The History Book Club discussion

JANUARY


1. Theo Richmond
Finish date; 5 January 2011
Rating: B+
One man's quest to find family & survivors of a vanished Jewish community, Konin - Poland.

2. Bernhard Schlink
Finish date; 6 January 2011
Rating; C
A short postwar Holocaust novel mainly concerning the nature of shame and blame and love. Was given high acclaim but felt it missed the mark somehow.

Great adds Velvetink and congrats in getting two books done out of the gate.

Thanks Bentley, going ok so far - Not sure if I will top my last years effort though as I will be back at uni.

3. Rod Howard
Finish date; 10 January, 2011.
Rating; A
Really enjoyed all the obscure facts about Australian Explorers and also how newspapers of the day operated and how British public opinion and scientific fact was linked. De Rougemont might have been a liar but his story was anchored in fact & later vindicated to some extent. This also has a great biblio on Aust History/Explorers.

4. Eileen Myles
Finish date; 16 January 2011.
Rating; B. A Collection of a Contemporary American poet's various prose writing and articles. Interesting but her grammar annoyed me sometimes.

Well you are off to a fine start.

Good start Velvetink - just change one word - instead of review and then your rating; change the word to Rating: (and then whatever rating you gave).

For 1,2,3 and 4

Bentley wrote: "Good start Velvetink - just change one word - instead of review and then your rating; change the word to Rating: (and then whatever rating you gave).

For 1,2,3 and 4"

Oh I don't know why I wrote review! Must have been tried. Will fix now. ;)

5. Jim Sharman
Finish Date; 18 January, 2011.
Rating: A. Autobiography of Jim Sharman, Theatre & Opera Director (famous for Hair, Rocky Horror etc.

6. Dennis Smith
Finish Date; 24 January, 2011
Rating; C-B
Autobiography of Dennis Smith who grew up poor in New York during the 50's & later became a fireman. It fell a bit flat for me, but I think his later books about firefighting might be more interesting esp. the one he wrote about 9/11.

7. Harriet Rubin
Finish date; 26 January, 2011
Rating; B
A bit of a hodge podge regarding strategy, but has some good quotes and ideas for motivation/inspiration. Also a great bibliography to follow up more deeply.

Thanks Velvetink..everything A-OK now.

8. Uzodinma Iweala
Finish date; 28 January, 2011
Rating; B minus
Fictional account of a kidnapped boy soldier in an unnamed African country. Iweala won critical acclaim for this novel bringing to light an untenable situation. The account is written in the constant present, and is for the most part shocking & not for the tender hearted.

FEBRUARY

9. Mark Raphael Baker
Finish date; 1 February, 2011
Rating; B

Baker's parents lived through the Holocaust and he writes about journeying back with them to Europe, their memories and finding some kind of hope and what it means to be Jewish. There are some sections towards the end that are a bit confusing and disjointed - may have benefited from better editing perhaps, but a thought provoking book. The sources, biblio and info provided about searching for Jewish relatives, towns (pre WW2) etc are extremely helpful. For instance, this website "The Lost Jewish Communities of Poland"
http://www.zchor.org/hitachdut/introd...
This publication lists the names of 4,500 Jewish
communities which were destroyed in the Holocaust.
I might also add Baker's book is a good adjunct to read along with (my last book last year
Jonathan Safran Foer

and the first one I read this year
Theo Richmond
as they all deal with the Holocaust area around the shifting borders of what was once called Volhynia..(Poland,Belarus,Ukraine etc) but each give different perspectives and information and so far I've found finding books on this topic in that particular location is quite a challenge.

10.
James Baldwin
Finish date: 5 February 2011
Rating; A

Go Tell it on a Mountain is written beautifully with patterns of repetition like bible poetry; like cappella style, & not a word is extraneous. It was his first published novel, and many critics feel that it has stood as his best. It is a traditional bildungsroman, a novel tracing the psychological and spiritual development of its central character, John Grimes.
The novel opens on the morning of John's fourteenth birthday and centers on the events that lead up to his spiritual conversion later that evening.

It is partly based on Baldwin's life, his father (in the book) a hard hearted preacher-man of the Temple of the Fire Baptized Church who I could not sympathise with for his abusive nature and womanizing ways and for his failure to express any love for his son John. BUT it's a fine fine novel, ranked in the top 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century and his characterisation is spot on.

Velvetink; do you have a review or synopsis for the book; you must have really liked it.

Hi Velvetink, could you do me a favor and just add message 13 to message 11 that goes with the book. That way you also do not have to do the citation twice: once for message 11 and another time for message 13 and folks will realize that they all go together.

This is a great book by the way.

done!