Challenge: 50 Books discussion

I'm starting again this year.

1. Second Treatise on Civil Government- John Locke

2. Pox Americana- Elizabeth Fenn

I actually quite enjoyed this book. I had read about Small Pox in North America before but this books goes more directly into the impacts of the disease on the American Revolution as well as Native populations.

Four Stars

3. Common Sense- Thomas Paine

Propaganda but interesting none the less. It is intriguing to read about the revolution when they are still arguing over reconciliation or independence.

Three and and Half Stars.

4. Shane-Jack Schaefer

Read for a literature class. I had no expectations going in but enjoyed reading it. I would not say though that there was anything in this novel that I will carry with me.

Three and a Half Stars; perhaps Three.

5. Expedition from Canada- John Burgoyne

Read for class- fascinating testimony after the surrender at Saratoga.

6. American Scripture- Pauline Maier

I loved this book, it is a great background on the Declaration of Independence.

7. Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora A. Hurston

This was not as good as I expected. I'm glad I read it but it didn't change my life.

8. Revolutionary Road- Richard Yates

Unflinching.

9. Letters from the Battlefront- Virginia Schomp
10. Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

11. The Iriquois and the American Revolution- Barbara Graymont

tip of the hat to 10+1!

12. The Glass Menagerie- Tennessee Williams
13. The American Revolution in Indian Country- Colin Calloway

14. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao- Junot Diaz

Good, not great. I expected something wondrous. I could have gone my whole life without reading this book and probably not have missed much.

15. Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen

Bad, bad, bad. I can't believe I stuck with that. The upside is the book was an easy, mindless read. One star.

16. The Awakening- Kate Chopin

I read this book for my American Lit class and I really enjoyed it. It is not something that I would have picked up on my own but I do feel enriched for having experienced it. Lovely read.

17. The God of Small Things-Arundhati Roy

Amazing. Beautifully written, powerful, haunting, moving, and soft; it is all those things.

18. Winesburg, Ohio-Sherwood Anderson
19 Puritan Boston and Quaker Pennsylvania- E. Digby Balzell

20. Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand

An accomplishment read. Done.

21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Mark Twain

22. A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemmingway.
Great- of course.

23. The elegance of the Hedgehog- Murial Barbery
I was expecting something huge. It was not. I'd give it three and a half stars if I had the choice.

24. American Creation- Triumphs and Tragedies at the founding of the Republic: Joseph J. Ellis

Three Stars- a lot of basic information with no new revelations. It was good and easy.

25. How the Irish Became White-Noel Ignatiev

26. Notes on the State of Virginia- Thomas Jefferson
27. Daughters of the Shtetl- Susan Glenn

Both were readings for Summer Courses. I'm glad to have read Jefferson in Jefferson's word. His views on race are well known but still startling to read firsthand.

28. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism 1860-1925- John Higham

School book but ultimately worth my time. It is a social history of how nativists tendencies grew into a racist ideology.

29. From Sicily to Elizabeth Street: Housing and Social Change among Italian Immigrants- Donna Gabaccia.

30. The Good Earth- Pearl S. Buck

I'm happy to have read this book but I wasn't the best thing I have ever read. Good, bordering on almost great, not excellent.

Three and a half stars.

31. Portable Thomas Jefferson
32. In Pursuit of Reason-Noble Cunningham
33. the Hemingses of Monticello- Annette Gordon-Reed
34. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings- An American Controversy
35. Mongrel Nation-Clarence Walker

36. Summer 1787- David Stewart
37. American Creation- Joseph Ellis
38. The Great Upheaval- Jay Winik


The Great Upheaval was outstanding, by far my favorite from this group. It covers the decade from 1788-1800 in the United States, France, and Russia. Fascinating period and wonderfully written.

39. A Magnificent Catastrophe- Edward J. Larson

Election of 1800- great book. Four Stars.

40. The Republic of Suffering-Death and the American Civil War- Drew Gilpin Faust.

This was a book I just happened upon and it was wonderful. A very unique, and intimate study of the Civil War dead.

41. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close- Jonathan Safran Foer

This is a re-read but I must say, I LOVE this book. I had given it to a friend and hearing him talk about it made me want to read it again. This book has touched me. I recommend it to everyone.

42. The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown.

The worst book I've ever read.

43. Tree Grows in Brooklyn-Betty Smith

Four Stars.

Wonderful book- a true delight.

44. The Help-Katherine Stockette

Four Stars- loved it.

45. A Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius- David Eggers.

I had heard wonderful things about this book and only found it mildly entertaining. I'm glad I read it but I can't think of anything from this book that will stay with me.

Three Stars.

46. To Begin the World Anew: Politics and the Creative Imagination- Bernard Bailyn

The book was good but very short. There were two good chapters, one on Jefferson and one on Franklin and Diplomacy. The book left me wanting more. I did enjoy the short introduction to Atlantic History.

Three Stars.

47. The Jamestown Project- Karen Ordahl Kupperman

Great Book. It is more about European Colonization in the new world in general than the Jamestown Colony specifically. It was well written and the material was fascinating. Highly enjoyable. I can say I know much more about the first permanent settlement in North America than I did five days ago.

48. Twilight.

I'm embarrassed. That is all.

49. A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens.

50. Her Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Niffenegger.

Bad.