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DIMITRI'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2017
I guess that important notice rules out my habit of putting other book titles under WORKS CITED to compare several books on one subject? And copy-pasting public GR reviews that are longer than a maximum post length ? P.S. could this thread please be called Dimitri's books instead of Dmitri's? With 3 I's is how my name is spelled.
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JANUARY1.
by
Peter HartFinish date: 1 January 2017
Genre: military history
Rating: B+
Review: a typical Hart entry, where the testimonials shine brighter than the frame narrative. There is a welcome amount of attention to the less conspicuous aspects of the battle's aftermath. Beware: the details contained in the individual vignettes make this book unsuitable as a first on Jutland.
Mod
To be honest, most of the reading occured in december... but the finale came around 3 a.m. in a hotel room with a couple next door fighting in German. Felt a bit like yelling "I've got enough Germans fighting in here, keep it down !" :-)
Hahahaha, Dimitri, you are killing me. :D :D Do you think they would have listened to you?
Mod
Samanta wrote: "Hahahaha, Dimitri, you are killing me. :D :D Do you think they would have listened to you?"I never tried. Have you been in this situation; what was the outcome?
2.
by
Simon ScarrowFinish date: 2 January 2017
Genre: historical novel
Rating: B-
Review: Claudius was once attacked by a mob during a grain riot. Scarrow takes his Suetonius and runs with it. The Eagles can't disappoint (the band neither) and going on an undercover mission in Imperial Rome is a nice change of scenery from frontier warfare in Britannia & Egypt. Still, Marco & Cato are soldiers, not spies. They don't do much until they stumble upon the Big Conspiracy, whereupon the end of the novel rushes in with swords drawn. The setting of the ancient city is definitely underused.
Dimitri wrote: "Samanta wrote: "Hahahaha, Dimitri, you are killing me. :D :D Do you think they would have listened to you?"I never tried. Have you been in this situation; what was the outcome?"
Well, not exactly in a situation like yours, but my next-door neighbours are very loud fighters, so I definitely know how you felt. I never say anything, though, because we are friendly.
Mod
Bentley wrote: "Dimitri - just capitalize the first letter in January after Finish date: and same for message 4"So much for my English grammar...ain't used to mandatory capital letters for months...
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3.
by Victor Levie (no photo)Finish date: 8 January 2017
Genre: Dutch history
Rating: B+
Review: A good popular history of the Jew prosecution in The Netherlands. Richly illustrated, laced with survivor accounts and easy text, yet based on solid academic titles.
Aspects of note are the ironic efficiency of the Jew hunt thanks to the excellent proto-computerized civil registry (US: the National Vital Records), surprisingly valid criticism of Anne Frank's postmortem fame and a lot of material on children; clandestine nurseries & a sad transport list aged 6 months to 15.
P.S. There is no topic on Dutch history yet in the European folder. I'd gladly create one but don't know how to add a 'location in Europe' map and those nice photos of flag/coat of arms.
Mod
Dimitri wrote: "3. by Victor Levie (no photo)Finish date: 8 January 2017
Genre: Dutch history
R..."
Thanks for the review Dimitri, I put it on my TBR.
4.
by
A.J.P. TaylorFinish date: 10 January 2017
Genre: history
Rating: C+
Review: Dry, dense and purely political. A focus on the events of 1848 that do justice to its reputation as a missed turning point in Germanic history. Taylor always has a nifty (or opinionated?) phrase to spare, with surprising insights into subjects such as Yugoslavism and racially charged nationalism, but two things are missing:
1) Culture. If nationalism is constructed out of litterature and poetry, cite some!
2) Living memory. Where are the eyewitness accounts, since this was written a few decades after the fall of the dynasty?
5.
by Paul Kendall(no photo)Finish date: 12 January 2017
Genre: military history
Rating: B
Review: A truly neat little book that keeps the action packed in the eyewitness accounts and divides them over a finely edited series of chapters. No matter if it only takes up two pages' worth of space, each day of Neuve Chapelle gets an individual reassesment. Kendall's text in itself knows how to sum up a few hours of bullet-ridden progress and pays good attention to the blueprint value of this first British offensive for the Western Front in years to come, The tone is optimistic and Haig is potrayed as embracing new technology rather than a Victorian donkey.
Mod
6.
by
Andrew MartinFinish date: 13 January 2017
Genre: historical novels
Rating: D
Review: the first part in Blighty shows that Martin can use the Edwardian period setting, but he loses his station at the Somme, where the murder mystery slips right through your fingers and the background noise remains just that. Congratulations, somebody can ruin a WWI novel.
7.
by J. E. Kaufmann(no photo)Finish date: 13 January 2017
Genre: military history
Rating: C-
Review: OK so this was more a leaf than a read but i'll defend: this wants to have his cake and eat it too. The origins of WWI for dummies, the history of trenches and fortifications, biographical essay on Pétain, the battle of Verdun in 50 pages... none of it quite comes together.
The best chapter deals with the forts themselves, set in the context of fortification development in the second half of the 19th century, down to how the steel for the different turret types was forged. There's other books for that.
As for the 'Renaissance of the Fortress', that captivating subtitle never gets properly analysed. Forts could hold if properly manned & linked. Yes, that was the whole point of pre-war doctrine. Some pages are spent reviewing the Austro-German experience in siege warfare on the Western and Eastern Front prior to Verdun, but the conclusion reached goes full circle, to declare the speedy demise of the Belgian Brialmont forts as the sole precedent for Verdun.
8.
by
Stephen R. CoveyFinish date: 13 January 2017
Genre: management
Rating: B
Review: a required professional read. Glad they made me, because the first half of the book will inspire even the most cynical person who detects every ounce of corporate bullshit to do a little reflection. The second half is more aimed at C-level managers and the illusion of no-competition in the corporate pyramid.
Between adulation of the U.S. Constitution, daily prayer & volunteering for church it can be a bit...too culturally specfic in places.
9.
by Innes Mccartney (no photo)Finish date: 20 January 2017
Genre: naval archeology
Rating: A-
Review: Not a book for Jutland novices, you're supposed to know the battle narrative while she goes through each wreck with composite images and beautiful underwater photos. It doesn't have all the answers to put a century of controversy to rest, but it literally offers a new view, while also disproving a few myths that even contemporary photos couldn't challenge.
Sad that the wrecks will disappear in a few decades, hastened by human vultures.
Worth buying for the unique imagery alone. A keepsake or "hebbedingetje".
10.
by
Azar NafisiFinish date; 28 January 2017
Genre: political memoir (?)
Rating: B+
Review: it's hard to define a genre for the subject "all-woman book group in 1990s Iran", since it inevitably half deals with the oppression of women by religious totalitarianism and is half about the related symbolism they derive from the classics they read,.. but I'm a sucker for anything Persian ; p. 172 casually lists a canon of poets that goes beyond Hafiz and Rumi.
Two weaknesses:
- as with most Iranian emigrants, the story ends at her departure.
- If you haven't read the masterpieces they discuss (or watched Kubrick's movie), some of the analysis will go straight over your head.
11.
by Gilbert Andrew Hugh Gordon (no photo)Finish date: 29 January 2017
Genre: naval history
Rating: A-
Review: there's a lot more to this book than what the title suggests, but that's not necessarily a good thing. It also makes a capsule review difficult.
On the plus side, the classic battle narrative is first-rate. The plethora of mistakes which has fueled a century worth of historiographical debate are discussed in great detail for both sides, while taking the measure of conflicting post-war arguments. This is the most interesting part and clearly the main reason for the books' enduring reputation as a cornerstone of any good Jutland collection.
However, prepare to have the traditional dichotomy of the Battlecruiser runs and the Fleet encounter split, for the middle third is basically a history of the Victorian Navy in which Beatty and Jellicoe made their careers as the age of sail gave way to the Dreadnought era. its defects are a deeper cause of the mistakes made at Jutland. The enduring Jellicoe-Beatty debate and the relevance of Jutland for the post-Falklands naval command (this was written in 1997) make up the aftermath at a good 100 pages.
Three stars. I'm unconvinced that big break in the middle was called for. When I read this book again, I might very well scramble the order of chapters.
FEBRUARY 12.
by
J.K. RowlingFinish date: 2 February 2017
Genre: fantasy
Rating: A
Review: I don't know what to say. I'm tempted to wrap up the series here but millions of readers, who grew up with it as hardcore fans from Day 1, went before me. Let's just say it's a great ending of a great series - more adult and richly layered than I ever suspected. The odds against Harry were stacked a lot higher than I ever dared to imagine.
The person who bought me the boxset as a birthday gift has my undying gratitude.
There's two weak points. What about the defeat of Voldemort? Too sudden ? What about that "19 years later" chapter? Did Rowling give in to fan pressure ?.... Well, it is still fiction. Where we can solve the world's problems by a single swift stroke to the Big Bad and Live Happily Ever After.
Read in tandem with watching the movies, so as to imagine the Potter universe in my own way. Funny coincidence: we all know Emma Watson [Hermione] grew up to be a Hollywood Beauty in demand, but I was always more into the promise of the woman in teenage Bonnie Wright [Ginny] ...and Rowling agrees with me on that :-)
13.
by
Marjane SatrapiFinish date: 2 February 2017 and a dozen times before?
Genre: graphic novel
Rating: A
Review: Marjane's story feels like the comic biography of my Zoroastrian friend, whose family was part of the pre-revolutionary 1% [she doesn't talk about it, but one puts unguarded remarks together]. It brings to life Iran under the Pahlavi's better than even laudative photo books from the early '70s. It drops you right in the middle of a different culture, drowning out that widespread CNN mentality.
Can I sympathise with the revolutionary mob once I put this next to Michael Axworthy's retrospective studies or the movie ARGO?
Sort of. Like many a Palestinian teenager, nothing beats years of derogatory treatment (read: class-enforced scorn) to turn your back on the modernisation-happy ruler. The sight of a beauty in Western clothes and make-up which is unattainable because you come from rural poverty is that final push to start listening to the Wise Man. Even if his solution is a key to Paradise made in Taiwan.
But in time, Western comforts would become accessible to all, probably under a less autocratic government which enjoys wide support among the secularised class. The current regime's mass of female students is - ironically - an enduring example of that.
I decide against ending my review with insults, so I'll just say: Happy now ?
14.
by Richard Hargreaves(no photo)Finish date: 3 February 2017
Genre: military history
Rating: B
Review: "Wo ist die Luftwaffe ?". The million mark question on the lips of every man from the beach to Falaise. It's sobering to see how the one element from the other side's point of view that every single book on Normandy bothers to include can be so dominant in German memory.
The sensation of being grounded by industrial overkill is paramount, with WWI-style barrages by Montgomery and blood-curling accounts of Jabos grinding up entire convoys. The focus switches deftly from underneath the foliage hiding the vehicles of armoured divisions Das Reich & Panzer Lehr from prying airborne eyes to Hitler's strategic ambivalences and his role in the frequent change of command in the West.
It's a good book to balance out a D-Day collection. It's just short of surprises. Somehow we've heard it all before in U.S.-centric books. Heinrich Severloh is on call to give us Omaha beach from the other side of the machine-gun barrel. Rommel's suicide means that a lot of space will be devoted to the failed Valkyrie plot.
15.
by
Sue TownsendFinish date: 6 February 2017
Genre: young adult, comedy
Rating: A
Review: I read Adrian Mole first when I was his age, but before my interest in the opposite sex was kindled. It left enough impression to resurface. The secondhand paperbacks in original English are literally leafing loose from overreading in my late twenties. What do older readers get out of him ? A hilarious reminder that we were all once this young and stupid, coupled with the relief that we came through.
The first book remains - together with its direct sequel- the best of the series, not just because Adrian's naivité is universally felt in the teenage years, but also because even after the passing of Towsend, his diary captures the Tatcheresque Zeitgeist as a historical flavour.
Dimitri wrote: "13. by Marjane SatrapiFinish date: 2 February 2017 and a dozen times before?
Genre: graphic novel
Rating:..."
I love this book. I don't think I've every read 300+ pages faster. Found the movie version, too, but I still haven't watched it. It didn't have the same appeal.
Mod
16.
by Christopher Ailsby (no photo) **Finish date: 10 February 2017
Genre: military history
Rating: B-
Review: a decent, no-frills account. The focus is foremost on the recruitment & formation-building, with a hint of uniform study. The actual experience of war is told only in brief. The number of chapter reflects the broadness of the subject, alltough they're not always neatly organised by nationality. Apart from the Western European volunteers, who are famous for their service in elite Waffen-SS divisions on the Eastern Front, all the ugly ducklings get their moment in the spotlight: the Indian Legion and the 60-odd men of the "British Legion". Both originated from failed roundups among POW's. This strategy proved more successful among the ethnically diverse Soviet soldiers: Cosacks, Georgians, Turkmen... who often shared the defects of the Balkan unitss: Serbians, Albanian Muslims...
The image of Asian patrols on the Atlantikwall illustrates the reality behind Nazi propaganda: racial superiority gave way to feverish pragmatism where anyone able and willing was given a gun and a uniform. This was no European crusade against Bosjevism, either: most 'exotic' troops fought only well in their own region, where they could serve their own interests. Ex-Frontoviks made for infamous partisan hunters anywhere, but fought only half-heartedly against the Normandy invasion.
** I added this book to the GR database myself as an edition of
by Christopher Ailsby (no photo)but it ended up being listed separately.
17.
by
Guido KnoppFinish date: 11 February 2017
Genre: biography
Rating: A-
Review: Guido Knoppf's successful crusade to enter the tenaciously muted truths about Germany in the war was in full gear as I became a freshman (2003).
He was not the first to approach the enigma of Adolf Hitler by theme, but as a journalist he supplemented the facts with scores of eyewitness accounts that capture the sheer ambivalence of the common contemporary to drive his habitual point home : we are all guilty to some extent.
"The seducer" looks at his rise. The most interesting chapter, in my opinion. "The dictator" deals with his rule in peacetime, without making a verdict on whether he was a strong or weak dictator. "The conqueror" covers the war up to Barbarossa by the logic that afterwards, he was only able to react to the moves of the enemy coalition. This is far from true! "Hitler in private" is the perfect environment to engage is a little psychoanalysis in between the monotomy of sweets and monologues. "The Criminal" jumps on your back just when you're settled into the subject to unleash the horrors of the Holocaust on you, together with the feverish violence directed by the regime against its own people in the final months of the war.
As a Hitler for Dummies, this title still holds up well, regardless of whatever minute academic advance a new generation of biographers can make. The quotes in the margins, always subtitled by date of birth (ca. 1900-1925), have by now largely become the voice of the dead.
18.
by
Geoff LoftusFinish date: 17 February 2017
Genre : business strategy / history
Rating: B-
Review: An unorthodox but highly interesting look at Eisenhower's performance as C-in-C in the ETO. It's hard to tell whether Loftus wants to teach managers history, or historians business skills, but some of his mantras can be used for anyone's life-improvement.
19.
by Patrick Tyler (no photo)Finish date: 17 February 2017
Genre: politics
Rating: C+
Review: the USA fails to comprehend the Middle East and is thus condemned to react to events rather than dictating them. That's what I take away from reading this and not much more, since most of the time we're hovering over Israel and not a fly on the wall in the Oval Office. It's too recent to be declassified & Patrick Tyler doesn't have the clearance to dig up the dirt.
On the plus side, he writes what he's good at, with his vignettes about Nasser and his enduring legacy among the Arabs, the armoured carnage of the Yom Kippur war and the calmth of the Clinton administration that came before the storm. If you're already familiar with the basic facts, they come to life here.
I said hovering for a reason: a clandestine helicopter took Tyler over Halabja in the aftermath of the chemical attack that left 5000 Kurds gassed. Those few pages are easily the biggest punch.
Published in 2009, the narrative ends around 2006. It's a good cut-off date for me. The rest is in the newspapers... for now. In ten years, I'll want some fresh M.E. titles to make sense of ISIS.
20.
by C.J. Peers (no photo)Finish date: 19 February 2017
Genre:military history
Rating: B+
Review: when Osprey employs a single writer to deal with the 3500-year military history of imperial China, then bundles it in a perkily priced hardcover, it's usually a sign that the man in question knows his stuff.
So with Peers, his expertise enriched by the stellar artwork of Angus McBride and others. It's mostly about tactis and weapons as usual for the Men-at-Arms series.
I miss the synergy between the art of war and the society that produces it as much as the crimson result. The political framework is Spartan, with a periodical battle list thrown in hapzardly.
Also, the crossbow. That ahead-of-everyone-else-on-the-planet weapon deserved its own little section, like Wikipedia but better.
Mod
Thanks, Bentley. Some of the dates are definitely off, I've been reading a lot at once in the name of weeding the collection. But the months are right this year.
Mod
21.
by
Xavier DorisonFinish date: 22 February 2017
Genre: comic
Rating: A+
Review: the number of times I've devoured this steampunk series is beyond count. It has cyborgs. It's set in the Great War. It's all I need.
There is more to this than mere science fiction. From the first page, the literal dehumanisation of French soldiers is set within the horrors of war, where artillery and machine-gun fire rip apart the bravest bayonet charge until the craters are filled with limbless creatures which feedbly plead for help.
The artwork is top-notch, historically accurate and saturated with cruelly radiant reds, but action panels feel a bit stiff. The story remains open-ended, since a fourth volume set in the Dardanelles is yet to be translated, along with vague plans for a motion picture. Which would be awesome!
22.
by
J.D. RobbFinish date: 25 February 2017
Genre: thriller
Rating: D
Review: The futuristic setting goes 200% unused.
The number of prositutes killed by corrupt politicians in an attempt to cover up dark secrets goes past 200. The fact that he was her incestuous father adds only cheap shock value.
Eve Dallas is a cardboard Clarice Sterling... who was not in the habit of jumping a prime suspect... who is a cardboard Gray, without the 50 shades.
Little wonder it came free with a newspaper.
Mod
As part of my admin training, I'm going to provide a little assistance with your formatting in Message #42. There are a few issues that need to be addressed to be consistent with the guidelines for the History Book Club.
For the genre you might use Mystery/Thriller. The word SPOILERS should be removed from the review section or you could note that there may be some spoilers. However, we are now trying to include spoilers in the reviews in the 50 Books section. The spoiler alert will still be used in group threads for challenges and the like. It may be more helpful to have the body of your review combined together into one paragraph.
Here is an example:
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Rating: D
Review: The futuristic setting goes 200% unused. The number of prostitutes killed by corrupt politicians in an attempt to cover up dark secrets goes past 200. The fact that he was her incestuous father adds only cheap shock value. Eve Dallas is a cardboard Clarice Sterling. . .who was not in the habit of jumping a prime suspect. . .who is a cardboard Gray, without the 50 shades.
Little wonder it came free with a newspaper.
Thank you for allowing me to make a few suggestions. I appreciate it. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Lorna (T) - Civil Rights - Supreme Court
Dimitri wrote: "21. by Xavier DorisonFinish date: 22 February 2017
Genre: comic
Rating: A+
Review: the..."
This goes STRAIGHT into my "to read" list! thanx
23.
by Sean McMeekin (no photo)Finish Date: 28 February 2017
Genre: Turkish/military history
Rating: A-
Review: 1911-1923 is a lot of Turkey to fit within 500 pages, but McMeekin is a consumate storyteller.
The rise of the Young Turks, so often glossed over as a sudden burst of modernism, is set within a context of reforms under the Ottoman sultans, as slow and partial as they may have been. The Great War, in turn, is set firmly within the context of the Tripolitanian and Balkan wars.
On one hand, the Caucasian front gets the attestion the Turks tought it deserved. Lawrence of Arabia and his sideshow ARab revolt get taken down a notch. On the other, there's too much Gallipoli and Mesopotamia unfolds a bit too rapid after the siege of Kut.
The post-war chaos, centered on the Greek invasion and iconic Smyrna, takes up 100 pages or a good 20% of the book. It is not enough to do the shifting frontiers justice but it is not 'stumbling through', either. The occupation of Constantinopel by British, French and Italian forces was news to me.
24.
by Michael Barthorp(no photo)Finish date: 28 February 2017
Genre: military history
Rating: D
Review: I expected a summary of the tactics, weapons and uniforms that appeared at Mons. Not!
There is not enough room here to discuss ànd the uniforms ànd the retreat of 1914. The text is mostly raw data on weapons, with little discussion of tactics past generalities such as the 'mad minute'. The colour plates contain a lot of full dress material, which is an odd choice where everyone wears plain khaki.
Dimitri wrote: "23. by Sean McMeekin (no photo)Finish Date: 28 February 2017
Genre: Tu..."
Added to my TBR list
MARCH25.
by Frederick C. Schneid(no photo)Finish date: 1 March 2017
Genre: military history
Rating: B
Review: An author who's home in Napoleonic warfare and the Italian theatre in particular fullfills the philosophy of the Essential Histories label. This quickie lies within the limits of his forays into both ends of horse-and-musket warfare.
Mod
26.
by David Barnouw(no photo)Finish date: 11 March 2017
Genre: Dutch history
Rating: B
Review: 50 short chapters, with a recommended reading each.. 50% pictures. 50% text. Perfect as an intro for dummies...or Belgians. The author was a longtime member of the Dutch national research institute for WWII, so he knows his stuff.
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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:
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JANUARY
1.
Finish date: January 2017
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