooting for Sita and the Durgavasi every step of the way.

Ragan - you seem to be moving along.

25. by Geraldine Brooks
Date finished: November 6, 2019
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B-
Review: This book takes place in a small village in England in the 1600s after a visiting traveler falls ill with the plague and inadvertently spreads the illness to the townsfolk. Anna Frith, the story’s protagonist, works with the local rector’s wife to care for each person who falls sick. Together they research healing herbs, mix poultices, take care of villager’s livestock, mine for ore, and visit the sick beds of their neighbors. During these visits to the sick, Brooks did not spare the reader any of the grisly details of plague buboes or other symptoms. She wrote frank descriptions of the suffering and heartbreak that the plague outbreak caused this community. This dreary novel covers events of a full-year in a mere 308 pages. Because so much happens in this short novel it is a very fast-paced read. Many of the secondary characters are distant shadows, but Anna is a well-drawn, resilient, and courageous protagonist.

26. by Michael Punke
Date finished: November 13, 2019
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Published in 2002, the novel was well-received and made The New York Times’ Best Sellers list. It was adapted into an Academy Award winning movie in 2007. Set in the mid-1800s, The Revenant tells the story of frontiersman, Hugh Glass, after he is viciously attacked by a bear while hunting. Glass is a traveling with a group of trappers at the time, and though he is clinging to life, members of his party decide to abandon him to the elements. He is left with no supplies, no food, and infected wounds. But he is determined to survive. Following his abandonment, Glass sets off through the wilderness in a desperate struggle to find his company and exact his revenge. In this gritty tale, Punke describes Glass’s injuries in grisly detail. The reader is treated to expertly written descriptions of bloody wounds filled with infection and maggots juxtaposed with beautiful (though sometimes dreary) descriptions of the wilds of the American frontier.

27. by Helen Fielding
Date finished: November 21, 2019
Genre: Romance?
Rating: D
Review: I really didn't like this one. This was a rare occasion where I would say that the movie is actually better than the book. Bridget was a really hard character to like. None of the other characters in the book were likable at all. The only redeeming factor was that many of the issues Bridget faced were things that I think many women could relate to.

DECEMBER

28. by Homer
Date finished: December 24, 2019
Genre: Classics
Rating: C
Review: I was already familiar with this story, but the translation that I read was a little confusing. All of the gods and goddesses and major characters were referred to by their Roman names instead of their Greek names (Odysseus was referred to as Ulysses as an example), so I kept having to look names up to figure out who I was reading about. Also, like the Trojan war which lasted for a decade, the book dragged along at times. Especially when Homer wrote out each characters lineage whether they were going to play a major role in the story or not.

We will be setting up a 2020 thread but with some new added ideas to renew this wonderful folder.

Bentley wrote: "We will be setting up a 2020 thread but with some new added ideas to renew this wonderful folder."

Great! I would like to participate.

Super - we will have the thread where you will do exactly what you have done in the past and then we will also add a thread for you to list the books that you want to read in 2020 or in the future and you can then check them off as you go. So we will have a thread for planning purposes (sort of a to do checklist) and your regular review thread.

Bentley wrote: "Super - we will have the thread where you will do exactly what you have done in the past and then we will also add a thread for you to list the books that you want to read in 2020 or in the future ..."

Sounds good.

You are next Ragan - sometime tomorrow for sure.