The History Book Club discussion

Matt, this is your thread for 2017. I have included the link to the required format thread and an example. If you had a 2016 thread - it is archived - but you can still add books to it for the last few days of December.

Please follow the standard required format below - I hope you enjoy your reading in 2017. 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 2017
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.

FEBRUARY

1. by Affinity Konar
Finish Date: February 5, 2017
Genre: Fiction, WWII, Twins, Holocaust
Rating: B
Review: This absolutely devastating novel chronicles the experiences of two twins, Pearl and Stasha, inside of Mengele's Zoo during WWII era Auschwitz before, during, and after liberation. Konar is particularly concerned with the glorification of "connection" through violence, or rather, how extreme pain can sever us from that which grounds us. In this case, the bond between twins gets severed just as the experiments ramp up in intensity.

The prose of this novel is difficult to move through. I can see two sides in its use, however. Konar's language is lyrical but also ostentatious at points. Her use of symbolism also rings hollow almost all the time, such as with her repeated use of poppies (a WWI symbol actually) to convey familial connect amidst death. At the same time, the language can serve as a maze to get lost in since it is so towering in its breadth and tone, which is more than welcome at times.

Although this isn't just another story about the Holocaust it often masks itself as one. I guess I'm a tad disappointed in the ending and post-Auschwitz narrative but enthralled at the complexity of characters (except that of Mengele, surprisingly).

Great Matthew - just a minor issue with the citation but you are doing terrific (you almost have everything perfect) - I will have one of my admins in training Lorna help you with it. This will give her practice and help you at the same time. Once the edit has been made - I will delete this post. Thank you in advance for working with Lorna.

Matthew, what an interesting review of this important book. I have been debating whether to read this as well.

As Bentley indicated, I am one of the admins in training and have been asked to provide some assistance. You have done a terrific job in your citation and are almost there.

However, in addition to the author's link, we also need the author's photo if there is one on Goodreads. Next to the book cover image, we need to add the author's photo and then the author's link following that. In order to do this, you will need to go back into your post and select edit in the lower right corner of your post. Then after the image of the book, search for the author's photo and add that. You have already successfully added the author's link. Once your changes have been made, just select edit post and your post will be updated to reflect your corrections.

Thank you for your assistance in this as well. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Your citation will look like this:

by Affinity Konar

Lorna (T) - Civil Rights - Supreme Court

MARCH

2. by David Gessner
Finish Date: March 13, 2017
Genre: Nonfiction, American West, Biography, Travel
Rating: B-
Review: David Gessner's travel/bio hybrid reads like an adventure through America's western landscape and the landscapes of the minds of that region's great authors. His treatment of both authors is at times random and sputtering, but this interrupting method pulls the reader into Gessner's stream of consciousness as he roams through the lonely and varied western ecosystems (and some eastern ones).

The great strengths of this book derive from Gessner's personal attachment to the authors. Many (even in the Goodreads review circle) have criticized him for this near deification, but I think it's essential to carrying out the mission of driving home how transformative the American West is on our individual psyches and how both Abbey and Stegner wrote such personal accounts of that transformation in all forms of prose.

Gessner also does a great job highlighting the risks to the destruction of the land past the 100th meridian, namely through the lack of water and overabundance of fracking exploitation. The "boom and bust" cycle of the American West is far from over, and as Gessner repeats like a running mantra: "scar this dry landscape and the scars remain."

The weaknesses of this book come out of the drive to perhaps do too much, although I don't see any way around this. This biography/personal travel narrative could have easily been 500 pages long (although it probably wouldn't have sold any copies). Because of its inappropriate brevity, the reader only gets small glimpses of the complexity of both authors' work and lives. At times, Gessner devolves to the common denominator of both men, which approaches stereotype: that Abbey was a wild, immature rogue and Stegner a steady, "company-man" author put up on a pedestal by all around him (and even himself). Gessner does at times try to dismantle these over-simplifications, but he never really arrives at a good counter-narrative that sticks.

Perhaps in these weaknesses, however, is a strength, which is that the brevity of exploration will make the reader go to these authors' body of works to explore more and more the authoritative "minds of the West." I know I will certainly spend much more of my upcoming days with my mind buried in the stories and essays of these sages of our dry frontier.

3. by Joseph Fink and Cranor. Jeffery (No Photo)
Finish Date: March 16, 2017
Genre: Novel, Science Fiction, Desert Lit, Weird Books
Rating: C
Review: Although it may seem unlikely to have a moderate viewpoint on this novel, that is exactly where I stand. I echo many others' sentiments that the town and supernatural occurrences are intriguing to some extent, but the plot is a complete farce and the character development even worse.

There is so much potential here, however, for development. Instead of the random sputterings of weird-ass phenomenon, there should be some sort of categorization of who can do what and why. No universal system behaves outside of a system of laws, even abstract ones, so the constant acceptance of the characters' of their own ridiculous world rings hollow and at worst banal.

Also, the not so thinly veiled references to the pervasiveness of "Big Brother" are distracting and seem to have no sort of thematic relevance. Are Fink and Cranor criticizing the modern world's acceptance of surveillance? Are they even saying that surveillance in general is a bad thing? I have no idea; there is too much going on to make sense of their point.

Overall, the benefit of this book is that it has the ability to get people talking. About what? I'm not sure, but the quality of reviews on this website and discussion this story is generating makes it a work worth noting, although not necessarily celebrating the work for some incredible literary breakthrough.

4. by Amy Stewart
Finish Date: March 19, 2017
Genre: Best American Series, Essays, Science and Nature, Nonfiction
Rating: A
Review: It's been a tradition of mine (of sorts) to try and stay caught up on the cutting edge science and nature research going on while in my actual professional setting I'm studying and disseminating historical narratives. Call it an obsession with a deep-seated interest to be a lifelong student, but these collections of essays never fail to disappoint.

I've never been that familiar with Amy Stewart's writing before, and none of her articles actually appear in this collection, but her dry wit and ability to pick some absolutely stunning essays out of the vast sea of cutting edge studies is quite remarkable. Instead of just focusing on her own interests (botany and insects), she fills this collection with stories ranging from the health horrors of nail salons to the difficulties in finding a sports bra worth a damn.

Some of the essays that stood out to me for their novelty were Maddie Oatman's Attack of the Killer Beetles and Kathryn Schultz's The Really Big One . Both stories have to do with western landscapes (about which I'm obsessed right now) and highlight stories that otherwise would get absolutely no attention though the acreage that both affect is startling. Oatman's telling that perhaps evolution has found a natural solution to the infestation of beetles is alarming and has implications that could be obviously widely applied. The idea that even though humans mess up the landscapes we inhabit (in the beetles case, by accident), and nature can "solve" the problem, kind of flies in the face of scientists leading the charge on some moral and paternalistic Earth rescue mission. The problem is time and space, both of which the Earth seems to be running out of. On the other hand, Schultz's doomsday scenario of the complete obliteration of the NW US coast through some unforeseen and unplanned-for earthquake has me geared up for an adventure of biblical proportions. If the plates along the Cascadian subduction zone actually shifted in my lifetime, I would probably lose some dear friends not to mention some of the best coffee produced in the US.

Overall, this collection is remarkable in its breadth and novelty. I could write for hours about each and every article in here (and probably the ones also that received honorable mention), but there simply isn't time. Common themes are of course the continuing rise of climate change and the inability to create a world or even national system to deal with the problems that will inevitably arise. At the same time there's hope and beauty in the tragedy that one day the natural systems that govern this universe will automatically right the wrongs of one ill-conceived yet beautiful organism: homo sapiens .

What a beautiful image

5. by John Osborne
Finish Date: March 26, 2017
Genre: Plays, Christianity, Reformation
Rating: C+
Review: This review is coming almost three months after I read the book, so it'll be a bit short. My recollection is that Osborne does an amazing job showing the weakness of Luther through his own self-deprecation. I wasn't that much impressed with this portrayal and found myself yawning in my mind about how floppy the stereotypically enigmatic Luther came out through this play. I guess on the other hand it is to Osborne's credit that he was able to flip a character so effectively; I just wasn't entertained.

Thank you for following the group's rules and guidelines.

MAY

6. by Wallace Stegner
Finish Date: May 28, 2017
Genre: American Literature, American West, Novel
Rating: A
Review: Everything about this sprawling larger-than-life magnum opus reminds me of the landscape in which this narrative was born. Bo, Elsa, Chester, and Bruce may serve in many ways as the stereotypical American family chasing the American Dream, but the manner in which Stegner interlaces the flavor of the American West is nothing short of brilliant. I know through David Gessner's Stegner and Abbey biography that this book was largely autobiographical. If this is fully true, than Stegner lived the lives of ten men before he was 25. I'm going back and forth between Abbey and Stegner for the next couple years.

JUNE

7. by J.D. Vance
Finish Date: June 8, 2017
Genre: Appalachian Literature, Class Studies, Memoirs, Nonfiction, Rural Fiction
Rating: B-
Review: Coming

8. by John Steinbeck
Finish Date: June 17, 2017
Genre: American Literature, American West, Coming of Age, Fiction, Short Stories
Rating: B-
Review: Coming

Bentley wrote: "Hello Matthew - you are doing well but you remember that in any review we are only discussing one book. There are no other links or citations to other books like in message 11.

Look at the reminde..."

I feel like I've done this before and it was no big deal. I'll remove them, but by not including other books, how are you able to fit a narrative into any sort of historiography? Also, I'm not seeing the connection between mentioning other authors and this being self promotion.

Matthew believe me - running a large group - you run across a lot. If you would like to add a review of a previous book that you possibly referenced while reading the other - you can do that by giving it its own space and number. But without going into an explanation of the why which we don't do - it has been that way since before you began this thread. I really appreciate your cooperation on this and just keep this in mind moving forward - That is why we always set up the threads with the sample format and that add. Next year - we will have to add another point so it will be longer - but that is why our group is not filled with spam. I think it is better frankly to just talk about the book you read and that you are reviewing now.

Bentley wrote: "Matthew believe me - running a large group - you run across a lot. If you would like to add a review of a previous book that you possibly referenced while reading the other - you can do that by giv..."

Ok, will do. Thanks!

JULY

8. by Michael Farris Smith
Finish Date: July 21, 2017
Genre: American South, Rural, Fiction, Novel
Rating: B+
Review: This very quick read focuses on the tragic trajectories of two failed yet familiar characters wandering through nearly unending violence. The development of both Maben and Russell is rich, and as Ron Rash quips on the cover, is perfectly paced for making them avoid becoming cliches or pity-washed caricatures. Perhaps equally deserving of praise is Farris Smith's treatment of the rural Mississippi landscape and white culture of a dying southern town. Readers are taken through midnight rides on dirt roads in almost every chapter with the end being some new mystery revealed or end violently met. Overall, a dark and realistic take of people struggling to start over.

NOVEMBER

9. by George Saunders
Finish Date: November 19, 2017
Genre: Civil War, Fiction, Novel, Man Booker Prize Award
Rating: A-
Review: After a very difficult start to understanding the structure of this novel, I found myself eventually entranced by the characters that I initially found it so hard to identify with. Saunders takes his sweet time unfolding the humanity of his cast, and it wasn't until the book was halfway over that I felt myself truly invested in the lives of the suicidal-homosexual-in-hiding Bevins and the finally-found-love/deprecating Vollman. Of course, the everyman-Reverend Everly Thomas was in many ways the most dynamic and elusive character, leaving the most space for questioning and for general thematic weight. I don't know what to do with him.

Willie Lincoln is in many ways is a red herring for the true exposition of the sea of humanity left in limbo around him. Abe, his father, is really nothing more than a somber tangent that steadies the plot. The dynamism is found all around them in the mind-boggling array of narratives that sweep in and out of Willies' flight out of the Bardo. Even the chorus of primary sources echoes the fact that Saunders is ultimately concerned with unpacking the chorus of humanity with all its inconsistencies, sorrow, lies, misdirections, and sin. This work is both an indictment for all humanity and a gentle embrace of the suffering that eludes none of us.

This will be a book that I will re-read many times and I'm sure will change as I change and grow. Having just had a daughter, the thought of losing a child weighed so heavily throughout the narrative; I can't imagine reading it without the perspective of a father.

10. by S.C. Gwynne
Finish Date: November 26, 2017
Genre: Native American, American West, Nonfiction, History, Pulitzer Finalist, Goodreads Choice Nominee
Rating: A+
Review: This absolutely breathtaking account of the marginalization and death of the fiercest Native American tribe of all time is a work of genius. The narrative moves cleverly along the life and death of the Parker family, starting with kidnapped Cynthia Ann and ending with the death of his son Quanah in 1911. Framing the narrative along this spine democratizes the story into a graspable tale of life, death, and loss.

Gwynne uses themes of environmental history and memory (two of my research interests) so effectively that the reader can almost see, smell, and taste the plains and the Comanches who rode for eons across their windy, wide-open expanses. At the same moment that Gwynne is celebrating the ferocity of the Comanches he makes sure to avoid making caricatures of them, avoiding deprecating them into some sad shell of a dispossessed Indian trope. I came away understanding more WHY whites were so brutal against Native Americans; brutality was the rule of the day and the Comanches set the tone.

Gwynne's treatment of Quanah will make this larger-than-life figure forever branded into my memory. His transition from the most arrogant and brazen raider from the most fearsome Quahadi band to an anglicized bold reservation rancher is gutrenchingly sad. I found myself close to tears in the final chapters as Gwynne told of Quanah's final moments moving the grave of his mother and roaming around, basically penniless, to help his tribe.

In a word where we are running out of men to celebrate for their heroism and sacrifice, Gynne gives us Quanah-a relic of a past boldly proclaiming to our present that we are all slaves to progress, to compartmentalizing ourselves, and for sitting idly by as the dynamics of power pigeonhole us into pacified grubs.

DECEMBER

11. by Emily St. John Mandel
Finish Date: December 23, 2017
Genre: Doomsday, Fiction, Goodreads Choice Nominee, National Book Award Finalist, Novel
Rating: B
Review: The exploration of humanity through the scenario of a doomsday model has been done before, and done well. Think back on Cormac McCarthy's father-and-son trek to the sea in The Road . This novel feels much of the same although perhaps slightly more hopeful in places. The plot has a series of flashes forwards and back, spinning the story line of an actor peaking in the limelight to the travails of a traveling symphony to the scenes of the world collapsing under the weight of the Georgia Flu.

Mandel certainly doesn't have a very high regard for human nature, and the world in its post-apocalyptic state is devoid of nearly all beauty save that of the natural world. At the same time, the whole story feels intuitively and disturbingly real, as if the scenes she creates could truly happen under the right circumstances on any given day.

The reader seems to be pushed towards Kirsten and Arthur as they are the characters with the most lines, but Miranda, the creator of the Station Eleven comic books, is by far the richest and most developed perhaps because she might be autobiographical? Jeevan, the budding paramedic that hopes to save Arthur after his collapse on stage ends in an abrupt dead-end as Clark's character ascends in the final pages. I thought this shift in characters was strange and not needed.

Overall, this book should be celebrated for its new spin on an old trope as well as conveying a deep sense of humanity on its last breath. It is truly a desperately sad condemnation of most of humanity, however, so get ready to feel a bit gut-punched. I honestly used to think I would be interested in seeing the world on the verge of collapse, but now I hope and pray I can avoid that scenario at any cost.

Matt you are next in the queue after Don from NH

Thanks so much.

You are welcome Matthew - I will archive this thread now because your 2018 one is ready to go.

This thread will be placed in the Archival folder and it is still always open.

Great. Thanks.

Matthew I hope you found your new thread - that is in the usual segment of 50 Books.