Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2020/What I've Read in 2020

58) The Hero of Budapest: The Triumph and Tragedy of Raoul Wallenberg by Bengt Jangfeldt (translated by Harry Watson) I first came across the story of Raoul Wallenberg after reading John Bierman’s book ‘Righteous Gentile: The Story of Raoul Wallenberg Missing Hero of the Holocaust’ after I chose the book for a school assignment. Bierman’s book though only went through his exploits in Budapest and his subsequent disappearance. Given when the book was originally published, there was still conjecture at the time as to his fate after his arrest by Soviet authorities and subsequent imprisonment on the charge of spying. This is a well researched and enjoyable biography of Wallenberg who risked his life to save the Jews of Budapest from being taken to the death camps as part of Hitler’s Final Solution. Using recently accessible documents the author attempts to piece together what exactly happened to Wallenberg after his arrest and while the real truth remains a mystery and even the author himself questions the story given to him because of the source and the amount of conjecture in other archives from the west as to his fate the fact remains that he was indeed an inspiring individual

#42 A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight


Interesting thriller with lots of twists

#43 The Affair by Collette Freedman

The author takes us through the revelation of an affair first from the POV of the wife, then the husband, then the mistress. It gets a little repetitive since it focuses on the same three day period but the author does a good job of conveying each characters' POV.

#44 The Consequences by Collette Freedman

This book starts up right where the other leaves off. You're definitely rooting for some characters over the others in this one. The resolution makes sense but pushes credibility in some ways.

#45 Hidden Valley Drive: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker


The author intermingles the disturbing history of this family with scientific research on schizophrenia.

59) Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts that will Shape the 21st Century by Ralph Peters I found this is a junk shop I frequent because I’ve found heaps of interesting books for cheap. I think when I saw the title I envisioned something much different to what was delivered. While the author made very interesting points in each of the essays he put forward, his political stance bothered me and his bias because of it was very evident.

60) Travels into Bokhara: A Voyage up the Indus to Lahore and a Journey to Cabool, Tartary & Persia by Alexander Burnes On the guise of just being a traveller, Burnes would be later known as one of the first British spies. His travels through Central Asia and Persia would become part of what Rudyard Kipling would later coin as ‘The Great Game’. Through his travels, the British Empire would become the most powerful in the world in the 19th century through which, the famed Koh-I-Noor diamond now part of the British Crown Jewels would be ‘acquired’

[B]#46 The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner


The abuse the author endured was horrifying. I kept reading because I had to see her get out of this situation. Although the author loved her mother, the mother's poor choices drove me nuts. While the author eventually left these circumstances, it would've been nice to have a few chapters describing the adjustment to the real world.

61) Lords of the Desert: Britain’s Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East by James Barr this can be viewed as a continuation of Barr’s previous book A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East. I thoroughly enjoyed the first one so I had certain expectations of this one and in the end I was rather disappointed. While a great overview of the event during and after World War II, I also felt it was rather rushed rather than concise and clear.

62) Taiwan’s Statesman: Lee Teng-Hui and Democracy in Asia by Richard C. Kagan Lee’s recent death triggered an outpouring of grief in Taiwan (known formally as The Republic of China). Widely regarded as the man who finally brought democracy to Taiwan as the first democratically elected president (as well as being the first to be born in Taiwan), Lee’s rise was not without its troubles. This though isn’t just a short biography of Lee, but it also outlines the tumultuous social and political history of Taiwan from the early years of Dutch occupation through to how Taiwan would become embroiled in the debate of whether or not it belongs to Mainland China.

#47 After the Fall by Noah Hawley


A bit of a mystery with some interesting characters.

63) Formosa Betrayed by George H. Kerr Kerr was an American diplomat who was in Formosa (Taiwan) during WWII. This book is an account of the fumbles made by the American policy to properly define the island and answer the question of whether or not Taiwan is a part of China the consequences of which Taiwanese still live with today. Visit Taipei today and you’ll come across a park known as the 228 Peace Memorial Park where an uprising was quashed by Chiang Kai-Shek’s occupying forces leading to the deaths of many and the introduction of martial law in Taiwan. My opinion of Taiwanese independence is set so this didn’t really influence me in that sense, but certainly this was eye opening for me though I did lose a little interest in the end.

64) The Berlin Airlift: The Relief Operation that Defined the Cold War by Barry Turner a wonderful account of a daring humanitarian feat to relieve besieged citizens in a divided city in a divided and occupied country. Highly dangerous and ambitious, the Berlin Airlift was a well coordinated operation by British and American airmen to relieve Berlin citizens caught up in a nasty war of attrition with Stalin’s Soviet forces. Well written with eye witness accounts it is a fascinating look into the first major stand-off during the Cold War

#48 Talking with Strangers by Malcom Gladwell


This book talks about how we interact with strangers. Some of the ideas caused some controversy with readers. I thought he raised some good points.

65) The Silk Road in World History by Xinru Liu this is a quick overview of the development of what is arguably the most famous trade route in history. I had the expectation that it was going to be longer than this, but still a good summary.

66) The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han by Mark Edward Lewis this starts off a series on the history of Imperial China following the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, the first of a United China. In the end I was rather disappointed with this one. Although interesting in some aspects, I felt that there was no chronological order in what the author was writing about. This is ok if you want a quick overview, but I was expecting much more than what was delivered.

67) China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties by Mark Edward Lewis this one follows on from the previous book and looks into the period between the collapse of the Han Dynasty to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty. The Three Kingdoms period which would happen at the end of the Han was the period I was especially interested in and I again expected more than just the quick overview. That being said this was much better than the previous book as it also looked deeper into the development of the social aspect of life in imperial China.

#49 Dracula by Bram Stoker

I like horror. I've read tons of books about vampires, supernatural, etc. I've seen multiple versions of Dracula - plays, movies, etc... Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my all time favorite TV shows. I couldn't stand this book. I've read older literature and the language can take time to adjust to. LIke Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre, which I enjoy. The writing was so stiff and the journal style didn't work well. We barely saw Dracula and he wasn't the least bit attractive! The only reason I finished this book was for a book club discussion.

68) China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty by Mark Edward Lewis The Tang Dynasty is often touted as the high point in Chinese culture and the golden age of its imperial history so much so that despite being Han ethnically the term most used is Tang Person/People to describe people of Chinese descent. In saying that though, I was hoping for a much more thorough history than what was delivered.

69) Nimitz by E.B. Potter this is as the definitive biography of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Fleet Admiral and Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet in WWII. While certainly filled with his wartime service record given that the conflict formed a large part of his life, I was expecting a lot more personal stories about his life than just a detailed run down of his WWII record.

70) How Democracy Ends by David Runciman though short this is an analysis into the end of democracy as how we’ve always perceived it. In saying that though given the current political climate we are in it is hard to share the optimism he has about where we go from here.

@scifiJoan: You have to remember that Stoker wrote this in the 1890's, the late Victorian years. People at that time had no internet, movie theater, TV, or glam rock bands to compete with the written product. Were Stoker to have waited until 2020 to submit his work for publication, he would have received any number of "not quite what we're looking for" letters from all kinds of publishers. The book was slow, the diary format took a lot of the tension out of the confrontations - because, after all, the writer survived to record his or her thoughts - but people around the turn of that century ate it up. It didn't work for you - wouldn't work for most readers today - but the English and Americans of the day loved it.

@Crazy_Babe: re: "hard to share Runciman's optimism." We have to remember that the current political climate is not new. The elections of 1800 (Jefferson), 1828 (Jackson), 1860 (Lincoln), 1900 (McKinley), 1920 (Harding), 2000 (Bush), and others have all been quite challenging. This election is also quite challenging. I'm optimistic because no political cycle lasts forever. I just finished Max Hastings' Vietnam, which is a detailed account (down to the individual soldiers in the field for all sides) of what happened in that country. In 1975, the Communist north took over the nation and imposed a terribly oppressive regime on all the people. Today, despite still being Communist, private enterprise and private property is making a comeback, simply because the socialist system has failed and continues to fail. We as a nation will persevere.

Or not.

History is made up of the actions of individuals, but history has no compassion for individuals. Like the Stephen Crane poem:



All we can do is do the right thing and not lose hope in the doing of it.

Terry, it's interesting to see just how many changes have occurred over the years to the plot of Dracula when compared to the original publication. I was surprised by how many concepts (such as Dracula being seductive) I thought were cannon/original from the source material, actually were not.

I agree, readers at that time had different expectations. More elaborate description was appreciated due to lack of exposure to many of these ideas or places. While I haven't read "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", my husband found the endless descriptions of underwater creatures very dull. Yet at the time, even the idea of a submarine was unheard of. Another example, I've read "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells. The main theme of the book, 'he's invisible'. I'm reading along thinking, 'Okay. And what does he do?" But at that time, just the concept of a man becoming invisible was enough to sustain interest.

#50 Vox by Christina Dalcher


I love post-apocalyptic-dystopian stories so I was excited to read this. I wasn't impressed. It reminded me of poorer version of "Handmaid's Tale", a book I enjoyed. The characters were not likeable. The plot had some ridiculous turns and seemed to resolve itself way too neatly. Parts of it made no sense to me. I do not recommend this book.

Hi Terry I’ll freely admit to being a cynic, so while I agreed with his points that we will move past this, what I’ve witnessed has been no reflection of that. My father is from Vietnam so Hastings’ book was an eye opening experience for me because my father doesn’t really talk about it, my mother is from Taiwan and lived through the years of martial law under the KMT. Seeing how Taiwan has emerged from those years gives me hope that democratic ideals will persevere, but conversely I have the perspective that when Saigon fell my family lost everything and so my father carries a lot of resentment towards communism and the threat that mainland China poses for the ideals of democracy in Taiwan and at present Hong Kong so my perspective is shaped by this. This actually ends up being a nice segue to the next book on my reading list:

71) The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations by John McCain I’m very cynical when it comes to politicians and I adopt the view that they are all as bad as each other so when I decided to read this I was expecting a book that would be entirely self serving. I’m glad though that I was proven wrong. I may not agree with McCain on certain issues especially since I most definitely don’t have conservative views, but I can respect his service to his country and his dedication to protecting the freedoms of people everywhere. This is a man who was able developed lasting friendships with people on both sides of politics despite their disagreements on many issues something that the current crop of politicians today would do well to remember.

#51 The Last Wife by Karen Hamilton



Run of the mill thriller with unlikeable characters.

#52 Want by Lynn Steger Strong


From the description of this novel, I thought it would deal with the struggles a woman faces due to economic situations. As expected this woman was clearly depressed. Yet she despite all her circumstances (and her supposeded intelligence), she continued to make things worse, making one poor decisions after another.

72) Lost Horizon by James Hilton four people involved in a plane crash find themselves in the legendary realm of Shangri-La the utopian paradise nestled in the Himalayas. I was hoping this to be more adventurous than what was delivered so I was a little disappointed, but still enjoyable.

73) All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque as someone who has always been interested in military history, this book has sat on my shelf for a few years unread. The book echoes one of my favourite Wilfred Owen poems ‘Anthem For Doomed Youth’ as they both deal with the horrors of war and how they affect the individual. This is perhaps best summarised by its opening: ‘This books is intended neither as an accusation nor as a confession, but simply as an attempt to give an account of a generation that was destroyed by war - even those of it who survived the shelling.’

74) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K Rowling this is a reread. I’m not a huge fan of the series by any means, but this was more a means of escape from my usual reading of quite serious topics. This edition I read is the illustrated one, but designed for kindle-in-motion and so many of the pictures were animated which makes the experience all the more enjoyable especially if you have children. Sadly the others have yet to be done in this format as I imagine that process is rather long, but will look forward to seeing them when they do.

75) The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China by Dieter Kuhn this is the fourth book in the series on imperial China and the first written by a different author. Again for me while interesting, I was also hoping it was going to be a little more in-depth than what was delivered. This is great if you would like a quick overview, but certainly not what I expected.

76) The Troubled Empire:China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties by Timothy Brook the fifth book of the series which again didn't meet my expectations. This is will be fine if you want a quick overview of the period, but like the previous books I wanted something more detailed. Especially given that the author only gave the quickest of overviews on the downfall of the Ming and didn’t mention Koxinga a half Japanese-half Chinese Ming loyalist who was also part of the resistance against the Qing Dynasty

#53 Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult



I was surprised there was a PIcoult book I hadn't read. This was not one of her better works. I don't recommend it. The main character was unlikeable, the climax utterly ridiculous.