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Group B - The B-eatles, The Long and Winding RoadLoop 2, book 4
Name of the Book: The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
Fiction
Person or Event Represented: USA early 20th century, during the battle to establish labor unions. The book revolves around the Free Speech Fight of 1909 in Spokane WA.
Pages: 342
Connection to Previous book (Wild Swans): Both books feature strong women fighting for revolutionary change, in this case workers' rights and free speech in a time when the "robber barons" ruled. This work of fiction features Elizabeth Gurley Brown, who like many of the women of Wild Swans, was a communist. She believed in the promise of communism to champion the "cold millions."
Here's my review (4 stars): https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Review notes: 4 stars
Group C - Uncut DiamondsLoop 2 Book 3
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
384 pages
4 stars
Fiction
Person or Event: Sarah and Angelina Grimke, nationally known white American advocates of abolition of slavery and women's rights
Link to previous book: Strong women defying conventional women's roles of their day
Bonus points: tagged women's history by 7 readers
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Charleston, South Carolina, in the early 1800's was a agricultural community supported by the enforced labor of slaves. In 1803, Sarah Grimke, the daughter of wealthy plantation owners was gifted a house slave of her own named Handful (Hettie). Sarah, already at her young age seeing the need for abolition, initially refused the gift and after being forced to receive the present, immediately wrote a letter setting Handful free. Her parents tore up the letter telling Sarah she had no choice. Being headstrong but faithful to her beliefs, she taught Handful to read which was against the law. Handful was caught and punished severely but it proved to her that she could be so much more than a slave. Sarah and Handful became good friends, or as close as they were allowed to be by cultural convention.
Sarah eventually moved away from Charleston hoping to find a career for herself despite the accepted roles for women during the time period. She became enamored of the Quaker way of life and hoped to be a minister, a job that was filled by several women in their religion. Eventually she turned to the lecture circuit, along with her younger sister Angelina, to speak about the need for abolition of slavery and the rights of women. The two sisters were both admired and castigated for their viewpoints.
Handful, still a slave on the Grimke plantation, heard rumors of a slave rebellion and did all she could to help the cause. A gifted seamstress as was her mother Charlotte, the Grimke family refused to free her or even to allow Sarah to buy her. Handful never stopped aching for her freedom and would eventually reach out to her old friend Sarah to help.
This fictionalized telling of the Grimke sisters courageous fight for abolition is quite interesting and well written. I listened to the audio read by two gifted women who brought Sarah and Handful to life. The chapters alternate between the two women and I enjoyed it very much.
Group B - The B-eatles, The Long and Winding RoadLoop 2, book 5
Name of the Book: I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Person or Event Represented: Takes place in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, at the time where Taliban took control of the area, and features Malala Yousafzai, a young girl who fights for girls' rights to education.
Bonus points: tagged women's history by 6 people
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Connection to Previous book: The Cold Millions.
Both books, and our previous books, feature women fighting for change, in this book Malala is fighting to change girls' and womens' right to education and general equality. Malala's is a non-violent revolution, but a revolution nonetheless, and the Taliban are so frightened or provoced by her and her cause, they try to assassinate her.
Malala tells the story of her childhood and the years leading up to Taliban's takeover in 2007 and the following years, up till the time she is shot in 2012.
The narration of this book was very straightforward, and in the beginning of the book I found the dry factuality a bit at odds with the content, but it grew on me.
It made me think about a lot of things: About the connection between education and liberation/ freedom rights (and feminism) which I had anticipated it would. But it also made me think about who owns the interpretations of a religion? Malala and her family are religious, and feel the Taliban are trying to hijack their religion and telling them how to practice it. Faith has so many faces, but in the end I guess all extremism is in fact about power, not piety. At least that's what this book made me think of.
As a not very fun fact, I read it at the time of Salman Rushdies attack, and Malala had just mentioned the fatwa on Rushdie as an example of religious extremism.
Malala is badass. She doesn't take up arms, it is a quiet revolution, in the sense of a pacifistic approach, she is not at all silent. Through everything she insists on her right to an education, even though bowing down would be much easier for her. Kudos!
I liked the the thoughtfulness of this book.
Power to the people!
Please check out another WDHL activity in the Refreshment Standhttps://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Group C - Uncut DiamondsLoop 2 Book 4
Harriet and Isabella by Patricia O'Brien
304 pages
4 stars
Fiction
Person or Event: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Isabella Beecher Hooker, nationally known white American advocates of abolition of slavery and women's rights
Link to previous book: Also about two nineteenth-century American sisters fighting to end slavery and promote women's rights
Bonus points: tagged Favorites by 5 readershttps://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
This book tells the story of the Beecher family, whom the author in an afterword compares to the Kennedys for their fame and prominence. Brother Henry Ward Beecher was a charismatic and inspiring minister, sister Harriet wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, and sister Isabella campaigned for women's rights. The other siblings felt a strong sense of supporting the family no matter what. This became a dramatic struggle when Henry was accused of having an affair with a friend's wife. The trial was a huge and long drawn out media circus, and even the siblings split in their judgments on what was the truth.
I read a lot of historical fiction, and I found this one very well done, with complex characters and lots of period details (many excerpts from the newspaper accounts of the trial were used.) It's easy to think that people in earlier times were somehow simpler psychologically, but of course they were the same humans as today. Henry Ward Beecher reminded me a bit of Bill Clinton, charming and eloquent and somehow believing that ordinary rules didn't apply to him. The conflicts between sisters and with in-laws seemed very real. And as someone who has read a fair amount about the period and its figures, I enjoyed seeing cameos from Susan B. Anthony, Julia Ward Howe, and other suffragists. We see the same tension in the women's movement that has occurred in almost all movements and eras, between those who want to follow process and stay respectable and those who want to draw attention through any means (the scandalous Victoria Woodhull, who I hope to read about soon.)
This book alternates between the viewpoints of Harriet and Isabella, with some flashbacks to fill in their past. Overall, I found it well done and will be glad to try other books by this author.
Group E Pearls of The PastLoop #2, Book # 4
Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World
400 Pages
5 Stars
Non-Fiction
Person/Event: Postwar Berlin-The Cold War
Link to previous book: The USSR
Narrative History that reads like fiction. Beginning in 1945 when the Red Army raped and pillaged Berlin, the author takes us through the 4 years of postwar life in a city chopped into sectors and besieged by warring leaders.
The Allies intent was to work with Stalin in rebuilding what was destroyed. One man, Col. Frank "Howlin' Mad" Howley, saw through the Russian propaganda and fought relentlessly to build a democracy. Giles Milton's writing of the relationship between Howley and his Russian counterpart Gen. Alexander Kotikov brings this story to life. The reader is so entrenched in the story the book is hard to put down.
Highly recommended to all History nerds!
Group C - UnCut DiamondsLoop 2, Book 5
Name of Book: The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory - 4 Stars
Pages - 672
Historical Fiction
Person or Event Represented - Reign of King Henry VIII
Connection to Prior Book - Two sisters try to win the attention of King Henry VIII. In the previous book the sisters work to abolish slvery. In this book they work to gain power and prestige for their family.
Extra Points - Tagged Favorites by 2510 Readers
Link to Review
The Pearls of the Past (Group E)Loop # 2, Book 5
Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra - 4 stars
416 pages
Historical Fiction
Person/Event: Life in both Italy and the U.S. during the years right before and during World War II
Link to previous book: The last book was about the Cold War years after World War II. Propaganda was used frequently during that period. In "Mercury Pictures Presents," propaganda is a recurring theme.
My Review:
"Mercury Pictures Presents" is a sprawling historical novel focusing on Italy and the U.S. right before and during World War II. The time frame is 1938 - 1946. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Guiseppe Lagana, his wife Annunziata and their 12 year old daughter, Maria. Guiseppe is a defense attorney living in Rome. He has sympathies towards those with Socialist views and defends several of his clients from political persecution. Mussolini has come into power at this time. Guiseppe's work (and a well intentioned mistake by Maria) leads to his becoming a political prisoner in a remote town (the fictitious San Lorenzo). Maria loves her dad dearly and is only able to see him there once, before she emigrates with her mother to Los Angeles, California.
The book spends a fair amount of time describing Guiseppe's life as a political prisoner in San Lorenzo and the people he comes into contact with. I found these characters and their story lines to be among the most interesting of the entire book. Guiseppe has a lot of integrity. He tutors his landlady's son (Nino) in exchange for the rent he owes her. Guiseppe and Nino forge a father-son relationship. Nino becomes a photographer and through complicated circumstances, is forced to emigrate to the United States, where he eventually meets up with Maria, Guiseppe's daughter. Throughout this time, Maria and her father have been able to write letters to each other, but the letters are heavily censored and cut up by Guiseppes's captors.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Maria has grown up to become an administrative assistant to Artie Feldman, co-owner of a movie production company called "Mercury Pictures". The studio specializes in making B grade movies. As events of World War II gear up, the U.S. War Department contracts with Mercury Pictures to film propaganda movies promoting the nation's involvement in the war. The author's sense of humor lightens the heavy subject matter and makes the antics in Hollywood more fun to read about. Still, both Maria and Artie come across as 'cold fish'.
All told, there are about twenty characters in the novel, each one connected in some way. An interesting figure is Anna Weber, who has emigrated from Berlin, Germany and is the studio's miniaturist. Anna purposely left Germany before the war started, due to its politics.
"German was the language Anna thought, counted, dreamed, prayed, and cursed in; it was lovely to remember that it could be beautiful, even if she knew Germany too well to ever speak German beautifully again." Later, she helped the U.S. military in its war effort against Germany.
My Impressions - This is quite an ambitious book. Many historic events are looked at, including: the depression, birth of Hollywood and the movie industry, European immigration to the U.S., German occupation in Europe, World War II and Pearl Harbor. There are interlinked story lines of at least 20 characters. The book's length is a healthy 416 pages. Sometimes though, 'less is more'. For me, the book would have been better if some of the more minor story lines had been cut.
I loved the first half of the book and thought it worthy of 5 stars. My enthusiasm waned as the book got lengthier and more involved. The book ended on a stronger note with its epilogue. The epilogue provided a satisfying closure to the novel; I enjoyed how it tied up loose threads about the more major characters and explained where they were in their lives. And Maria had evolved by then to have more warmth and charm.
Group D(ivas)Loop 2, Book 4
Name of book: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Pages: 359
Fiction or nonfiction: nonfiction
Person or event represented: the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI
Link to previous book: social justice, specifically in case of the indigenous in the USA
Review: here
Group C - UnCut DiamondsLoop 2, Book 6- FINAL BOOK!
Name of Book: The Dead Queens Club
Historical Fiction Person or Event Represented - King Henry VIII Modern Retelling
Connection to Prior Book - The Other Boleyn Girl is King Henry VIII in historical time, this book is a retelling set in Modern time
Link to Review
Group D - Divas: Loop 2, book 5 “Lamentation” by CJ Sansom (4.5 stars)
Fiction, 800 pages
Links to last book (Killers of the Flower Moon): secret societies and political murders
Henry VIII of England is dying, slowly and painfully, but his will is as sharp and erratic as ever. Everyone treads carefully around him, not least his wife Catherine Parr. While the heresy hunts are technically over, religious tension continues and those who are suspected of being Lutherans or Anabaptists are subject to imprisonment, torture and even burning at the stake. Then a book secretly written by the Queen - a personal confessional called ‘Lamentations of a Sinner’ is stolen from her secure chest in the palace, and a printer is found murdered clutching the first page of the book. The Queen and her uncle call in Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer who has previously worked for the Queen, to find the book before her political enemies can use it for their own ends.
This is the sixth Shardlake novel and is as excellent as the previous volumes. CJ Sansom brings Tudor history and society vividly to life, from the ever-present sense of tension to the vast disparities in wealth and station. Shardlake is such a true and deep character, and the secondary characters are just as well developed.
Greetings from Autodidacts Walk Down History Lane! We've not visited here since July 13, because, well, the 7 of us finished both loops at that point.
Being the overachievers we are, we decided to read a voluntary 3rd loop, or rather 6 of the 7 did. And yesterday we not only finished the final read of this 3rd loop, it tied us back to the beginning of the first loop so we have a closed circle!
I did say we are all overachievers.
Here's our voluntary 3rd loop summary:
Loop 3
1. Lyn - F - The Virgin Blue - started 7/14/22, pages 304, Connection: both set in France; Historic Event: Protestant Reformation finished 7/22/22
2. Sallys - NF- Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s started 8/1/22 pages 340. Connection character is a midwife - Historic location Nonnatus House in London finished 8/7/22
3. Hannah - F - The Pull of the Stars - started 8/8/22 - Pages 295 - Connection - midwifery historic - 1918 Spanish Influenza finished 8/26/22
4. Michelle - F- Violeta by Isabel Allende- Historic event 1918 Spanish Flu - started 8/27/22 pages 318, connection- 1918 Spanish Flu - finished 9/12/22
5. Cora - NF - The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard - Historic figure Theodore Roosevelt - started 9/13/22 - pages 416, connection - set in South America. finished 9/26/22
6. Theresa - NF - Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt - David McCullough - Historic Figure Theodore Roosevelt among others - started 9/26/22 pages 445, connection- Theodore Roosevelt - finished 12/3/22
Connection back to Loop 1 Book 1 - natural disaster -- Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt at the end has a disastrous weather event - devastating winter of 1886/87 in the SW corner of ND. Our first book, read by Cora, was about the Krakatoa eruption another natural disaster.
Thanks to PBT admins for providing us with a chance to flex our muscles as overachievers! We read some pretty diverse and interesting books, and our TBRs reflect it.
Group B - The B-eatles, The Long and Winding RoadLoop 2, book 6
Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) - Diana Gabaldon - Fiction
Person or Event Represented: Colonial America - settlement and immigration by Scots in North Carolina.
Pages: 880
Rating: 5*
Link to Previous book (I Am Malala): Both books feature strong women struggling to change the times they live in, The main female protagonist, Claire Frasier, is a time-traveler who travelled from the 1960s to 1760s. She trained as a surgeon in the 1950s as the only woman in her class and has brought those skills to colonial America. She even performs an inguinal hernia surgery on a dining room table in the middle of a dinner party! An even better example of a woman fighting for change is Jocasta Cameron, a strong widow who owns a large plantation in North Carolina. Even though she has gone blind - and faces the common misperception that a woman cannot run a plantation - she utilizes male friends and relatives who only act as her spokespeople. In reality, she is aware of everything happening at the plantation and runs it with an iron fist (covered in lace and velvet).
Drums of Autumn is my favorite Outlander novel. This is the first of the "Ridge' novels, as Jamie and Claire Fraser finally establish a permanent home on Fraser's Ridge in the mountains of North Carolina. Some Outlander readers lament the shift in location from Scotland to America, but in reality this is what happened at this point in history. In the years after Culloden, the Scottish - especially the islanders and highlanders - were severely oppressed. They starved and / or were killed. The wearing of tartans and speaking of Gaelic were outlawed. It would have been a very tough time to be a highlander Scot. So many of them emigrated to North America - and many of those to the North Carolina mountains.
This is also the novel in which Jamie and Claire's daughter Brianna and her boyfriend Roger also travel back in time and both eventually end up at Frasers Ridge. Of course, the path of true love is never smooth - especially in an Outlander novel LOL. But I love Bree and Roger's love story and it is a big chuck of this book.
Group D - DivasLoop #2 Book #6
Book: The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir
Non Fiction
432 pages
Connection to last book: Henry VIII, Wives of Henry VIII
Event represented: The trial and death of Anne Boleyn Henry VII's second wife.
Anne Boleyn was Henry VIII's second wife. Replacing his first wife, Henry VIII hoped she would provide him with the all important male heir. Boleyn was not well thought of by her subjects. At a time when Catholicism was the accepted religion of England Boleyn was interested in the Lutheran religion. Many were unhappy that Henry VIII had managed to have his first marriage annulled to a queen they loved. After many pregnancies that produced only a daughter and charges of treason and multiple affairs Boleyn was put to death. She was the first queen to suffer this fate.
Having no knowledge of English history I was totally overwhelmed with the number of people discussed in the beginning of the book. I had no idea who they all were and couldn't keep them straight. However by the time Boleyn was arrested I was hooked. The story was fascinating. The best part for me was when Weir showed how the perception of Boleyn and the trial and judgement of her has changed throughout the years. This was a well researched book, but it definitely won't appeal to everyone. It is a history book and very detailed and dry at times, but worth the read if you're interested in the subject matter.
Group B - The B-eatles, The Long and Winding RoadCompleted our 2 loops
here is link to all the info together on the 2 loops including a total page count
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
our first loop all had a connection to Einstein and our second loop revolved around women in revolution or revolutionary achievements
Just a reminder that all groups should be finishing within a week.Please let me know if you are having any problems.
Booknblues wrote: "Just a reminder that all groups should be finishing within a week.Please let me know if you are having any problems."
Thanks!
Group E Pearls of the PastLoop 2 - Book 6
ETA completed our two loops
Link: to previous book: life in both the US and Italy during WW II
1042 pages
Fiction
3 stars
War and Remembrance
NB for this challenge--Aaron Jastrow, his niece Natalie (Jastrow) Henry and her son, Louis Henry (the first two are Jewish and the baby half-Jewish) are living in Itally during quite a bit of this novel. There is also a fair bit in Hawaii and Washington, DC plus some in San Francisco as well as a few other American places). Most of the main characters are American citizens.
This is the second part of the World War two saga written by Wouk, where it follows the family plus a couple of other main characters through the rest of the war. I didn't like this one as much solely because of the stretches where Wouk wrote about the war--I have to remind myself that this came out in 1978 when there weren't nearly as many novels on WW II yet, plus he fought in it--but I personally didn't care for that so read those parts quickly.
That said, this two book series is one I recommend since it's not looking back from the 21st century perspective born after the war. Sure, there are many things missing from this Jewish writer --nothing done by women or blacks in the military, for example, nor the things learned over the years about amazing rescues by people in the underground. The main focus of Hitler's hatred described is toward the Jews, which of course there were far more of in Europe than people of colour at that time. We don't read about what he did to the disabled, about the WACs, black regiments, etc, and yet still the two volumes come to over 1800 pages.
However, there are some excellent accounts of other things I haven't read often (or ever) in other novels about WW II, and I've read many more than listed on GR. In addition, you can see to toll the war took in the lives of those whose POVs are involved as well as others from the perspective of a man from that generation.
Forgot to note that (Group E) Pearls of the Past has completed both loops until just now in message 123.
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
War and Remembrance (other topics)Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s (other topics)
The Pull of the Stars (other topics)
Violeta (other topics)
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Isabel Allende (other topics)David McCullough (other topics)
Candice Millard (other topics)
David Grann (other topics)
Philippa Gregory (other topics)
More...
Name of Book:
Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1945-1962 by Martin J. Sherwin - 4* -My Review
Non-Fiction
Person or Event Represented: Cuban Missile Crisis, Cold War, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro
Pages: 624
Link to Prior Book: Atomic bombing of Japan in WWII, Cold War
“The first in a cascade of ominous events began the most dangerous 24 hours of the crisis, perhaps some of the most dangerous hours in world history. Advisors in the White House, the Joint Chiefs in the Pentagon, Fidel Castro in Havana, hard-liners in the Kremlin, Soviet submariners in the quarantine area, and a rogue American officer in the missile fields of Okinawa came close to initiating a military confrontation that could have led to a nuclear holocaust.”
Exploration of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. It provides the background and context for the Cold War, starting from the first usage of atomic weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. It covers the key players leading up to the crisis, including Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro. The major dramatic set piece is a gripping and detailed analysis of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It emphasizes the role luck played in a handful of direct confrontations, in which thermonuclear war could have easily resulted.
Sherwin used recordings, memorandums, and notes from actual meetings between Kennedy and his advisors. He also provides documentation of Khrushchev’s perspectives, speeches, and personal correspondences with Kennedy. We learn about the US missiles in Turkey and the manner in which an agreement was reached to stand down.
Initially, many people in the US military and political arena wanted to invade Cuba. This book portrays what a bad idea that would have been. It illustrates the importance of leadership, and the willingness to follow a path to diplomacy. Recommended to anyone who wants to understand the Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis, and how close we came to devastating consequences.
4.5
Link to PBT discussion thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...