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Tag Archives: history

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Sprinting Through No Man’s Land by Adin Dobkin (2021) – BR00217 (2022) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
October 31 2022

Plot or Premise

The book provides an overview of the first Tour de France after WWI.

What I Liked

I was skeptical when I first chose the book. It showed up as a recommendation in a feed, but was I really going to read about the Tour de France? I am NOT a giant sports fan in general, and certainly not of cycling, nor even of the TdF, although I’ve always been impressed by the idea of it. A gruelling multi-day race, different terrain, and extensive coverage are truly, ahem, impressive. But would I like a book about the first one after WWI? In a word, yes.

For the actual racing part, I loved the story. Bits and pieces were pulled from reports of the day, old interviews with various people involved, etc. A historian’s dream to take something that might have been somewhat dry at times for secondary sources and turn it into a fun read. I could feel the struggle when a tire went flat, or the weather intervened, or they were racing on crappy surfaces. I admired the commitment to even compete given the timeframe, as much about recreating the old life from before the war as about creating a new normal. I enjoyed the contrast of what some of the regions had experienced even a few months previously.

What I Didn’t Like

I was surprised there wasn’t a bit more information about the previous TdF. As I said, I’m not a cycling fanatic, don’t know the whole history, and there was very little concrete detail on what happened before the war. It seems like a strange omission to talk about “what’s new after the war” without saying what was “old before the war”. Heck, even which version of the race it was by year!

However, as much as I enjoyed seeing what happened in various regions during the war, the overviews of the regions were often way too long and disconnected from the story. They were decent summaries but they read like a history textbook. Not exactly riveting and the main reason I’m docking it a star.

The Bottom Line

Good enough for even a non-cycling fan to enjoy

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged cycling, e-book, Good Reads, history, non-fiction, stand-alone, tour de france | Leave a reply

A Spy In The House by Y.S. Lee (2016) – BR00173 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
December 5 2019

An orphan in the mid-1800s is diverted from the gallows to a school for girls, gets her high school education, and graduates to become an operative for a special investigating Agency of women run by the heads of the school.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged action, adventure, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, Chapters, crime, detective, fiction, Good Reads, Google, historical, history, Kobo, Library Thing, mystery, new, Nook, novel, OPL, paperback, PolyWogg, prose, Quinn, Reading Challenge, romance, Savvy Reader, series, Young Adult | Leave a reply

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2006) – BR00152 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
April 2 2019

A young girl uses stolen books to distract herself from the reality of living in Nazi Germany in WWII while hiding a Jewish man in her basement.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, biography, book review, borrowed, Chapters, children, epic, fiction, Good Reads, Google, historical, history, Kobo, Library Thing, literary, Nook, novel, OPL, paperback, political, PolyWogg, prose, Reading Challenge, stand-alone, used, Young Adult | Leave a reply

The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton (2018) – BR00124 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
January 26 2019

A house in the country has some hidden secrets as do some of the people who visit the house throughout 150 years of history.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, Chapters, e-book, epic, fiction, Good Reads, Google, historical, history, Kobo, library, Library Thing, mystery, Nook, novel, OPL, paranormal, PolyWogg, prose, sleuth, stand-alone, time | Leave a reply

Big Box Reuse by Julia Christensen (2008) – BR00115 (2018) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 14 2018

This textbook-sized book includes ten case studies across America where former big box stores – Walmarts and Kmarts – have been put to new use after the store left or closed.

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Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, B&N, book review, business, Good Reads, hardcover, history, library, Library Thing, non-fiction, OPL, PolyWogg, prose, stand-alone, textbook, used | Leave a reply

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My Latest Posts

  • Gallery: 2006 – July – Trip to GaspéSeptember 27, 2023
    Trip to Gaspé:
  • Gallery: 2006 – July – Cottage weekendSeptember 27, 2023
    Cottage weekend
  • Gallery: 2006 – June – Race weekend, birthday and WakefieldSeptember 27, 2023
    Ottawa race weekend, meeting baby Laura, celebrating Paul’s birthday, and visiting Wakefield
  • Gallery: 2006 – May – Cottage weekendSeptember 27, 2023
    Opening week at the cottage
  • The Anderson Tapes by Lawrence Sanders (1970) – BR00231 (R2023) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸September 27, 2023
    Plot or Premise A robbery crew is planning to rip off an entire small apartment building of tenants in one night. What I Liked I had read a lot of Sanders’ novels before I got to this one, out of order. While it is the first of the Edward X. Delaney series, he is a … Read more

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