MobileRead July 2013 Book Club Nominations

[issybird]

Next summer is the centenary of the start of the First World War, a cataclysmic event which continues to reverberate today. So I'd like to nominate the recent The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark.

It's received laudatory reviews, as from the Boston Globe:

For a century the question of the origins of World War I has bedeviled historians, who have struggled to determine whether a conflict that claimed 20 million lives and prompted the death of three empires could have been avoided and, if not, who was to blame.

That question won’t be settled by the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand a year from this summer. There are too many factors, too many moving parts and, alas, too many (contradictory) documents to produce an ironclad answer. But no one who examines the question will be able to ignore “The Sleepwalkers,’’ the monumental new volume by Cambridge University historian Christopher Clark that addresses this issue.

Though he does not provide a verdict, Clark’s view nonetheless is revelatory, even revolutionary. His thesis is that World War I is not a hoary event shrouded in the mists and mysteries of another age, but a thoroughly modern affair, begun in a way familiar to us today: by a terrorist group that worshipped sacrifice and death, had no clear geographic moorings, and was scattered across a vast area of festering grievances and unrequited dreams.

To all that irrationality was added the most dangerous element of all in international relations — cool reason fed by national interest

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Overdrive as well.

[HarryT]

I'd like to nominate A Night to Remember by Walter Lord. This is the classic account of the sinking of the Titanic from the eye-witness accounts of the survivors. A simply amazing book which everyone should read.

[Stephjk]

So many of these nominations are going on my tbr list!

[fantasyfan]

I will second The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark.

and for my last nomination will also second

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord

[HomeInMyShoes]

The Newfoundlander in me says enough, but I will third A Night to Remember.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

For my second nomination, I nominate What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist—the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England by Daniel Pool (print length: 416 pages).

Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Sony Reader Store

Spoiler:

Amazon Book Description:
Publication Date: October 2, 2012

For every frustrated reader of the great nineteenth-century English novels of Austen, Trollope, Dickens, or the Brontës who has ever wondered whether a duke outranked an earl, when to yell "Tally Ho!" at a fox hunt, or how one landed in "debtor's prison," here is a "delightful reader's companion that lights up the literary dark" (The New York Times).

This fascinating, lively guide clarifies the sometimes bizarre maze of rules, regulations, and customs that governed everyday life in Victorian England. Author Daniel Pool provides countless intriguing details (did you know that the "plums" in Christmas plum pudding were actually raisins?) on the Church of England, sex, Parliament, dinner parties, country house visiting, and a host of other aspects of nineteenth-century English life -- both "upstairs" and "downstairs."

An illuminating glossary gives at a glance the meaning and significance of terms ranging from "ague" to "wainscoting," the specifics of the currency system, and a lively host of other details and curiosities of the day.

I third this. A note on the length - it is listed as 416 pages but there is a glossary that is 138 pages, so the book itself is actually only 278 pages.

I also third We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda.

Nyssa, both HIMS' nominations have links in them that could be added to the list.

[JSWolf]

I'd like to make a suggestion. We have ten books nominated. I'd like to take those 10 books and use them for the vote. We have a pretty good selection there.

I will third The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark.

[Moe The Cat]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I second We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda.

Bookpossum already seconded this one in post #30, so you are actually thirding it, sun surfer.

And if you are not, then I am thirding it.

[desertblues]

This nomination goes with the speed of light......
I wanted to third Stories from Rwanda, The Sleepwalkers and A night to remember.......but I guess they've been thirded?
Too late; I've been too busy.

Interesting selection.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I second the Philip Gourevitch: I remember reading about it when it was published and always meant to read it.

Originally Posted by Moe The Cat

Bookpossum already seconded this one in post #30, so you are actually thirding it, sun surfer.

And if you are not, then I am thirding it.

Inconceivable!

Yes, you're right, I should've thirded it; I edited my post to reflect that. I missed Bookpossum's second; I must've thought that Philip Gourevitch was the author of the Chelsea Handler book.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

The Newfoundlander in me says enough, but I will third A Night to Remember.

Ah, you're a Newfoundlander? It's ironic to bring this up in a non-fiction thread, but I recently watched the documentary film "Dear Zachary". I was wondering if you're aware of the story and if so, what your thoughts are on it as someone from Newfoundland?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by desertblues

This nomination goes with the speed of light......
I wanted to third Stories from Rwanda, The Sleepwalkers and A night to remember.......but I guess they've been thirded?
Too late; I've been too busy.

Interesting selection.

Only one of those votes counted. The other two books already had thirds.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Only one of those votes counted. The other two books already had thirds.

I thirded Stories from Rwanda in post 36 (same post where I thirded "What Jane Austen Ate...") so I think none of desertblues' mentions in that post count and she still has all her nominations?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I thirded Stories from Rwanda in post 36 (same post where I thirded "What Jane Austen Ate...") so I think none of desertblues' mentions in that post count and she still has all her nominations?

You're right; I missed that. Looks like she still has all her votes.