History: Actual, Fictional and Legendary discussion

I just finished The Painted Kiss, which I adored, and now I am reading Every Man Dies Alone.

Damn! Sounds like I'm going to have to put The Historian back on my TBR list.

Ed, the Historian is good for its parts on the cities in Eastern Europe. The dracula bits suck big time. The Bridge on the Drina is what got me interested in Vlad Tepes. THAT is superb!

Joshuakaitlyn, I said thank you for the review over at the Historical Fiction Group, but it is nice you added it here too! Ed has set up a special thread for member reviews.

:0)

Here follows the link to my review of Every Man Dies Alone

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

I very rarely abandon a book in the middle. I just could not take this any more.....

I am now starting A Morbid Taste for Bones. I usually do not like crime/mysteries but this is so highly praised. I have to give it a chance. Maybe it will open up a new genre for me - historical crime.

Chrissie wrote: "Here follows the link to my review of Every Man Dies Alone

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

I very rarely abandon a book in the middle. I just could not take this..."

Congratulations, Chrissie, for not finishing the book. I find it almost impossible to stop once I get past 100 pages. Some kind of deeply ingrained "should".

Lately, in a couple cases, I plowed forward, reading only the first sentence of paragraphs. I didn't like doing that either. I've also been known to fast forward through boring parts of DVD movies and such.

I will definitely keep this book off my TBR list. It also sounds totally depressing.

Congratulations, Chrissie, for abandoning a book you didn't like.

I have a real problem with doing that. Must be some kind of ingrained "should". It is particularly difficult when it's a book with primarily positive reviews. Abandoning The Memory Keeper's Daughter was a personal victory for me.

At least one can fast forward through boring movies on DVD.

Ed, I didn't want to dump it until I felt sure it wouldn't improve. I am sure it was not going to improve. It wasn't the plot that was botheing me but HOW it was written. It sucked big time. Now, my dear friends, you are warned. I wish someone had warned me.

Some of you might be interested in this -
re: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, I just got an email from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum.
Book Signing with Pulitzer Prize Winning Author
Doris Kearns Goodwin
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Museum Store - October 14
Here's a link to the museum http://www.presidentlincoln.org//home...
They are starting a new exhibition on Oct. 14 - Team of Rivals, Lincoln's Cabinet at the Crossroads of War.

Chrissie wrote: "Ed, I didn't want to dump it until I felt sure it wouldn't improve. I am sure it was not going to improve. It wasn't the plot that was botheing me but HOW it was written. It sucked big time. Now, m..."

Because I'm in grad school and my time is so limited, I have no trouble with not finishing books. School work must be my top priority. So if I'm not enjoying a book, I don't give it a second chance. I need to make a decision about a book very quickly before I invest more time in it. Sometimes I probably make too quick a decision, but it's not the wrong decision for me in my situation. If I had more time, I probably wouldn't abandon so many books unfinished. I do have more patience during the summer.

I lived with that 'should' about always finishing books until one day while I was spending my lunch hour at one of the base libraries, I looked around and it struck me that even though it wasn't a particularly big library, there were so many books in that building that if I'd moved in, sat down, and immediately begun reading for 16 hours a day (assuming I could get someone to pay and feed me for that!), I could have spent the rest of my life in that one small library without having time to read all its books. And that was without even factoring in the ones that would be published after I'd started this hypothetical project. Since there are already more good books than I'll have time to read and new ones are published faster than I can add them to my to-read list, I decided right then not to give any more of my time to books I didn't get some kind of pleasure or satisfaction from reading, and now I'm quick to set a book aside and turn to another one. I don't even bother reviewing most of the ones I dislike, which is why my average number of stars is probably very high - I probably should do as Chrissie did here and warn people, but I hesitate because I think maybe it's just me with that particular book.

I feel so guilty about not finishing books and it is even worse when a friend has recommended it.
I am trying to be good to myself but if you check out my 'abandoned' shelf you can see it is not well populated.

James, I did warn b/c through GR my friends and I have come to recognize which of us have similar tastes in a given genre. That is the beauty of GR.

Maybe I'll do more of that from now on. I just feel guilty slamming something that someone probably worked hard on - but I do appreciate it when someone warns me about an awful book or movie, so I should do the same for others.

Yep. Life is too short for me to read books I'm not enjoying, or otherwise finding useful in some way.

It's like the T-shirt I've seen that says "Life is too short to drink bad beer", or the same thing with wine.

James wrote: "It's like the T-shirt I've seen that says "Life is too short to drink bad beer", or the same thing with wine."

Life is short. Eat your dessert first.

James, of course no author that has put his soul into a book appreciates biting criticism by a reader, BUT hey I am only one reader out of many. My criticism is only ONE tiny voice. We each have to say what we think if the book's star average is to mean anything. And I am a terrible liar...... so I just try to explain the basis for my true feelings.

Ed, absolutely! You hit it on the nail. "Eat your dessert first." I must remember your phrase.

Chrissie wrote: "James, of course no author that has put his soul into a book appreciates biting criticism by a reader, BUT hey I am only one reader out of many. My criticism is only ONE tiny voice. We each have to..."
If the book has been generally sucessful or the writer is well known I let rip as I am sure my review will be lost in the crowd.
However if it is a first time author or someone I know I will try to be kinder, more constructive and less ranty (is that a word?)

Esther, I agree. No review should be nasty, and the criticism should be constructive. The book/author I criticized is dead. There can be no hard feelings. It is just the publishers that are trying to make a large profit.

Rantiness, truthiness, it's all good!

As for dessert, my stepfather, George, taught us a variation on that. He related how when he was growing up, his big brother Brian would grab his (George's) dessert whenever he got the chance; but George came up with a solution - before Brian could nab George's dessert, George would spit on it. Once he'd done that it was safe.

We're just that kind of family, I guess; my wife and I have a magnet on the fridge that says "My family is a freak show without a tent."

If you want a little cozy mystery then try A Morbid Taste for Bones. Maybe you have already read it..... Everybody praises this author so I had to give it a try, and I am happy I did. A light, quick read.

So now I am reading Little Boy Lost.

Still laboring through The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War 1890-1914.

I keep getting diverted into one of my Thriller or Crime Fiction favorite authors.

I'm kind of eating dessert first.

Having finished Little Boy Lost and written a review, I will now start A Summer Without Dawn: An Armenian Epic. :0) Could be good. I hope so.

Just started Heartstone by CJ Sansom!! Have already been transported back to the world of Matthew Shardlake in Tudor England!!!! Loving it!!!

I'm waiting for that one to come, Colette! (Because it's not out yet in the States, until next year, I think. This is dumb on the publisher's part; they lost the purchase of the last one here, and will lose this one as well, as a result.)

But I'm told it's in a box, winging its way across the Atlantic! Who was it who said "My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read"? Abraham Lincoln, maybe?

Anyway, thanks Bettie!

I'm reading The Woman Who Discovered Printing. I'm not in love with the way it's written. He circles around issues and writes about them from different directions. Though I am learning a great deal about Chinese culture, history and of course printing.

I just finished A Summer Without Dawn: An Armenian Epic.

Now I will start The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust. One of my GR friends is rereading this, and we thought it would be fun to read a book together. :0)

We both like memoirs and books about WW2.

Shomeret wrote: "I'm reading The Woman Who Discovered Printing. I'm not in love with the way it's written. He circles around issues and writes about them from different directions. Though I am lear..."

I'll be interested in your final verdict. The blurb sounds interesting.

Heartstone was excellent.

Ed wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I'm reading The Woman Who Discovered Printing. I'm not in love with the way it's written. He circles around issues and writes about them from different directions...."

I finished it today at a coffee shop across the street from the library, so that I could return it. The author can't prove his thesis (that woodblock printing began in China during Empress Wu's reign in the 7th century.)There is no evidence of exactly when woodblock printing on paper began. He can only discuss developments that seem related. In the early 8th century a woman started doing woodblock printing on fabric. We know this from family accounts preserved by her descendants. Is it more likely that she invented woodblock printing, or that she was inspired by woodblock printing on paper?

The author thinks it happened in the Empress Wu's reign because of the vast numbers of her favorite Buddhist book that were being produced. One million of them were sent to Korea alone. It does sound like some form of mass production rather than copying by hand. But who knows?

It is an interesting book, but kind of speculative.

Shomeret wrote: "The author thinks it happened in the Empress Wu's reign because of the vast numbers of her favorite Buddhist book that were being produced. One million of them were sent to Korea alone. It does sound like some form of mass production rather than copying by hand. But who knows? It is an interesting book, but kind of speculative."

Sounds similar to the book that speculates that a Chinese Admiral sailed to America. It seems there are many books that speculate on wondrous things the Chinese did with very little proof.

I read the Gavin Menzies book 1421: The Year China Discovered America some time ago. I think that his thesis is very likely. There are other books on this subject that are more convincing that have appeared since then. The Chinese government wouldn't work with Gavin Menzies because he's the opposite of a diplomat. He probably managed to offend them. I actually met him at a book signing. He ranted quite a bit about the Maori and it wasn't edifying.

Shomeret wrote: "I read the Gavin Menzies book 1421: The Year China Discovered America some time ago. I think that his thesis is very likely. There are other books on this subject that are more con..."

I am still not convinced. Perhaps if somebody sailed a 15th century junk from the China coast to North America, I might have to re-think my skepticism.

Menzies must be a piece of work. The Chinese government would love to be able to claim such a coup.

I tried to read 1421 and had to abandon it, as it was too atrociously written.

I think I stand with Carl Sagan: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

So far on the Chinese fleet discovering everything except Europe, where people might, I don't know, have written about them? - I see no extraordinary proof.

Finally reading The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote. Third time I've tried, but I think this will be the one where I stick to it. Am listening to it and reading it as I have both versions (this is a first & will slow the process some, but I think I'll like it overall). Am also reading The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements but it's on a back burner until I finish a couple of fictions.

Martha, so the Spoon book doesn't really grab you? Too bad, I have it here beside me, unread of course.....

Actually, I've really enjoyed what I've read so far, but need to finish a couple for group reads. Anxious to get back to it though.

Martha, that is good to hear! I simply cannot read several books at the same time. I always end up reading the one I most enjoy, consistently putting the others aside. So now I never even attempt to read more than one at a time! I know I cannot do it!!!

I get so far into one or two that I neglect the others in order to finish. I have picked Spoon back up and it's as interesting as before. I had been reading a library book that I was able to finish today b/c I was home sick.

Having finished and reviewed The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust, I am going back to the Armenian Genocide. I will read The Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival and Hope.

Ed wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I read the Gavin Menzies book 1421: The Year China Discovered America some time ago. I think that his thesis is very likely. There are other books on this subject ..."

Ed, you might want to take a look at this 2009 article from Reuters: Chinese junk sails to U.S.

I also should point out that Barrett's The Woman Who Discovered Printingdid prove that there was Chinese printing before Gutenberg, just not during the reign of Empress Wu. The earliest evidence of Chinese woodblock printing is a fragment from a printed calendar that has been dated as having been produced in 834 C.E. Barrett cites this in his book.

Shomeret wrote: "Ed, you might want to take a look at this 2009 article from Reuters: Chinese junk sails to U.S.

I also should point out that Barrett's The Woman Who Discovered Printingdid prove that there was Chinese printing before Gutenberg, just not during the reign of Empress Wu. The earliest evidence of Chinese woodblock printing is a fragment from a printed calendar that has been dated as having been produced in 834 C.E. Barrett cites this in his book. "

From the article: "It had stopped in Honolulu, San Francisco and Osaka." While I'm surprised to learn about the Taiwan effort, I also wonder whether these cities existed during the Ming Dynasty.(Grin) I guess it is possible that the Chinese visited the West Coast before the 15th Century. Good for them if they did.

I have no doubt that the Chinese were doing block printing long, long before Gutenberg.

Oh, it's not in any doubt that the Chinese were doing both block printing (9th century) and printing using movable type (probably 11th or 12th centuries) long before Gutenberg.

I think part of the difference in effect in Europe and China was a result of the fact that the European languages have alphabetic scripts, and Chinese does not. The technology "took off" in Europe, but not in China.

Osaka certainly existed in 1421, but not Honolulu or San Francisco!

I have just started The Marriage Artist which is set both in the modern world and in pre-WWII Vienna.

I just finished The Road From Home: A True Story of Courage, Survival and Hope and here follows my GR review is over under the appropriate thread. I did learn about Armenian culture, Armenian Genocide and the Great Fire of Smyrna, but the biography could have been better told. I gave it three stars.

Now I have begun, still on the Armenian theme, Passage to Ararat

I took a short break from reading historical fiction to get in a few paranormal/horror type books in honor of Halloween, but next up is an ARC of Susanne Alleyn's latest Aristide Ravel mystery Palace of Justice. Anyway, I mention it now because I'm excited to have just heard the good news that it will be out on its scheduled publication date of November 23!

Thanks for letting us know about The Palace of Justice, Mary. I'm a huge fan of French revolution novels. I have a fascination with it. I haven't read any of this series, but I have one of them and intend to get to it when I have the time. I am having a very intense semester of library school.

Oh, you are most welcome, Shomeret! I've read all of them, Game of Patience, A Treasury of Regrets, and The Cavalier of the Apocalypse (my personal favorite ~ so far) and can't wait to dive into Palace of Justice.