October KITastrophe: Pre-1900

Just setting up the thread. I have no suggestions, but wanted to get the thread set up.

October's theme for KITastrophe is Pre-1900

Please do share here what you'd like to read, as well as what you have read, after the fact.

Please also add yours to the wiki:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/KITastrophe#October:_Pre-1900

So, despite not having the thread set up, I did figure out what I was going to read. I have the audio out from the library already (though I have my current audio to finish first). I had to go away from my tbr, but I will be reading:

Krakatoa by Simon Winchester

I'm going to read Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History which I think took place in 1871 and it is billed as America's worst forest fire. I'm not sure that still holds true, but I have had this on my shelf for years. Time to get it out and read it. I have been able to get touchstones to work today.

Glad you got the thread up! My day went from busy to hectic without warning so I didn't get to post when I planned.

A few suggestions I was planning on posting:

The 1859 Carrington Event: massive solar storm - knocked out a lot of telegraph lines - started fires - if an event of this magnitude happened now it would be catastrophic.

The Lisbon Earthquake: 1780 - 90

Pompeii

The Great Chicago Fire

>4 SilverWolf28: No worries! Thank you for mentioning some suggestions!

For my bookclub I'm reading The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and the Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson about a serial killer who preyed particularly on young women who came to Chicago to work or to the 1893 Columbian Exhibition (i.e. world's fair) in Chicago.

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 / Simon Winchester
1.5 stars

Krakatoa is a volcano that erupted in 1883. I think it has erupted many(?) times since then.

Can’t tell much more about this, as I (unfortunately) listened to the audio. It was a male British voice (the author), so I recognized immediately that I was in trouble. I was bored. It didn’t hold my interest at all. It did seem to start with a lot of historical information about the area (Java, Sumatra). Beyond that, I think it took a long time to get to the volcano, but even then, I wasn’t really listening. For some reason, he went on about Islam at the end, though I’m unsure as to why. Despite listening to the entire thing, I’m having to read other summaries and reviews to find out what happened.

>7 LibraryCin: I read that one also and just wasn't impressed, either. Too many tangents, I think.

>8 Tess_W: It seems to almost be a love it or hate it. I've had both reactions over on GR.

Firestorm at Peshtigo by Denise Geiss was a non-fiction about a wild fire that took place in northern Wisconsin in 1871 killing between 1500-2500 people. It is America'a deadliest forest/wildfire. While some of the material was interesting, this book was mostly dry and a chore to finish. Had it not been for a challenge, I would have quit about 25% in. Not sure if it was because it was a paper book and I couldn't adjust the font or not! 219 pages 3 stars (barely