Reading Friends: If we like the same types of books, you are going to want to read The Women.
First of all, it is by an author we have read before and loved, Kristin Hannah!
I probably don’t need to say more than that but I will…
Continue readingCategory: History (Page 1 of 6)
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.
This is the mnemonic I use to remember the basic history of Henry VIII’s marriages more than 500 years ago.
For this year’s January hibernation, I found The King’s Pleasure A Novel of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. Apparently Wier has already written a book on each of the wives/queens perspectives, and this new book (published in 2023) is from the perspective of Henry.
Henry’s perspective, not surprisingly, does not make him more likeable.
I did thoroughly enjoy Weir’s story even though it contained too many political and religious details for my preference – I’m just here for the romance and marriages! It has me thinking back to the other interpretations of this story I have indulged in over the years.
Continue readingI love reading historical fiction set in places I’ve traveled!
Several years ago we stopped at Laguna Beach during an epic west coast summer road trip to Ashland (Oregon), the Redwoods, San Francisco, and Disneyland. As I obsessively planned this vacation, I kept adding stops, and I realized I didn’t want to miss out on seeing a beach! So I picked Laguna because it seemed artsy and low key.
Laguna Beach vacation -post from the archives!
Continue readingCuba is a recurring theme on this blog; I definitely look at any book with this country in the title or description!
Today I’m writing about a book that was different than anything I’ve read before even though I’ve circled around similar topics, genres, and locations.
Hotel Cuba by Aaron Hamburger
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I just finished a third enjoyable book about Jackie Kennedy, so I want to get all of these recommendations in the same place for any other readers who, like me, find her to be a timeless, fascinating topic.
Her composure and class were what I was always drawn to (in addition to my obsession with her husband). These three books focus on who she was without JFK because they take place before she met him, during courtship, and after his death.
Continue readingI’m bringing two book recommendations to you today – both of these are new releases off of my fall reading list.
One is a climate fiction (what happens when Florida is no longer sustainable) and the other is one of my favorite genres, WWII historical fiction, but a specific horror I had not read about before.
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TWO STATES & TWO BOOKS
I just returned from a summer road trip where – thanks to the S.S. Badger – my family visited Michigan and Wisconsin without driving through Chicago, and enjoyed long, sandy beaches and massive water parks during the same vacation. For me, vacation = reading so I can also recommend two books today while reminiscing about my fun travels.
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Again I have to thank the University of ILLINOIS alumni book club for introducing me to a book I loved.
Before it was The Glass Hotel by one of my now favorite authors!
My most recent book club read is A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende.
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‘THE PARIS BOOKSELLER’
As if this title wasn’t compelling enough – Paris + Books – this new historical fiction chronicles the history of the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company, a literary home to American expatriates and famous writers in the 1920s, focusing on the life of its founder Sylvia Beach.
The book was additionally fascinating to me because it tells how Beach published Ulysses when it was banned in America. (I wrote my master’s thesis on Ulysses.) Very rarely – maybe once before – can I recommend a modern work of historical fiction that is related to the excruciating, yet brilliant book that I studied in detail.
Continue readingI need to get caught up on my posts/recommendations so I’m sharing two books I enjoyed recently. Both books fall into my favorite historical fiction genre (mostly WWII), and both have an often-used plot of granddaughters chasing grandmother’s secrets across Europe. It has become obvious and funny to me how many variations of this plot keep coming up, and I keep reading (and enjoying) them! Oh well! Happy reading!
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