http://www.lemodesittjr.com/2015/02/17/history-real-and-fictional/
Insights from Modesitt on believable world building.
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Tag: history
Book Review: Testament of Youth by Brittain (4 stars)
Read in January/February 2015
Synopsis (via GoodReads):
In 1914, just as war was declared, 20 year-old Vera Brittain was preparing to study at Oxford. Four years later, her life—and that of her whole generation—had been irrevocably changed in a way that no one could have imagined in the tranquil pre-war era. Testament of Youth is Brittain’s account of how she lost the man she loved, nursed the wounded, survived those agonizing years, and emerged into an altered world. A passionate record of a lost generation, it made Brittain one of the best-loved writers of her time. It still retains the power to shock, move, and enthrall readers today.
My Thoughts:
I heard about this book during the inaugural discussion of The Things They Carried by O’Brien last fall. The professor leading the discussion listed it as one of the better memoirs written post-conflict (didn’t matter what conflict). Continue reading “Book Review: Testament of Youth by Brittain (4 stars)”
Book Review: Judy by Lewis (3.5 stars)
Judy: A Dog in a Million by Damien Lewis
Read in late November 2014
Publisher’s Synopsis:
British bestselling author Damien Lewis is an award-winning journalist who has spent twenty years reporting from war, disaster, and conflict zones. Now Lewis brings his first-rate narrative skills to bear on the inspiriting tale of Judy–an English pointer who perhaps was the only canine prisoner of war.
After being bombed and shipwrecked repeatedly while serving for several wild and war-torn years as a mascot of the World War II Royal Navy Yangtze river gunboats the Gnat and the Grasshopper, Judy ended up in Japanese prisoner of war camps in North Sumatra. Along with locals as slave labor, the American, Australian, and British POWs were forced to build a 1,200-mile single-track railroad through the most horrifying jungles and treacherous mountain passes. Like the one immortalized in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, this was the other death-railroad building project where POWs slaved under subhuman conditions.
In the midst of this living hell was a beautiful and regal-looking liver and white English pointer named Judy. Whether she was scavenging food to help feed the starving inmates of a hellish Japanese POW camp, or by her presence alone bringing inspiration and hope to men, she was cherished and adored by the Allied servicemen who fought to survive alongside her.
Judy’s uncanny ability to sense danger, matched with her quick thinking and impossible daring saved countless lives. More than a close companion she shared in both the men’s tragedies and joys. It was in recognition of the extraordinary friendship and protection she offered amidst the unforgiving and savage environment of a Japanese prison camp in Indonesia that she gained her formal status as a POW. From the author of The Dog Who Could Fly and the co-author of Sergeant Rex and It’s All About Treo comes one of the most heartwarming and inspiring tales you will ever read.
My Thoughts:
Reminded me quite a bit of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, but not as well written.
I love a good dog story, but Judy became a minor player during most of this book. Continue reading “Book Review: Judy by Lewis (3.5 stars)”
Big Read Discussion #1 ~ Opening Remarks by Professor Prasch
I attended the first book discussion (a second one is scheduled in January) on the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien this past Wednesday night. Please see my previous post about the kick off of the Big Read earlier this month. As is my wont when I attend discussions like this, I record the proceedings so I can concentrate on the lecture and discussion fully. I used to scribble notes constantly, but besides giving me a cramp, it also prevented me from participating and enjoying the experience. I contacted both Terri and Professor Prasch to gain their permission to include the recording and my transcription of the first third of the evening.
A bit about the transcription process: Earlier in my life (say a couple of decades ago), I spent years as a legal secretary. Because I typed so fast, I inherited the most prolific attorneys in whatever office I happened to be employed at. I got to a point where I could literally type faster than most people could talk and I actually increased the speed of my transcription equipment to save time. Those days are long gone, but I still maintain a modicum of my once magical ability to race through a tape. This transcription is mostly verbatim, but I have taken the liberty to clean up some of the structure of the professor’s remarks. Professors and attorneys are very articulate when they speak, so please rest assured I only glossed over the occasional ‘um’ or ‘you know’ or ‘right? ‘ and other such phrases that all of us fall into when we are thinking and talking extemporaneously. For completeness sake, I will include the original audio files if you prefer to listen rather than peruse the transcribed content.
Continue reading “Big Read Discussion #1 ~ Opening Remarks by Professor Prasch”
Big Read Kick Off Snapshots
I attended the Big Read kick off of The Things They Carried by O’Brien yesterday at the Lansing Community Library. Here are a few photos I took with my smartphone (flash turned off):
I have not yet started reading The Things They Carried, but the documentary of interviews with living combat veterans definitely got me thinking. I now wish to write letters to all my living family members who are veterans and ask of them the questions I heard asked by the students in their documentary. Sadly, I desperately wanted to ask them of those who have already left us, namely, my father-in-law, my grandfathers and my great-grandfather.
But that regret just makes me more determined to not waste any more time. My apologies in advance to friends and family whom I will be ‘bothering’ in the near future, once I read The Things They Carried, devise an interview and a plan of action to capture those memories on paper, in audio or video. Whatever they are most comfortable with.
The next event on the schedule is a book discussion lead by Tom Prasch, History Department Chair at Washburn University. Join us on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lansing Community Library to share insights from The Things They Carried.
Trench Warfare in World War I Was a Smarter Strategy Than You Realize
http://io9.com/trench-warfare-in-world-war-i-was-a-smarter-strategy-th-1637657733
And this article ties in nicely with my Great War Great Read reading project.
Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon
Book Review: The Guns of August by Tuchman (4 Stars)
Read by John Lee
Winner of the Pulitzer Price for General Nonfiction 1963
Thanks to Barbara, I now know more about the first month of World War I than all my previous half-century of accumulated, absorbed knowledge. Not only do I know more, but I understand the how. How Europe ended up in a terrible stalemate and war of attrition that lasted four more years. The why will have to wait until I can read her other history The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914.
On August 23rd, I attended a discussion of The Guns of August sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library, the Kansas City Star‘s FYI Book Club and hosted at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. There were many attendees from all over the Kansas City metro area and we attempted to stay focused on Tuchman’s novel, not straying to far before or after. A great hour of discussion on an excellently researched and composed history of the outbreak of the Great War. Continue reading “Book Review: The Guns of August by Tuchman (4 Stars)”
American Day of Deliverance ~ John Adams
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.
John Adams: letter to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776
Article: 10 Little-Known Facts About D-Day
10 Little-Known Facts About D-Day
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-d-day-2014-6#ixzz33s2nuJCq
Celebrating the 70th anniversary of D – Day. Work kept me quite busy today so I’m catching up on the great articles published today.
Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon
Movie Review: Monuments Men (2014) 3 Stars
Monuments Men (2014)
Watched BluRay May 2014
I am sheepishly relieved I did not pay to see this in a movie theater when it was first released. I enjoyed watching this movie, but ended up feeling disappointed by the time I reached the credits.
The pacing of the movie seemed off and the story too disjointed. I barely had time to get to know the characters so I found it difficult to relate to their trials and tribulations.
I also suffer from being one of the few in my immediate family who knows next to nothing about art history. Continue reading “Movie Review: Monuments Men (2014) 3 Stars”