The History Book Club discussion

Our required format:

JANUARY

1. Winston Churchill
Finish date: March 2008
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.

MARCH


1. Patrick deWitt
Finish date: March 2012
Genre: Western Fiction
Rating: 10/10
Review: Following the contemporary revival of the western, The Sisters Brothers, though failing at keeping it truly historical with its anachronisms, still maintains the excitement of the wild west while adding possible scenarios during the age of the gold rush. The relationship between the brothers is explored and observed throughout the novel. A short read and a great one at that. Instances of misfortune, deceit, murder, manipulation, and depression are spread throughout the book, making it not only an exciting adventure, but one that will hit close to home that have lived a life of hardship.

2. Lewis Carroll
Finish date: March 2012
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: Overrated, not as imaginative as once thought. Too much wordplay. Still a classic in its own right and one of the first to explore the modern escapism into fantasy, not only in childhood but into adulthood.

3. Malcolm Gladwell
Finish date: March 2012
Genre: Philosophy/Sociology Nonfiction
Rating: 10/10
Review: Life-changing and complementary to those who study expertise and brain plasticity.

4. Lewis Carroll
Finish date: March 2012
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: Exploration into character types that you'll see in the real world as well as parallels to evolution and personal development.

5. Cormac McCarthy
Finish date: March 2012
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 10/10
Review: Better than the movie because the main characters are explored much deeper and with clarity. Anton Chigurh is a warrior-scholar and a philosopher king.


APRIL


6. Warren Ellis
Finish date: April 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10
Review: Too short and had a less of an impact than what the message conveyed. I would've preferred differing perspectives rather than one because following a footsoldier is not as interesting as the general/king himself.


MAY


7. Jack Weatherford
Finish date: May 2012
Genre: Mongol History
Rating: 10/10
Review: A paradigm shifter in history. This book changed the way I viewed not only the Mongols, but of Genghis Khan. Having studied from mainly Middle Eastern sources and European accounts, this side of Mongol history completely surprised me in an excellent way.


JUNE


8. Haruki Murakami
Finish date: June 2, 2012
Genre: Contemporary Surreal Realism Fiction
Rating: 1/10
Review: I can't stand this exaggeration of mundane, modern life. Most of the stories are surrealized, exaggerated, everyday life. An average person's fantasy come to life with magic+dreams.

The only one I enjoyed were:
On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning
The Silence

9. Lionel Shriver
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 9/10
Review: Aside from several instances of unsettling sentence structure and minor annoyances, this is by far one of my favorite books I've ever read. The story of my life had a parallel version of me went to Africa for charity/aid.

10. J.M. Barrie
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: 7.5/10
Review: Similar in vein with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it explores the childhood imagination and escapism in the 20th century as well as the transition from childhood into adulthood.

11. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10
Review: The last man is a bit of a coward and when he's not, he's rash and childish. It all makes sense in the end. He's a boy, but a rather ignorant and naive boy that can get on your nerves, especially so if you're younger than him and more mature.

12. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

13. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

14. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

15. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

16. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

17. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

18. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

19. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 6/10

20. Brian K. Vaughan
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction
Rating: 8/10
Review: A great end to an above-average coming-of-age series. I enjoyed the philsophical underpinnings of being in such a post-apocalyptic world, not only as a man, but as a woman. The world is amazingly realistic, well-done, and the female characters are complex, realistic, and altogether dependent on their environment, which lends itself to realism. Although the reason for this calamity for humanity is not as good as it should be or could be, it isn't based on complete bullocks. I love the female characters, I love that damned monkey, and I can sympathize with Y, although I never thought I would to this extent. What a story and what a great what-if scenario if women did rule the world. Recommended for both women and men.

21. Brian Wood
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

22. Brian Wood
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 1/10

23. Brian Wood
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 1/10

24. Brian Wood
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

25. Brian Wood
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

26. Brian Wood
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10
Review: The series as a whole is highly inconsistent in quality. Going from historical fiction to complete fantasy with magic. There are many stories polluted with many anachronisms, such as CSI procedurals in a Viking village to wuxia style 1vs20+ fights that make for a tiring and braindead time-wasters. I've listed the ones that I've enjoyed and I've even skipped a volume because I knew I wouldn't be interested. I'll update the review with the list of stories I liked on "my books" list after I get my files in order.

27. Neil Gaiman
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: 4/10
Review: Highly disappointing. A supernatural all-powerful entity. I've already seen this far too many times before.

28. Neil Gaiman
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: 4/10
Review: Gave it another chance. Didn't like it.

29. Bill Willingham
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: 4/10
Review: An interesting reimagining of fairytale characters put into the real world or something like it. Gets tiresome quickly. I'm not into this type of stuff anymore. History's far more interesting.

30. Alan Moore
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Political Science Fiction
Rating: 8/10
Review: I was thoroughly surprised at how different V is in the book as compared to the movie. The movie portrays V in a more positive manner, more charismatic. The original V is far more hilarious and far less likable. I recommend it mostly for how funny V is.

31. Brian Azzarello
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Mystery/Crime Fiction
Rating: 1/10
Review: Interesting concept. Could've been executed better with a better setting, interesting characters, and a more developed storyline. In short: Fuck this gangsta shit. I hated the projects.

32. Ralph Tedesco
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Rating: 5.33/10
Review:
1 red riding hood - 1/10
2 cinderella - 6/10
3 hansel and gretal - 5/10
4 rumpelstiltskin - 6/10
5 sleeping beauty - 8/10
6 prince - 6/10

33. Ralph Tedesco
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy fiction
Rating: 6/10
Review:
7 snow white - 7/10
8 jack and beanstalk - 8/10
9 goldilocks - 3/10
10 princess and the frog - 4/10
11 bluebeard - 7/10
12 pied piper 7.5/10

34. Ralph Tedesco
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy fiction
Rating: 5.8/10
Review:
13 beauty and beast 7/10
14 beauty and beast 7/10
15 3 little pigs 6/10
16 backgrond 6/10
17 juniper tree 3/10

35. Ralph Tedesco
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy fiction
Rating: 8/10
Review:
27 3 blind mice 8/10
28 ugly duckling p1 8/10

36. Ralph Tedesco
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy fiction
Rating: 8/10
Review:
36 ugly duckling p2 8/10

37. Ralph Tedesco
Finish date: June 2012
Genre: Fantasy fiction
Rating: 7/10
Review:
38 lion and the mouse 7/10

Grimm Fairy Tales has been a huge disappointment. I read one of the stories years back (The Ugly Duckling) as a youngling and enjoyed it immensely. I was surprised because of its dark portrayal in a modern setting (I already knew the original stories were dark) and it left an impact on me even today. I revisited it because of that one story, but the stories weren't consistent in quality and most of them were horrible. A lot of them were preachy and worst of all a lot of them gave you shitty advice (telling a teenage girl to keep her baby?). She's not old enough, mature enough, and financially stable enough to handle it and moreso because her boyfriend is a potentially abusive person. Even the ones I enjoyed had shitty writing. It's a shame. A missed opportunity in retelling the Grimm Fairy Tales in a modern setting. Also, those Buddhist floating gods make it laughably bad and sickeningly contrived.

38. Hans Talhoffer
Finish date: June 28, 2012
Genre: Historical Martial Arts
Rating: 10/10
Review:
My second book on Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA). I look back on it as a reference along with my first book into the art, True Swordsman.

39. Alfred Hutton
Finish date: July 6, 2012
Genre: Historical Martial Arts
Rating: 10/10
Review:
The third book I've read on HEMA. I picked this up, while researching for sword and axe combat, which turned into sword and cape combat. The sword and cape chapters are the most vital as they can be translated into medieval combat. You can see the transition of rapier and dagger --> gentlemanly duels --> sport fencing, which is NOT a martial art.

Yongyoon, this is not our required format and some editing needs to take place before you move on and add additional books. This is not optional.

Let me see if I can point out where you have gone wrong and what you have done correctly:

Message Two is fine up to number 11. After number 11, you need to add reviews.

Also for each book do a separate comment box. It is easier for editing.

12 through 19 need to be corrected or removed from your listing. A review needs to be added for each and every book on the list using the required format or these books need to be deleted. We are not just listing books here.

Number 20 in message two is fine but numbers 21 through 25 are not following the required format and need reviews and editing.

Please put one book in per comment box. It makes it much easier to edit and catch errors.

Numbers 26 through 36 are OK but some of the reviews are really hard to understand.

Number 37 is well done.

Numbers 38 and 39 are following the format but not as well done as number 37.

From this point on; add the book after you finish reading it, follow the format absolutely, don't forget to write the review - sentences rather than lists work better and limit one comment box per book for easy editing.

You must go back and fix all entries that I have noted above that need to be corrected before adding any new entries. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.