Have you heard about the NonFiction Book Club? Katie at Doing Dewey is hosting an online NONFICTION book club on her blog! The first month for this club was August, when we read Packing For Mars by Mary Roach. I didn’t do so well with that one. I started strong, but the truth is, I just finished it up — I’ll be doing a review soon. And I didn’t get around to the September book at all. Other books just kept getting in the way.
Here’s a synopsis from Goodreads.
Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that 'The Devil in the White City' is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor.
Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.
The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims.
I’m not actually sure how much I will participate. I’ve already read the book twice — yup, it’s that good! I want to take part in the discussions, and will if I can remember enough to participate. But I really don’t want to read the book a third time. I have too many books on my shelf I want to get to, including a couple by Erik Larson! I hope you will consider participating though, because the more that take part, the better the discussions -- and fun!
So hop on over to Doing Dewey and read all about the book club selection, then grab a copy of the book and jump in! You can find the kick-off post here.
I'm not good with book clubs, but this one has been on my TBR for a long time. I think I even have a copy here somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the event and jumping in on the discussion even though you've already read this! I'm enjoying it a lot and will definitely be reading more books by Larson :)
ReplyDelete