Poison, A Novel of the Renaissance by Sara Poole

Read: May 22 - June 7

Format: E- book 416 pages

Source: Nook - B&N

Subject: Poisoner, Borgia Papacy

Challenges: 11 in 11, 75 Book, TIOLI, BOYS

Category: Honeymoon - foreign settings/thrillers

Genre: Historical Fiction/Thriller

Stars: ★★★½

The Borgias have been well-hyped historical figures for many years but recently they have been front and center so there is no surprise that more and more books are being written with them as main characters. This book is the first in a series with the Borgias in the forefront. In 1492 when this book is set, Rodrigo Borgia, a cardinal in the Catholic Church, is startled when his Poisoner is poisoned by the daughter of his former poisoner. (Are there enough poisoners to go around?) When Francesca Giodano explains that she needs to avenge her father's death she is placed in the envious/not so envious position of protecting Il Cardinale and assisting him in his efforts to be the next Pope.

The story-telling is so well structured that one wonders if it could be true. What fascinates me the most about this book and the story it tells is how Ms Poole exposes the corruption of the Church's upper echelon as well as interweaving anti-Semitism and the Spanish Inquisition. MS Poole also has an interesting style of writing with this tale coming directly from the central character as if it were a very long letter being written to a friend.

To be honest, I won the second book in the series Borgia Betrayal and figured that I should probably read the first in the series as preparation. Now I am really looking forward to the Borgia Betrayal if it would just get here!

Stand-In Groom by Kaye Dacus

Read: February 17 - February 20
Format: Paperback 299 pages
Source: Barnes & Noble
Setting: Bonneterre, LA
Subject: celebrity, marriage, trust, faith
Category: Love and Marriage: a lifetime commitment
Challenges: 11 in 11, 75 Book, TIOLI, BOYS
Stars: ★★★★

Anne Hawthorne is an event planner who has been hired to handle an engagement party and wedding and in walks the bride and groom and immediately Anne is hit with a strong attraction to the groom. Fighting the appeal that she feels for her client, she works diligently to fulfill the couple's wishes but finds it harder and harder to fight the magnetism that she feels. Finally, because of George's opposition to lying to Anne, he informs her that he s not the 'groom' but just his stand-in. The detailed story of their romance is heart-warming as well as uplifting and truly an enjoyable experience.

This is the first book in the Brides of Bonneterre series. I won the second book in the series through the ER program and enjoyed it so much that I had to have the other two books as well. I am really looking forward to #3 later this year.

A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin

Read: January 2 - January 6
Format: E- Book - equvalent of 510 pages
Source: Barnes & Noble
Subject: Royal Marriage procession, travel Crusades era
Challenges: 11 in 11, 75 Book, TIOLI, RTT, BOYS
Category: Something New - books that were acquired or released in the last 12 months
Genre: Historical mystery
Stars: 4

The fourth installment of the Mistress of the Art of Death series sees Adeila under the orders of Henry II accompanying Princess Joanna to her wedding in Sicily. Unknown to her and her personal entourage, Adeila is being followed by Scarry - the partner of the evil character from the previous book. He has disguised himself as part of the Princess' entourage and no one suspects except Rowley and Ulf after trouble starts to plaque the procession.

The story is enthralling, keeping the reader's attention and at times, taking your breath away. I was a bit disappointed at the swiftness of the conclusion as if Ms. Franklin felt the story should end and just did it but I also wish there wasn't such a cliffhanger. I love the series and wish the books came faster, but I don't want the quality to fall.

Over the edge of the world:Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe by Laurence Bergreen

Read: November 1 - November 13
Format: Audio 14 CDs - equivalent 480 pages
Source: Public library
Subject: exploration and discovery
Category: Overflow
Genre: History
Challenges: 101020, 75 Book, SYLL, TIOLI, RTT,Endless Europe
Stars: 3

It's hard to believe that Magellan who was as important as he was to history, doesn't even get a first page hit in Google - if it's not a GPS, Magellan is nothing. Magellan was the first person who set out and proved that by sailing west you can get to the east.

At the time of Magellan's expedition that was a great rivalry between Spain and Portugal. When Magellan was denied support from his own country (Portugal) he turned to King Charles of Spain. With Spanish backing, Magellan's expedition was the best-equipped during the age of Discovery. Even with this only one ship of the 5 that set out returned filled with the spices for which they had searched. The captain was dead, more than 200 of the men had died either from scurvy, drowning, torture, or execution.

the story was filled with tales of mutiny, cannibalism, disease, orgies, superstitions, and religious zeal. I found it fascinating.

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

Read: October 24 - October 28
Format: Audio 8 CDs -and 471 pages
Source: Public Library
Subject: chemical warfare development, WWI survivors,
Challenges: 101020, 75 Book, TIOLI, AUDIO, SYLL, RTT
Category: Niagara Falls - Overflow
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Stars: 3½

Maisie Dobbs in 1931 witnesses the suicide of a man who apparently had been injured during WWI. She tries but is unable to prevent the tragedy from happening, and starts reliving the horrors of her time during he war.

Because of her efforts she is drawn into a rapidly advancing chemical warfare attack on the city of London - first 6 dogs are targeted, then 50 birds, 1 man - all the while the authorizes are warned by demands asking for better treatment and pensions for ex-soldiers.
Maisie while working with Scotland Yard on this investigation, is also endeavoring to aid Billy's wife Doreen and get her the best mental health care possible as well as her friend who is spiraling near to alcoholism.

The book paralleled the different types of mental illness - those resulting from war, depression, and alcohol dependency and yet it flowed so effortedlessly because of Maisie's character's involvement in all the aspects of the story. Seeing the mental health issues described from the 1930 POV in comparison to the 21st century - the reader can see that there has been improvement in the medical handling but that there is still room to go. I've read the first in the series and now this one - definitely need to go find the others.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Read: July 13 - August 10
Format: Audio 36 CDs, Hardback 754 pages
Source: Public Library
Subject: Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet
Category: Civil War and its Leaders
Genre: History
Challenges: 101020, 75 Book, SYLL, USPC, Chunkster, Audio
Stars: 5

I think I know Abraham Lincoln. This book has so many details and delves so deeply into the personality of Abraham Lincoln as well as his cabinet members that I feel as if I've actually met this man and what a great man he was.

This book reveals the private details of the lives of Abraham and Mary Lincoln as well as William Seward, Edward Bates, Salmon Chase, Edwin Stanton, and Montgomery Blair during the time of the Civil War. The images of these great men depicted in this volume place the reader within the Lincoln's circle of confidantes so thoroughly that you feel that you are part of the decision making Team of Rivals.

Beyond that and because of that, you see every facet which made Lincoln the great man that he was. "His speeches possessed unmatched power, conviction, clarity and moral strength." Lincoln was always known for his humor as well as his drive, but the reader also sees his spirit of generosity, his gentleness, his ability to bring out the best in anyone. Lincoln was not a vain man and knew that there were abilities that he did not possess and so he turned to the men that he knew had those abilities and drew them to his support. He seem to know exactly how to convince his former rivals to become his friends and his allies. Each of these men wanted to be President and Lincoln "stole" the nomination in 1860. These men could have turned against him, but Lincoln used his abilities of persuasion and placed them in the position that aided in the preservation of the nation.

It is remarkable that a basically self-educated man was able to accomplish what he did at such a volatile time in our history. Men who served before and after him in the Presidency had more education, but perhaps, it is the spirit of the man, that in the end, succeeded where others would have failed. How sad that he was cut down before he was able to complete the task of reuniting our nation. History definitely would have been quite different.

Suzanne Toren on the Audio version (I had both hardback and audio) was tremendous making this 750+ page come alive. I rarely give a book 5 stars, this one I couldn't give less - it should have more.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Read: July 14 - July 26
Format: E-Book 304 pages
Source: Barnes & Noble
Subject: freedom, French Revolution, Reign of Terror, corruption
Challenges: 101020, 75 Book, TIOLI, RTT
Category: Surprise - Books I find and want to read /group reads
Genre: Classics
Stars: 3

I remember reading an abridged version of this book when I was about 10 or 11 years old because I liked the title, but I didn't remember the story at all so it was a delightful surprise adventure for me to the time of the Reign of Terror. I loved it and usually Classics are not my forte.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is an adventurer who risks his life to free the terrified royalists who are awaiting execution during the Reign of Terror. We hear of the exploits of this courageous man as he smuggles men, women, and children out of France before their date with guillotine. He is threatened with exposure and yet manages to continue his mission.

What surprised me most about this book is the story - not the main plot but the underlying tale of rescue of Frenchmen by a band of Englishmen. First, you have Englishmen trying to free Frenchmen which is unusual given the animosity between the two countries that had existed since the time of Henry V, then you have the fact that the English had tried 10 years earlier to prevent the Americans from freeing themselves from England, and last the Key point for me, was the major difference between the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Seeing the violence of the French Revolution and the overthrow of the government as the chief point in that Revolution, makes me appreciate more the struggle that the American colonists undertook to gain their own freedom.

Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War by Robert B. Ekelund Jr.

Read: June 23 - June 26
Format: Trade paperback 132 pages
Source: Barnes & Noble
Setting: USA
Category: Who/What/When/Where/How/Why? - Bios/history
Challenges: 101020, 75 Book, RTT, TIOLI, BOSC
Stars: 2½

The Civil war was a highly complex event in history and observing how economics impacted the nation should enlighten the reader. For 136 pages this was pretty heavy reading. I'm not expecting other casual readers to pick up this book so therefore this review will be somewhat detailed.

Tariffs had been a major issue prior the war. The South wanted low tariffs while the North wanted high because of the difference between the agrarian society in the South and the industrial in the North. Throughout the early 1800's the tariffs fluctuated to keep the sections happy. Toward the end of the 1850's the tariffs were running high.

When the book moved on to the discussion of Blockades, it became a bit more interesting (flashes of Rhett Butler). The Majority of the discussion was about the different commodities and how the blockade runners chose to bring over luxuries rather than necessities because of higher profits.

The south injured themselves by not controlling prices of goods brought through the blockades. If they had had more necessities they may have been in better position to withstand the Union forces.

Inflation was the main issue for the downfall of the Confederacy. Financing a war can be done in several ways or a mixture of ways - taxation, borrowing, confiscation, conscripting, and inflation.
Borrowing from foreigners to buy foreign goods, protects the economy and spreads the costs of the war over more years. However, getting loans can be difficult if the lenders doubt the ability of the borrower to repay the loan. The Confederacy borrowed very little.

Conscription/Confiscation was also used little by the Confederate government because of the political dissatisfaction of those affected - compelling labor and capital out of its citizens with reduced compensation for such, didn't bode well in the South.

During the war, labor and capital were redirected from normal processes to military purposes. Labor forces went to fight the war and death and injuries reduced current and future production. Production went from civilian goods to military requirements - i.e. plows to cannons - and capital goods were switched to military use - railroads.

The government of the Confederacy issued new money which distorted prices and wages while hiding the cost of the war and giving an appearance of prosperity. Studies have shown that the Union also used inflation but not as much and that printing "greenbacks" increased the cost of the war by $528M. The South's rate of inflation in the 4 war years was 100%.

In the North, Abraham Lincoln attempted to moderate the impact of inflation and created his own "New Deal" during his administration. Some of the legislation he enacted was related to the first Income Tax, Homestead Act, land grants for Yosemite as well as the railroad, National banking Acts, and regulation of mail delivery both Urban and by Railroad, while modifying the central government to include the Department of Agriculture, Comptroller of the Currency, National Academy of Science, and the Office of Immigration.

There were many effects of the war - emancipation was primary but there was also the establishment of the US as a global power, 3 amendments to the Constitution(slavery, citizenship, suffrage), intercontinental Railroad, industrial revolution. While these were improvements there were also detrimental effects such as decreased workforce, financial and commercial ties severed, fallow farmland, reduction of assets for the Railroad and shipping industries.

My editorial would read that the Introduction is filled with so many 5+ syllable words that it would turn off the general reader. The main work was way too stuffy and high-handed and reads more like a thesis than a book for the general public. I think that it should be noted that scholars or economists may find it fascinating, the general reader would most probably not even get to Chapter One. That said, I'm still glad that I read it so that as I get farther into my Civil War reading I will understand the background of this impact.

1858: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and the War they Failed to See by Bruce Chadwick

Read: June 7 - June 12
Format: Hardback 300 pages
Source: Barnes & Noble
Setting: USA
Category: Who/What/When/Where/How/Why? - Bios/history
Challenges: 101020, 75 Book, RTT
Stars: 2½

1858 was a turning point leading up to the American Civil War. So many issues were beginning to come to a crisis point and the leaders that should have taken action were looking elsewhere. Jefferson Davis was fighting a health crisis, Robert E. Lee was dealing with family issues and trying to decide whether to leave the army, William Tecumseh Sherman and Ulysses Grant were trying to find a way to make a living. At the same time Abraham Lincoln was trying to get elected to the Senate but Stephen Douglas stood in his way.

President Buchanan didn't exercise the "proper" influence. He worked to prevent Stephen Douglas' re-election which helped to bring Lincoln to National recognition. He also was attempting to increase the presence of the USA as a global authority with offers to buy Cuba from the Spanish and efforts to annex portions of Mexico and other Central American and South American nations. Buchanan had eyes on expansion and refused to acknowledge the problems related to the slavery question.

Several events by other individuals and groups acted as a catalyst. John Brown got into action, William Seward, senator from NY, gave several volatile speeches against slavery (“It {slavery} is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation or entirely a free labor nation.”), and a group of individuals openly thwarted law enforcers of the Fugitive Slave Act.

All of these actions and issues put together propelled a divided nation toward a Civil War that killed hundreds of thousands. Could it have been averted? We will never know.

I thought it was very interesting the way that the author had each of the events/individuals sectionalized very much as the North and the South had issues by section. However, I had difficulties with the title for several reasons. First, Ulysses Grant was hardly in this book, second, nowhere that I saw or read was there anything to explain a "war they failed see", third William Seward played a large part in this book but wasn't in the title, and lastly Buchanan's shortcomings were identified throughout the book, but he also wasn't in the title. I think a better title would have been - 1858 and the Men and events that provoked a war. But I'm sure the title was chosen because Lincoln, Grant, Lee's names would get your attention.

THE IMPENDING CRISIS by David M. Potter

Read: May 12 - June 6
Format: Hardback 583 pages
Source: Public Library
Subject: Political issues leading to Civil War
Challenges: 101020, 75 Book, Chunkster, SYLL , RTT
Category: Who/What/When/Where/How/Why? - Bios/history
Genre: History
Stars: 3½
Americans have heard much about the Civil War and how it started over slavery and the attack at Fort Sumter but after finishing this book, the reader realizes that the Civil War was about so much more.

In this book, which spans the era of time from 1848 when Zachary Taylor was elected President after the Mexican American War to the first shots at Fort Sumter in 1861, the deluge of information concerning the issues of the time can often be overwhelming. The Southerners were concerned about the apparent efforts of the Northerners to prevent them from continuing their society in the manner of the day and the Northerners were trying to prevent the spread of slavery into the territories.

The reason that the book starts with the time period after the Mexican American war is blatantly obvious because of the additional territories acquired in the settlement from Mexico. The political arenas of this era were filled with Northern Abolitionists, Southern Secessionists, and all manner in-between. As the political battles raged, "the South became increasingly a closed society, distrustful of isms from outside and unsympathetic toward dissenters".
Yet the decisions made by the states to attempt secession were not simply n the spur of the moment as sometimes implied by historians, but was discussed and threatened on numerous occasions for several decades. After Lincoln's election 120 days elapsed before his inauguration ad during that time, the southern states held numerous conventions to determine their "plan of attack" to the situation. In the time that it took Lincoln to get from Illinois to Washington, the Southerners had held their conventions and created a provisional government and elected Jefferson Davis as their President.

What was the Union doing you ask? President Buchanan was trying to be peacemaker (unsuccessfully) and Lincoln was waiting for his "power". As President-Elect he had none. After taking office, Lincoln had to deal with the various factions and determine his stance and political reactions to the Southern states that had "seceded".

The crisis had arrived and had to be dealt with and Lincoln set about to do just that. His policy was that the Union needed to be preserved at any cost and thus civil war was thrust upon a nation.

So much information to absorb but I'm hoping that this background will help when I move forward from this time period to the actual war itself.

I knew that there were alot issues related to the Civil War and so I asked someone who I thought was very knowledgeable about the era what book to read. JOYCEPA of the ClubRead group told me that this was one of the best and I want to thank her for the recommendation.