Engrossing Tomes and Five Historical Fiction Books
Plus library Zoom backgrounds, helping authors in need, and the celebrity memoir everybody's reading
Hi, readers!
This week I’ve enjoyed a lot of great book discussions. I’ve gotten to chat about Pride and Prejudice, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Night Circus with my students, and Chelsey and I started planning the summer line-up for Novel Pairings. Connecting with people through books and having exciting plans to look forward to has definitely improved my mood!
I’ve also been reading some really lovely and fun books recently and thanks to some help from my favorite independent bookstores, I have a lot of good reading to look forward to next.
This week I read…
The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende. This was my first time finishing an Allende book (years ago my book club read Inez of my Soul but I think I got busy and set it down) and I loved it so very much. This book unfolds over many decades and follows three generations of the Trueba family. The story is vast and the characters are intricate, but Allende manages to make the novel incredibly easy to follow. I read this books slowly—one chapter a day over the course of two weeks—and it felt like having a friend telling me the story of their life. I’m hesitant to say too much because I do think the joy of the book is letting the plot unfold for you (and, in my opinion, the back cover gives away way too much), but if you love multigenerational family sagas, historical fiction, and just a touch of magic, you need to pick up this book. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Open Book by Jessica Simpson. While I wouldn’t call myself a Jessica Simpson fan, but I already knew quite a bit about her life from pop culture osmosis. Still, I found this memoir surprising, enjoyable, and thoughtful. Simpson is charming and funny, and she strikes the perfect balance between an earnest and self-deprecating tone. I enjoyed how honest she is about her faith and her experience with addiction, without being preachy. Plus the book is also really dishy. It’s just fascinating to peak behind the curtain of her first famous marriage and her Hollywood dating life. If you do choose to read this book, I highly recommend listening to it on audio, because she reads it herself. (You can still get three Libro.fm audiobooks for the price of one through this link!). ⭐⭐⭐1/2
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. While I haven’t read Kidd’s nonfiction, I knew from an author talk I once attended that she is deeply interested in mysticism and the sacred feminine. So I was extremely interested to see what she was going to do with the premise of her new book: a novel told from the perspective of Jesus’s wife, Ana. Kidd (very smartly) invented this character rather than using a female figure from the gospels, and Ana’s story is lovely and profound. Kidd’s project is not to prove that the historical Jesus was married, instead she’s interested in asking what kind of woman might have been married to this spiritual teacher and what her life might have been like. When I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. Kidd made me immediately invested in Ana’s life and feelings and perspective. And I loved what the book explores about women’s spirituality and female companionship. While it lagged a bit for me in the middle, I thought Kidd really stuck the landing and this will be a book I think about for a long while. (Out Tuesday, April 21) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Now I’m reading…
Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby. I started reading my paper copy of Irby’s newest essay collection and then switched to the audio version. That was the right move. Now I walk around the house doing chores and snorting with laughter while I listen.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Several of my students have selected this for their book club reads as part of our Women in Literature curriculum, so I’m rereading it. I’m alternating between my paper book and the Jim Dale narrated audio version, and it’s just as wonderfully magical as I remember.
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Five Non-World War II Historical Fiction Books
As I was logging my March reading, I noticed that I’ve been reading a lot of historical fiction recently. That surprised me, because after binging on a few too many books about WW2 a couple years ago, I thought I was completely burnt out on the whole genre. I’m still wary of WW2 historical fiction, but I seem to have found my way back to the genre at large.
If you’re looking for some great fiction that focuses on other historical time periods, both The House of the Spirits and The Book of Longings would be excellent choices. And here are five other favorites:
The Familiars by Stacey Halls. For a beautiful story of friendship and resilience set during the 1612 witch trials in Lancaster, England.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. For a twisty gothic tale of deception set in Victorian London.
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng. For a strong, yet vulnerable female protagonist and a gorgeous depiction of post World War II Malaysia.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. For a century-spanning examination of the long-term impact of colonialism and American slavery that manages to inspire hope.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. For a celebration of the feminine spirit and a reimagined biblical story that puts the women first.
Bookish Reading
These aren’t recent lists, but Book Riot’s list of 50 great historical fiction reads and Epic Reads’ 15 works of YA fiction that make history fun are too good not to include.
I love this profile of Beezus and Ramona author Beverly Cleary, who celebrated her 104th birthday on April 12th!
Many authors are struggling right now due to loss of income from speaking engagements. We Need Diverse Books is helping by launching a fund to support children’s book authors from diverse backgrounds.
Excuse me while I add every single title from Samantha Ibry’s 10 Favorite Books List to my own TBR.
Let five authors offer the perfect book and wine pairings for a cozy night in.
I’m going to be ordering quite a few books from this Books Are Magic list featuring new and upcoming releases by Asian and Asian American authors.
Looking for a new isolated place to wait out this quarantine? Shel Silverstein is selling his houseboat and it looks like it came straight out of one of his poems.
The New York Times has a clickable roundup of pandemic booklists.
If you didn’t already know, Netflix has a great collection of Jeopardy episodes, which I find incredibly soothing viewing right now. So I’m even more excited than I otherwise would be to hear the news of Alex Trebec’s forthcoming memoir, out this July.
Library Journal’s downloadable Zoom backgrounds will let you live (virtually) in the library of your dreams.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri won the Aspen Words Literary Prize! Read more about the book and the prize here.
If you’re looking for poetry recommendations, be sure to listen to the latest bonus episode of Novel Pairings. And you can shop all the poetry Chelsey and I love right here.
The Hard Sell: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead is a genius and 2019’s The Nickel Boys was the best book I read last year. The novel is based on a real Jim Crow era reform school and follows two teenage boys sentenced to time at The Nickel Academy. Elwood is a young man who is deeply moved by Martin Luther King Jr. and decides he wants to make his own life mean something. But when ends up in the wrong place and the wrong time, he unjustly finds himself sentenced to a term at Nickel. Turner becomes Elwood’s closest friend at the reform school when he decides to teach him Nickel’s ways so Elwood can “graduate” and get out as quickly as possible. The boys’ friendship, which burgeons amidst terrible hardship, is one of my favorite aspects of this book.
I also really appreciated reading about a subject and time period that isn’t featured as prominently in American fiction or nonfiction. Whitehead brings this time period to life, which isn’t always pleasant, but is powerful, important, and true. And while there is a lot of darkness in this novel, I didn’t find it bleak (some readers disagree with me here). While the novel basically condemns society at large, the story still celebrates the triumph and resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of friendship.
Find The Nickel Boys on Bookshop.org
Readers, I hope this newsletter has introduced you to a work of historical fiction that you’ll love as much as I do. If you decide to read any of my recommendations, feel free to share and tag @fictionmatters so I can hear your thoughts.
Stay safe and happy reading,
Sara