January 2019: I Will Survive!

I Will Survive!



I think there are all kinds of interesting stories of survival. Some of the books I’m suggesting, though, are ones where not everyone survives. I have read the majority of my suggested books, and I’ve added a more specific topic by each of them, if it helps anyone decide on something that might be more interesting to them.

Suggestions:

Nonfiction:
Isaac’s Storm / Erik Larson (natural disaster)
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea / Sebastian Junger (natural disaster)
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage / Alfred Lansing (exploration)
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS… / Hampton Sides (exploration)
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors / Piers Paul Read (plane crash)
Unbroken / Laura Hillenbrand (WWII)
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great… / Timothy Egan (1930s)
Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their… / Hugh Brewster (shipwreck)
Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard… / Kalee Thompson (shipwreck)

Fiction:
Number the Stars / Lois Lowry (Holocaust/WWII)
Skeletons at the Feast / Chris Bohjalian (Holocaust/WWII)
The Storyteller / Jodi Picoult (Holocaust/WWII)
Once We Were Brothers / Ronald H. Balson (Holocaust/WWII)
The Nightingale / Kristin Hannah (WWII)
Gone with the Wind / Margaret Mitchell (American Civil War)
The Cellist of Sarajevo / Steven Galloway (Bosnian War)
Not Wanted on the Voyage / Timothy Findley (biblical flood)
Moloka'i / Alan Brennert (disease)
Kindred / Octavia Butler (slavery)
Copper Sun / Sharon M. Draper (slavery)
The Outlander / Gil Adamson (Canadian West)

And don't forget to update the wiki:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Challenge#JANUARY_2...

Thanks for getting us started. Isn't it incredible that it's time to be showing January challenges? I thought you might want to know the touchstone for The Nightingale is going to the wrong book. I'm glad to see it on your list, I didn't think about it and it's a longtime TBR for me.

I'm sorry there are multiple messages, I would post them and they would show and then disappear...I've never seen that before!

weird clue.

I've got The Andromeda Strain set aside for this challenge. I can't believe the year is nearly over!

>3 clue: Thank you for catching that touchstone! I'll fix it.

(I skimmed through the list to see if they were pointing in the right direction, but I guess I skimmed too fast!)

I won't likely figure out what I'll be reading until sometime in December, but I'll be back at that point to let you know!

The one in my list above that I haven't read (though I saw the movie years ago) is "Alive". It's never "officially" been on my tbr, but it's a possibility.

This is tough one. I already read Isaac's Storm and my aim for 2019 is to read books from my shelves. I think Krakatoa might fit the theme.

>9 Familyhistorian: That looks interesting! Glad you found something!

I'm inclined to go for one I've (ashamed) never read: Swiss Family Robinson! Also, I just bought Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy – the story of Marilla Cuthbert, orphaned at 13 by the death of her mother and forced to oversee the work of Green Gables with her father and with her brother Matthew.

I've updated the Wiki with the themes that we know of for 2019.

I am planning on reading At The Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper for the January theme of survival. The book is set during the 1665 plague in London.

I will probably read Lost in Shangri-La (Enhanced Edition): A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Michael Zuckoff. I've read a previous book by this author and it was great!

I'll try to jump in here with The Great Halifax Explosion which should fit into the quarterly time period as I understand it.

>13 Tess_W: Tess, I loved that book.

>12 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! I'll add a link to the wiki in my first post now.

Hello everyone. I am new to the geoup and excited to be here. I can hardly believe it, but I've never read anything about the Korean War, so for January I have chosen On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle by Hampton Sides.

>18 marell: Welcome! Hope you enjoy the challenges!

>18 marell: Welcome!

I just ordered Michael Palin's new book on the Erebus. Erebus: A Story of a Ship Should fit in here nicely.

I have an unusually aggressive strain of prostate cancer, have had successful surgery, but still need at least radiation therapy since some of it's gotten into my lymph nodes. (I just saw a report on my most recent PSA score, though, and it seems to be undetectable, which is good.)

So this will definitely be my first read of the New Year: The Breakthrough: Immunotherapy and the Race to Cure Cancer by Charles Graeber (just published). It came out too late for this past November's science theme, but it does (in an out-of-the-box kind of way) involve "survival."

>22 CurrerBell: Congrats on the successful surgery. Sending good thoughts that the radiation gets the rest of it.

Sounds like a good read for you.

Ok, I've picked out a few options for myself now:

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood / Stephen Puleo
Brian's Winter / Gary Paulsen
To Sleep With the Angels / David Cowan (if I don't get to it this month)
The Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier

Looks like I have 2 fiction and 2 nonfiction in the mix as my top options.

>24 LibraryCin: I read Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood last year for the Brown color challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am from Massachusetts and knew a little of the event, but the details are shocking and the lead up and follow through that Puleo provides offer an insight to the many angles that are not generally known. Hope you enjoy it.

>25 beebeereads: Thanks! I can't even remember when or how I heard of it (the book, that is - I heard about the disaster via the book!). It might simply have been a Kobo deal that sounded interesting. :-)

>22 CurrerBell: Best wishes to you, Mike. I suffered from breast cancer this summer and after 2 surgeries and 25 radiation treatments they have pronounced me "free and clean." I don't know if the feeling of uneasiness will go away in time, but I hope it will. That being said, I really do feel your pain.

>25 beebeereads: I put The Great Boston Molasses Flood on my wish list.

I have completed my chosen book for this topic. When the Rainbow Goddess Wept by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard follows a Filipino family though the invasion of their country by the Japanese during World War II.

I read a book a few years back that would be perfect, but having trouble with the title. Its about the Eastland Disaster of 1915, about a young musician who witnessed it, and his forays into the Chicago jazz scene. Any one know it?

I just finished I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, it's a perfect fit for this theme. For a book that was originally published in 1954, it didn't feel dated at all.

>29 cindydavid4: : I tried several tagmashes with various uses of Eastland, 1915, shipwreck, disaster, jazz, but didn't come across a book that seemed exactly like the one you describe. But perhaps that's because most of them had few reviews or very little CK filled in.

>29 cindydavid4: Using Google rather than tagmash, I came up with something about centennial events by the Forest Park Historical Society. Go about three-quarters of the way down the page and you'll find something about an "Author's Panel" which also gives the names of their books.

Dunno if any of these are what you're looking for, especially since I've never even heard of this disaster, but maybe you'll find what you're looking for in the list or you'll see something else that triggers your memory.

BINGO! Mary Morris Jazz Palace Had some issues with the plot, but the description of the event, the characcter development of those who survived.and the world of Chicago Jazz made it well worth the read (thanks CB!)

>33 cindydavid4: Thanks!--added to the WishList....my grandfather's brother worked in a building downtown along the Chicago River, where he could see the disaster from his office window. Family story is that he rushed down and helped with rescue efforts.

Serendipity---my ereader said I was only 60% finished and I thought another week....but actually the last 40% of the book is the typed official written reports of all the survivors. If I enlarged the page enough to make the letters large enough, then they are blurry. I don't feel it was necessary to read this as it is all a repeat of what the author wrote about in the book. This was another great survival book Lost in Shangri-La (Enhanced Edition): A True Story of Survival by Mitchell Zuckoff. I have read a previous book by this author and this book did not disappoint. This is the story of the real-life crash of an army plane in the uncharted mountains of New Guinea during WWII. I had to load this book on my comp because it had actual video of the survivors, which would not play on my ereader.

The Book of Negroes / Lawrence Hill.
3.75 stars (3rd read; overall - all 3 reads, 4 stars)

**********POSSIBLE SPOILERS***********
In the mid-1700s, Aminata is only 11-years old when her parents are murdered and she is kidnapped from her village in Africa. She is forced to walk for months to the ocean where she boards a ship to cross. She arrives in South Carolina, where she is sold to an indigo plantation owner and works there until she is then sold to another man and his wife, where she helps keep their home. After a number of years, "Meena" escapes to New York, and after a time, she finds herself in "The Book of Negroes" - a real list of Negroes who want to escape New York and the rebels for Nova Scotia as British Loyalists. All her life, she has really just wanted to go home, back to her village in Africa.
*********END SPOILERS***********

This was very very good, there was so much detail, and it seemed so realistic. The Book of Negroes was a real list - something I had never heard of - and it was interesting (and sad) to read how the mostly former slaves were treated when they arrived in Canada. I waffled for a long time between giving the book 4 or 4.5 stars; unfortunately I lowered it to 4 stars because I was disappointed in the ending, which took away from the book's realism for me.

Reread, 2 years later:
I still really enjoyed this book on a reread. I did remember some parts of the book before I even started rereading it, and a lot of the rest of the book came back to me as I read. My rating remains the same as the first time around.

3rd read, just over 5 years after the last time:
3.75 stars
This is my 3rd time reading this one, and I think rereading is just not for me. I rated it 4 stars the first two times, and 3.5 this time around, but I listened to the audio this time and would give an extra ¼ star for the narrator, so 3.75 this time. Good story; still find the ending unbelievable. I really don’t think I should reread it again, though – not without a long long time in between, at least.

>36 LibraryCin: probably a BB for me!

>37 Tess_W: This book has a lot of really high ratings, so I hope you like it!

ETA: I'll add that I rarely reread. I did this one for 2 different book clubs, after having read it once before either book club decided to read it.

>37 Tess_W: Oh! I had to check whether or not you are in Canada (I couldn't remember). In the US, the book is called "Someone Knows My Name".

>39 LibraryCin: ty! I actually have Someone Knows My Name on my ereader to read!

I have just finished the YA novel At The Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper which tells the story of two sisters trapped in plague-ridden London in the summer of 1665.

I have finished my first book as a new member of this fantastic group: On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle by Hampton Sides. Once begun it was hard to put down. Even the Acknowledgements and Notes on Sources sections were fascinating. A great read from start to finish.

Some years ago I read Mr. Sides' Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission about the rescue of the prisoners on Bataan. Also highly recommended.

>42 marell: I am adding On Desperate Ground to my wishlist as I have read a couple of novels that dealt with the Choisin Reservoir, in particular, I would recommend Marines of Autumn by James Brady as a excellent read about this.

>40 Tess_W: Nice! It was already on your radar!

Charles Graeber, The Breakthrough: Immunotherapy and the Race to Cure Cancer (5*****)

I've given this 5***** but that's not to suggest that it's a book for the average reader. It does tend toward "teckiness" so you're going to have to give it some very careful reading. It can also be a bit cumbersome because there are extensive and very substantive endnotes that really should be read but that will require an amount of flipping back and forth.

If you don't have a personal interest/involvement in this subject, this is a book you might want to pass on. And if you do have a particular interest and read it, be prepared to do it slowly and to reread it later on. Get a general grasp of the subject and then put it aside to come back to later as a reference when you have an actual need for some specific information.

For a somewhat more basic read, go to the 100 Questions and Answers About.... series and check out the particular cancer you're concerned about. (There are numerous books in this series, and cancer's only a subset of the topics covered; make sure you check all half-dozen or so pages of book listings.) After you've gotten a more general introduction, then you might want to turn to The Breakthrough for more specific discussion of immunotherapy. And realize that the current level of available immunotherapy treatments seem to be limited to certain particular cancers, or at least to be more effective with some cancers than others.

The Perfect Storm / Sebastian Junger
3.5 stars

In 1991, a storm hit the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern coast of the US and Canada. There were fishing boats out there: one of them, the “Andrea Gail”, disappeared and others had people aboard who needed to be rescued. In addition, the book includes information about fishing and the fishing industry, and the history of both. It also includes some information about weather and storms.

It was good, but there was a lot of detail that I just ended up skimming over. The author talked to families and loved ones of the missing fishermen, and to some of the rescuers and survivors, as well as others who had a link to the people caught in the storm. There were a lot of people to keep track of, and I was unsuccessful at much of that, often forgetting who was who unless there was a reminder. There is no way to know what happened aboard the Andrea Gail, so that is kept to speculation about what most fishermen were likely to do in similar circumstances. Some of the fishing techniques upset me (trawling), and I’m sure things have gotten worse since 1991 (and 1997 when the book was published), but that also wasn’t news, sadly. Probably the most interesting parts of the book, for me, were the descriptions of the various rescues.

Thank you for the recommendation. Mr. Sides mentioned it in the Notes on Sources.

I'm almost finished reading The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough. The flood occurred on May 31, 1889 when a dam 14 miles upstream from Johnstown, Pennsylvania broke after days of heavy rain. Resulting in over 2000 deaths, the rushing waters took out bridges, factories, homes and railroad cars and tracks. The stories of the survivors are incredible. This was also the first major disaster that Clara Barton's newly formed Red Cross responded to. This was a 5 star book for me.

As an aside - Johnstown, PA is where the movie "Slap Shot" (hockey film starring Paul Newman) was filmed in 1977.

I finished The Great Halifax Explosion for this challenge. I liked it, but had some issues with it as well. See my review.

I read The Indifferent Stars Above for this month's challenge. It became obvious to me through this reading, that, while I thought I knew a lot about the Donner Party's predicament, there was so much more to what got them into their horrible straits, and what they did to try to get help. (4 stars)

>36 LibraryCin: : Cindy - I'm amazed! I seldom reread. I gave Someone Knows My Name 4-1/2 stars when I read it 3 years ago. It still sticks with me, so I'm good with that rating.

>42 marell: : Mary - That sounds like a fascinating book. My husband and I just watched a documentary about the Battle of Chosin on Netflix. Horrifying. For both sides.
I have Ghost Soldiers on my shelves, but nuts - no time to squeeze it in for this challenge. PS: Welcome to the group! It's my favorite one on LT!

Hi Cindy. Thank you, I am enjoying the group immensely. I also saw the Chosin show on Netflix after I read the book. Horrifying is right. The book is very personal. You get to know individuals and what happened to them. The same with Ghost Soldiers. These books will be with me always.

>50 countrylife: The only reason I reread it (in both cases) was for two different book clubs! And I only did because I liked it so much. If a book club reads a book I've already read, but didn't like or it was only "ok", I generally don't bother rereading.

>48 GerrysBookshelf: I like David McCullough to I will add this book to my wishlist. I have been to Johnstown several times (as a stop on a further trip east) and lastly went to the flood museum--it was interesting. Have you been?

I finally got around to read something for this month's theme with City of thieves, set during the Siege of Leningrad.

>53 Tess_W: A number of years ago I attended a Vegetarian Conference that is held every year at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. I am thinking about going again this year and will definitely check out the museum. Thanks so much for telling me about it.

Out of curiosity’s sake, I am planning on looking into what the local newspapers at the time reported about the flood. Our local historical society (Buffalo, NY) has a large research library and has all the old papers archived. The story of the flood and its aftermath filled the papers for months. Reporters were known to make up sensational stories to help sell their papers. (As if the facts weren’t horrendous enough.)

>54 MissWatson: That is an excellent book. Reading it, just had me shaking my head - I don't think I would have survived. Amazing story

>56 cindydavid4: Oh yes., that it is.

I've found more titles from everyone this month to add to my burgeoning TBR list. Thank you!

Related to Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which I read a few years ago, I just finished Don't Give Up, Don't Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life by Louis Zamperini with David Rensin. I came across it browsing ebooks from my library website. Inspiring, with good advice for survival and for daily living.

>54 MissWatson: I have that on my ereader waiting to read!

>59 Tess_W: He mentions two books as particularly useful for writing this story, so I now have two new ones to look out for.

I read The Andromeda Strain for this challenge.

I read Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883

The last explosion of Krakatoa was cataclysmic, destroying the volcano in the process and wiping out 36,000 lives. But still, it was a story of survival because there were those who survived the final blast and life, not just human life went on. Even the volcano, which sank far beneath the ocean in 1883 has spawned smaller volcanoes in its place.

I read Krakatoa some years ago and thought it was a fantastic book. It was almost like reading a history of the world. I could hardly put it down. Throughout, you are waiting for Krakatoa to explode, and, boy, does it.

>62 Familyhistorian: Krakatoa was a real in depth book about the area and the volcano. I really learned a lot. Sounds like you did too.

>63 marell:, >64 Familyhistorian: I listened to Winchester read the book. He made an interesting case near the end that the Krakatoa disaster was indirectly a trigger for the rise of a more fundamental Islam in Indonesia in the late 19th and early 20th century and beyond. I'm not sure I found this theory all that convincing, but it was a totally new concept to me.

>61 majkia: I read that in HS and reread it several times. One of the few books that had a decent movie adaptation, I thought. Read several of his others, till he started to go off the rails. Perfect for this theme

I finished reading On Board the Titanic edited by Logan Marshall a few days late for this challenge. However, I did not join this group until January 23rd, and initially did not plan to read a book for January.

There is no time limit here, no worries!

That is an interesting concept. I read the book so long ago but I do remember being impressed about what a cataclysmic effect the eruption had on weather, which impacted people's lives and created a sort of domino effect, so who knows.

>65 kac522: I thought that the volcano's eruption as a trigger for the rise in Islam in the area was an interesting theory and a way of tying everything together but perhaps a more pertinent cause was a reaction against colonialism which would have come about no matter if Krakatoa erupted or not.

>70 Familyhistorian: Agreed.

A little late, but I read the graphic book/biography The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt by Ken Krimstein.