Historical Fictionistas discussion
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2023 - What Are You Reading?
Peggyzbooksnmusic wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Lab GirlI started this book today and I love it. It is a memoir but it is mostly about studying trees. It is fun and fascinating. I recommend it wholeheartedly"
I ..."
I have recommended it to a good friend and reading buddy. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know one way or the other.
Pippa wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Pippa wrote: "PattyMacDotComma wrote: "If John Boyne had invented all of this, people might say it's too far-fetched, but, in fact, Crippen is b...I haven't read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - I suspect it is a deeply challenging/upsetting read and, call me a coward, but I don't think I could cope with it."
The Boy is a wonderful, heart-breaking story about WW2, actually written for young adults. It is a great book for opening eyes and starting discussions.
His latest, All the Broken Places, is a follow-up many decades later about the boy's older sister. It is excellent, but you do need to know the boy's story first.
Be brave, Pippa!
Aussie author Garry Disher can make even a bad guy (and Wyatt IS a bad guy) a compelling protagonist. Paydirt is #2 in the series but would be a good read on its own. Clever plot and dodgy characters.
4★ My review of Paydirt
Gabriel García Márquez's work is always unusual and intriguing. His short story, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings is as thought-provoking as the title suggests. Worth a read. (He didn't win the Nobel Prize for nothing!)
4★ My review of A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings with a link to the story online
Pippa, I read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It is a good story but it does have to do with World War II Germany.
I am re reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens alongside the BBC serialisation on Sunday evenings. I’m not keen on the adaptation but will watch all of it before I finally decide.
I am enjoying Rhys Bowen's new book Where the Sky Begins
. Set in 1940 London and then moves to country side. Good Perspective on London bombings and then evacuees. Well written.
Cherry wrote: "I am re reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens alongside the BBC serialisation on Sunday evenings. I’m not keen on the adaptation but will watch all of it before I finally decide."Have you noticed on the BBC trailers how they say "From the writer of Peaky Blinders"? Every time I hear that it urks me: a certain Mr Charles Dickens had much more to do with it. Surely they mean "adapted by the writer of Peaky Blinders"? Very un-BBC!
I watched the whole adaptation on BBC of Great Expectations. I enjoyed it but don't think a Dickens purist would be happy with it.
I really enjoyed Kate Atkinson's
Shrines of Gaiety, set in London's 1920s nightclub scene, where high society and royalty rubbed shoulders with the city's underbelly.review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Very out of character for me...couldn't make up my mind what to read so stuck a pin in the TBR list
...proving a real page-turner ;-)
The Gifts: A Novel by Liz Hyder
An unusual historical fantasy. Won't work for everyone because of the length and the triggers, but if you are a lit fic + magical realism lover, do try this amazing book.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Carolyn wrote: "I really enjoyed Kate Atkinson's Shrines of Gaiety, set in London's 1920s nightclub scene, where high society and royalty rubbe..."That is a great review and the book is one I am looking forward to reading.
The Amazon Original Stories collection has been hit and miss for me. I was disappointed with The Days Before Us by Sejal Badani.
2.5~3★ My review of The Days Before Us
Just in time for his coronation comes King Charles, the attractive new addition to the Little People BIG DREAMS series by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara. I particularly liked the illustrations, many of which I've shared.
5★ My review of King Charles with illustrations
I am reading Murder in Mesopotamia
by Agatha Christie. Written in 1936, it is a Hercule Poirot series. It is set in present day Iraq. Very well written and paced. You can't go wrong with Agatha Christie.
I am reading Murder at Beacon Rock
by Alyssa Maxwell.Set in 1900 Newport, RI. I have always enjoyed this Gilded Age series. Ms. Maxwell has grown our main character, Emma, very well over the previous book. Look forward to the next book. Start with book one with this series you would be bit lost otherwise.
*note* I have no idea how to attach a photo to a comment (or a post, for all that matters). anyway .. I'm reading BABEL - I'm probably the last one on the internet to do so, but I 'm finally getting to this dark-academia-1800s-England-fantasy ... I mean, I'm all for it just for these few words!
Presently Reading an Amazing Canadian Autour's book " The Forgotten Home Child" Sad day in Canadian History for sure. Well written.https://genevievegraham.com/books/the...
I just read three more books in the "20 minutes" series by Daniel Hurst. They are soooo good. Short reads and under $2 on Amazon. But they must be read in order. I just finished #13
20 Minutes On the Road. The books have so many "hangers" it's hard to stop reading them.The first is
20 Minutes On The Tube
Gail wrote: "Presently Reading an Amazing Canadian Autour's book " The Forgotten Home Child" Sad day in Canadian History for sure. Well written.https://genevievegraham.com/books/the..."
This sounds like a book that is right in my sweet spot of reading. Thanks for the recommendation.
I always enjoy acclaimed Aussie author Jane Harper's books, and I was glad that Aaron Falk's last outing in Exiles was such a worthy finale. I still hope she might revisit him one day.
5★ My review of Exiles
Author Ursula K. Le Guin is well-known to Sci-Fi readers. This very very short story is a shocker! The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 
4★ My review of ...Omelas with a link to the story online
Sylvy wrote: "*note* I have no idea how to attach a photo to a comment (or a post, for all that matters). anyway .. I'm reading BABEL - I'm probably the last one on the internet to do so, but I 'm finally gettin..."I loved Babel! But many who read it as a fantasy were disappointed at the world building. It works better as magical realism. I hope you are enjoying it. :)
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Worked better for me as a comic drama than as a mystery. A fun though guessable read.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Another top Aussie author to add to my Tim Winton / Richard Flanagan shelf. I just read
Limberlost
by Robbie Arnott, and now I have to find Arnott's other books!
5★ My review of Limberlost
Acclaimed Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe is well-known in African literature for his novels and stories that include traditional tales.
Dead Men's Path
is one such very short story and is a delight.
5★ My review of Dead Men's Path with a link to the free story online. Enjoy!
I Just Finished My Five Star Reading Experience Based On Historical Facts Called "An American Beauty," By Shana Abe.My Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hope Always Rises by Kathie Giorgio
A soothing Christian fiction about a not-so-soothing topic - people who choose to kill themselves. Won't work for everyone, but if you like this genre, it's a touching book.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Karen wrote: "I Just Finished My Five Star Reading Experience Based On Historical Facts Called "An American Beauty," By Shana Abe.My Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
It sounds like an interesting book. Thanks for the review. I just put it on my wish list at the library.
Murder in the Scottish Hills by Lydia Travers is the second of this delightful historical cosy crime series.review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Rachel wrote: "Karen wrote: "I Just Finished My Five Star Reading Experience Based On Historical Facts Called "An American Beauty," By Shana Abe.My Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
It so..."
Likewise...sounds good and always on the hunt for the next great read ;-)
Historical cozyI finished City of Fortune
by Victoria Thompson. Set in 1919 New York City. Much of this book focuses around horse racing in the early 1900s and Emma's interesting family. Very good glimpse into that time period.
In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune
Loved this. The audiobook narrator elevates the experience even further.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Our Hideous Progeny is a brilliant riff on the Frankenstein story inspired by Mary Shelley's novel. It examines gender and opportunity in 1850s England, as well as offering a ripping yarn.My ***** review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Mr Hammond and the Poetic Apprentice is an interesting novel set early in the life of John Keats, when he was apprenticed to an apothecary and planning to attend medical school--before poetry won out.My *** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Secret Book of Flora Lea tells the story of two sisters, Hazel and Flora, who were sent out of London to live in the countryside during the blitz. They find themselves in Oxfordshire. Hazel, the older sister, comforts Flora by spinning tales of Whisperwood—a magic land all their own. Then Flora disappears. The book follows Hazel as an adult, haunted by the loss of her sister.My *** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Cargo From Neira, set in the Jacobean era, opens with the discovery of the body of a woman, a suicide, along a riverbank in deep, snowy winter. Unexpectedly, the woman is revived. She's clearly in fear for her life, but unwilling to tell her story.My **** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
In Memoriam is both heartbreaking and uplifting. It follows the lives of a group of British public (meaning private) school boys during WWI. There's immense privilege, unkindness, half-acknowledged affections, reconciliations, and the devastation of moving from imagining the glories of war to arriving at the front and witnessing one man after another die until it's one's own turn. At the heart of this novel are Gaunt and Ellsworth, close friends who have long been in love with each other.My ***** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality offers a rewarding read. The central character, botanist Saffron Everleigh, who is trying to make it in the man's world of university research in the 1920s, is feisty, keenly aware of her own intelligence, and has little patience for the sexist attitudes of her colleagues. There were a number of times in this novel when I wanted to high-five her for standing up for herself (though I don't know if people high-fived each other in the 1920s).My **** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Isolated Séance is a new entry in the riff category, the first volume in a series featuring one of Holmes' Baker Street Irregulars and a friend who have decided to become private detectives themselves. The Baker Street Irregular, now in his early 20s, is Tim Badger, who raised himself on the streets of London after his mother's disappearance. He's devoted to Holmes' process of deduction, but prone to acting on a whim and coming to conclusions without full information. Badger's partner is Ben Watson, a young Black man who has held a number of different jobs, his favorite being working as a chemist's assistant. These are characters I would willingly spend more time with.My **** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lone Women is nothing less than brilliant, a historical/horror novel that delivers readers a succession of surprises. Real surprises.My ***** review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sarah-Hope wrote: "Our Hideous Progeny is a brilliant riff on the Frankenstein story inspired by Mary Shelley's novel. It examines gender and opportunity in 185..."How could I not love a book with that title! My library apparently is going to order it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Rachel wrote: "Sarah-Hope wrote: "Our Hideous Progeny is a brilliant riff on the Frankenstein story inspired by Mary Shelley's novel. It examines gender and..."Looks really interesting - went to Amazon UK and it's for pre-order - as published on Thursday!
In This Moment by Gabrielle Meyer
An imaginative continuation to the Timeless series, but not as outstanding as the first book. But it's still worth a read.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Historical Fictionistas
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You're absolutely right, Patty -
I haven't read