The History Book Club discussion

Pamela, 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.

JANUARY

1. by Khaled Khalifa
Finish date: January 2, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Modern Foreign Fiction
Rating: D+
Review: Khaled Khalifa is one of Syria's most well-known writers. In No Knives in the Kitchens of This City, he uses the disintegration of one family in Aleppo to portray the defeatism, squalor, fear, and increasing violence which occurs during the reign of Hafez al-Assad who is identified in the novel only as "the President" or "Supreme Leader". Khalifa follows the harassment of Aleppo's citizens, the government bribery necessary to get anything done, favoritism for the Ba'ath party members and the rise of radical and conservative Islam in response.

The characters are complex and well written and the language is quite beautiful in spots. For me, the novel was marred by the emphasis on, if not downright obsession with, sexuality in all its many forms and permutations. Some of this was obviously a real result of the continuing dictatorship and its effects, but quite a lot was gratuitous. I don't see the reason for having every character dealing with some form of sexual deviation or depravity or repressed desire. Khalifa is at his most effective when writing about the city of Aleppo itself.

It's odd. You're right that I didn't particularly like it but I would still like to read his other book just to see if it's different.

2. by Jason Felch (no photo)
Finish date: January 4, 2017
Genre: Art, American History, Non-Fiction
Rating: B
Review: Chasing Aphrodite delves deeply into the murky history of the John P. Getty Museum in So. California. It starts from the beginning and exposes the unremitting scandals surrounding the Museum's acquisitions along with the lies and cover-ups designed to absolve the Getty from its shady dealings in acquiring some of its most important artifacts. This is the history of semi-legal tax evasions and blatantly exaggerated values of donations involving staff of the Getty at the highest level from it's beginning until the final fall in 2009. The Getty had been dealing in looted treasures from its inception and knew they were doing so no matter what they pretended to themselves.

Chasing Aphrodite also shows that practically every other museum in America and Europe, probably the world, was doing the same thing. In 1970, agreements and laws were made that prohibited buying antiques without at least a ten-year clear provenance but this was largely ignored and looting on a large scale, particularly of ancient world objects, began. It was not just the occasional object found by fishermen or farmers but a scheme that involved dealers, curators and the Italian Mafia operating in Italy, Sicily, and Switzerland. Curators, collectors, dealers and museum staffs knew and collaborated in order to fill their museums with valuable artifacts. Eventually, it all became known as the looted countries began to demand the return of their heritage and the very nature of collecting at all costs started to change.

Written by two award-winning reporters from the Los Angeles Times, this story reaches its end with the return of multiple objects from the Getty and several other renowned museums to their countries of origin and a look into the future of museums and how they have changed what they do.

Thanks.

Not something to buy and keep, but it's definitely an endorsed TBR if any library here stocks a copy. Thx Pamela.

It was definitely worth the reading, but did not have enough pictures of the artifacts in question to warrant keeping.

3. by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Finish date: January 5, 2017
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir
Rating: A
Review: Excellent book. Excellent writing. I listened to it on audiobook with Ta-Nehisi Coates narrating, his voice making it a powerful statement in an emotional letter to his son. From my place on the opposite side of the racial divide, it was a chance to see how one African American sees his history and the history of his people in this country. His words made me understand and face attitudes which most of us spend our lifetimes trying not to look at.

The writing here is like poetry and carries deep poignancy. Ultimately Coates' emphasis on "The Struggle" of making a black life of equal worth in America, with his vision of no hope for an end, left me deeply saddened.

4. by Ron Chernow
Finish date: January 7, 2017
Genre: Biography, American History, Revolutionary America
Rating: A
Review: This is a re-read for me and it was actually better the second time around. Or maybe I was just ready for a reminder of how fortunate this country was in George Washington. The occasional repetitiveness didn't bother me as much and so I raised my rating from four stars to five.

Since the discussion here at THBC is still ongoing I will not go into detail other than to say that this is an informative and quite human portrayal of George Washington the Man, the General, and the President. As "light horse" Henry Lee said, he was "First in Peace, First in War, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen".

Already marked, but it's comforting to read your appraisal, Pamela, as always.

Thank you, Dimitri.

5. by Tom Reiss
Finish date: January 15, 2017
Genre: Biography
Rating: A
Review: I think it will be difficult to review this book without a reference to at least one author and his books, but since those are the rules I will try to do it correctly. I feel fairly certain that most people will, at least, recognize that author and his works even without comment.

This Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography is as interesting and exciting as the subject himself. He was born Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailletrie on the island of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), the son of a minor French count and a slave woman Marie Cesette Dumas. He was brought to France by his father and raised as a son of the nobility in what was then, for the most part, a color-blind France. He gave up his background to serve in the Army of the Revolution taking as his name Alex Dumas and eventually became, as a person of color, the highest ranking military officer in Europe. His story is both colorful and romantic and courageous. France was, of course, the first country to outlaw slavery and grant equal rights to people of color in France. General Dumas was a supporter of the Revolution through its entire history and fought and won many of its battles during the War with Austria and the rest of Europe. He fought with Napolean in Egypt and was captured by the Neapolitans while trying to return home to his wife. They held him for 2 years destroying his health in the process.

By this time, France was changed under Napolean and "The Black Count" was severely affected by the change in attitudes and laws concerning the black and mixed coloreds in France. His finances suffered; he could not get back his position in the military and his health was failing. His excellent reputation as a military hero was lost to history. This book has rectified that and restored a great hero to his place. We know him as the father and grandfather of two famous French writers also known by the same name. His son, whose works are most familiar, used his father's heroic story as the model for his most famous character.

6. by Eric Jay Dolin
Finish date: January 18, 2017
Genre: History, United States History, Science
Rating: B
Review: They are iconic structures along the coasts, rivers, and lakes of America; representatives of an idyllic life. The question of who would control them, the Federal Government or the States, was decided by the first federal Congress in 1789. From that moment on, the U.S. government began its mission to light the way for mariners in this new country. The story behind these sentinels is far different from their peaceful, picturesque look.

In Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse, Eric Jay Dolin tells a sea tale to rival any other. These structures were not only subject to the vagaries of violent storms and hurricanes, sometimes tumbling into the ocean or being battered into destruction. They were also targets in the country's wars and some were, as a result, rebuilt over and over. In the early days, they were subject to fire and explosion due to the building materials and the types of oil used to light the lamps.

The life of the keepers was not as idyllic as assumed either. In addition to combatting isolation and loneliness, sickness, and even death far from the help of doctors or even neighbors, these men and women were subject to Indian attacks, robbery, and vandalism. They were even, on occasion, attacked by migrating birds. Mr. Dolin's many anecdotes offer an intriguing look into the lives and heroics of these keepers and their lights.

Today the lighthouses are no longer in active service. They have been replaced by radar and GPS systems. Automation has been going on since 1900. Many of them are now in private hands as second homes and, even, Bed and Breakfast ventures. Others have been turned over to the National Park service. They continue to be open to visitors as they have been since the beginning so that people can appreciate these pillars of fire that light the way through danger.

Brilliant Beacons is full of illustrations, pictures, and paintings which add to telling of this story. The biggest drawback is repetition, especially in the chapters discussing the Fresnel lens and the actual building of the various lights. While there are several different types of lights, most are built in the same manner, blasting a level surface, driving piles in the rock, and anchoring the structure. Describing each one got a little dry.

7. by Kjell Eriksson
Finish date: January 20, 2017
Genre: Modern Foreign Fiction, Mystery
Rating: F
Review: This crime novel by Kjell Eriksson is the 7th in the series and a nominee for Best Swedish Crime Novel. Unfortunately, I didn't like it at all. Too wordy by far for a thriller and too slow and detail oriented for a good police procedural, it wanders all over the place. Starting with a good premise, a mother and child deliberately run over, we get halfway through the book before the main character ever decides that a real murder has taken place. Most of the book is taken up with the inner musings of its main character and her boyfriend. There is very little action here but an endless supply of speculation leading to a finish you figured out from the beginning.

8. by Alan Brinkley
Finish date: January 22, 2017
Genre: American-History, History, Non-Fiction
Rating: B
Review: This in-depth look at two of the most controversial (and popular) political figures of the 1930's leaves as many questions unanswered as it answers. Basically, because there are no firm answers for either man or the movements they wound up leading. Was Huey Long a Fascist dictator, Socialist, or Populist? Did he desire to take over the government of the United States and rule by fiat? Was Father Coughlin a Socialist and an anti-Semite? Yes and No and Maybe, Sort of.


Voices of Protest does a very good job of portraying the personalities and rise of these two men. The author has a tendency to explain the same thing repeatedly and the last chapter really does try to do too much. It is a long explanation of pretty much every other dissident group active in the thirties. Upton Sinclair and his EPIC movement, Townsend and The Old-Age Revolving Pension fund, the LaFollette brothers progressive movement and many more. Too many, in fact, to make good sense out of. Overall, this was well presented and interesting history.

9. by Philip S. Donlay
Finish date: January 23, 2017
Genre: Thriller
Rating: B
Review: This thriller literally starts off with a bang. Three people are murdered and the beautiful wunderkind scientist heroine is brought back from the dead by the wealthy, handsome hero in pretty much the first chapter. Dr. Lauren McKenna is the brilliant scientist who is head of a secret Pentagon meteorological project. She's on the track of a mega hurricane that is threatening to destroy New York and kill thousands. Her hero ex-lover happens to own and pilot the scientific plane attempting to track the hurricane. Meanwhile, he is leading a double life that no one knows about and she left him because she thinks he's married. She also has his daughter that she hasn't told him about. In the middle of all this, the Pentagon comes up with a plan to destroy the hurricane by detonating a 125 kiloton nuclear bomb in the middle of it. It's based on a paper the scientist wrote as a joke in college.

Obviously, there's a lot of serious "suspension of disbelief" going on here. If you can handle all that, it's a fun read. Everybody in it, even the reporter who's threatening to reveal all, is nice. The hero, his friends, and the scientists, too. The Russians as well. Did I mention the Russians? I can't vouch for any of the science but Phillip Donlay certainly makes it all sound exciting.

FEBRUARY

10. by Tony Judt
Finish date: February 4, 2017
Genre: History, Non-Fiction
Rating: A
Review: What does it mean to be European? Is it historical or a state of mind? Or is it determined by geography? And if it is, where does it begin? How far does it extend? How far West? Scotland? Ireland? Or how about Iceland? Or maybe Greenland. How far East? Or South? Is Latvia part of Europe? Or Turkey? And what about Malta? Or Cyprus? Is it membership in the EU that makes one European? If so, what does that say about Switzerland?

These and many other questions are discussed in Tony Judt's comprehensive study of Europe from 1945 to 2005. Beginning with the almost total destruction of its cities in World War II, Europe has rebuilt itself into the continent we know today united in the EU. he traces the physical, social, political, and economic events of the 6o years that have not only changed the shape of Europe but have changed the very meaning of the word "European". Divided into four parts, each section contains not only events in Western Europe, but also pivotal events occurring at the same time in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 is a remarkable work of history. Judt combines facts with intelligent assessments and yet manages to make this very long book hard to put down. Very rarely does it descend into a boring recitation of numbers and statistics. My only major objection was the lack of a detailed discussion of France's relationship with NATO, their pullout from the command structure, and their decision to develop and maintain their own nuclear deterrent under De Gaulle. That, and the overuse of the word autarky which appeared, I think, in every chapter.

11. by Natalya Gorbanevskaya (no photo)
Finish date: February 4, 2017
Genre: Poetry
Rating: A
Review: Natalya Gorbanevskaya was a dissident activist in Soviet Russia and was arrested in 1968 in Red Square while protesting against the occupation of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring. She was declared insane and sent to an asylum for several years. She published an underground or samizdat magazine known as The Chronicle of Current Events. Eventually, she went into exile in Paris and remained there until her death.

Above all of this, she was a poet. Selected Poems is a small collection of many different poems from 1956 through the first decade of this century. They include poems about love, faith, and daily existence as well as some about Russia. Gorbanevskaya's poems are small masterpieces of language. They remind me of scenes you might glimpse from the window of a car or train while traveling on a cold, clear night. Free from flowery, embellishing language, they draw the reader straight to the center of what she means to show you and focus your senses on the subject.

Selected Poems is a very short book taking maybe an hour or so to read but giving far more to think about.

12. by Lionel Casson
Finish date: February 25, 2017
Genre: Art, History
Rating: B
Review: My first job as a teenager was as an assistant librarian in a small library outside of Atlanta so for me, this book was a natural. I have always thought the loss of the library at Alexandria was one of the worst of calamities and after reading this, I am convinced of it. But Libraries in the Ancient World starts much earlier than that. The first collection that can accurately be called a library was that of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria in 648 BCE. Previous collections were either from temples or scribal schools and the information was limited to religious rites and hymns. By the time Ashurbanipal came along, libraries were developing cataloging and title pages (colophons) and some systems of organization. They also were plagued by the same things that modern ones are, i.e. late returns , desecrated books, and outright theft. Their method of dealing with these was a little different. On the backs of the clay tablets, scribes placed elaborate curses damning the thieves and all their progeny. No one knows how much more effective this was.

True Libraries go hand in hand with the development of a simple alphabet and a growing population of literate readers interested in many subjects. Libraries consisting of more than lists, receipts, or religious ceremonies developed among the Greeks and by 405 BCE, we have a large variety of drama and poetry along with histories and even cookbooks written on rolls of papyrus and compiled into "books", the Greek word for multiple scrolls or what we would call chapters. Along with libraries come booksellers and these also began in Greece. It is still Alexandria in Egypt that gets the nod as the first truly public library. The clientele would have been different than our own as only the highly educated scholars would have been able to read or interested in a literary life.

The story continues with innovations such as alphabetizing collections from Alexandria to creating libraries in Rome that featured actual reading rooms. In Rome, libraries were meant for a much larger class of people and were even built in the baths. Trajan's Library held some 20,000 rolls in two stories and consisted of the usual twin buildings (one for Greek works and one for Roman), was meant for readers and had several long tables for sitting and reading in the atria. The number is impressive until compared to the almost 500,000 at Alexandria and the 200,000 of Pergamon. They also gave the world the first critic, Polybius, who wrote works criticizing the works of almost everyone else.

This work is full of fascinating insights into the ancient world and its history of literacy and great efforts to spread it among their populations. The information extends to the 5th century CE and the development of codices and parchment and the changes that produced. Any reader or lover of books will enjoy this one.

13. by Kakuzō Okakura
Finish date: February 25, 2017
Genre: Philosophy, Reading Japan
Rating: A
Review: The Book of Tea is not just a book about the tea ceremony itself. Okakura became dismayed by how much was given up during the modernization of Japan and he used the tea ceremony as an example of something intrinsic to Japanese culture that must be maintained and, if possible, explained not only to future Japanese generations but to those of the West also.

The book starts all the way back to the very beginning during the 7th to 8th centuries until the ceremony is ritualized in the late 16th century. In each part, he explains not only the rite but the philosophy that led to it and the meaning it came to have. He surrounds all of this with tales of gods and goddesses, emperors and sages. More than a describing of ritual, The Book of Tea is a book of philosophy, explaining Taoism and Zennism. Calling it "the froth of the liquid jade", Okakura had this to say,

"Tea with us became more than an idealization of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life. The beverage grew to be an excuse for the worship of purity and refinement, a sacred function at which the host and guest joined to produce for that occasion the utmost beatitude of the mundane. The tea-room was an oasis in the dreary waste of existence where weary travelers could meet to drink from the common spring of art-appreciation. The ceremony was an improvised drama whose plot was woven about the tea, the flowers, and the paintings. Not a color to disturb the tone of the room, not a sound to mar the rhythm of things, not a gesture to obtrude on the harmony, not a word to break the unity of the surroundings, all movements to be performed simply and naturally,—such were the aims of the tea-ceremony."

At times reading almost like poetry, this short philosophical essay is as beautiful as the ceremony itself. I can only end as Okakura begins - "Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things. "

14. by David Lagercrantz; Created by Stieg Larsson; translator George Goulding (no photo)
Finish date: February 26, 2017
Genre: Modern Foreign Fiction, Thriller
Rating: F
Review: I put off reading this for a long time because I had a feeling I would be disappointed. Stieg Larsson's Millenial trilogy was so good and Lisbeth Salander such a thoroughly great and original character that I didn't think anyone could reproduce the initial exciting plots. The first page started off well. Lagercrantz writes a good snowstorm. After that, well, it just got boring.

There are way too many people in this book - scientists, the wife, autistic son, boyfriend, NSA personnel (lots of them), magazine staff, policemen, detectives, hired Russian killers, Blomkvist, Salander, her guardian, the twin sister, reporters and most of the ordinary people who live in Sweden.. Lagerkrantz tells the story of each and every one. Mostly they talk, long and boringly and forever, usually about feelings and quantum computers, algorithms, and artificial intelligence. Exciting stuff.

The plot is slightly reminiscent of the Bruce Willis movie Mercury Rising with Lisbeth Salander playing the part of Bruce. An autistic boy who sees his father murdered has an amazing gift that helps solve the case, cracks a code and is being hunted by killers. The difference is his name is August, not Simon.

Blomkvist is here but seems curiously weak and confused most of the time and Salander doesn't even show up for about the first fifteen chapters. When she does, she seems like someone else. The hair is there, the tattoos too but she is a milder, nicer version of the crazy, wild and unforgettable heroine of the trilogy.

Skip this one. It's not even a very good police procedural. Re-read the originals.

15. by Matthew Calbraith Perry (no photo) compiled by Francis L. Hawks (no photo)
Finish date: February 27, 2017
Genre: American History, History, Reading Japan
Rating: B
Review: The Narrative of the Expedition to the China Seas and Japan credits Commodore Perry with authorship although it was compiled by Francis L. Hawks, a minister for the Episcopalian Church famous at this time for a number of writings. He used the journals of Perry, his officers, and several scientific members of the expedition but the language appears to be mainly his own. It's necessary to make a note of this as much of the language contains pejorative remarks about the people and habits encountered and I have trouble believing that serving officers would have written in such a way in what would have been considered formal documents. On the other hand, I don't think it's up to us to judge the language of the past by the standards of today.

The prejudices were common to the West of that day and I imagine that the opposite side held equally strange ones of their own although we don't see them here. They are typical - the natives of various islands are "simple", "sweet" or "obedient". The Chinese are "degenerate" and the Japanese said to be cunning and "wily". There is a bizarre explanation given for the existence of the Japanese race and the author literally traces their origin in Mesopotamia and follows them to their eventual finding of the Japanese Islands. This struck me as so odd that I re-read it a few times trying to make sense of it and then realized that this was written before Darwin! There is also a hilarious description of their first exposure to Sumo wrestlers.

Once you adjust to this, the narrative is excellent and detailed in everything about Perry's mission. There are also interesting chapters on the customs and culture and a complete analysis of the flora and fauna of wherever they went. The reason for the expedition was, of course, to open Japan to the nations of the world. Apparently, the West could not tolerate the fact that Japan had isolated herself from the Western nations and was simply determined to make her open up. Many tried. Commodore Perry succeeded.

Thanks, Bentley

MARCH

16. by Ayşe Kulin
Finish date: March 1, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Modern Foreign Fiction
Rating: C
Review: I enjoyed this book. It wasn't a standout but it was a good story and especially interesting because it concerned an episode in history that I knew nothing about. The amazing effort the Turks put forth to save not only their own Turkish citizens living abroad but also whatever other Jewish persons they could help is one that is not well-known and deserves to be. The Turkish council went so far as to jump on a transport train in France and refuse to budge unless all the people who carried Turkish papers were able to get off with him. This confused the French and Germans so much that they allowed everyone in the car to leave. These parts of the novel were well done.

The romance story was fairly typical. A mixed Muslim - Jewish marriage, lovers cut off by their parents, emigrate to Paris, suffer obstacles, overcome them and make their way back to Istanbul. All is forgiven. Could have been developed better and side stories were just kind of left hanging. Still, overall, it was a nice story.

17. by Laura McHugh
Finish date: March 4, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: A
Review: A good, old-fashioned Gothic mystery novel. Creepy old house with an even creepier caretaker. An abduction from the past - or was it murder? A town on the verge of bankruptcy full of decrepit buildings. A young heroine, and an equally young stranger trying to solve the mystery of the twins' abduction. One who turns out to be even stranger than bargained for once you find out that he has the names of the missing twins tattooed down his back along with several others. How the heroine finds that out is a very good chapter. Add in old secrets, bad mothers, weak fathers and a heroine who has not been able to straighten out her life since her sisters' abduction and this book comes together as first-rate suspense. Throw in the Mississippi River and a cold November night and you'll be up all night reading as I was.

Laura McHugh has a talent for creating high levels of tension. With a cast of very well drawn characters that all could have a motive, she manages to lead the reader down any number of paths and toss red herrings along the way. She also creates a couple of really skin crawling people and scenes. This gothic doesn't need to be set in the past either; McHugh lets you know that the present can be just as scary.

18. by Christopher Lasch
Finish date: March 5, 2017
Genre: Non-Fiction, Political
Rating: C
Review: Christopher Lasch's book, The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy was published in 1995 but seems daisy fresh in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Formulating a class of "elites", the "talking classes" as Mr. Lasch refers to them, made up of professionals, lawyers, journalists, etc. who are undermining the democratic fabric. These men and women come from the educated class and are represented on both the left and right of the political spectrum. His main point is that these elites have lost touch with the ordinary, common American and have a greater interest in the global economy.

The book is composed of essays on the American, democratic way of life and what has happened to it. At times overwhelmingly depressing, it nevertheless offers good insights into what has gone wrong and hints at ways to correct it. The language is clearly written but consists of a large number of quotes from philosophers, sociologists, and religious thinkers. Considering that Mr. Lasch blames a lot of the troubled aspects of society on an educated elite, it still helps to have a basic understanding of these three disciplines.

19. by Sue Grafton
Finish date: March 7, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Rating: B
Review: This Kinsey Millhone mystery, X by Sue Grafton, is her best by far in quite awhile. The stage is set as usual - Kinsey, neighbor/landlord Henry, some old friends, a bar, and the 80"s for background. This time the action starts after Kinsey is conned and paid off in marked bills. Her investigation is further complicated by her search for a possible killer and another side story over a pair of suspicious new neighbors. All three plotlines are equally well developed and complicated enough to hold the reader's interest. Very enjoyable.

It really was good. Hope you like it. I followed it on audio and think that may have added to the creepiness. :)

20. by Charles Lewis
Finish date: March 11, 2017
Genre: American History, Non-Fiction, Politics
Rating: C
Review: The title 935 Lies... refers to the number of documented falsehoods that George W. Bush and/or his top administrators made in reference to the threat of Iraq and comes from a report Charles Lewis wrote and published through The Center for Public Integrity. From writing this report, Mr. Lewis, a distinguished investigative reporter, went on to write this book with its detailed analysis of truth telling (or not) in the public sphere. The book is most interesting when telling the story of lies involved in events like The Gulf of Tonkin incident, Watergate, Civil Rights movements and corporate lies. It bogs down when analyzing the whole field of lies and corruption by the powerful. The last chapter details new directions in journalism i.e., nonprofit investigative efforts, but spends far too much time and space on the institutes he himself established.

21. by Yuval Noah Harari
Finish date: March 13, 2017
Genre: Non-Fiction, Science, Anthropology, Philosophy
Rating: A++
Review: Why are we the only species of humans left? What happened to the others? How much of us comes from the Neanderthals? How did we get farms and peasants, cities, kings, and empires? War and Religion? What makes us who we are and where are we going? In Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Professor Harari follows the progress of humans from their early appearance through recorded history into the present. He tells this tale with clear and intelligent language laced with cleverness and wit. The last chapter offers some unusual and interesting scenarios for a possible future. It was impossible to put down and absolutely the best thing I've read so far this year.

Everybody in 50 books seems to love this :-)

It was excellent.

I read it and liked it alot too. It was excellent.

22. by Hideo Yokoyama (no photo)
Finish date: March 17, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Modern Foreign Fiction, Mystery, Reading Japan
Rating: A
Review: There are no bloody crime scenes in this novel; no thrilling gun battles between cops and suspects. In fact, the word gun is never even mentioned in Hideo Yokoyama's police procedural Six Four. This was a phenomenal bestseller in Japan and is his first novel translated into English. It is a lengthy and compelling story of police operations in Japan that centers around Yoshinobu Mikami, newly appointed director of Media Relations who sees his new job as a demotion from his work in Criminal Investigations where his heart truly lies. He is also the father of a runaway 16-year-old daughter, a fact which intertwines with the girl's kidnapping at the center of this crime thriller.

And thriller it turns out to be although not in the manner most Western readers would be familiar with. Yokoyama uses the Japanese attitude to build up tension here. Everyone in the Prefecture, Detectives, Administration, Press, and Mikami himself are very concerned with "saving face", when and how far to bow, ritualized gift-giving, and the stoic attitudes underpinning Japanese society. This is a very long book full of introspection and hidden secrets and men trying to advance at the expense of their fellows. Mikami manages to do some detecting even though it's no longer his job while he develops a better understanding of the job he does have and comes to grips with the disappearance of his daughter. For all is's subtlety, Six Four is still a crime story while offering a look into modern Japanese life. Highly recommended.

23. by John Conroy (no photo)
Finish date: March 18, 2017
Genre: History, Memoir, reading-Ireland
Rating: B
Review: In Belfast Diary: War as a Way of Life, journalist John Conroy has written a short yet compelling narrative of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland in the 70's and 80's. It's made even better by the fact that he tells it from the viewpoint of a man on the spot, in the middle of the neighborhoods most involved and affected. When he went to Belfast, Conroy didn't intend to wind up in the middle of anarchy but he decided to rent a room in a boardinghouse run by Bridgit Barbour in the working class Catholic neighborhood of Clonard which abets Shankill, the equivalent for Protestants. Here, over a period of years, he found himself questioned, detained, stopped with a gun pointed to his head, blown up in his home, and held at gunpoint by the provisional IRA when they used his landlady's (against her will) house to stage a bombing. He had similar run-ins with the Protestant forces.

Conroy has the good sense to start this book with a few pages detailing the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland so readers unfamiliar with the situation can have some idea of how this all came to be. Certainly, nothing else about it is understandable. His book shows what happens when people refuse to understand each other or give up inherited hatreds and prejudices. This is not to say that there isn't some logic operating here. The Catholics are discriminated against by both the English occupiers and the Protestant North. The Protestants sincerely feel beleaguered by Catholics surrounding them and fear the loss of their identity and advantages. Unfortunately, it all resulted in endless killing and destruction and the devastation of communities. Conroy's writings show life as it has to be lived by those directly on the ground in both communities and, as he points out, shows what people can get used to. It's a story that still has no end and no justice. Things are quiet now but, sadly, it won't stay that way.

24. by Alaa Al Aswany
Finish date: March 24, 2017
Genre: Historical Fiction, Modern Foreign Fiction
Rating: B
Review: This book opened with one of the strangest beginnings I've ever read and I have found no real explanation of it. The first chapter starts with an author(presumably this author) just starting to review his book prior to printing. The doorbell rings and two people in period clothes appear at the door. They introduce themselves as his characters and proceed to tell him they need to add things to his book to make it better. He gets angry, makes them leave, and we never hear about this again. The next few chapters consist of the story of Karl Benz' invention of the automobile and his wife's historic drive. There are no further references to this either. After all of this, The Automobile Club of Egypt actually begins.

This is actually a very good novel by one of Egypt's best authors and was very enjoyable. Centered around an automobile club in Cairo that is actually a social club for upper-class Egyptians and the occupying foreigners, the British, the novel is an exploration of Egypt under King Farouk and the British in the days prior to the revolution. The lower class Egyptian staff is abused, both financially and physically which results in the death of Abd el-Aziz Gaafar. This leads to problems for his family and it is through them that the story is told. Everyone in this book faces some kind of moral question that symbolically is both personal and representative of Egypt at this juncture. The characters throughout the book sometimes seem more like examples than people but not enough to destroy interest in their individual stories. The biggest flaw seems to be the translation which is full of very simple declarative sentences and idiomatic expressions that are more colloquial English than I suspect was true in 1950's Egypt.

Thanks, Bentley

25. by Helen Rappaport
Finish date: March 26, 2017
Genre: History
Rating: A
Review: Caught in the Revolution captures the end of the Romanovs and the beginnings of the Soviet Stae from the first revolution in February 1917 through to the last in October. Helen Rappaport captures both the tension and the exhilaration of those last days using the words of the foreign community affected by the upheaval. The community was large and varied, more so than usual due to the war and included not only ambassadors from the various allied nations but nurses, doctors, and various aid officials staffing allied hospitals. There were also businessmen looking to make deals with the Russian government, bank owners from America and the staff of those banks, nannies, governesses, military men from the various nations and the American Ambassador's valet, a black man from Missouri. Trying to stay alive in Petrograd during the uprising and dealing with the short rations, millions of deserting soldiers, and the constant threat of harm gives the narrative a total feeling of realism and immediacy. There are famous people here from John Reed, the American Socialist, to Emmeline Pankhurst, the English suffragette leader; even Julia Dent Grant, the granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant, makes an appearance. She was the Princess Cantacuzène-Speransky. Lenin, Trotsky, Nicholaus II and Alexandra, Kerensky all come amazingly alive due to the excerpts from so many diaries and papers.

OK, I'm sold. Onto Petrograd ! thx Pamela.

I think you'll like it, Dimitri. Some of those people had a vivid and beautiful way of writing.

26. by Fiona Davis
Finish date: March 28, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Rating: C
Review: This is a nice, easy story - not super good, not super bad. Set in the Barbizon Hotel in New York, it floats between events that take place in 1952 and the present. So, two stories in one. In the present, journalist Rose Lewin has just been dumped by her lover and asked to leave the apartment they shared in the Barbizon. She also needs a story for her job at WordMerge, an online newspaper/blog. She finds one in the past where Darby McLaughlin has just moved into the Hotel from Ohio to take a secretarial course. Both have adventures that seem dated on the one side and weepily overblown on the other. It's chick-lit, so no real surprise there. The good part is all the side information about the Barbizon when it was the best and most famous of the hotels for women. The title comes from the fact that the hotel was called that back in the day. Girls came to New York to work for Eileen Ford as models, Katherine Gibbs as secretaries and they all stayed safe in the Dollhouse. Or did they? Save this one for the summer and read it by the pool. Or find a good non-fiction about the Barbizon Hotel and read that.

27. by Peter Hitchens
Finish date: March 30, 2017
Genre: History, Non-Fiction, Political
Rating: A
Review: For those of us who came of age in the mid to late 60"s, the first chapter of The Abolition of Britain is a nostalgic look into the dim past. Even though my experiences are here in the USA, I recognized many of the changes that have taken place, both physically and politically, that so bother Peter Hitchens. A deep conservative, his book catalogs all that has changed rather than all that has been gained. His view is that we are worse off. I use we because many of the changes in Britain have also occurred here. We don't have a monarchy to disparage, obviously, but we too have seen the corrosive effects of interstate road systems blighting the countryside, the growth of exurbia bringing an increase in isolation, and the mind-numbing effects of television on imagination, concentration levels, and an ever-increasing hypersexuality. Bad schools, falling reading levels, drop offs in church attendance and the rise of divorce and single parenting. All harmful. Still, it really is only half of the story. While Hitchens doesn't much discuss the good parts, they do exist and we all can name them.

If all of this sounds like the intro to deep depression, it's not so. Peter Hitchens has written an excellent review of the past 30 years (the book came out in 1999) and raises legitimate concerns and asks pertinent questions. In a social sense, the demise of these things has led to a diminished world. Our neighborly connections to one another have definitely suffered loss. To Peter Hitchens, the fault can be squarely laid at the feet of the Left and he makes many good arguments for this. I had trouble with his obvious desire to tie all of it together as a deliberate plan of the left. For certain people, yes, definitely but as a movement at large, his offers of proof were just that, offers. He tends to connect things directly, that in reality could have several different causes working at one time.

The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana is well written and interesting, serious and witty. I couldn't put it down. One of the most interesting facts is Peter Hitchens' political background. He came to Conservatism late (1997) after starting out as a member of the International Socialists in 1969- 75 and a tour with the Labour Party from 1977-1983. So he has come to his views from the inside out, so to speak. His book will make you think about and question viewpoints you thought you had settled.

Thank You, Bentley. The book was so good that I could have gone on and on.

APRIL

28. by Jeannette de Beauvoir
Finish date: April 5, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Rating: B
Review: Jeannette de Beauvoir has taken the true story of the Duplessis Orphans, the CIA's MK-ULTRA experiments, and a psychopathic serial killer and turned it into an eerie thriller set in modern day Montreal. Martine LeDuc is directrice de publicite for Montreal when a sexual sadist begins posing the dead and mutilated bodies of women on Montreal's park benches. She is tasked with helping the police with their investigations basically to get her out of the Mayor's way. Along the way, she teams up with a sidelined policeman named Fletcher and together they unravel the creepy business behind the dead women. By weaving them together, Jeannette de Beauvoir presents the story of events that took place at the St.-Jean-de-Dieu Asylum some 70 years ago. Both tales reach their climax in the past and the present at the same time. She also gives a truly good flavor of Montreal by introducing quite a lot of French phrases into the conversations and having her characters speak both French(sometimes badly) and English.

Pamela wrote: " by Jeannette de Beauvoir
"
Tagging it as fascinatingly oddball and confusing. If I wiki' up Duplessis or MK-Ultra, will it spoil the surprise?

I didn't look it up until about halfway through after I started to wonder just how much of what I was reading was true or not. The author explains in detail as the story grows clearer and clearer to the characters, so I don't think it would ruin things to look it up. It really wasn't confusing but it does mix the past with the present. Canada is a neighbor, of course, and we usually hear of anything that goes national and I don't remember ever hearing of this one, except for the CIA program.

29. by Pankaj Mishra
Finish date: April 7, 2017
Genre: Non-Fiction, Philosophy
Rating: D
Review: The premise behind Age of Anger seems to be that the promised land of capitalism and democracy, unfettered freedom, and liberty for all peoples and including economic advantages everywhere has not materialized as of this date and that, in turn, has led to violence and dissatisfaction among late comers to these ideas and, hence, they have failed. Not only that, it has led to ever increasing violence, rootlessness, boredom, cynicism, the loss of religions and cultures and a sense of ressentiment in both advanced and developing societies. So much so, that ISIS, wars, terrorism, and the rise of right-wing groups are inevitable.

Pankaj Mishra is obviously an intelligent and extremely well-educated individual with impressive writing skills and a resume of respected journals and publications. However, Age of Anger is a tedious book full of references to both well-known and obscure philosophers, writers, intellectuals, and revolutionaries. His attempt to trace the conditions of today in a straight line from the initial Revolutions and philosophers of the 18th century through those of the 19th, the Romantic Revolutions of Germany and Italy to the rise of anarchism, socialism, and fascism and those to the ultimate rise of the elites today and the far right nationalistic reaction to them is not ultimately successful. He does make many connections along the way that bring up important and worthwhile questions to ponder and he, rightly, recognizes that all possible reasons for today's unrest are not clear. Still, I'm left wondering how many of today's malcontents have actually read any of the 40-50 philosophers and the additional writers mentioned in this book and whether it's as important as the things barely mentioned or left out altogether. Things like the incredible population growth of many third world, or developing, nations and the fact that many of them are extremely youthful and top-heavy with males = all strong stressors for potential upheaval. I'd actually recommend reading the prologue, chapter 1 and 7 for the best view of this book.

Well, I have to admit it could be a lack of understanding on my part. Other than the most famous ones, I don't know all that much about philosophy. It just seemed like a stretch to me.

30. by Kathy Reichs
Finish date: April 8, 2017
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: C
Review: Typical Kathy Reichs/Temperance Brennan thriller. Good story and action but more reliance on statistics this time. Also, Tempe seems sharper tongued and more preachy than I remember.

31. by William Manchester and Paul Reid (no photo)
Finish date: April 20, 2017I
Genre: Biography, History, WWII
Rating: A
Review: This is the third volume in the excellent trilogy by William Manchester and deals with the war years and the aftermath until Churchill's death in 1965. It was written by Paul Reid at Wm. Manchester's request and was based on his extensive research and original notes. If I'm being honest, it was not quite as good as Manchester's first two volumes as Paul Reid's language is not as eloquent as Manchester's but the difference is marginal. At times Reid's prose is compelling and poignant, especially in the last few chapters dealing with WSC's aging and approaching death. The last few paragraphs literally brought me to tears.

There is no need to give a roundup of Churchill's life and work in WWII. He is justly famous as the voice of the Allies and the people of England. He spent many years 'crying in the wilderness' before being called to lead Great Britain against the evils of Hitler and Mussolini. Whatever the West enjoys of prosperity and freedom can be laid at the feet of this man who has often been voted as the most important of the 2oth century. The Last Lion 3 does a wonderful, comprehensive job of telling the story of both WWII and WSC's leadership, if not in Churchill's own words, then certainly liberally sprinkled with insightful and often hilarious, quotes of Churchill. WSC was a (if not 'the') most masterful user of the English language and could skewer an opponent (and sometimes, a friend) with an appropriate scathing remark at will. He was mischievous, generous, imaginative and sometimes, abusive in words, rude and dismissive of subordinates and those whose intellect could not keep up. Reid shows all of these aspects of WSC's character in giving a complete and laudatory account of Winston Churchill. His personality was as large and complex as his life was long.

It's impossible not to recommend this biography most highly. Definitely, read all three volumes. (less)