Historical Fictionistas discussion

Read The illustrated Dictionary of southern African Plant Names by Hugh Clark

I'm reading The Illustrated Dictionary of Southern African Plant Names by Hugh Clarke and Michael Charters, edited by Eugene Moll.

This remarkable book lists alphabetically nearly 5000 genera of southern African plants. There are beautiful professional photographs highlighting diagnostic features and explanations of the derivation of the name. For those named after a person there is a brief explanation of their relevance as well as a portrait. These biographies provide an interesting history of plant science and botanical exploration. This book is a unique contribution of interest to all who question the meaning of scientific names of plants. 5 stars for me.

Finished Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

My Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/2130053299

Dem wrote: "Finished Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

My Review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/2130053299"

This is one of my favorite books :)

Finished Allende's The Japanese Lover. 5-star read! My review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Saint Monkey - Jacinda Townsend – 3***
In the late 1950s, two friends in a small town in Kentucky share big dreams. But their paths diverge and the lose one another in the process of growing up. This debut novel shows that Townsend is a talented writer, and some of the scenes she paints are very vivid, but the novel never really captured my attention. Still, I would read another book by her.
LINK to my review

Michele wrote: "C.C.Webb wrote: "Also not sure how to add links, or I totally would. "

If you're on the phone, you can't (alas!). If you're on a computer, click the "add book/author" link right above the box wher..."

Oh neat, thanks!

Just about finished The Dark Domain, so have also started Three Men in a Boat which is hilarious :)

Nobody really knows how The Songlines work, but they may cover the whole world - fascinating stuff. This is English author and traveller Bruce Chatwin's entertaining novel about Australian Aboriginal "maps".
4.5★ Link to my review

C.C.Webb wrote: "Michele wrote: "C.C.Webb wrote: "Also not sure how to add links, or I totally would. "

If you're on the phone, you can't (alas!). If you're on a computer, click the "add book/author" link right ab..."

Not so. You can't add links from your phone on the mobile app, but you can add them from your phone as long as you use the website. Given the differences in features between the two, I'm one of a small army that uses our phones for GR 85% of the time and the app 0%.

Halfway through! Love it.

I only have about an hour and half left of this month's pick The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra and hoping to finish it tonight. I am also listening to Miller's Valley in my car while driving to and from work.

Finished Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man. Excellent!

Starting Captain From Castile.

I'm reading: Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey

Lamb In His Bosom - Caroline Miller – 5*****
This 1934 Pulitzer winner deals with a backwoods existence in rural Georgia, following the Carver / Smith families from 1832 until shortly after the Civil War. They battle weather, wild animals, disease, and injuries. And, when called, the men leave to fight a war they never wanted, and have no stake in. Descriptions so vivid you can feel the heat, smell the blood, hear the birds or the wail of panthers. It is a simple story, of simple people, but their lives are anything but simple.
LINK to my review

I'm starting Before We were yours by [Author:Lisa Wingate] I was fortunate to win this in a publisher giveaway. It looks very interesting.

The multi-generational structure my favorite, no matter what the period.

Finished Lilli de Jong

My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/1990219708

Margaret wrote: "I'm starting Before We were yours by [Author:Lisa Wingate] I was fortunate to win this in a publisher giveaway. It looks very interesting."

I won my copy too. :)

A Casualty of War by Charles Todd, the latest in the Bess Crawford series...so far so good

I am done with" Salem Falls. I finished "Stay With Me" and starting
"The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

Reading Kindle Scout books - for those of you who don't know, Kindle Scout is a forum for aspiring authors to attempt to publish themselves, and the "winners" get Amazon's help to publish their works. It's an easy way to get free copies of books, but, however, one must wade through a lot of poor writing to find good stories.


I'm sorry to say that the above book probably fell into the above category of poor writing, especially from the angle of historical accuracy. It's set in 1949, but most of the story is spent in praise of lesbianism, which feels much more like 2017. It does generate a tiny spark of interest in the fate of The Lost Spy, despite its general feel of a poorly researched and implausible adventure in post-war Europe.

Bought and read while on vacation in Russia history fiction novels such as A Hero of Our Time and Hadji Murad both set in 19th century Russia.

I read also One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich set in 1950's Siberian Gulag in Russia. I read all 3 books, rated them respectively 4 stars, 5 stars, and again 5 stars. I reviewed each of them.

Still working on Three Men in a Boat, but took time out to read Tunnel in the Sky (utterly classic golden-age sci fi) and Anya's Ghost (YA graphic novel/ghost story). Normally graphic novels and I don't get on, but this one is a delight.

Falling by Jane Green

I just started Last Woman Hanged by Caroline Overington, which looks at the trials of Louisa Collins for killing her two husbands by supposed arsenic poisoning (both within a little over a year). As the title suggests, she was the last woman to be hanged in New South Wales in 1889.

Blood, Bones and Butter - Gabrielle Hamilton – 3***
Subtitle: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef. I’ll say this for Hamilton – she can definitely write. I was fascinated by the stories of her upbringing. I laughed, cheered and gasped at the anecdotes of her years working for the big catering companies, the summer camp and her own restaurant. But she kind of lost me when she got to her marriage. But what really shines in this memoir is her relationship with food. I relished in the descriptions of both simple and elegantly complicated meals.
LINK to my review

The Glamorous Dead Reading an ARC of The Glamorous Dead

3/4 finished The Moor's Account. it well deserved the honours it received.
next up Before We Were Yours, based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country

Flight of the Sparrow. Trying to read Chancey Family Ties, but can't get into it.
Bullwhip Days: Slaves Remember and Narratives of the Underground Railroad for research.

Book Concierge wrote: ""

That looks fun!

Gerda Saunders is remembering as fast as she can in Memory's Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia, an interesting combination of memoir and dementia journal.
4★ https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman – 3***
This book combines the two original graphic novels: Maus I and Maus II. In general, I am not a great fan of graphic novels. I usually find the artwork too dark and the text too minimal and simplistic. That’s not the case for this work. I thought it was easily accessible and a way to introduce the subject to an audience that might not read a traditional book. However, while I appreciate it, and understand why it has garnered such acclaim, it just didn’t work very well for me.
LINK to my review

Wendell Berry offers a taste of the good ol' (and not so good ol') days in Jayber Crow, a favourite of many readers.
4.5★ Link to my review

Just finished If The Creek Don't Rise
My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/2104696184

Dreams of Joy - Lisa See – 3***
This is the sequel to Shanghai Girls, but this book really focuses on China and the results of the cultural revolution. The novel gives the reader an horrific look at the devastating results of Mao’s Great Leap Forward. I was already familiar with this episode in China’s recent history, but watching it unfold through these characters made is somehow “personal” and gave it much more impact. My main problem with the book was the central character: Joy. She was so immature and naïve … I just wanted to throttle her.
LINK to my review

Finished Ghosts of the Ostfront byDan Carlin

My review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/2136529490

I finished "The Happiness Project" and starting "Perfect Chemistry" by Simone Eckles

I'm reading between shades of grey by Ruta Sepetys

Loved Aussie author Michael Robotham's debut novel, The Suspect, (#1 in The Joe O'Loughlin Series), which was written 13 years ago, so I've got some catching up to do!
5★ Link to my review

I just finished The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet - my first read set in the 12th century, a time period I knew almost nothing about and found fascinating!

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Listening to The Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's a medieval crime novel.

Reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

I read L'Aliéniste, which is set in a provincial town of Brazil and was first published in 1881.

It was contemporary when written ... but this IS October ...


Dracula - Bram Stoker – 5*****
If you’ve seen any of the movies, you know the basic plot, but the original novel is so much more! To begin there is the typical Victorian theme of strong men coming to the rescue of pure damsel in distress. However, Stoker turns the tables a bit when he gives Mina the intelligence, foresight and courage to fight the evil forces in her own way. The novel is wonderfully atmospheric; time and again Stoker puts the reader smack dab in the middle of the scenes.
LINK to my review

Alice wrote: "I just finished The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet - my first read set in the 12th century, a time period I knew almost nothing about and f..."

Try Between Two Fires -- highly recommended :)

Finished Passionate Minds by David Bodanis. An educational read about the intellectual sparkle and passion between Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet. 4 stars.

My review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Approximately forty pages into Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe So far, it's equally exhausting and exhilarating!

D.B. wrote: "
Approximately forty pages into Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe So far, it's equally exhausting and exhilarating!"

I read this in high school (my mother and my aunt were Thomas Wolfe fans). It has remained one of my favorite books for 45+ years. I wish I could find the quote by Maxwell Perkins where he said something about Thomas Wolfe using multiple adjectives when would have been sufficient. But, to my mind, each adjective added just a little more to the overall "picture" Wolfe was going for.

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old is a novel that reads like a real diary, but I believe Hendrik Groen is an alias. Old folks in the Netherlands may have slowed down but are still full of mischief as well as memories.
4★ Link to my review