The History Book Club discussion

Brian (Pine Bush, NY), here is your new thread for 2012.

Our Format:

JANUARY

1. Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: March 2008
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review or a Few Words about book: 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.

Note: I will delete required format post once you get started.

May
1.

Jessica Fellowes
Finish Date: May 2012
Genre: Television Drama Companion / History
Rating: B
Review: A beautifully photographed companion to the TV series. Covers both the series itself as well as some historical and social context. Not a probing history, but an easy read that Downton Abbey fans will enjoy.

May
2.
The Sins of the Father Jeffrey Archer
Finish Date: May 24, 2012
Genre: Fiction
Rating: C
Review: Book two of the Clifton Chronicles. Follows "Only Time Will Tell", which really must be read first, as characters are rather thinly drawn and you need prequel to really understand. I was disappointed - characters are sometimes too predictable caricatures. Phrases "Dastardly behavior - true cads" came to mind.

Some truly unbelievable plot incidents.

January
3.
Unfamiliar Fishes by: Sarah Vowell
Finish Date: January 2012
Genre: History, American
Rating: C
Review:Sara's view of Hawaii from James Cook's "discovery" in 1778 through its annexation to the US in 1898.

I found myself liking this less than any of the three previous Vowell books I've read. Her typical wise cracking wit seemed to be more condescending in this one. I'm not sure if I've tired of her style or if just became too snarky in this one.

That's too bad, Brian - I had been wondering about the book. Thanks for the warning though.

Becky wrote: "That's too bad, Brian - I had been wondering about the book. Thanks for the warning though."
Becky, again, it could be me, but my wife felt the same way.

January
4.
Breach Of Trust by: David Ellis
Finish Date: January 2012
Genre: Mystery
Rating: C
Review: Criminal defense lawyer Jason Kolarich is defending a politician on corruption charges. While acting as 2nd chair in the case he suffers personal tragedy as his wife and child are killed in an accident.

His personal grief , the case and political corruption become entwined.

Interesting, although sometimes a little thin and unbelievable.

Hello Brian, you are making great progress but it seems like you have made an addition to the format which is not required and makes things unreadable.

Message 2 was fine after you added the word Review: - I had made a comment about it being missing and you added it - good job.

But what is going on with adding the book title link in conjunction with the book cover itself. That is not part of the format and needs to be deleted from messages 4, 5 and 8. Just the book cover, author's photo and author's link like the required format shows in message one.

If you are concerned about folks not being able to see the title - remember they can just click on the book cover or have their cursor hover over it - it makes it unreadable to also add the book title after the book cover.

I will allow this workaround where you simply type the title in bold above the required format but not other changes to the format itself. For example:

Breach of Trust

4. by David Ellis

Finish Date: January 2012

Genre: Mystery

Rating: C

Review: Criminal defense lawyer Jason Kolarich is defending a politician on corruption charges. While acting as 2nd chair in the case he suffers personal tragedy as his wife and child are killed in an accident. His personal grief , the case and political corruption become entwined. Interesting, although sometimes a little thin and unbelievable.

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Comment from Bentley - please modify and edit as mentioned and you can only use the above workaround which does not modify the required format. Hope this is palatable to you otherwise just simply remove the title book link. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.