Posts tagged ‘historical fiction’

Why do we read books that scare us?

As Halloween approached, I’ve been thinking about scary books and why we read them. With all the horror in the news, my work colleagues have been…

Review of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I read Pachinko for a book club and also for my Reading All Around the World challenge. This book was also listed frequently as one of…

Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore

This is my first novel by Helen Dunmore, a well-known British author of historical fiction. This was, in fact, her final book, as she died this…

The Good People by Hannah Kent

This is Hannah Kent’s second book, after her superb Burial Rites, which was about an 1829 true crime in Iceland. Like Burial Rites, this one is…

Best Books of Summer Part Two: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

This was a powerful book about the impacts of slavery, and for me it was another book of summer that completely lived up to the hype. …

Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart

I love this series, which is about a real-life woman in the 1910’s who was one of the first female deputy sheriffs. Amy Stewart builds the…

Reading Diversely: Around the World Reads

This year, I’m focusing on reading more diverse books, which includes reading books about other countries. And so far this year I’ve made a good effort. Of…

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

Kostova’s new novel is reminiscent of The Historian, in that it’s a big, sweeping tale that will take the reader all over modern-day Eastern Europe. It’s…

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

I loved everything about this book, from its understated tone to its slowly developing relationship between a retired Civil War Captain and a young girl who…