Historical Fictionistas discussion
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Ancient History (Old Threads)
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What are you reading in 2021?
Chris wrote: "Just finished Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell. Excellent read if you like military history & a larger than life character."One of my favorite series!
Finished A Few Right Thinking Men #1 in the Rowland Sinclair historical mystery series by Sulari Gentill. Takes place in early 1930's Australia. Rated 5 stars and think this will turn out to be another great series.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just started reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller yesterday. I'm only about 4 chapters in but definitely enjoying it so far. I particularly like how her writing style is actually rather spare and yet still manages to vividly evoke the setting and characters.
Strange Bliss: Essential Stories is a collection of six of Katherine Mansfield's excellent, quirky short stories. People are just as selfish and awkward and silly today as they were when she was writing. 
Link to my review of Strange Bliss
Apples Never Fall is the latest from Aussie author Liane Moriarty. It's a family tree of tennis players, the kind of varied group of characters she's so well-known for. I wish I'd liked it better.
Link to my review of Apples Never Fall
This Tender Land – William Kent Krueger – 4****
Krueger references both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Homer’s The Odyssey in this epic adventure set in America’s upper Midwest during the Great Depression. Krueger is a marvelous storyteller, and he keeps the plot moving with a variety of incidents. The travelers show intelligence, resourcefulness, and tenacity. They are also children - immature and prone to misunderstanding or misinterpretation of information they gather. And, of course, they are vulnerable. I loved watching them grow, both individually and in their relationships, through these experiences.
My full review HERE
Book Concierge wrote: " This Tender Land
– William Kent Krueger – 4****
Krueger references both
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain and Homer’s
The Odyssey
i..."
Also loved this!
Finished A Decline in Prophets #2 Rowland Sinclair by Sulari Gentill. Historical mystery set in early 1930's. Rated 5 stars. Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Family is the first in Owen Mullen's new Glass Family series. Two crime families vie for supremacy, but don't think the Glass siblings are the good guys!
Link to my review of Family
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is a little gem that tells a big story. Excellent!
5★ Link to my review of Small Things Like These
Just finished The Gates of Rome, and plan to continue the series-would surely fit in the Fall Challenge for Roman Empire
Just started Emma Donoghue's The Pull of the Stars. It's about the 1918 flu epidemic. She started it before we ever heard of Covid-19, and it came out just as the pandemic started. Freaky!
Finished Yours Cheerfully #2 Emmy Lake historical fiction by A.J. Pearce set in 1940's London. 3.5 stars upgraded to 4 stars. Heartwarming series.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read so many good books this year. The nightingale, the four winds, the henna artist, the four winds.
I'm loving the Monkeewrench series by P.J. Tracy, thanks to all the readers who recommended them. Dead Run is chock-a-block with nail-biting thrills!
4.5★ Link to my Dead Run review
The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean is confronting, excellent suspense told by a captive Vietnamese 'bride'. I don't know how he did it, but she sounds real!
4.5★ Link to my review of Last Thing to Burn
That Churchill Woman – Stephanie Barron – 3***
A novel of Jennie Jerome, American heiress of the Gilded Age, who married Lord Randolph Churchill and was the mother of Winston Churchill. I find Jennie a fascinating character. Barron does a good job of bringing her to life and giving the reader a “modern” woman who was able to bend the rules of the restrictive society in which she found herself to achieve some measure of personal happiness and fulfillment. The novel has piqued my interest in her, and I’ll seek out a biography of Jennie.
My full review HERE
I am reading The Outcast Girls
by Alys Clare and quite enjoying it. Set in 1881 London. I like our two main characters Lily and Felix. The description of Girls boarding school is very good. Can't wait to see what Happens. Book 2 of the series.
Finished Miles Off Course #3 Rowland Sinclair by Sulari Gentill. Historical mystery set in early 1930's Australia. Love this series! Rated 5 stars.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've just enjoyed stories by a couple of excellent authors, and I've included download links for both.Switzerland by Nicole Krauss is about a thirteen-year-old American boardingschool girl in Switzerland who has her eyes opened by two exotic eighteen-year-olds.
4★ Link to my review of Switzerland~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've only just discovered Claire Keegan, so I quickly grabbed her story The Forester's Daughter. An Irish farmer woos a woman with tales of his fine home, but when she sees his uncared for old house, she tells some tales of her own.
4★ Link to my review of The Forester's Daughter
I started Sense and Sensibility yesterday. It took a little while to get going, but I'm invested now and enjoying it!
Thought I had read Philippa Gregory's whole oeuvre, then realized I never read The Virgin's Lover. So I'm reading that now.
A History of Loneliness – John Boyne – 5*****
Against the backdrop of the priest pedophile scandal, Father Odran Yates narrates his life story, from early childhood to his time in seminary to his long career as a priest and the final conflict that forces him to examine his part in the scandal. Boyne’s writing is marvelous. His characters are complex. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time.
My full review HERE
Finished The Hollywood Spy #10 Maggie Hope historical mystery by Susan Elia MacNeal. Rated 3 stars. The first half dragged but things picked up in the second half.Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Maybe I shouldn't have read this one on its own, but Us Against You (Beartown #2) by Fredrik Backman was available. Way too preachy for me. Sorry to all the fans.
3.5★ Link to my review of Us Against You
Hans Christian Andersen is depicted as a dreamy, imaginative boy by Maxine Lee-Mackie in this colourful addition to the little people BIG DREAMS series by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara. Such fun to be reminded of his world-famous stories.Hans Christian Andersen 5★ Link to my review of Hans Christian Andersen with several illustrations
Catch Us The Foxes by Aussie author Nicola West is a twisty, complicated thriller with a good premise and great atmosphere. It eventually got too weird for me.
2.5~3★ Link to my Catch Us The Foxes review
This very short story by renowned author Ian McEwan is clever and fun and FREE. You can read it or listen to him read My Purple Scented Novel online. Very entertaining and well worth a few minutes.
4★ Link to my review of My Purple Scented Novel with a link to the story online.
A Well-Behaved Woman – Therese Anne Fowler – 3.5***
The subtitle is all the synopsis you need: A Novel of the Vanderbilts. I thought Fowler did a great job of bringing this fascinating woman to life. Alva Smith Vanderbilt was no shrinking violet; she was a Steel Magnolia - intelligent, cagey, and fiercely independent. Faced with a betrayal, she moved forward with a scandalous strategy. It was a courageous move, but she was determined. Among the causes she championed was suffrage for all women.
My full review HERE
I just finished a wonderful book. Mother R.: Eleanor Roosevelt's Untold Story
by Elliot Roosevet. The biography is authored by her son Elliot. The book takes place after FDR's death in April 1945 until her death in 1962. Fascinating story on how she help shape the United Natations. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading about Eleanor Roosevelt.
Reading A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Game Helped Win World War II. Non-fiction about WWII, but reads like a novel. Tells the story of the "Wrens," Britain's Womens Royal Naval Service. By playing war games, they helped the British Navy to predict and prevent attacks by U-Boats.
Finished Death Wears a Mask #2 Amory Ames historical mystery set in 1930's England by Ashley Weaver. Rated 3 stars. I enjoyed the witty dialogue and will read more in this series when I'm in the mood for a fun read.
Moonflower Murders – Anthony Horowitz – 4****
Two books, and three mysteries, in one novel! Susan Ryeland is a retired editor and the secret to solving the “current” crime lies in a book she edited, which features detective Atticus Pünd. I enjoyed the difference in style between the two storylines and was equally immersed in each mystery. I like both Susan and Pünd; both are meticulous, thorough and deliberate in analyzing the evidence they uncover. And I love the way that Horowitz plays with words. I haven’t read book one – Magpie Murders – yet, but I will! And I look forward to future installments.
My full review HERE
Race Cars: A children's book about white privilege is an illustrated story of two cars, one black and one white, who are best friends. The "committee" keeps making the black car's race longer! 
4★ Link to my review of Race Cars with several pictures.
The thriller Falling, by T.J. Newman, has attracted a lot of fans, and I can see why. It would make a terrific movie or mini-series. A terrible dilemma, lots of tension, and some good characters. 
3.5★ Link to my review of Falling
I was delighed to enjoy watching Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club solve the mystery of The Man Who Died Twice. It's every bit as good as their first outing, I reckon!
5★ Link to my Man Who Died Twice review
Finished The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear
My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/4222792765
An Irish Country Christmas – Patrick Taylor – 3.5*** (rounded up)
Book three in in the charming and popular story of 1960s country GP, Barry Laverty, M.B., his partner / mentor Doctor Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly, and the people of Ballybucklebo. It’s Christmas and love is in the air. I came late to this party, but I’m glad I finally arrived, and now it seems that I may never leave. The books are charming and entertaining and just plain fun to read.
My full review HERE
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Historical Fictionistas
Books mentioned in this topic
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Her Hidden Genius (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Louisa May Alcott (other topics)Marie Benedict (other topics)
Rafael Sabatini (other topics)
C.S. Harris (other topics)
Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara (other topics)
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Lions – Bonnie Nadzam – 3.5***
I can always rely on my F2F book club friend to recommend interesting, “odd” books! Nadzam’s work reminds me of classic fables with tragic heroes, especially opening with a mysterious stranger and his little dog. Her characters are familiar and yet distant. I recognize some of their emotions and motivations: loyalty, inertia, longing, adventure, boredom, duty, wonder, love.
My full review HERE