history
Where Soldiers Lie
I read a book intended for young people the other day and quite enjoyed it. Where Soldiers Lie by John Wilson (2006 YA WIL) is a fast-paced historical novel about the siege of Cawnpore (now called Kanpur) in India in 1857.
Sixteen year old Jack O’Hara has come from the Western Canadian wilderness to [...]
Portraits and Observations: The Essays of Truman Capote (2007)
I know, I know… you will wonder how good of an author Capote is - especially if you only know him as the “In Cold Blood” crime writer. But Capote’s works are so beautifully written you will wish the smaller vignettes were books in themselves. The book is divided between poetic travelogues, observations on well known [...]
The Secret Life of Bees
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Lily was four years old when her mother was killed under suspicious circumstances. Lily, now 14 years old, has been raised by T. Ray, a mean spirited, resentful father, and Rosaleen, a proud and outspoken African-American nanny.
Lily escapes T. Ray and saves Rosaleen, who has been arrested for stealing and is [...]
Poisonwood Bible
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Upon reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, I came away feeling that I had just gained a glimpse into one of the most profound and moving tales published in modern fiction. Written in a style that is both poetic and powerful, it chronicles three decades of a missionary family’s [...]
Work Songs
I realized the other day that I don’t hear anyone singing anymore. When I was a girl, my mother sang or hummed while she worked around the house, and my father liked to whistle. Nowadays, the only singing I hear is that piped in to almost every public place I frequent.
I thought Work Songs [...]
Outlander
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
This historical romance is set in the twentieth and eighteenth century in Scotland. The heroine, Claire Randall, who served as a nurse for the British Forces during WW II. She and her husband Frank are reunited after the war and spend their second honeymoon in Inverness, Scotland.
However, Claire’s idyllic interlude abruptly changes when [...]
Birds Without Wings
I finished reading Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres about three weeks ago, and unlike most fiction, this one is still resonating in my head.
The book is about a small village in Turkey, Eskibahce, from 1910 to 1920, and the various Turkish, Muslim, Jewish, Arab, Kurd, and Greek Christians who make up the population. [...]
