canonicalkumquat
a small and sometimes bitter
Member
Posts: 214
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« Reply #45 on: September 21, 2009, 09:47:36 PM » |
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Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book
I enthusiastically second this recommendation! With this one, you get interesting (and often quite beautiful) depictions of everyday life in multiple times/places. Honestly, reading this book, it seemed to me like she'd done more research for it than some people who write monographs in my field... |
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"Börk Börk Börk!" -Dr. Swedish Chef, Ph.D.
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prof_smartypants
Treasure-pilferin' and grog-swillin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,077
Kiss the baby!
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« Reply #46 on: September 21, 2009, 10:13:29 PM » |
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I loved People of the Book as well. I really want to read March, too.
I'm halfway through Slammerkin right now. So far - pretty good, but I can't rave yet. Hubby read it first, and thought it was great. However, I think it had more to do with the gratuitous sex than anything of either historical or literary merit.
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Welcome to college, motherf*cker.
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jossi66
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« Reply #47 on: September 22, 2009, 02:17:52 PM » |
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Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders is marvelous. It's also about the plague, this time in the 17th century, and a village that chooses to sequester itself in an attempt to contain the contagion. I second this one heartily! Read it about three years ago and still can't get some of the images out of my head. |
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llanfair
Village idiot and Very
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 23,199
Whither Canada?
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« Reply #48 on: September 22, 2009, 02:21:33 PM » |
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Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders is marvelous. It's also about the plague, this time in the 17th century, and a village that chooses to sequester itself in an attempt to contain the contagion. I second this one heartily! Read it about three years ago and still can't get some of the images out of my head. That sounds great - I'll look for it. That reminds me: Havoc In Its Third Year by Ronan Bennett is a dandy read. Pulled me right into 17th century England. |
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This place stinks like a pair of armoured trousers after the Hundred Years' War.
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airball
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« Reply #49 on: September 23, 2009, 03:33:36 PM » |
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Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders is marvelous. It's also about the plague, this time in the 17th century, and a village that chooses to sequester itself in an attempt to contain the contagion. I second this one heartily! Read it about three years ago and still can't get some of the images out of my head. Ack, no! I threw this book across the room. The portrayal of the godly (puritans) was soooo stereotypical and lacking in nuance. Perhaps it changed radically in later chapters, but she seemed to have no interest in understanding her godly characters. Then again, I love puritans. |
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History would kick your ass around the Bodleian Library, and then it would smile and laugh.
-scheherazade
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aandsdean
I feel affirmed that I'm truly a 6,000+ post
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 6,641
Positively impactful on stakeholder synergies
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« Reply #50 on: September 23, 2009, 08:16:17 PM » |
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Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders is marvelous. It's also about the plague, this time in the 17th century, and a village that chooses to sequester itself in an attempt to contain the contagion. I second this one heartily! Read it about three years ago and still can't get some of the images out of my head. Ack, no! I threw this book across the room. The portrayal of the godly (puritans) was soooo stereotypical and lacking in nuance. Perhaps it changed radically in later chapters, but she seemed to have no interest in understanding her godly characters. Then again, I love puritans. I dislike puritans. That may be the difference. Charles I may have been a jerk, but he was MY jerk. I dislike late c17 Whigs as well. They remind me much too much of people like Newt Gingrich. In fact, Newt would play the First Earl of Shaftesbury if I were casting my Restoration movie right now. |
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« Last Edit: September 23, 2009, 08:17:20 PM by aandsdean »
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Wearing a black armband for Lucy
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llanfair
Village idiot and Very
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 23,199
Whither Canada?
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« Reply #51 on: September 24, 2009, 05:54:59 PM » |
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Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders is marvelous. It's also about the plague, this time in the 17th century, and a village that chooses to sequester itself in an attempt to contain the contagion. I second this one heartily! Read it about three years ago and still can't get some of the images out of my head. Ack, no! I threw this book across the room. The portrayal of the godly (puritans) was soooo stereotypical and lacking in nuance. Perhaps it changed radically in later chapters, but she seemed to have no interest in understanding her godly characters. Then again, I love puritans. I dislike puritans. That may be the difference. Charles I may have been a jerk, but he was MY jerk. I dislike late c17 Whigs as well. They remind me much too much of people like Newt Gingrich. In fact, Newt would play the First Earl of Shaftesbury if I were casting my Restoration movie right now. Perfect choice, AandSDean. I second the motion. |
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This place stinks like a pair of armoured trousers after the Hundred Years' War.
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juvenal
Cynical Sexagenarian
Senior member
Posts: 333
Juvenal
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« Reply #52 on: September 27, 2009, 10:39:54 AM » |
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Iain Pears', An Instance of the Fingerpost, was recommended twice, above; his most recent book, Stone's Fall, is also historical, running backwards, narrator by narrator, to Venice in the 1860s. Most amazon.com reviewers liked it: http://www.amazon.com/Stones-Fall-Novel-Iain-Pears/dp/0385522843/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254065857&sr=8-1I did, too. |
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O saeculum, O scientia! Juvat vivere!
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profxfiles
I Am Not, Nor Have I Ever Been A Card-Carrying
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 1,283
I am the grading Jedi
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« Reply #53 on: September 27, 2009, 02:01:04 PM » |
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This is nothing more than a bookmark so I can find all of these awesome suggestions when I finally have some time to read!
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"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn't have to produce anything... You've never been out of the university. You don't know what it's like out there! I've worked in the private sector...they expect results."
--Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters
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prof_smartypants
Treasure-pilferin' and grog-swillin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 7,077
Kiss the baby!
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« Reply #54 on: October 31, 2009, 07:21:30 PM » |
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I bought and read Slammerkin based on the recommendations on this thread and it was really good. I thought it was so-so until the last 50 pages or so. Then, I decided it was awesome. So thanks, all!
I also just finished Striver's Row by Kevin Baker - not quite as good as Dreamland, but very good.
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Welcome to college, motherf*cker.
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canonicalkumquat
a small and sometimes bitter
Member
Posts: 214
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« Reply #55 on: November 09, 2009, 07:41:14 PM » |
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I just finished Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger, and I'd like to recommend it. It is a supernatural, upstairs/downstairs, collapse-of-the-British-empire, character-driven novel. A good, if disturbing and unsettling, read.
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"Börk Börk Börk!" -Dr. Swedish Chef, Ph.D.
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francishamit
Junior member
Posts: 80
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« Reply #56 on: November 23, 2009, 04:12:39 AM » |
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Well, let me try this again. I suggest that, if you like Civil War historical fiction, you read Carol Buchanan's excellent novel "God's Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana" which won the 2009 Spur Award for Best First Novel. Available only from Amazon.com because BookSurge is her printer. Just a suggestion. I've read it twice and gave it a five star review. FYI, I've never met Carol Buchanan and have never lived in Montana. I just like the book.
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