The History Book Club discussion

Inkworknow, here is a sample guide:

JANUARY

1. Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: March 2008
Rating: A
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Review or a Few Words about book: 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.

Once you get going, I will delete this sample.

Thanks, Bentley; I'll definitely be using this. :)

1. Suzanne Collins
Finish date: January 2011
Rating: A+
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian

Fantastic, fantastic book. I devoured this YA book in 3 days flat, never before done for me. The characters are compelling, the plot fast-paced and character-driven, and the dystopian world is eerily familiar and yet distinct at the same time. LOVE this series; still waiting on my library to get back one of their two copies.

2. Robert Cormier
Finish date: January 2011
Rating: D
Genre: Young Adult, realism

Did not like this book. At all. Well written, sure. But the unnecessary male...ehem...stuff was just infuriating and in my face...which I did not appreciate as a reader. I wound up skimming through the middle sections and just getting to the end to find out how everything went down. Had to finish because of a class requirement only. Very disappointing, since Cormier has a terrific writing style.

3. Art Spiegelman
Finish date: March 2011
Rating: A
Genre: Graphic novel, Young Adult

Very compelling book. Spiegelman is definitely an artist, and I'd say one of the most influential and revolutionary of our time. Maus really brings home the horrors and realities of the Holocaust, which, to America's shame, many folks are trying to deny ever happened. I'd like to eventually read the second installment to this graphic novel, Maus: And Here My Troubles Began.

Art Spiegelman

4. Robert Newton Peck
Finish date: April 2011
Rating: A
Genre: Young Adult, realism

I didn't expect to like this book, but boy did I. Peck's writing is so smooth and realistic, even while being, at times, graphic. I identified with and enjoyed his fictionalized self, Robert, and found the entire story both sweet and saddening. Fantastic book that has made me want to read more of Peck's works.

5. F. Scott Fitzgerald
Finish date: October 2011
Rating: A
Genre: Realism, classic

I originally didn't read this book because, after all, it's about an affair, and I don't really care to read about the sexual wranglings and underhanded dealings of married lovers. BUT...two of my friends convinced me that the narrator (who I enjoyed) never condones the situation, and in fact loathes what's going on. The real reason to read it, they said, was for the beauty of Fitzgerald's writing and the instant flashback to the Roaring 20's.

This book definately was all that. Instant period piece; loved it.

I too read this book as the result of a recommendation. But once finished, I felt it was a total waste of valuable reading time. I found it very disappointing.

That's too bad, Barb. What was your main disappointment with it?