Monthly Archives: November 2013

History Reading Challenge 2014

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Each year I try to schedule in more non-fiction books into my reading lists.  Sometimes I succeed in my attempts but most times I fail miserably.  So what better way to force myself to read more non-fiction than by joining a challenge and being held accountable!  I came across this challenge on one of my favourite blogs and was immediately hooked.

History is one of my favourite non-fiction genres.  What particularly intrigued me about this challenge was the detailed requirements that I found to be eminently sensible.

1.  The history books must be written by an historian and pure non-fiction.  How many times have I been frustrated by books where the author is unable to understand the era which he is writing about, and the reader is left with much of the author’s opinions as well as modern ideas applied to historical issues?  This requirement should minimize this problem.

2.  It must be a work formed through investigation and research.  Another issue that horrifies me is the number of new non-fiction histories which list a bibliography that includes only modern or relatively recent books.  How on earth could the author get a reasonable perspective this way?  So I will make sure my choices have broad investigation and research.

3.  Biography can be chosen but not autobiography as it can lack historical objectivity.  I had never even thought of this but I can certainly see her point.  Another very sensible requirement.

4.  She provides wonderful analysis questions to answer after the book is finished.  An excellent way to get more meaning out of a read.

Now to try to narrow it down.  I was going to go for the “scholar” level of 4-6 books, but, in keeping with my resolution to read less but more deeply next year, I will choose the “student” level of 1-3 books.

At the top of my list are the following:


  
     

I’ll have to check if they all qualify but these are what I could come up with off the top of my head.

Oooo, I can’t wait until the new year!

Books read:

1.  The Guns of August – Barbara Tuchman
2.  The Way of King Arthur – Christopher Hibbert
3.  Cicero’s Defence Speeches
4.  The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

The Beast by Faye Kellerman

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There’s not much I can say about this one.  The Kellermans are my brain candy that I indulge in about once per year.  The writing isn’t stellar and the plots are formulaic but I’ve been reading them long enough to get interested in the characters and, since they are readable in less than 24 hours, they don’t cramp my classical style!  The content, however, is not something that I would want to expose myself to on a regular basis.

I enjoy the addition of their foster son, Gabe, to the Decker/Lazarus household.  The Beast is a better-than-average book in the series.

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott

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“Rose sat all alone in the big best parlor, with her little handkerchief laid ready to catch the first tear, for she was thinking of her troubles, and a shower was expected.”
And so the reader is introduced to Rose Campbell, who has recently lost her only remaining parent, her father, and who is left to the care of six obtrusive aunts and their families who live on “The Aunt Hill”.  Then, in walks her guardian, Uncle Alec, and her life is changed forever.  Uncle Alec makes certain that Rose does not give in to despair, mitigates the influence of Aunt Myra’s hypochondriac tendencies, and Rose meets her seven boy cousins who turn out to be much more pleasant than expected.
The book follows Rose as she grows from a nervous, delicate, serious child to blossom under her uncle’s moral guidance into a healthy, selfless, admirable, young lady, who sets a good example for her mischievous cousins.  While I usually really enjoy books with a moral lesson, I found Alcott would often get in the way of her characters.  Instead of allowing them to show the correct way to behave, she would interject long moral or societal monologues that detracted from the essence of the message; at times I felt like I was being whacked on the back of the head with a moral baguette.  Even so, her ideas were ahead of their time and interesting to read.  In effect, Rose teaches us to to take care of ourselves, to think of others, and to stay loyal to family.  Eight Cousins is a wonderfully timeless read!