The book I’m recommending today was also enjoyed by my two friends who read more than me and both of my parents. So it’s a crowd-pleaser if you like the WWII historical fiction genre:
Category: History (Page 2 of 6)
My newest recommendation is WWII historical fiction set around a bookshop in London during the Blitz:
The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II
Continue readingI wanted to tell you about two new books I especially enjoyed:
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KRISTIN HANNAH DOES IT AGAIN!
Once again Kristin Hannah has written an engrossing book that takes us to a difficult place and time alongside a strong female character. This new book may actually be my favorite by her:
The Four Winds: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
The initial setting is Texas during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. But when this environment truly becomes unsafe for her family, Elsa takes her kids to California looking for a better life. But so is everyone else! As refugees pour into California, their life is not much better there with the rough conditions, low wages, and prejudices against them.
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I raced through this new book set before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake:
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meiessner
The location and topic were new to me within historical fiction. And I love San Francisco.
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I am making my way through my reading list for early 2021 and can already enthusiastically recommend this new historical fiction about the city of Savannah and the “Titanic of the South”:
Surviving Savannah
by Patti Callahan
by Patti CallahanIn a dual timeline, Callahan tells the story of the doomed steam ship Pulaski, which set sail from Savannah in 1838. Many of the city’s most prestigious families were on board to sail to Baltimore for the summer. But during the second night, a boiler exploded, and the ship sank. Many perished and those who did survive waited several days for rescue in the open sea or faced a harrowing journey in a lifeboat. Families were broken, assets (many took their gold, silver, china with them) were at the bottom of the ocean; this tragedy affected Savannah for years to come. But until reading this book, I knew nothing of this disaster!
The present day timeline follows Everly who is curating a museum’s exhibit on the disaster while recovering from her own personal tragedy.
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I will keep reading historical fiction about WWII as long as they keep pumping out books about it, even if all the titles start sounding the same!
My most recent read, however, was a pleasant change from novels set in Paris (not that there is anything wrong with being set in Paris I have enjoyed so many of those too!)
Once We Were Here: A Novel
by Christopher Cosmos
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by Christopher Cosmos
I just finished a really good book about Hemingway in Key West from the perspective of a fictional maid/girlfriend while he was married to Pauline:
Hemingway’s Girl
by Erika Robuck
by Erika RobuckThe story also covered the 1935 hurricane that I learned about recently in another book.
I love the setting of Key West and the other places Hemingway lived, Cuba, Paris, etc., and with his four wives, there is plenty of drama to inspire historical fiction. I LOVED the Paula McLain books, one is about Hadley and the other about Martha, and I got to wondering if I have missed any other good books based on these lives.
So, I put together this list of historical fiction inspired by Hemingway and his wives, some of these I have read and some I am putting on my list now.
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After four amazing days camping at Virginia Beach, which I already blogged about, we moved on to the “Historic Triangle” to immerse ourselves in American history (with masks and social distancing).
The Historic Triangle includes Jamestowne (first English settlement), Yorktown (site of Revolutionary war battle) and Colonial Williamsburg (a living history interpretation of the colonial town).
We stayed at Anvil Campground which was conveniently located to all of these sights (Yorktown was the farthest, at about 20 mins) and lots of restaurants etc. I’ll talk about the campground more at the end in case any readers are RVers as well.
I had no idea how to approach all of these activities and locations including BOTH Jamestowns with only two full days in the area, so I did my research and did my best to plan it out. It worked out OK (mostly)…so I will share our experiences and what I learned:
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I’m back with some vacation and book recommendations after traveling to the East Coast during early July.
Earlier this year, we purchased an RV (motorhome) for travel and fun. It has been one of the best decision we’ve made, and even during the pandemic we have still been comfortable traveling because we can keep to ourselves both on the road and at campsites.
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