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Tim, here is your new thread for 2012.

Our Format:

JANUARY

1. Winston S. Churchill
Finish date: March 2008
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review or a Few Words about book: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.

Note: I will delete required format post once you get started.

JANUARY

1. Charles Dickens
Finish date: January 2012
Genre: classic fiction
Rating: A
I enjoy almost anything Dickens writes. This book was marked by his usual inventiveness, humor and descriptive power. Dickens is a genius at creating unique and unforgettable characters. The combination of Mrs. Wilfer and Lavinia was Dickensian comedy at its best. I especially enjoyed reading while listening to the LibriVox recording by Mil Nicholson. She did a wonderful job of evoking the characters and their dialects, especially Mrs. Wilfer and Rogue Riderhood.

2. Trevin Wax
Finish date: January 2012
Genre: theology, spirituality
Rating: B+
A simple, clear, well-written book, designed to help Christians resist a variety of competitors for their spiritual allegiance. Helpful as an aid to self-reflection and self-examination.

That sounds like a good book to begin the year with. Sort of putting you on the right track.

FEBRUARY

3. Charlotte Brontë
Finish date: February 2012
Genre: classic fiction
Rating: A
Although I can see why Villette is less popular than Jane Eyre, I think it is equally a masterpiece. The writing is brilliant and the characters are beautifully developed. Lucy Snowe is a fascinating enigma. Her character probably reflects the complexity of Charlotte Bronte herself. I question the wisdom of putting as much French in an English novel as Bronte put in Villette, but there are older editions available through Google books that have appendices with translations.

4. Karl Barth
Finish date: February 2012
Genre: theology
Rating: B-
I am not a great fan of Barth's theology, but if you're looking for a summary, this is a good place to start. At times (at least for me) the prose of this English translation was virtually impenetrable.

Great adds Tim and good reviews. Thank you.

5. Barbara Demick
Finish date: February 2012
Rating: A-
A well-written and eye-opening account of life in North Korea, based on the testimony of several men and women who defected. Demick's picture of North Korean life is detailed and fine-grained. It reveals the misery being endured by those living under a repressive regime that is both backward and belligerent.

6. Frederika Macdonald
Finish date: February 2012
Rating: B+
This book, available on the web, provides insight into the personal life of Charlotte Bronte. It is especially helpful for those who want to understand her novel Villette. Some of Charlotte's letters to M. Heger, which came to light shortly before the book was written, are quoted and interpreted. The book includes pictures of the school in Brussels where Charlotte taught.

MARCH

7. Tullian Tchividjian
Finish date: March 2012
Rating: C-
This book won the Christianity Today 2012 book award for Christian living. I am having a hard time figuring out why. While there is a good deal of truth in the book and some paragraphs are moving, there is also some significant confusion about what theologians call "sanctification." And, as others have said, the book is extremely repetitious. In my opinion, the author needed and lacked a good editor.

8. Lyndall Gordon
Finish date: March 2012
Rating: B+
Lyndall Gordon has written a biography of Charlotte Bronte that includes penetrating and enlightening interpretations of her writings, including both juvenilia and mature works. Gordon shows that Bronte did indeed live a "passionate life," although she seldom expressed it outside of her writings. Having recently read Villette, I especially appreciated Gordon's insights into that fascinating novel.

APRIL

9. David Laskin
Finish date:April 2012
Rating: B+
This is a well-researched account of the terrible blizzard of 1888. It is difficult to read about the deaths of so many people, especially children. But this book certainly brings home the sometimes lethal conditions that the pioneers had to contend with. A side-story is Laskin's account of the bungling attempts of the Army Signal Corps to predict the weather. The book had an added interest for me because I live in the area that was affected by this "storm of storms."

Thank you Tim for following the required format.

JUNE

10. Anna Katharine Green
Finish date:June 2012
Rating:C
An early twentieth century murder mystery, this book is not great literature, but was reasonably entertaining. When the circumstances of the murder were revealed at the end, they seemed pretty improbable.

JULY

11. James M. McPherson
Finish date:July 2012
Rating:A
A well-written history of the events leading up to the Civil War and the war itself. The book is very comprehensive, providing the reader with and understanding of the political, social and economic and ideological factors that led up to the war and to some degree determined its outcome.

12. Herman Melville
Finish date:July 2012
Rating:A
A remarkable book, which weaves together all kinds of facts about whales and whaling while building toward a great final battle between man and beast. The great white whale appeared to me to symbolize a malevolent universe that ultimately crushes those who challenge it.

13. Ross Douthat
Finish date:July 2012
Rating:A-
A helpful survey and analysis of developments in theology and spirituality in America during the last sixty to seventy years. I think Douthat idealizes the state of the American church in the 1950s, but certainly he is correct in saying that the church had far more influence at that time than it does now. The chapters on prosperity theology, "the God within" and the "religion" of nationalism were all enlightening.

14. Gracia Burnham
Finish date:July 2012
Rating:B-
This book is a simple account of the nightmare of being taken hostage at gunpoint by terrorists and then held for a year. Adding to the terror was the fact that the Burnhams frequently found themselves in the middle of firefights between the terrorists and the military. While not great literature, the book has a certain authenticity. One wonders what Laura Hillenbrand would have made of the story.

15. Jerry Thompson
Finish date:July 2012
Rating:B
An interesting account of how scientists have come to realize that a huge earthquake and tsunami will eventually occur off the coast of the northwestern part of the United States and southwestern Canada. The book is a bit confusing chronologically in that it starts with an account of a quake in Mexico City, then moves back in time to a quake in Alaska and then forward from there. Most fascinating to me was the story of how scientists were able to pinpoint the day and hour more than three hundred years ago when the last Cascadia quake and tsunami took place.

AUGUST

16. Siddhartha Mukherjee
Finish date:August 2012
Rating:A-
A well-written history of the development of modern treatments for cancer, interwoven with the author's personal experiences with cancer patients and an account of cancer treatment throughout human history. I was expecting more about the science of cancer, similar to what can be found in Robert A. Weinberg, but that was not the author's purpose.

Tim, we are moving this thread to the archives. It will still be open.

The assisting moderators will be setting up new threads in this folder for 2013 and one will be set up for you.

Good job in 2012.