atozgrl (Irene) ROOTs again in 2024

My name is Irene. I'm a retired librarian, and returned to LT last year after a long period of inactivity. I tried the ROOT Challenge last year because I have so many books on my shelves that I have not yet read, but set my sights a bit too high. This year I'm going to start out with a more conservative goal, and maybe I can surpass it. I'll start with a goal of reading 25 ROOTs this year. Since I've joined a couple of RL book clubs, I may be reading more books that are not already on my shelves.

Anything already on my shelves before 2024 will count as a ROOT. Last year I did not count re-reads in my ROOTs, but I see that some of you do count them, so I will also count any re-reads this year toward my ROOT totals. I also see that many of you count anything on your own shelves as ROOTs, even recently purchased books, so I may do that as well this year.

Last year I also found that I did most of my posting over on the 75 Books Challenge thread. I'll probably do the same this year, but I'll try to do better of at least saying something about the books I read here as well.

Welcome back to the group, Irene, it's good to see you again!

Welcome back! Good luck with your goal this year :)

>2 Jackie_K: >3 rabbitprincess: Thank you both! I'll be around to visit you soon

And oops! I'd better add a place to track my books read this year.

ROOTs Books Read in 2024

January
1. The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book by Wendy Welch.

February
2. Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden.
3. 1776 by David McCullough.
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

March
5. Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins by Paul Jordan.

April
6. 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis.
7. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
8. Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris.

May
9. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester.
10. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan.

June
11. The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson.
12. Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis.
13. Alexander the Great by Frank Lipsius.

July
14. The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
15. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré.
16. What the Bees See photographs by Craig P. Burrows.

August
17. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.
18. Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.
19. Band of brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose.

September
20. The Once and Future King by T.H. White.
21. Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach.

October
22. A Christian Case Against Donald Trump by Patrick Kahnke.
23. North Carolina's Hurricane History by Jay Barnes.
24. Mr. Lincoln's Army by Bruce Catton.

November
25. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

Welcome back!

>6 cyderry: Thanks, Chèli! And thanks for all you do for this group! I hope 2024 is a great year for you. You deserve it!

Hi Irene! Happy ROOTing. Starred your thread.

>8 connie53: Thank you, Connie. Happy ROOTing to you as well!

Welcome back, Irene. Happy reading!

>10 MissWatson: Thank you, Birgit, and the same to you!

1. The little bookstore of big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book by Wendy Welch

I finished my first ROOT of 2024. I started this book while we were in Mississippi, on Christmas Day. If we hadn't gotten so busy while we were down there, and didn't have the long drive back home, I'm sure I would have finished it before the end of the year.

This is a book about a married couple who are burned out by the rat race and wind up setting down in the Appalachians and following an old dream of running a used book store. It tells of their struggles trying to open the store, their ignorance about what it would take to do so, and their efforts to fit into a small town in a part of the country that tends to be suspicious of outsiders. Eventually, they and their store become a centerpiece of the community. Near the end of the book, Welch shares some of her own recommendations of books to read, and I wound up with a few more titles added to the TBR list. I found it to be a heartwarming story.

Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden

Yesterday I finished Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge. I read this book for the January Nonfiction Challenge, which was to read "Prize Winners - prize winning books that won literary prizes that are off the beaten tracks." This also includes books shortlisted for prizes. I found that Burning the Books was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2021, and since it was on my wishlist, I ordered a copy and read it for the challenge.

This book gives a history of libraries and archives that have been damaged or destroyed from ancient times to today. It is obviously not a complete history, but it tells the story of some of the most notable losses. It also reports on a couple of cases of personal papers or memoirs that were deliberately destroyed to prevent publication and/or protect reputations. Or in the case of governmental archives, to cover up the actions of colonial/government workers. The famous case of the Library of Alexandria is included. Although its destruction has variously been blamed on the Roman army, early Christians, and Muslims in the 7th century, Ovenden believes these are myths and that the library most likely disappeared due to slow decline, underfunding, and neglect. I had first seen that theory when reading Cleopatra: a life last year, and it is confirmed here.

A number of libraries were deliberately attacked and destroyed over the years, in attempts to suppress a religion or a specific culture. All the stories are heartbreaking to me, because of the loss of knowledge and history. And unfortunately it still continues today. Serbia's deliberate destruction of the National Library of Bosnia occurred only 30 years ago.

Ovenden also addresses the move to the digital world, and how much of current social discussion takes place online. He is greatly concerned about the loss of history for future research if what is online is not preserved. So much of it is currently under the control of a few large tech companies, whose purpose is to make money, not to preserve information for the future. Ovenden feels that libraries and archives need much better funding so that they can carry out the task of preserving this information for the future. At the end, he makes a plea to "the holders of power" to adequately fund libraries and archives.

I thought the book was interesting and very well written. Highly recommended.

>13 atozgrl: That sounds really interesting, I'm going to add it to my wishlist.

The British Library suffered a catastrophic online attack at the end of last year, and it still hasn't fully recovered all its services, with massive consequences for researchers and authors (not to mention their staff, whose personal details were sold on the dark web). And yet our government is still talking about making archives digital-only. Sadly, the attacks on repositories of knowledge and literature is very much a live issue (was it last year that LibraryThing suffered a significant online attack too? It was pretty recent).

>14 Jackie_K: Hi, Jackie. It was an interesting book! I think you would like reading it.

I think I heard that the British Library had been attacked, but I didn't realize that it was still dealing with the fallout. It's so sad that there are people out there who want to do such things (and worse that some governments are involved). Yes, it was a recent attack on LibraryThing, just a few months ago. It was frustrating when I couldn't get in for a while.

Based on what our library was dealing with before I retired, I'm not surprised that governments want to go digital-only. But that requires lots of money to provide digital storage and to make multiple copies, and to plan preservation for when technologies change. Digital may solve the physical space problem, but it creates new problems to solve.

>16 Jackie_K: They're still not able to offer online ordering of resources (you have to turn up in person to the library in London). And for authors, they're not yet accepting digital submissions of new books, or letting authors update their records, so that may affect the payments they get from PLR (public lending right - the payment they get when people borrow their books from libraries in the UK and Ireland). I think it's going to be several more months before they're fully back up to speed.

>16 Jackie_K: That whole situation sounds just awful! These people who attack websites of schools, hospitals, and now libraries should be assigned to a special section of hell.

1776 by David McCullough

I pulled this one off my shelves for the February War Room challenge. I was surprised at what an easy read this was. A lot of times, I didn't want to set it down. McCullough tells the story of the American army at the start of the Revolution, starting from the last quarter of 1775 through the end of 1776 (plus the Battle of Princeton at the beginning of 1777). His description of the events during this time is extremely detailed, but it is never dry. He includes information from the British side although the main focus is the Continental Army. We see Washington's inexperience and several blunders that he makes, but also his ability to redeem the mistakes as well as his perseverance and the leadership that inspired his men. The book is obviously extremely well researched, and includes quotes and observations from many participants at all levels, from leaders on both sides all the way down to privates and civilians. There are copious footnotes and an extensive bibliography. I loved it.

>18 atozgrl: I loved McCullough's 1776. If by any chance you want to try another American Revolutionary War history that reads basically like a sequel to 1776 but is written by a different author, I highly recommend Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fisher. It essentially starts where 1776 leaves off and is equally well written and interesting (sez me, anyhow).

>19 rocketjk: David Hackett Fischer's book Albion's Seed is one of my all time favorite history books, so I highly recommend him as an author.

My RL history book group read it (even tho it's 900+ pages). It explains how immigrants from Britain could be so dissimilar in their culture & beliefs here in the US. It made me think slightly better of the Puritans and slightly worse of the Quakers. And explains why today's Republicans are incorrect in calling themselves the party of Lincoln.

>19 rocketjk: Thank you for the recommendation! I have that book on my shelves, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I'm not sure how soon I might be able to get to it, but it sounds like something I need to put on the list to get to in the near future.

I don't think I've visited your thread yet. I'll try to get to it sometime today.

>20 ReneeMarie: Thank you for that recommendation. I was not familiar with Albion's Seed. It sounds very interesting; I'll have to go look it up.

Sounds like three good ROOTs!

>13 atozgrl: Some years ago, I remember hearing about Syrians gathering books from bombed-out buildings and creating a word-of-mouth library. I think Syria's Secret Library is the book that memorializes it.

Regarding digitalization, I still grieve the few years that I organized my life on a Palm Pilot device. When it grew archaic and those years basically went poof, I returned to paper planners that are permanent and rich with detail :)

>23 detailmuse: I hadn't heard of Syria's Secret Library before. It looks very interesting! I'll have to check it out.

I never had a Palm Pilot, but I can understand about the technology change. Sometimes the old-fashioned way of doing things is better!

Thanks for visiting, I'll go look for your thread and pay a return visit.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for my book club this month. I had never read it, and I was actually surprised to find that it was an autobiography. For some reason, I had always thought it was a work of fiction. Maya Angelou tells the story of her life from age 3 to 16. Many of the events of her life are difficult, painful, even traumatic. She develops from a shy child to a confident young woman. The writing in this book is very rich and descriptive.

I found the book to be a fascinating read. Even though I am aware of the racism in the US, it was still enlightening to me to see the world from the viewpoint of the blacks living in the South in the 1930's, and just how separate their world was from the white one. The way they thought about white people was eye-opening. I really appreciate being able to see the world through the eyes of one young black girl. Highly recommended.

>25 atozgrl: it's been on my wish list for ages. Thanks for your summary; I want to read it even more now!

>26 Cecilturtle: I hope you can get to it soon, I think you'll like it.

5. Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins by Paul Jordan.

Between my husband's knee surgery this month limiting my reading time, especially early in the month, and the books I read for the book clubs I belong to, which were both library books, I have not been doing well tackling my ROOTs this month. I did finally finish Neanderthal at least.

The book opens with the discovery of the first Neanderthal remains in Germany and goes on to discuss the subsequent finds in multiple places. Jordan reports on the changing interpretations of the various Neanderthal finds. He includes a lot of technical information on the bones that have been recovered, as well as the tools used by the Neanderthals, and summarizes the theories about the Neanderthal way of life. He goes on to include background information on the world before the Neanderthals, and the evolution of human species. He discusses reasons why Neanderthals may have disappeared and why modern humans were able to out-compete the Neanderthals.

Neanderthal was published in 1999, so although it discusses DNA evidence, what they had at that time was early results of testing. They only had mtDNA results at the time the book came out, and researchers found no DNA evidence of relationship to modern humans. Of course, subsequent testing has shown that modern humans do carry some Neanderthal DNA, so I now want to find a book that covers more recent findings. Jordan does point out that some European populations have skeletal features that appear to have a possible Neanderthal influence so that interbreeding of Neanderthals with modern humans could have been possible, and the DNA evidence at the time was certainly not complete. This skeletal evidence is not in modern populations in other parts of the world, only in Europeans, which is where Neanderthals lived. But he concludes that the preponderance of evidence shows it is highly unlikely that Neanderthals could have evolved directly into modern humans, as some were still speculating at the time the book was published.

There is a lot of detailed information packed into this book. There are also many illustrations. The author intended to give an overview of the evidence regarding Neanderthals, and it is based on a lot of research done by many scholars. He has deliberately skipped noting all the research and names in order to "present an unbroken and impersonalized account of the material under discussion" to make it more readable. In general I think that's fine, however I wish he had included a section of notes at the back of the book to show what the sources were. There is a bibliography, but extensive notes would have been useful. I also wished several times in the sections discussing human evolution that he had included a graphic tree showing the relationships between the various human species. There wasn't one in the book, and I wound up looking in Wikipedia more than once to see the tree. Overall, I learned a lot from this book, but I really want to know more about what has been discovered since the book was published.

6. 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis

I picked up this book last year after it was recommended by the instructor in one of the exercise classes I took at the senior center last year. I hadn't done much with it yet. But with my DH's surgery, I wound up missing my exercise classes at the senior center for three weeks, and I noticed that I was getting really sore, especially in my lower back and hips. After seeing some discussion on another thread about staying active and doing exercises to strengthen the core to prevent problems with your back, I decided I really needed to pull this out and use it. And it has helped! The book includes lots of exercises you can do to strengthen your core. The exercises are easy, and the illustrations and descriptions tell you how to do them. Then the book has a section of routines that put four of the exercises together to help with various problems, such as lower back pain, hip pain, burning calories, building endurance, or moves needed for activities of daily living. I have found all of this very easy to use and it has helped me with my aches and pains.

>29 atozgrl: The aches and pains are what I'm liking least about ageing! I don't care about grey hair and wrinkles, but I would really like to get up out of a chair without bracing myself first.

>30 Jackie_K: Amen, sister! I agree completely with that. I really didn't expect relaxing to lead to aches and pains. You really do have to exercise those muscles to prevent it.

7. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I read A Wrinkle in Time this month for my RL Challenged Books Club, which meets next week. It was a reread for me, but I read it even longer ago than Catcher in the Rye or Brave New World (previous reads for the book club), so I had even less memory of the details of the book. It tells the story of Meg, age 13, her genius young brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin, as they are taken across the galaxy to rescue Meg's missing father from the Black Thing. Three supernatural beings take them to several new worlds via a tesseract (which folds space and time). It's a story of the battle between good and evil. I did not remember the Bible quotes that are included in the text, and possibly I was so young when I first read the book that I didn't even realize that those quotes came from the Bible. It was a fun read, and you don't have to be a young person to enjoy it. I'm glad to have reread it.

>29 atozgrl: Years ago, I recorded for my mother some episodes of the public TV program, "Sit and Be Fit" -- was surprised by how invigorating even chair-based stretching and strengthening could be! It's still on TV and now I should try it again!

>33 detailmuse: Interesting! I had not heard of "Sit and Be Fit." I haven't seen it on my local PBS. I'll have to check into it. Thanks for mentioning that!

8. Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris

Oops, I almost forgot to post my comments on this book here. I finished reading Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris on Monday. I read this for the April Nonfiction Challenge on Globalization. The book was published in 2009, but even though it's 15 years old now, the information it contains is still pertinent. Although Faris, a journalist, says

In a sense, this book is an exercise in optimism. Just what global warming will mean for the world will depend on just how serious we become in fighting it.

it was still hard to read. The world hasn't gotten serious enough in the past 15 years to make a big enough dent in the problem. Faris was trying to wake people up to all the ways that climate change was already impacting the world. He started with the horrific war in Darfur, which had its roots in a drought all the way back in 1985. He said that war was usually portrayed as a racial one; I saw reports that focused on religion. However, he says there was not much physical difference, and both groups were predominantly Muslim. The main difference was in the lifestyle, with the Arabs being primarily nomadic herders and the black Africans being predominantly farmers. They had lived in peaceful coexistence for a very long time, but drought caused the Sahara to spread south. The farmers started to fence off their land, leading to conflict with the herders, and eventually a terrible war. Analysts initially blamed the farmers for the environmental degradation, but climatologists later showed that rising temperatures caused warming in the tropical and southern oceans, disrupting the African monsoons and leading to the drought back in the '80's. Faris uses this to show how climate change can lead to political chaos.

Faris goes on to provide examples of how climate change is affecting the world. This includes the impact of rising seas and hurricanes on the Florida Keys, leading to enormous losses for insurance companies and resulting drastic increases in the cost of insurance and some insurance companies pulling out of certain areas. Environmental change and disasters is also causing people in poor areas to flee to other countries, and he talks about how people fleeing Africa for Europe is impacting politics in Europe, with a focus on Italy and the UK. He also talks about the Amazon and how deforestation there had led to an increase in malaria (because one of the varieties of mosquito that spreads malaria best breeds much better in deforested areas). Because wine grapes are so sensitive to climate, where these can be grown is changing. We have all seen reports about Churchill in Canada, where the polar bears are struggling to find enough food to survive, due to the drastic decrease in polar ice. However, Faris also points out that it could be beneficial to the port at Churchill, because it is a deep water port. If the reduction in ice makes it possible for large ships to come into the port during more months of the year, they would not have to take the long route through locks to the ports on the Great Lakes. And it's also a shorter trip to ship to Europe from Churchill. But the reduction in polar ice is also leading to territorial disputes between Canada and Denmark and the US and Russia. Faris ends up discussing a potential flashpoint between India and Pakistan, due to disappearing glaciers in the Himalayas, the source of water for much of the area, but especially Pakistan. And on the other side, Bangladesh will be heavily impacted by rising seas, pushing refugees into eastern India.

Overall, the scenarios being presented were rather overwhelming. I know the intent of the book was to push people and governments into doing more, but at this point in time it does not seem like enough has been done to prevent a lot of the problems he pointed out from becoming worse and leading to major crises. The major impacts will happen in the parts of the world that are already the warmest, and also the poorest, with the least ability to adapt. So pressures of climate refugees is only going to get worse, and we already see how the refugee problem is impacting our politics. This did not help me to feel more positive about the future.

>35 atozgrl: That sounds like a hard, but vital, read. I am not optimistic either.

>35 atozgrl: Wow - sounds like the author laid out well the complexity of the issues and consequences. It's fascinating the geopolitical impacts that it has.

>36 Jackie_K: Yes, it was. I just wish we had made more progress by now, since the time the book was published. The issues were already known by 15 years ago.

>37 Cecilturtle: He really did lay things out very well. He visited the places he wrote about in person and spoke to experts and locals. I was aware of some of the geopolitical issues, but he showed more of them. It's definitely good information to know.

9. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester

I inherited a set of Hornblower books from my dad. I also really enjoyed the Hornblower series that ran on A&E about 20 years ago, back when A&E really was "arts and entertainment," before it turned into mostly junk programming. So for this month's War Room challenge on The Napoleonic Wars, I decided I should finally tackle these books. I started with Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, which was not the first Hornblower book published, but is first chronologically.

This book tells of Horatio Hornblower's beginnings when he first joins the British royal navy. It follows his early career as a midshipman in the navy, and his adventures during this time. It is actually set during the French Revolutionary Wars and includes several battles, on land as well as sea. Unfortunately, we don't learn anything about Hornblower's life before joining the navy, and there's not a whole lot of character development, but it's still an enjoyable read.

>35 atozgrl: So interesting! Last year I finally read the 2013 issue of The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and I went back now to look up these devastating quotes from one of the entries:

The question is no longer whether global warming exists or how we might stop it, but how we are going to deal with it

The biggest problem we face is a philosophical one: understanding that this civilization is already dead

It would be so good if society realized imminent consequences like those you described.

>41 detailmuse: It certainly would, wouldn't it! I guess people just aren't wired to deal with an uncertain future.

>41 detailmuse: I heard an interview on NPR about a year ago with a climate scientist who said that a lot of people think of global warming in terms of D-Day: the world will finally get together and make a big push to figure out how to combat the problem effectively. But, said he, the more accurate metaphor at this point is Dunkirk.

>43 rocketjk: Very interesting point! Thanks for sharing.

10. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

The Kitchen God's Wife is this month's read for my RL book club. The book starts with the relationship between Winnie Louie and Pearl, a mother and daughter who find it hard to understand each other. Each has secrets that they haven't been able to tell each other because of the distant nature of their relationship. Pearl's Aunt Helen knows their secrets and because she thinks she is dying, she threatens to reveal them. The first couple of chapters are told from the Pearl's point of view, but the majority of the book is told from her mother Winnie's viewpoint. We learn about her life in China, her first husband and family, and the suffering she endured during WWII.

I serendipitously learned about an American Masters episode devoted to Amy Tan over on msf59's thread earlier this month. I was able to find it on Passport and watched it. From that, I could tell that most of Winnie's story was based on Amy's mother's life. I don't know how much was fictionalized and how much was true to life, but there seemed to be quite a bit of her mother's relationship with her first husband that was reflected in the story. It was interesting to me also that the Chinese said WWII started in 1937 (not 1939), when Japan invaded China. I did like the book and think it is a worthwhile read.

11. The Black Arrow: a Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow is set during the Wars of the Roses and tells the story of Richard Shelton, who becomes involved in some of the fighting in the war, but is mostly concerned with him finding out what happened in the mysterious death of his father and what is going on with Sir Daniel Brackley who is his guardian and whose loyalty to the various sides in the war is changeable.

I thought the story was overly violent in places and I also didn't see the reason for some parts of the story to be included. Although I note that it was apparently originally published in serial form, so maybe that explains why the story felt unnecessarily padded in places. Several summaries of the book have called it a "historical and romance novel." I would not call it a romance. There is a love story in it, but it's honestly not a major part of the story. And I wasn't sure I bought it when the hero suddenly declared his love. To me, it's an adventure story. Overall, I thought it was OK, but not up to the other books I've read by Stevenson.

>46 atozgrl:
The term romance has a historic connotation. It can refer to quests of the Middle Ages and ancient world. It can refer to anything in which a modicum of chivalry was demonstrated. It was even used as a term instead of "novel". So, one might read the following descriptor - " a romance of the sea" - which only suggests adventure. Stevenson's work warrants the romance moniker on all three counts.

Our modern notions of romance make it confusing

>47 EGBERTINA: Thanks for the clarification!

12. Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis

I see that I nearly forgot to comment on my read of Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis earlier this month. The book gives us a look at the founding fathers at the start of the United States under the Constitution, and strives to help us see things the way they did, rather than in hindsight with the knowledge that the new republic would survive, and cutting through much of the mythology about the founding of the US. He focuses on several of the primary actors in the birth of the new nation: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and John Adams. He describes several of the major issues of the time following the adoption of the Constitution in the early years of the republic, and shows how the strengths and weaknesses of these men all played into the development of the country, and how these issues have continued to shape the history of the United States up to today. Disagreements and divisions between the founders are greater than most of us have heard when learning about early American history. Two main interpretations of the revolution came into being following the founding of the country, one believing that it was a liberation movement, breaking free of the corruption of European-style monarchy and aristocracy, leading to individual liberty, and the other seeing it as a collective movement, surrendering personal and local interests to a larger purpose of American nationhood. The push and pull of these two views have carried through American history to today.

One chapter confronts slavery in the US and shows how it was an issue from the very beginning of the new government. There were groups pushing for abolition from the beginning, and threats that abolition would cause the South to leave the union. Compensation of slave owners and what to do with the freed slaves were issues that seemed impossible to solve at the time, and only became more difficult as time went on. Congress took it off the agenda, and it became an issue that no one wanted to talk about.

Ellis has a different take on things at the founding of the republic than what we usually hear. As with Revolutionary Summer, which I read almost a year ago, it is very well written. I love Ellis' writing style. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

13. Alexander the Great by Frank Lipsius

I read Alexander the Great this month for the Reading Through Time quarterly challenge (April-June 2024: Ancient/Biblical Times). I've probably had this book on my shelves since I was in college, so it's about time I did something with it. I had actually pulled it back in January for the War Room Challenge (Ancient Wars) but I wasn't in the mood to read it then. And this month I had started reading Alexander of Macedon by Harold Lamb, which is a fictional telling of Alexander's story, but I started to have questions about some of the events, which prompted me to go back to the nonfiction book.

This book is a very straightforward retelling of Alexander's life and military conquests. It recounts the events of his life and is accompanied by many illustrations, including current photos of some of the places Alexander visited, pictures of many ancient artifacts, statues, and busts, as well as carvings on monuments, and so on. It doesn't go into great detail, but takes a balanced approach to events that have had multiple interpretations. I found it to be a good introduction to Alexander the Great.

>12 atozgrl: Yes, I, too, thought Founding Brothers presented a fascinating take on the events and was very well written.

>51 rocketjk: I'm glad to know you thought so too. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

14. The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

ROOT 14 is a reread of a childhood favorite, The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. I don't know how many times I read it as a child, but it has been years since I last read it, and it was good to read it again. It's not as emotional a read as it was when I was a child, but it was still fun.

15. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré

This is another book I inherited from my parents, and I finally pulled it off the shelves to read for this month's HistoryCat. It's a classic that I have somehow missed reading until now, and I fortunately did not know anything about the plot. The story certainly keeps moving, and this was one where I was surprised by some of the plot twists at the end. I won't say any more about the plot, in case there is anyone else out there who has not read it yet. I enjoyed it, but I suspect it was a book that hit harder at the time it was originally published.

16. What the Bees See photographs by Craig P. Burrows.

I read this book for the July Nonfiction Challenge to read about Insects. The book teaches us about bees: the different kinds of bees, the hive society of honey bees, how honey bees do what they do, their impact on the environment and people's impact on them, and the beneficial aspects of honey and the other things that honey bees make. It is also full of beautiful photographs by Craig P. Burrows. He uses UVIVF (Ultraviolet Induced Visible Fluorescence) photography to give us as close an approximation as possible to see flowers the way that bees see them. The book finishes up by discussing the health benefits of honey, and especially the remarkable efficacy of manuka honey in helping to heal a wide range of ailments.

What the Bees See is a feast for the eyes, and a terrific introduction to bees, especially honey bees. And many thanks to klobrien2 for introducing me to this book. Recommended.

>54 atozgrl: I've wanted to try one by le Carre, is this enjoyable if one hasn't read the earliers in the series?

>56 detailmuse: Yes, it worked for me, and I have not read any of the earlier titles. I thought it was fine as a stand-alone read.

>57 atozgrl: oh good, thanks!

17. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

What an utterly delightful little book. This is one I've been wanting to read for a while, ever since I saw part of the movie based on it, but had never gotten around to it. I finally picked up a copy at the beginning of the year and was determined to get to it, but with my book club reads and all the challenges here on LT, I hadn't managed to squeeze it in yet. Then the monthly Reading Through Time challenge for August was updated to The Joy of Reading, which gave me the push I needed to finally pick it up.

I'm sure everyone here is already familiar with this one, so I won't summarize other than to say it is made up of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a struggling writer in New York, who is writing to a bookstore in London to try to get books she cannot find in America. The correspondence covers 20 years from the postwar period in 1949 to 1969. Helene's commentary about books is witty, and sometimes hilariously funny. I feel like she would fit in perfectly here on LT. The writing is gentle, and the people are kind. I wish there was more of this to be found in our world today. My loss that it took me so long to read it.

>59 atozgrl: yes, it's a wonderful book. I must dig it out again, it's been years since I read it.

>60 Jackie_K: Go for it! It's such a good read.

>59 atozgrl: Just found this at the charity bookshop!

>62 MissWatson: Great! Good find. I know you will enjoy it.

>63 atozgrl: Just finished it, and it was wonderful. Made me very nostalgic about my first visit to London with my friend, we spent hours browsing the antiquarian bookshops.

>64 MissWatson: I'm glad you enjoyed it! And I envy you getting to browse bookshops in London. Maybe one day I'll get there.

>65 atozgrl: I'd love to go back myself, but since Brexit we need a passport to go there, and frankly, that's too much hassle.

>66 MissWatson: That sounds like a real pain. I didn't realize Brexit had caused that problem. What a shame.

>67 atozgrl: Yes, it is, because getting a passport has become rather expensive, and those new digital ones can't be renewed. And it takes ages for the Federal printing works to deliver them. Travelling on the continent is much easier and more tempting.

>68 MissWatson: Wow, that sounds like a mess! I didn't know that digital ones were available, and not being able to renew them seems strange. I don't blame you for preferring to travel on the continent.

18. Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.

I finished reading Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. It has been on my wishlist for a while now, having been included in some reading lists, as well as being praised here on LT. It is this month's book for my RL book club.

I have certainly been aware that racism exists in this country all my life, but I thought things were getting a lot better. Segregation had been outlawed and I've seen many of those formerly discriminated against getting good jobs. Unfortunately, it took Trump's decision to run for president to unleash all the vitriol that had been hidden from my view. I was shocked in 2015 and '16 to see the ugliness that came out. As a member of the privileged class, I was blind to how bad things really still were. And working in a government library, where the administration actively worked to create an equitable workplace, I was not seeing it where I was. My eyes were opened.

However, I still had problems understanding how the same people who went after Bill Clinton with the torches and pitchforks could just blow off Trump's immorality, grabbing of women's privates, calling people names, and so on. We also had quite a bit of DEI training at work, which helped to see how we all have unconscious bias. And it's obvious that systemic racism exists. But it wasn't until I read this book that I understood how all those things fit together, and why we are where we are in this country.

It's more than systemic racism, and many people don't see themselves as racist these days. But the issue is really that there's a caste system that exists here. And probably most of us who are part of the white privileged class at the top are not aware of it. I certainly wasn't. Once the caste system is threatened, whether it be by a black person becoming president or that the country will no longer be majority white by 2040, then people resist the change. They are uncomfortable and want to put everything back in its place. This finally explains why a con-man, criminal, immoral, impeached ex-president is still gathering so many followers that he's a threat to be voted back into office.

Wilkerson's explanation of the system as it exists in the US, as well as the descriptions of caste in India and under the Nazis in Germany, is very eye-opening. A caste system based on race, more than racism itself, is causing great harm in this country. She also gives many examples of how it manifests itself and impacts people's lives. She shares personal stories and stories other people have shared with her. We see how the system harms those in the higher castes as well as those at the bottom.

For those who care, the book is very well-researched. There are lots of notes at the back of the book, and an extensive bibliography.

Caste is absolutely brilliant. It really ought to be read by every American.

>70 atozgrl: A wonderful, powerful review, Irene. Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns is also excellent and acknowledges how enduringly segregated the main destinations of Black migration (LA, Chicago, NYC) remain.

>70 atozgrl: I thought Caste was very good but not quite great. I found her comparisons between the caste system in India and the situation in the U.S. to be right on, but I didn't think her comparison with the Holocaust worked as well. To be clear, though, I'm very glad to have read the book and I learned a lot. One memorable observation of Wilkerson's that hit home for me was, to paraphrase: If you're in an expensive department store and you see a person of color and think to yourself that that person shouldn't be in the store, that's racism. If you automatically assume that that person is an employee rather than a customer, that's caste.

Regardless of my reservations, I agree that Caste is an extremely valuable book that all Americans would, indeed, do well to read.

A few books that I thought were even more powerful regarding racism in America are The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America and The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.

>71 detailmuse: Thank you, you are very kind! I have added The Warmth of Other Suns to my TBR list. I keep hearing very good things about it.

>72 rocketjk: Thank you, Jerry, I appreciate your thoughts. The Color of Law is on a couple of recommended reading lists, so I've got that one on my radar, and I've also heard about The New Jim Crow, but I was not familiar with The Sum of Us. I will have to check it out. Thank you very much for the recommendations.

19. Band of brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose

I read Band of Brothers for the War Room challenge. It tells the story of E Company of the 101st Airborne in WWII, from their training in the US to their participation in D-Day, through battles in Europe including at Bastogne, to their taking Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat. It reads like fiction, but it's the true stories of the experiences of the men of E Company. I was fascinated to read about their adventures in the war, although much of what they experienced was horrific and terrifying. On the other hand, it also shows how men fighting together become close to each other in ways that they can't in normal life. The book shows what war is really like.

The one thing I wish the book had included was a glossary listing all the military acronyms and what they meant. There are a lot of them used in the book, and not having any military experience, I did not know what many of them stood for. A glossary would have been extremely helpful.

I have seen most of the "Band of Brothers" television adaptation, and as I recall, it is pretty faithful to the book. It's also worth watching.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in finding out what it is really like to go to war.

20. The Once and Future King by T.H. White

This one is obviously a classic, so it was time for me to get to it. And although I know the Arthur story in general terms, there are lots of parts to it that I did not know, and I'm glad to finally get an understanding of the complete story. I have a much better idea now of how it all unfolded.

I was honestly surprised to discover that the book is actually a compilation of four separate books, which were originally published from 1938-1940 and compiled into this more well known work in 1958. The first "book" is "The Sword in the Stone," which I remember as an animated Disney movie--the very first movie that I ever saw in a movie theater. I was quite young then, so I certainly don't remember all the details or how close the movie kept to the book, but reading the book felt like watching a Disney movie, what with Merlyn changing "Wart" into various animals. It certainly suited the Disney oeuvre. Then the last two "books" formed the basis of the musical "Camelot," which was one of the musicals my high school put on, and I was actually in the chorus for that one. Even with all of that, there were parts of the Arthurian saga that were not clear to me, and I'm glad to have read the book to understand the full story. I now see where the search for the Holy Grail comes in, and this clarified the relationship between Arthur and Mordred, among other things.

I didn't enjoy the story as much as I had hoped, unfortunately. Parts of the book dragged, and there was more violence and bloodshed than I would have liked, although I guess I should have expected that. And the overall story is rather depressing. I wish I had read this when I was younger because I think I would have liked it more then. I think the romanticism would have appealed more then.

Much to respond to! If you're still gathering recs, a couple of accessible, more personal books about racism are So You Want to Talk About Race (essays) and Good Talk (graphic-format dialogues).

>75 atozgrl: I recorded this when it was recently on TV and am glad to read your comments, eager to watch.

>76 atozgrl: I have a very soft spot for Camelot so have wishlisted this. I choose books this long in digital format, but not sure the Kindle version is unabridged so need to look into...

>77 detailmuse: Thank you for the recommendations! I am definitely still looking to read more on the topic, so I will check them out.

Band of Brothers is good, but there's a lot that's not easy to see or read about. Since you've recorded it, you don't have to watch it all at once, as aired on the marathon last week, so you can set it aside if it gets to be too much. But it is very well done.

Camelot is so much romanticized that I was a little unprepared for the amount of violence in the story. But I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you like Camelot stories. I need to check out some of the other versions, as I have not done a lot of reading about the Arthur legends.

Hi Irene, skipping lots of new posts in your thread. London is a great city and I've been there a few times and loved the bookstores, though I'm sure I missed a few.

>79 connie53: Thank you. I really hope we can get to London some day. I would really like to visit, and I know there is lots to see.

21. Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach.

This book follows the adventures of an American submarine captain from the start of America's entry into WWII to the end of the war. It begins with the outfitting of a sub and training at the naval base in Connecticut to the eventual transport of the sub to the Pacific and the ship's wartime experiences battling the Japanese. There are a number of battle scenes. Beach served on submarines in the US Navy during WWII, and the amount of detail about the operation of the subs in the book feels very realistic. His own experiences during the war inform the story in the book.

If you have ever seen the movie based on this book, be aware that the story in the book is quite a bit different from the movie. I thought the movie was very good, but it really only takes parts of the story from the book.

I really enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it if you enjoy a good adventure.

22. A Christian Case Against Donald Trump by Patrick Kahnke.

I don't remember how I first heard about this book, but I wanted to read it before the election. It's a very recent publication, as Kahnke actually comments on some events that took place in August this year. From Amazon:

Pat Kahnke is a writer and podcaster at Culture, Faith, and Politics. He was an evangelical pastor for 20 years. He was active in the pro-life movement and a life-long Republican until Donald Trump.

In A Christian Case Against Donald Trump, he diagnoses the core problems that lead faithful followers of Jesus to support a man like Donald Trump: Our desire to bring in an earthly kingdom rather than the kingdom of God, and a misunderstanding of our core calling to the world.

The book is also a deeply biblical study of the anti-Christian tactics Donald Trump and other demagogues use to win Christians over to their godless movements. The book is divided into four main sections:

The Way of Jesus vs. the Way of the World
The Way of Peace vs. the Way of the Demagogue
The Way of Truth vs. the Way of the Deceiver
The Way of Justice vs the Way of the Oppressor

Further about the author: he says that he was very involved in the pro-life movement, but then he became a pastor. He realized then that he could not serve two masters, and he had to lay down his political involvement in order to serve his congregation. "So I entered what became a nearly twenty-year, self-imposed exile from the daily news cycle. And that two-decade fast from politics worked wonders in my life. It detoxified my soul from the poisons I'd been taking in for so long."

He retired from ministry in 2016 and started paying attention to politics again. He says "I assumed most Christians agreed with me about Trump. I was naive, back then." He has written this book to show what the Bible says that Christians should be doing and contrasts it with what Trump and his movement stand for.

23. North Carolina's Hurricane History by Jay Barnes.

I started reading North Carolina's Hurricane History in September for the September RandomKit. The timing was ironic, since Hurricane Helene hit while I was reading the book. Unlike most of the books I pick up to read, this was a book that I could easily set down and read another book at the same time. In fact, this one really is not a book that you can read straight through. There's just too much in the way of factual detail, and I had to put it down at times and read other books. Of course, I also needed to finish my RL book club book for this month, and that played a part.

North Carolina's Hurricane History traces the history of hurricanes in North Carolina from the earliest years of European settlement in the 1500's through Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Of course, the records for the early years are very spotty and incomplete, so Barnes can only reconstruct the history from the little information that remains, and there are probably more storms that were not recorded. Records improve after 1875 and Barnes was able to give a lot of detail about many storms after 1950. The book also includes many pictures showing the damage done by the storms.

The book also includes information about how hurricanes form, their effects, how animals (pets and wildlife) are affected, what the state has learned from previous storms and what they are doing to prepare for future storms, and a chapter including instructions from the NC Division of Emergency Management on how individuals should prepare for storms.

As I said, this isn't a book that is really designed to be read straight through; at least, I could not read it that way. The detail given on each of the storms is too much to take in all at once. But it is probably as complete a history of these storms that could be given, up to the time the book was published. (We've obviously had more since then, notably Isabel (2003), Matthew (2016), Florence (2018), and unfortunately Helene this year.) For a lot of people, it might be more useful as a reference than something to read straight through. But it has a lot of really good information.

24. Mr. Lincoln's Army by Bruce Catton.

I have finally finished my read of Mr. Lincoln's Army by Bruce Catton, the first book in his set on The Army of the Potomac. Most of the book dealt with McClelland's time as general leading that army during 1862. It covers the Second Battle of Bull Run and the Peninsula Campaign, and gives a detailed description of Antietam. McClelland had several opportunities to defeat Lee and end the war, but lack of boldness and initiative on the part of the Union generals kept the war going. The pyrrhic victory of the Union over the Confederates forced the Confederates back across the Potomac and into Virginia, giving Lincoln the opportunity to claim a victory and release the Emancipation Proclamation, changing the direction of the war.

The book started a little oddly, in the middle of 1862 with the Second Battle of Bull Run, with an army that included 3 corps from the Army of the Potomac which were pulled out after the Peninsula Campaign, and led by Major General John Pope. That battle was a disaster, and the units from the Army of the Potomac as well as most of the other units were returned to the Army of the Potomac. Then the book backtracks to give a brief history of McClellan, his joining the army at the start of the Civil War, and his leading some volunteer Ohio troops in a successful campaign in Northwestern Virginia. This brought him to the attention of the political leaders in Washington who summoned him to Washington and put him in command of what became the Army of the Potomac.

The book also had a bit of a pause in the action in the middle, where Catton describes a lot about where the troops came from and what they were like. The storytelling dragged a bit here, since by that point I was more interested to see what happened next in the war, but it does give a flavor of what life was like in the army at that point, and what the soldiers were like.

I also learned some things, as Catton clearly explains why McClellan was so cautious leading the army. The Pinkerton spies had provided bad intelligence as to the size of the Confederate army, and there were political problems and mistrust with the leaders back in Washington, all of which added to McClellan's already cautious nature.

Overall, I thought the book was very good and I am glad to have finally read it.

25. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

I read The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store for my RL book club this month. Many, if not most, of you have probably already read the book, so I'll just use the summary from Amazon:

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

I think this may be the best book I have read all year. The story was compelling and really drew me in. The characters were all well developed, and I came to care for most of them. McBride even takes us inside the head of one of the bad guys, and we see the world from his point of view, just as we do from the "good guys." We also see the relationships between the various social/racial groups: blacks, whites, and Jews. What was interesting to me was how he showed the differences between the various Jewish groups. There were German Jews, Polish Jews, Lithuanian Jews, Romanian Jews, etc. And they all had their different characteristics and did not get along with each other. That was an unexpected, but realistic, part of the story for me. There is also a little bit (very little) of commentary on our current society.

In all, I loved it. Highly recommended.

"Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other."

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

>86 MissWatson: Thank you!

>85 atozgrl: I've been a fingertip away from acquiring this so many times. Great to hear you loved it.

Congratulations on meeting your goal!

>88 detailmuse: It was really good! At least it was for me. I hope you like it too whenever you get to it. And thanks!