Walk Down History Lane Rules and Reporting

[Jen K]

Group D(ivas)
Loop 1, Book 6

Name of book: The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
Pages: 448
Fiction or nonfiction: fiction
Person or event represented: Italian invasion and occupation of Ethiopia in 1935
Link to previous book: Surviving under a Fascist occupation (Mussolini in Ethiopia and Nazis in France)

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Booknblues]

Jen K wrote: "Group D(ivas)
Loop 1, Book 6

Name of book: The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
Pages: 448
Fiction or nonfiction: fiction
Person or event represented- Italian invasio..."

What is your link to the previous book?

[Jen K]

Booknblues wrote: "Jen K wrote: "Group D(ivas)
Loop 1, Book 6

Name of book: The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
Pages: 448
Fiction or nonfiction: fiction
Person or event represented- I..."

It's listed as the "connection to previous book". Should I change connection to link or should I expand more?

[Booknblues]

Jen K wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Jen K wrote: "Group D(ivas)
Loop 1, Book 6

Name of book: The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste
Pages: 448
Fiction or nonfiction: fiction
Person or e..."

Ok

[Amy]

Group B*eatles; Long and Winding Road
Loop One – Book Six – Amy (Historical Fiction)

Master and Margherita by Mikhail Bilgakov
Person/Event: Dual experience of both Stalin’s Regime and the Cultural Revolution Held Within, but also the birth of Christianity, Jesus, and Pontius Pilate
Pages: 465
Extra Points: Classics Tag, Matches 6,150 times

Review will be posted below, but Group B*eatles wants to share our creative thinking and loop concept. All of the six books link to one another, but we feel that the larger theme (meta-link) to this loop is Einstein. That all of these books not just link to one another, but link to him. If not directly, to some concepts related to his thinking and ideology, and time period. Each of us can tie our books in some way to not just each other, but to the larger concept.

To Review, our loop has looked like this:

1) The Other Einstein (Fiction) by Marie Benedict (Linda)
Science tag, tagged 124 times
Pages 304

2) Einstein: His Life and Universe (Non-Fiction) by Walter Issacson (DoughGirl)
Person or Event Represented - Albert Einstein
Pages: 675

Extra Points:
Tagged Science 1,096 times

Connection to Book 1 - Relativity.
(1) the primary subject of the book was his first wife, Mileva. His second wife - also discussed in that book - was an actual blood Relative (his first cousin).
(2) one of the controversies discussed by the book is how much Mileva contributed to the development of the Special Theory of Relativity (but didn't get any credit for it).

3) The Three Body Problem (Fiction) by Lin Cixin (Nancy J)
Person or Event Represented: The Chinese Cultural Revolution
Pages: 399
Extra Points:
Tagged Thought-Provoking 19 times

Connection to Book 2: Einstein and the Theory of Relativity. Einstein and his theories are referenced several times in this science-fiction/historical fiction book. He even has a humorous cameo appearance as a character in the 'story within the story.'

4) The Radium Girls: The Dark tory of America’s Shining Women (Non- Fiction) by Kate Moore (Shelley)

Person or Event Represented - The use of radium-based luminescent paint by several companies to paint clock and instrument dials beginning in the 1920's and the subsequent development of radiation poisoning by the women employed by these companies.

Pages: 404

Extra Points: Tagged Thought Provoking by 10 people

Connection to Book 3: There is a battle in Three Body Problem that leaves a key character with Radiation poisoning (though he seems to recover quickly).
Also, the Three Body problem occurs during the Cultural Revolution, when the intent was to save communism by purging capitalism. Radium girls is the opposite, what happens when capitalism is totally untethered and corporate greed reigns. Neither scenario seemed to work out well.

5) The Book Thief (Fiction) by Marcus Zuzak (Johanne)
Person or Event represented: World War 2 and the historical events leading up to it, and some WW1.

Pages: 566

Extra Points: Tagged Classics 3579 times

Connection to Book 4: Death.
 Death is a character and the narrator in The Book Thief, and a very real presence in Radium Girls (previous book). On a more ideological level they also connect by showing how sometimes humans exploit and generally disregard other human lives in the pursuit of greater, questionable, goals.

Over Arching Connection – Einstein:

1. Einstein's wife

2. Einstein biography

3. Einstein and his theories referenced

4. Einstein association with the atomic bomb in WWII - radioactive materials.
(His science wasn't involved, but he shared information from another scientist about Germany's efforts to develop a bomb. So many people associate him with it.)

5. Einstein was German Jew


Tag Matching:

January – Science

The Other Einstein
Einstein

February – Thought Provoking

The Three Body Problem
The Radium Girls

March – Classics

The Book Thief
Master and Margherita


Pages total: 304 + 675 + 399 + 404 + 566 + 465 = 2813*


Link to The Book Thief

There are many links, one being Jerusalem, (Jews), another being the presence of prolific writers and authors. But to me the most profound connection, is the presence of Death, a supernatural being who both foretells when characters are going to die, and seems also to shape these realities. This mystical character holds fate, and fate of death seemingly in his hands.


Link to Einstein

See if this is an interesting twist/lens. I was reflecting on the connection between Jesus and Einstein, as the only two personalities I can think of, that completely changed our conceptualizations and understandings of the world. With the onset of Jesus and his subsequent death, our entire narration of the world and conceptualization of how we see ourselves in it, was a complete and lasting embedded new conceptualization. Not until Einstein, did anyone else flip the entire world on its head with an entirely new world conception of the universe, how it works, our place in it, and our relationship to the world. Again, it was a completely new and forever embedded understanding of the world that shaped our consciousness, and in a forever altering way.

Review:

Well? I know this is a beloved classic. 6150 tags for classics should tell you that, if one was unsure. But it was not my cup of tea. It was definitely quite imaginative. It was clever. I had one of my dear friends in my ears, gently reminding me, “It’s a satire, satire…. Don’t forget it’s a satire.” I do believe she was softening me up from my narrow lens, and inviting me to open my mind. But I confess, I didn’t necessarily understand what I was reading. Had I understood it, that surely would have enhanced the experience. I did feel a little unsophisticated that I couldn’t quite follow what was happening, and I think it’s also fair to add that I am under-exposed when it comes to early Christianity, Jesus, and Pontius Pilate (sp). None of that is in my knowledge base, any more than Russia under Stalin’s regime, and the cultural revolution of writers and artists and theater that was trying to take place within.

There were parts in the beginning that absolutely grabbed me. In fact, I want to say that I enjoyed the first 10-20%. But those who know me, know that I wrap myself around a good historical fiction, and I like magic when it is real done. But severed heads, large talking cats, people being thrust into faraway places with no hope of being understood, and sent to asylums. Random deaths, a neighbor gets turned into a pig. Naked women on broomsticks, and I fear by the end, I had lost my engagement entirely, and quite possibly my mind. However, it was on my TBR and now its not, and I have finally had an experience with it. It wasn’t my genre or wheelhouse, and I can’t say I learned or grew from it. But I can say that I have had my experience of it. The wondering is over, but tons of wondering remains. Time for a good neat story!

[Booknblues]

Get Ready! We are putting a hurdle out which teams will have to jump.

Announcement on Monday, 4/4/22.

[Joanne]

Been waiting for your big surprise BnB-!!

[Amy]

I see now that reviewing my long diatribe above, that I forgot to put in our book 5 Einstein link. Which is the Book Thief, read by Johanne. This one links to Einstein not just by the fact that Einstein was Jewish, but by time period and the need to flee persecution.

BnB, I look forward to hearing your hurdle!

[LibraryCin]

Shelf updated Apr 2/22

[Hayjay315]

Group C, Uncut Diamonds
Loop 1, Book 5
Name of book: America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Fiction
Pages: 606
Person or event – Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph
Connection to previous book: Thomas Jefferson, Patsy’s father, served as Secretary of State in George Washington’s Cabinet

Prior to reading this book, I knew nothing about Patsy Jefferson beyond the fact that she assisted her father during his Presidency, taking the role of First Lady, as her mother had died when she was young. The woman I encountered in this book was full of strength as she balanced her roles as daughter, wife, and mother, but also dealt with internal and external conflict in a way that makes her relatable to the modern-day reader and as complicated a person as her father.

Growing up as the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, Patsy bore witness to some of the most momentous occasions in history, including the American and French Revolutions, and birth of the United States. Her highly educated upbringing and her time in Europe were uncommon experiences when most girls of her age remained on the plantation to learn and be prepared to run their own homes. It was this upbringing that would equip her with the skills needed to navigate the tensions that existed in the Capitol during her father’s Presidency.

Patsy’s life was also shaped by a promise she made to her mother to care for her father all the days of his life and she found herself to be favored by her father above his other children as he sought out her company more and more after the passing of her mother. The book makes clear that Patsy felt duty-bound to support and uphold her father’s reputation and legacy and that all her choices revolved around this, even to the point of seeking to protect his dignity by holding secrets or staying silent.

The book gives such an intricate and intimate portrayal of the Jefferson family that his affair with Sally Hemings is a central tenet of the book, as is Patsy’s reconciling of the complicated relationship she has with Sally. I appreciated how the authors chose to include this piece of the family history as it enabled the book to have characters express their views on slavery, including Sally’s brother Jimmy who has a conversation with Jefferson regarding his freedom and Jefferson’s secretary William Short who challenges the existence of this horrible practice.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but did have some areas that did not deliver well for me. I found the beginning to dwell too long on Patsy’s childhood years and struggled to maintain my interest with this portion. In addition, I felt too much of the book was focused on the travails of the Randolph family (whom Patsy marries into when she weds her distant cousin Thomas Randolph), and would have preferred more time to be spent on his role in government. Finally, I had anticipated more of the book to be devoted to her role as First Lady and was disappointed only a chapter was given to this. An Author’s Note at the end indicates decisions were made to combine or simplify events to aim for brevity within the story so perhaps that is what occurred in this instance. These aspects did contribute to the book receiving a 4-star rating.

A passage from the prologue summarizes this remarkable woman quite well, “I am a daughter who must see to it that he is remembered exactly the way he wanted to be. My heart is heavy with sins and secrets and betrayals. I have stayed silent to avoid speaking the truth. What is one more silence when it preserves all we have sacrificed for? That will be my legacy. The service I render my country. For I’m not only my father’s daughter, but also the daughter of the nation he founded. And protecting both is what I’ve always done.”

[annapi]

Unofficial Administrators Group
Loop 1, Book 6

Name of the Book: Olympic Affair: A Novel of Hitler's Siren and America's Hero by Terry Frei
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
Person/Event Represented: 1936 Berlin Olympics
Number of pages: 336
Link with previous book: Olympics
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Robin P]

Hayjay315 wrote: "Group C, Uncut Diamonds
Loop 1, Book 5
Name of book: America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Fiction
Pages: 606
Person or even..."

Another link between the previous book that I read for the Uncut Diamonds Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge and this one is that both show the contrast between the egalitarian principles of the founding fathers and their real-life reliance on slavery.

[Booknblues]

Robin P wrote: "Hayjay315 wrote: "Group C, Uncut Diamonds
Loop 1, Book 5
Name of book: America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Fiction
Pages: ..."

Duly noted

[Sallys]

Autodidacts Walk Down History Lan- Loop 1 Book 7
Title Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life
Fiction or Non-Fiction: Non fiction
Person/Event Represented: Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway, Spanish Civil War, World War Two – lots of different events
Number of Pages: 424
Link with previous book: The previous book was a novel about
Martha Gellhorn

How do I put into words what I felt after reading this book. I do not usually read biographies, preferring literary fiction but I was riveted throughout my reading of the biography of Martha Gellhorn. Rich with historical detail and anecdotal data about this remarkable woman’s life, I felt compelled to read every single word and still would like to know more. I have already ordered two books that she wrote. She was a tremendous force In the literary world and was larger than life . I highly recommend this book.

[Linda C]

The B-eatles -- The Long and Winding Road - Book 7 (Loop 2-Book 1)
Title: Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets - Svetlana Alexievich
Fiction or Non-Fiction: Non fiction
Person/Event Represented: End of USSR/Communism in Russia
Number of Pages: 512
Link with previous book: In one of the interviews, the woman mentions an event that happens while she is reading The Master and Margarita which is our previous book

The book is a collection of stories/interviews given by ordinary people on their feelings about living under communism and the disintegration/conversion to capitalism in 1990s and 2000s. Some people talk about their lives, others talk about parents or grandparents lives. There are people pro/anti the 1917 Revolution, Stalin, communism, and capitalism; victims and dissidents living in terror and freedom fighters and schemers excited about the changes.

It is divided into interviews done 1991 to 2000 and 2001 to 2012. Each section starts with several pages that are statements and conversations recorded after asking a group to give their thoughts on the political change. This was difficult to follow because it was so disconnected.

The first 60% of the book many of the people told their story by going back and including their parents (and sometimes grandparents) stories. Even people who started their interview by saying they were not important and had an ordinary life ended up relating personal or parental horror stories. When they got to the demise of communism they were confused and angry and felt betrayed. A government that terrorized them for opposing communism in any way now terrorized communists. They lost their jobs in the collectives and were supposed to suddenly understand how to fit into a nascent capitalist society. Food and money were scarce, gangs roamed the streets. A secondary problem was that the disintegration of the USSR from one country where everyone was equal into many independent countries released much ethnic hatred and wars in several of them.

The second part covered interviews with younger people who became active in fighting and maintaining the freedom promised by perestroika. But the country was taking more and more of a turn to a restrictive government with secret police picking up dissenters and torturing them for information.

This was a difficult book to read. There didn't seem to be any one who was happy or content. Many were nostalgic for the communist way because they didn't have to decide what to do; they just did what they were told and were 'safe'.

The author won the Nobel Prize in Literature for this type of reportage, described as having "the quality of a documentary film on paper."

[Diana]

Group D(ivas)
Loop 1, Book 7

Name of book: The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
Pages: 390
Fiction or nonfiction: fiction
Person or event represented: Catherine of Aragon becoming and being the Queen of England
Link to previous book: Female power (Hirut and other women in The Shadow King and Catherine in The Constant Princess, patiently coping with ordeals and even fighting the Scots)

Review: here

[Michelle H]

Autodidacts Walk History Lane - Group A
Loop 2, Book 1
Name of Book: It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War
Non-Fiction
Person or Event represented: Lynsey Addario
Page number: 368
Link with previous book: Female Photo Journalist


Lynsey Addario is an amazing photojournalist. Her dad gave her a camera as a kid and she fell in love, but she didn't think she could have a career as a photographer. But she traveled to Argentina and started her career at a Argentine newspaper covering political issues happening in the country. From there she went to Mexico and Cuba to work, but she always wanted more. She finally ended up in Europe where she could travel easily and cover a lot of different stories. She was interested in telling the story of people and cultures through her photography. The main focus of her photos include conflicts and human rights issues, especially when dealing with women and their role in society.

Then 9/11 happened and things in the world changed. 'I became fascinated by the notion of dispelling stereotypes or misconceptions through photographs, of presenting the counterintuitive.' Linsey started covering stories in the Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden. She tells amazing stories about going in and out of countries and what it took to capture the images of the war. She also describes the situations for her shots so people can understand what was happening. It really opened my eyes to what journalists go through to bring news to us. She does a great job describing the differences in a journalists career for men and women and some of the things that she had to deal with. To get the stories/photos that she captured, Lynsey traveled to countries where women take a back seat to men. She was kidnapped twice, and endured so much physical and mental abuse.

Although she had a few relationships, her first love was her work during the first 10+ years of her career. That is what was needed of her since at the beginning she was a free lance photo
journalist. In order to get more stories, she had to say yes to almost every story. Once established, she was afraid to say no stories for those same reasons.

One of the things I 'appreciated' about this book was that she had been through so much in her career including winning some major
awards (MacArthur Fellowship and Pulitzer prize) but those were more like a blip in the book. They were mentioned but she did not focus on those. She focused on the world issues, just like in her photographs.

[Theresa]

What a great review! I have to say that since learning about Martha Gellhorn when reading Love and Ruin as well as reading the works of Åsne Seierstad books, I've become more and more intrigued by women journalists and journalistic photographers, their lives and motivations especially when centered on war zones and areas of conflict.

[Joi]

Group C - UnCut Diamonds
Loop 1, Book 6

Name of Book: Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff- 2 Stars
Pages - 351
Fiction or Non Fiction - Non Fiction
Person or Event Represented - Melania Trump/Stephanie Winston Wolkoff/ Presidential Inauguration
Connection to Book 5: Author named 'Stephanie' writing about a relationship to the first lady and family.

My Review Here

[LibraryCin]

shelf updated May 6/22

[LibraryCin]

Unofficial Administrators' Team (UAT)
Loop 2, Book 1
Nonfiction, Seabiscuit (1930s)
400 pages
Link to prev. book: Sports

Seabiscuit: An American Legend / Laura Hillenbrand
3.5 stars

Seabiscuit was a racing horse, famous in the 1930s. As a colt, he just wanted to sleep and eat. He only turned on the speed when he felt like it. His owner was Charles Howard; trainer was Tom Smith; jockeys were Red Pollard and George Woolf. This book includes biographical information about Seabiscuit in addition to all the men. Of course, there is plenty of information on horse racing, in addition.

The story was good. Horse racing is dangerous and I do not like using animals for human entertainment. This certainly didn’t help my opinion. Of course, the author mostly focused on the danger for the jockeys, but those same dangers go for the horses, as well. But the human jockeys choose to do what they do, knowing the dangers. I was surprised to learn how much those jockeys mistreat their own bodies (“reducing” to lose weight) in order to race – the health issues that must come about from that! Being from Alberta, it was interesting to learn that Red Pollard was originally from Edmonton. Hillenbrand is a very good writer and the descriptions of the races were exciting. I was cheering Seabiscuit on.

[Booknblues]

Unofficial Administrators Team
Loop 2, Book 2

Fiction/ The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
390 pages
LInk to previous book- 1930s, Horses

Review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[annapi]

Unofficial Administrators Team
Loop 2, Book 3

Name of the Book: Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
Fiction or Nonfiction: Non-fiction
Person/Event Represented: The Voyage of the Kon-Tiki
Number of pages: 256
Link with previous book: dangerous journey (also Kentucky/Kon-Tiki soundalike)
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cora]

Autodidacts Walk History Lane - Group A
Loop #2 - Book #2
'
Name of Book: Learning to See
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
Person or Event represented: Dorothea Lange, Migrant workers during Great Depression, Japanese Interment
Page number: 384 pages
Link with previous book(1st excluded): Both books are about women photojournalists


Learning to See: A Novel of Dorothea Lange - Elsie Hooper

4 stars

Learning to See is the fictionalized account of the life of Dorothea Lange, a famous photojournalist that documented the lives of migrant workers during the dust bowl and Japanese-Americans in internment camps in the 1940s. It shows the lives of artists and photographers in San Francisco during the first half of the 20th century. Famous friends such as Ansel Adams and Frida Kahlo make appearances. It is about a woman struggling to raise a family as well as continue working as the major breadwinner of her family during the depression. It was an interesting story about a great, complicated, female main character. I always struggle with reading first-person POV stories about real people. I don't mind historical fiction about real people in general, but when their thoughts and feelings are represented, even when it is clearly fiction, it just feels a little invasive for me. No one can really know how Dorothea felt about motherhood and what if she wasn't a reluctant caregiver to her children but the book presents her thoughts as so. I know others are able to just accept that it is fiction and go with the story, but I find it taking me out of the story as I read. I just feel like I am invading her privacy, whether it was truly how she felt or not. If I can remove myself from those concerns, it was a well done, engrossing story with a strong woman character.

[Theresa]

Autodidacts Walk History Lane - Group A
Loop #2 - Book #3

Name of Book: Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
Person or Event represented: WWII and the War Relocation Authority Japanese Internment, Relocation, and Resettlement Program
Page number: 305 pages
Link with previous book: Manzanar Internment Camp

***5 stars***

I felt a powerful punch deep after I turned the last page and closed this book, contemplating what I just read. This one sneaks up on you. Yes, it is a complex, subtle mystery set during WWII. It is also a searing portrait told in the first person of FDR's War Relocation Authority ('WRA') created after Pearl Harbor that forced all of Japanese descent living on the West Coast oout of their jobs, homes and possessions, sending them to 'internment camps' and eventual relocation elsewhere in the US, even American citizens or Nisei like Aki and Rose, born in California of Japanese born immigrants or Issei.

Aki Ito idolized her older sister Rose. Rose was one of the first to be chosen from the Manzanar camp to be resettled in Chicago, with Aki and their parents to follow as soon as possible. However, when they finally arrive in Chicago, they are greeted by the news that Rose is dead, having either jumped or fallen in front of the subway in the new Clark/Division station the day before. Aki, however, is convinced someone had to have pushed her.

Aki and her parents spend months navigating the grim realities of life post-Manzanar while Aki searches for elusive information about Rose's life in Chicago, especially the last days leading up to her death, hoping to prove Rose was murdered and expose the murderer. It is hard, with progress and revelations in tiny steps and occasional jumps. Aki gets her answers, but also finds her true independent self, her past, and her path forward to a new life. It isn't all neat, tidy, and pretty, but there is hope and peace.

I was so tired of the fact that much of our existence had been erased. Our house in Tropico. Pop’s job. Our daily lives revolving around the produce market and the Japanese community in Southern California. If I was going to continue in this world, I had to hold on to pieces of reality, no matter how disturbing they might be.

This won the 2022 Edgar Mary Higgins Clark Award, deservedly. It was published by Soho Crime and brought to life with the help Editor Juliet Grimes who won the 2022 Edgars Ellery Queen Award for her work. Check out her mention in the author's acknowledgement.

Mentioned from time to time in the book are how the real experience of Manzanar and the ultimate resettlement in Chicago and elsewhere bore little resemblance to the photos used and published by the WRA. Though not elaborated on here, the photographic record by WRA is discussed in Learning to See. There were at least 2 photographers hired by WRA and the Roosevelt administration to document the internment and resettlement, to use both as propaganda and to show there was no ill-treatment or abuse (like they weren't concentration camps without gas chambers). One of those photojournalists was Dorothea Lange, another Ansel Adams. Lange was eventually fired and her photographs seized and buried in the National Archives where they were suppressed for decades. Adams' photos were those used and displayed by WRA. For more:
https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/photos...
Also https://anchoreditions.com/blog/dorot....

[Yvonne]

Group C, Uncut Diamonds
Loop 2, Book 1

Name of book: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Fiction
Pages: 352
Person or event - Paleontologists Mary Anning & Elizabeth Philpot
Connection to previous book: female friendship
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Hilde]

Group E Pearls of The Past

Loop # 1, Book # 5
Name of Book: Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain - 4.5 stars

Non-Fiction

Person or Event represented:
Person: Vera Brittain, Roland Leighton, Edward Brittain
Event: World War I

Page number: 688 pages

Link with previous book:
Both books were made into successful movies

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[LibraryCin]

UAT (Unofficial Admin Team)
Loop 2, Book 4
Fiction, Franklin Expedition
399 pages
link: ocean travel

The Voyage of the Narwhal / Andrea Barrett
3.5 stars

Erasmus Darwin Wells is a naturalist from Philadelphia and is excited to be able to head to the Arctic with his friend Zeke (who is engaged to Erasmus’s sister) in 1855, a number of years after Franklin’s expedition. They hope to be able to find traces of Franklin’s missing crew, as well as any artifacts left behind. Unfortunately, Erasmus doesn’t realize how bad things will turn with Zeke as commander.

This was good. It took a while to get going, so I really didn’t get interested until they were on their way. Even while they were away, the scenes with Erasmus’s sister, Lavinia, and her friend, Alexandra, back home bored me. That entire storyline did get more interesting later on, however. I sure didn’t like Zeke (along with the majority of the characters – at least the ones on board the Narwhal!).

[Lyn]

Autodidacts Walk History Lane - Group A
Loop #2 - Book #4

Name of Book: Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors by John D. Hornfischer
Fiction or Nonfiction: NonFiction
Person or Event represented: South Pacific Theater of WWII, the sinking of the USS Houston and the building of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway by POWs
Page number: 530 pages
Link with previous book: WWII South Pacific Theater

This is a very well written and readable account of the story of the USS Houston and the survivors of the sinking of the ship in Sunda Strait in the South Pacific theater of WWII.
The book starts with the history of the ship, which was a favorite of president FDR. Early in the war in the South Pacific, there were several accounts made by the Japanese that the ship had been sunk.
In March of 1942, the Houston, along with the Australian ship Perth, encountered Japanese naval forces in the Sunda Strait. The two ships were heavily outnumbered, and both were sunk.
From here the book tells the story of survival immediately following the battle and for the next 4 years in POW camps. I was surprised at how little I know about WWII in the South Pacific, this book was very educational for me. My previous education was the glamorized and less than accurate Hollywood account. I learned how many allied forces were forced to build the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, and how many died. But that is only part of the history. There were POW camps throughout the South Pacific, conditions and treatment were inhumane, and all that were able, were forced to work on the railway, in the shipyards and factories. The POWs did what they could to take care of themselves and each other.
I also learned that there was a group of Thai agents, trained by the United States, that played a role in the escape of two POWs which I found very interesting.
The book wraps up with information about bringing the POWs home.

[Holly R W]

Group E - Pearls of the Past
Loop 1, Book #6

Book: On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist by Clarissa Ward, 4 stars
Non-Fiction

Person or Event Represented: Clarissa Ward is a television journalist who covers international news, specializing in covering war zones. Events include conflicts in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq, spanning 2003 through 2019. She also wrote about the tsunami in Japan.
Page Number: 336 pages

Link with Previous Book: Like Vera Brittain who wrote "Testament of Youth", Clarissa Ward is a trail-blazing woman who provides an eye-witness report of war.


Review:

This is international journalist Clarissa Ward's memoir, bridging her personal and professional lives. She first came to my attention when I watched her reporting live from Afghanistan in 2021, when the U.S. was withdrawing militarily from that country and it was in chaos. "Who was this remarkable woman?" I wondered. Ward was so composed, clear and empathetic, while bravely navigating and showing us a terrifying situation.

As Ward explains in her memoir, watching the events of 9/11 unfold motivated her to become a journalist. She saw that there was so much misunderstanding between what Osama Bin Ladin and his followers thought of the U.S. AND similarly, how we in the West thought about them. Ward wanted to report on average people who get caught up in world events, such as wars and natural disasters. She desired to help the public better understand the complexities of their situations. Ward chose television as her medium. Her proficiency with foreign languages certainly helped her. She was already fluent in several and soon started learning Arabic.

At first, Ward was taught classical Arabic. She wrote, "Later on, my Arabic vocabulary would move in a very different direction. I would learn essential words like:
shazaya: shrapnel
sarookh: rocket
quinbula: bomb
is-haal: diarrhea"

She would also learn to dress in traditional Muslim women's garb when situations called for it. As a white woman with blonde hair, Ward could be a target for being hurt or kidnapped. So much of this, Ward did not learn in school. Each and every experience in the field taught her what she needed to know in order to be effective and safe while reporting in high conflict areas.

The book is filled with the pivotal experiences which educated and profoundly touched her. It is Ward's day to day encounters with average people which so impressed me while reading her book. I enjoyed the photographs showing the people that Ward wrote about. Along the way, I learned a lot about the world's war-torn areas in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Through reading this, I got glimpses of Ward's personality. She is bright, unconventional, thoughtful and gutsy. She is unafraid to speak her mind and can swear with the best of them. I liked her ability to connect personally with strangers. She ventures to places where most of us are afraid to go. We are fortunate that Ward continues to do the work that she does so well.

Ward closed her book by writing, "How many times I [have] been reminded... that there is a shared human experience, no matter how different our societies, that connects us. Perhaps that is why I continue to feel such passion for my work... [I want] to humanize, to make real what is surreal and foreign, to remind the viewer that beyond the geopolitics of power and the brutality of war and the clashes of culture, people are people."

[Booknblues]

Unofficial Administrators
Book 11
Loop 2, Book 5

Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women -Annabel Abbs - 4 stars
Nonfiction
Link - Travelers/Explorers

Review -

As a fan of a slow travelogue, I was excited to read this about following the footpaths of women who loved to walk and were unafraid to forge their own way walking and in their various fields.

When Annabel Abbs, an author, found herself in the hospital after passing out and cracking her skull on the sidewalk, one of her first desires was to walk and this in turn gave birth to Windswept. As I began reading I was impressed with the writing quality of Abbs and discovered that she has written such novels as Frieda: A Novel of the Real Lady Chatterley, The Joyce Girl and Miss Eliza's English Kitchen: A Novel of Victorian Cookery and Friendship.

As Abbs vows to return to walking, she notices the lack of reading material by female hikers:

"One evening, as I turned off my lamp, my eye was caught by the books on my bedside table. I looked at the spines and noticed something I’d never noticed before: every book carried the name of a man. I felt a baffled surprise, because although I considered myself a feminist, I’d never paid much attention to the gender of an author when I bought or borrowed a book.

Seeing them stacked, spine by spine, a line of men, made me pause. I wondered if this was why I felt an odd disconnect, if this was why my reading felt more like medication than inspiration.

The juxtaposition between the compressed, constricted space of female domesticity and the vast vistas through which these unburdened men roved hung vividly and disruptively in my wide-awake mind. These “walking men” had mothers, wives, even children. But where were they? Why were they so rarely mentioned? Could it be that the absent women were creating the very homes that enabled these men to step out with such nonchalance and exuberance?

I wasn’t angry with these men (most of whom were dead anyway), but I was angry at their unexamined dominance. And I was angry with myself for not expending more effort in seeking out books by women. For surely women had walked—and written about their experiences of walking?"

In Windswept she discusses the foot journeys of Frieda Lawrence, wife of D.H. Lawrence; Welsh artist Gwen John
; Clara Vyvyan, an Australian author;noted author, Daphne Du Maurierr who traveled with Vyvyan; Nan Shepherd, a Scottish author; author and feminist Simone de Beauvoir, ; and the great American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe. These women were ardent hikers and were not afraid to set off a path of their own. I was interested to find how many of these women had to struggle to find their own voice, because they were somehow overshadowed or obstructed by men from reaching their full capacity.

In each chapter she highlights one of the women, discusses both their life and the paths which they chose to walk and concludes with following their trails.

Abbs is a thorough researcher and we learn about walking and its effect on both mind and body as well as being immersed in nature. She tackles issues of fear and danger and many other issues surrounding the journeys, she and these women tackled.

I found this to be an absolutely absorbing read and if it sounds at all interesting to you, I would recommend it.

[Theresa]

Booknblues wrote: "Unofficial Administrators
Book 11
Loop 2, Book 5

Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women -Annabel Abbs - 4 stars
Nonfiction
Link - Travelers/Explorers

Review -

As a fa..."


This sounds like a wonderful find!

[Booknblues]

Theresa wrote: "This sounds like a wonderful find! ..."

It was a good find.

[annapi]

Unofficial Administrators Team
Loop 2, Book 6

Name of the Book: Miss Eliza's English Kitchen: A Novel of Victorian Cookery and Friendship by Annabel Abs
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
Person/Event Represented: The first modern cookery writer
Number of pages: 400
Link with previous book: same author
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[LibraryCin]

shelf updated June 18/22

[Heather Reads Books]

Group D(ivas)
Loop 2, Book 1

Name of book: Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz
Pages: 320
Fiction or nonfiction: Non-fiction
Person or event represented: An archaeological recreation of four cities "lost" in antiquity: Catalhoyuk in Turkey, Pompeii in Italy, Angkor in Cambodia, and Cahokia in America
Link to previous book: Exploring other cultures (Katherine adapts to the culture of the English court in The Constant Princess; author Annalee Newitz explores the ancient cultures and everyday lives of the people who lived in the discussed cities)

Review: Here!

[Hannah]

Autodidacts Walk History Lane - Group A
Loop #2 - Book #5

Name of Book: Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy by Ben Macintyre
Fiction or Nonfiction: NonFiction
Person or Event represented: Agent Sonya (Ursula Kuczynski) - A Soviet intelligence officer
Page number: 377 pages
Link with previous book: WWII

Review:

This work of narrative nonfiction did a really good job of grabbing my interest and keeping it. I found the political background to be just as interesting as the main espionage aspects, although there were times as I was reading this book that I found it hard to believe that the members of the British intelligence services looking for a Soviet Union spy didn’t connect together the pieces of the puzzle that they held. Macintyre has a very easy to read writing style, and whilst I was not drawn to Sonya, Whilst lacking some of the excitement of his other books, this was an engaging read about how one woman was involved in some of the major events of the twentieth century.

[Amy]

Group B*eatles; Long and Winding Road

Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson
Non-Fiction
Amy’s Book; Loop 2, Book 2,
Resistance to World War II; Madame Fourcade
Page Number - 464

Link With Previous Book – Message 65; by Linda C
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets; Non-Fiction

My Link – Seems to me, our entire loop for this second round is about Revolution and fighting for change under tyrannical or despotic rule, or threat of takeover. In Linda’s book, people are interviews as Russian dissidents during the collapse of Communism in Russia, reflecting back to Stalin. There are people dating back historically to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In Linda’s words she states, “The second part covered interviews with younger people who became active in fighting and maintaining the freedom promised by perestroika. But the country was taking more and more of a turn to a restrictive government with secret police picking up dissenters and torturing them for information.” This harkens back incredibly as a mirror reflection to what is happening in 1940’s France. And as a teaser, wait to see what Revolution and dissidents our group addresses next with Nancy, and where – and another one where I think Women take a subversive and powerful role. Curious? Hang on Friends, to see where the Beatles take you next on our journey.

Speaking of Loop Themes, and I am pretty sure everyone is going to address this going forward, our first loop was Einstein. All the books linked to each other, but also in a way to the meta theme of Einstein in one way or another. Our second loop’s theme is Revolution. But our group conceptualizes that not only is Loop Two Revolution, but in a way, the entire 12, as a meta theme is Revolution. How do we see this? We see this because there are revolutions in gender bending, in science, in how we conceptualize the universe. In women and men bending gender roles. In futuristic questions that are raised. So I would expect that you will see us all talk about how each of our books link to the one prior, but also to the larger theme of Revolution held within, and even greater than Cultural Revolution, I would expect to see attention paid to Internal Revolution as well.”

Take it Away From Here, Nancy….

Review:

This book was hard to rate, because as many of you know, I am a lover of all things WWII, of women taking unprecedented roles of power and influence, of resistance and spy networks, of infiltrating and resistance, anything to win the war for moral reasons. And a lover of anything Paris and French. I knew I wanted to read the book, and I knew it would capture my interest. So why would there be any drawbacks?

I'm actually quite embarrassed and a little ashamed to tell you. Non fiction can be hard for me to pick up, follow, read, and digest. Not all non-fiction. Some of it captures me, much of it I can get into if I choose well. But this was one of the ones that despite the very very good writing and the interest of the topic and the escapades, and the high stakes action, I found my eyes closing, and pages turning quicker, and my needing to go back and try to re-capture. I had distraction. But this has nothing to do with the book, this has to do with me. I spent some time trying to understand this.

I really wanted to understand how Madame Fourcade thought and felt. I wanted to understand her instincts and contradictions, her longings, her fear, her anger, and her dreaming. Even if it were non-fiction, I wanted someone to imagine that for me. Or pull that from her or from the witnesses in a quoted way. I needed that intrapersonal depth. And when I don't have it, I try to understand something, or just make it up. So here goes.

The heroes, the true life heroes of the war, even everyday heroes, even our January 6th heroes, there is something about understanding the call to action. Because I don't think its a decision. It seems more to be a reaction or an instinct. Inevitably, whether its a split second thing or a larger pull, even a small decision that has life stakes, or that will lead you down one road or another inevitably, there is actually little decision at all. Because when people know and feel what is right, they just act without thought. The reasoning of the moral code comes later. This heroine never "decided", she simply knew what she had to do. I wanted to learn more about how she understood that, but also about heroes and heroines in general. How did they come to see themselves simply doing what's right because the body and the soul and the moral and the action just come together in perfect synchrony in an automatic whole moment action. Have you ever stepped into something without thinking? Reacted to a situation that needed help or was suffering from injustice of one kind or another? Or did you find yourself an innocent bystander who regretted the second to longer of hesitation, where fear or self preservation or indecision got in the way? This was what was so interesting to me about the book. All the real life people who never thought about the question of why they were doing what they were doing, and at what personal cost? A moral imperative, a moral instinct, a soul's direction takes over. I was so taken by all the close calls, and widespread plans. But mostly by everyday people rising up for what is right. I was looking to understand that they way I thought about it in Kate Quinn's Diamond Eye. A woman sniper who needs to reconcile what she does with being a mother and an absent one at that. She reconciles it by truly believing in the rightness of what she is doing, and the necessity of her part in it.

There is more to add. I read this book also for a challenge (Walk Down History Lane) that involves a group of people linking books together, so I might stop here for this review. But I do want to say that our group is exploring as a theme for this second loop and for the entire loop, of Revolution, and sometimes internal revolution. Everything from gender role switches, to gender bending, to new ways of conceptualization and thinking that are revolutionary and counter to what would be expected. I just wanted to say that my non-fiction read for this challenge encompasses all of those areas. A woman in the 1940's using her position and connections and expertise and instinct to be able to pull off the largest spy network against Hitler in France. She as a person was revolutionary, but she was also at the center of the Revolution. The only thing missing for me, and maybe it was in there, was what that meant to her and how she conceptualized that. That would have not only captured my attention, it would have made it a 5 star read.

[[deleted user]]

Group E Pearls of the Past
Loop 2 Book 1

Title of book: A Tale for the Time Being
Fiction or Non-fiction: Fiction
Person or Event represented: 2011 Japanese Tsunami
Page numbers: 433 pages
Link with previous book: first photos/videos of the tsunami, and the reporting of it.
No bonus points

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Quotes: On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist Page 135 – "One March afternoon, [my producer] Beth and I were returning from a late lunch when we got a frantic call from the foreign desk in New York. A massive earthquake had precipitated a tsunami in northern Japan. We watched as the first images were broadcast showing a wall of water engulfing large swaths of the coastline.”

A Tale for the Time Being: Page 113 – "Most of the footage was shot by panicked people on their mobile phones from hillsides or the roofs of tall buildings, so there was a haphazard quality to the images, as if the photographers didn’t quite realize what they were filming, but they knew it was critical, and so they turned on their phones and held them up to the oncoming wave."

[Jen K]

Group D(ivas)
Loop 2, Book 2

Name of Book: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Nonfiction
Person or Event represented: History of Savannah and trial of Jim Williams
Page number: 386
Link with previous book: History of a city- This book history of Savannah and it's culture, previous book was a history of lost ancient cities.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Extra Points: Read 30 June- LGBT tag by 77 people
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

[LibraryCin]

shelf updated July 9/22

[anarresa]

Autodidacts Walk History Lane - Group A
Loop #2 - Book #6

Name of Book: The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt by Sarah Armstrong
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
Person or Event represented: Cold War
Page number: 235 pages
Link with previous book: Soviet intelligence officers fishing for British secrets

Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Theresa]

anarresa wrote: "Autodidacts Walk History Lane - Group A
Loop #2 - Book #6

Name of Book: The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt by Sarah Armstrong
Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
Person or Event represented: Cold War
Page..."

Admins - A reminder that Autodidacts is a 7 member team. We have one final book coming up that will complete our second loop and the challenge!

[Sallys]

Autodidacts Walk Down History Lane- Loop 2 Book 7
Title The Alice Network
Fiction or Non-Fiction: Fiction
Person/Event Represented: WW11 , The Alice Network, Louise de Bettignies
Number of Pages: 530
Link with previous book: The previous book was a novel about spying as well

This work of historical fiction is based on The Alice Network and the life of Louise de Bettignies. It is a page turner full of drama and intrigue. Charlotte is a young American college student who is searching for her cousin Rose while in France dealing with an unplanned pregnancy She ends up traveling with middle aged Eve, who is an enigmatic woman out for revenge and Finn, a handsome garage mechanic who has been in prison. I don’t want to give too much away, but the suspense builds as the action shifts between 1915 and 1947.
The book moves quickly and the characters are richly drawn. Once I started it was very hard for me to put it down until I had reached the conclusion.

[Theresa]

WOOT! SallyS brings the Autodidacts home and finishes our History Walk! All 7 in our group have now read in both loops!

Great work, Autodidacts!

[Hilde]

Group E Pearls of The Past

Loop # 2, Book # 2

Name of Book: Brente skygger/(Burnt Shadows) by Kamila Shamsie
Fiction
Person or Event represented: Atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Partitioning of India/Pakistan, 9/11, US Invasion of Afghanistan
Page number: 391 pages
Link with previous book:
Both authors have won the Women's Price for fiction (last author: Ruth Ozeki)

Review.: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Hayjay315]

Group C, Uncut Diamonds
Loop 2, Book 2
Name of book: West With The Night by Beryl Markham
Pages: 294
Fiction or Nonfiction: Nonfiction
Person or event - Aviator Beryl Markham
Connection to previous book: A woman achieving success in a traditionally male-dominated field
Bonus Points: tagged memoir by 662 people
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve... (1st column, 4th down)

I don’t remember how this book ended up on my TBR but I am so glad that it did and that I got to spend the past few days learning about this fascinating woman. In a time when a female pilot had to receive permission from the Royal Air Force Headquarters at Khartoum to fly solo through certain parts of Africa Beryl Markham did so four times after convincing the R.A.F. of her ability to do so. She was also the first aviator to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic from Britain to North America. She achieved wide success in what was at the time a typically male-dominated field.

Moving from England to Njoro (in what is now Kenya) at the age of four when her father decides to start a farm Beryl spends her childhood and early teens in Africa and the early and middle portions of this book focus on these years of her life. In illuminating prose she shares her observations about the people, customs, animals, and geography of Africa which is a theme she carries throughout the book. These observations are one of the strongest themes of the memoir and kept me rapidly turning the pages wanting to know more.

In her late teens, her life takes yet another turn, when a drought comes and forces her father to close down the farm. While he moves to Peru to train horses Beryl moves first to Molo and then to Nakuru to train racehorses. This part of the book did not hold my interest quite as well as the first, but I did enjoy the portion of it that dealt with the actual horse race. It was during this time in her life that she met pilot Tom Black on two separate occasions and it was these conversations that inspired her to begin flying. The final part of the book covers her learning to fly, her time as a mail carrier and elephant spotter for hunting safaris, and her trans-Atlantic flight.

I think this quote from Beryl herself sums up her memoir quite nicely “I look at my yesterdays for months past, and find them as good a lot of yesterdays as anybody might want. I sit there in the firelight and see them all. The hours that made them were good, and so were the moments that made the hours. I have had responsibilities and work, dangers and pleasure, good friends, and a world without walls to live in.”

Reading this memoir has sparked an interest in females in aviation and I am hoping to find something for the Women’s History tag.

I gave this book 4 stars.

[LibraryCin]

shelf updated Aug 5/22

[DianeMP]

Group D(ivas)
Loop 2, Book 3

Name of the Book: How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
Nonfiction
Person or Event Represented: Clint Smith leads the reader on a tour of monuments and landmarks that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history and memory.
Page number: 336
Link with previous book: Both books reflect on the legacy of slavery especially in the south.

Review: This is a thought-provoking and important read. The author delivers what he promises and provides a reckoning with the history of slavery in America to the reader. We follow Smith on a road trip across America to explore the ways in which Americans remember things, and how, sometimes deliberately and sometimes not, Americans are prone to misremember some parts of history by leaving out terrible things and terrible people.

Over the course of the road trip, Smith visits several monuments and landmarks which demonstrate how slavery is central to American History. During each of these visits, he engages in conversation with guides, leaders, and visitors. His style of inquiry-based exploration is brilliantly executed. He approaches the conversation in a non-combative way with a true intent of understanding rather than judging. It's a way of inviting people along on the journey rather than calling them out.

One of the central themes of the book is how history and memory interact with one another and how this leads to the misinterpretation of America History, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. For many people, their understanding of American history related to their loved ones, ancestors, and communities not based on historical documents or evidence. It's a story they've been told by those close to them, an heirloom that has been passed down for generations. As a result, when one is asked to question the stories of their loved ones and reassess their conception of American history in the face of real evidence, loyalty takes precedence over truth.

Smith did a masterful job of showing how the emotional complexity that often exists within history can only be ferreted out by intense study of the events and people within the moment.

I highly recommend this book.
I give the book 5 stars.

[NancyJ]

Group B - The B-eatles, The Long and Winding Road
Loop 2, book 3

Name of the Book: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang.
Nonfiction
Person or Event Represented: China, 20th century. The Japanese occupation of China, the Civil war that led to Communist rule in 1949, and the Cultural Revolution.
Pages: 562

Connection to Previous book (Madame Fourcades’s Secret War): Both books feature intelligent women who played important roles during wartime. They recruited spies, developed their networks, and earned high levels of responsibility. After the war, the women continued to nurture their networks for the greater good.

Extra Points for Tag of the Month: Tagged Memoir by 605 people.
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

Review notes: 5 stars
The book follows 3 generations of a family of women in China during the 20th century. The Wild Swans refer to the author's Grandmother, mother and herself. The book provides a clear description of life for this family though the Japanese occupation of China, the Civil war that led to Communist rule in 1949, and the Cultural Revolution. The author's parents met as soldiers during the war, and they worked their way up to high level positions in the Communist Party. The were both devoted to the Communist party and free from corruption, but they were denounced along with many leaders during the cultural revolution. The entire family suffered through Mao’s Cultural Revolution. The Parents were repeatedly imprisoned and tortured (for years), while the had collapsed for author and her siblings.

This was the most important book I read in July, and I highly recommend it. It's also the most challenging book I read. It's not a dry history book; The events in the book are detailed, vivid, and eye opening. However the book contains many depressing events, and it challenges my optimism for the future. About 1.5 million Chinese people were tortured or killed during the cultural revolution in China. The shocking thing was that the beatings and torture were committed by ordinary citizens, including teenagers, all inspired by their love and support for Chairman Mao. The term "cult of personality" applies perfectly to Mao. He was a charismatic leader who took extreme steps to maintain his power. The cost to his country was devastating. There is a dark side to Charismatic leadership. People become so enamored of the image of the leader that they stop thinking for themselves. Charismatic leaders can be dangerous to their followers

I was reading this book while I was watching The January 6 hearing on TV. The attacks on the US Capital were also committed by ordinary citizens (not military) inspired by their love and support for Donald Trump. They were willing to severely injure or kill people in their zeal to support their leader. The similarities stunned me. The US incident was mild in comparison to the chaos and destruction in China, but it's chilling because it's not over yet.

Review and discussion:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...