The History Book Club discussion

Emily Klein, here is your new thread in 2015. Happy reading in the new year.

Our Required Format:

JANUARY

1. by Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: January 2015
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.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Finish date: January 3, 2015
Genre: Inspirational, Disability
Rating: Not sure, a C I guess?
Review: I really expected to love this book and be touched by it whole heartedly. While the majority of it was sadly wonderful and demonstrated life with a disability, I didn't care for the ending. I'm not sure why, but the students had a ceremony for 5th grade graduation. I don't remember 5th grade being all that difficult or memorable. Perhaps the author could have chosen a more challenging grade or not included a ceremony, just a class party. I also didn't care for the fact that August (Auggie) received an award just for being him. Now I don't mean to sound like a terrible person, but as a special educator and disability advocate, I don't think they should be treated any differently. Therefore someone without a physical disability would not receive an award just for being them, they stand for other things right? The story is about letting others know that there is a lot more to August than his face and he often discusses wanting to be remembered for more than just "that kid", but then the author finishes the story off with him being brave for being him. Couldn't he be recognized for his good grades or friendly sportsmanship instead? I really enjoyed the different narrators and felt that the author did a superb job demonstrating those around August (they are often left out) and the story itself was heartwarming and real right up to the end.

by
Finish Date: January 5, 2015
Genre: Military history
Rating: C
Review: This is another book that I really thought I would love. I LOVE dogs (have two of my own) and love inspirational military stories that honor those who need it most. I can't really say anything bad about the book, other than it just didn't inspire me the way I expected it to. Antis is a great German Shepherd who acted like any loyal dog. The story that he and his master experienced is incredible and what they survived together was miraculous. I think the author spent too much time on the feelings of others and non-war events, but not enough time on actual military events where the dog was flying or in combat zone. I guess that's what I expected. The few stories that the author did write about (including Antis hiding in the plane and breathing without oxygen) were incredible and honorable. The pup and soldier definitely deserved the awards they received.

Emily not bad but you have to go back to your first entry and work on it a bit and then it will be pitch perfect.

First - you have to add JANUARY (ALL CAPS AND BOLD) - that should go above the first entry.

You only have to add the month before the first completed book in any month.

So this is how you would do it.

<b>Put Month Here</b>

<b>JANUARY</b>

And it will look like this:

JANUARY

You are making great progress - your citations however need some work.

JANUARY

1. by R.J. Palacio

The remainder of your posting was done well.

Remember number, period, space after period, bookcover when available, one blank space before and after the word by, the word by, the author’s photo when available and always the author’s link which is the author’s name in linkable text.

On message three you have the book cover, the author’s photo but not the author’s name in linkable text. You have to go in again and change the radio buttom from photo to link and add the author’s name.

It should look like this:

2. by Damien Lewis

Everything else is perfect.

Since I have a disabled sister I get what you are saying Emily. Dogs inspire me and I love them as much as you do. Sorry that your first two books were not exactly what you were looking for. I am sure that the next one you choose might be better for you. Take a look at some of the books that we are discussiing on the History Book Club and see if one of those interests you.

3. by Liane Moriarty

Finish date: January 2015
Genre: Suspense
Rating: B
Review: I liked the majority of this book, however the ending was a little too juicy for me. I suppose I'm a traditional spouse in that I don't care for keeping secrets as a couple nor do I believe they are good for people. The overall feel of the book was interesting, especially the first half, once you found out the secret it became a bit too much drama and predictable. I wish the Berlin wall had more to do with it, it would have been really interesting if it did. It felt forced and incomplete after I was finished, but their was potential of a secret love story from two lovers separated by the wall. I was hoping something like that would come about, but it never did. It was better than watching desperate house wives, but not much.

Emily a bit better book for you - terrific- I guess you set the bar low in terms of it being better than watching Desperate Housewives - reruns at that (lol)

It was a good show for a while, but it got old after a while. I haven't watched it in years. Is it even on anymore?

No reruns only - you can watch it on Hulu Plus and probably Netflix I imagine.

February

4. by

Finish date: February 2015
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A+
Review: This was an excellent book that also made me experience all emotions, anger, sadness, happy, shock, humbled and others. This book drew me in from advertisement to ending. Although it's fiction, I know that these expereinces have and still do happen across the country. Although the Orphan Train is based on the negative part of adoption, I still want to adopt some day and this book made me want to adopt even more because children deserve much better childhoods than they experienced in this novel. I recently spoke with parents who have adopted a girl with multiple disabilities and is the result of domestic abuse, but even the adopted parents do close to nothing for this young lady, they let the community providers and school literally do everything for her. This a beautiful story about 2 ladies who experienced similar lives as orphans in the U.S., one of which came from Ireland in hope for a better life. Vivian is wonderful lady who just wants to experience her memories one more time and Molly, a so called irritating little brat who dresses goth and is rebellious, grows close to Vivian by doing her service hours and the two share a beautiful story and building a wonderful bond. The history of orphanages across America is disappointing and seems to be still, however this story helps to remind us to always be grateful for what you have and help other less fortunate for you. The Orphan Train is by far one of my all time favorite books.

Added to my list. Thanks, Emily!

Emily we still have some work to do.

First, go back to Message 2 and fix the citation. - I showed you how in message 4.

Second, you have to number your reads. Go back to Message 2 and put a 1 in front of it.

Go back to Message 3 and put a 2 in front of it.

I spent a great deal of time trying to help you in Message 5. Read Message 5 and start making the edits.

Let us stop right here until we can get the previous edits correctly done.

Message 7 - your citation is wrong - there is an author's photo - please fix.

3. by Liane Moriarty

Message 11 - Major problems again with citations

The month must be capitalized and bolded. You do have it at least entered over the first book you completed in February - but you have not bolded it and it is not capitalized.

You must bold and capitalize it like this:

FEBRUARY

Also over Message 2 which was your first book that you entered even though you have not numbered it. You should have JANUARY

I spent a great deal of time on Message 4 where I showed you how to do it.

If you having problems on this which is the required format - you still must do the edits and we are here to help you until you get it right.

What we normally do when you get them right is to delete our corrections. I do not think you have this down yet. Always look at the sample and make sure you have done things correctly and when we tell you what needs to be edited - you need to edit before you go on.

Message 11

Make it look like this:

FEBRUARY

4. by Christina Baker Kline

So in message 11 you have the following wrong:

1. The month needs to be bolded and caped

FEBRUARY

2. You need to add the author's link after the author's photo - see above sample citation.

Thanks.