Historical Fiction – Peaceful Reader

Best Books 2023

I read a lot of great books this year even though I didn’t make my GoodReads goal; maybe it was quality over quantity. I love going back through the year and revisiting and thinking of each story. I started the year off big with Demon Copperhead which turned out to be my absolute favorite of the year. I remember I started it right after Christmas because someone sent it to me as a gift. Barbara Kingsolver is one of my top 5 authors. What are the others you ask? Louise Erdrich, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Gabrielle Zevin, and Matt Haig. And this is just the shortlist.

1. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022) : This is a moving coming-of-age story told in the first person from childhood through young adulthood. Damon struggles with a teenage single mom, a terrible stepdad, and neighbors that are family once removed in the Southern Appalachia region.

2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (2020) : Beautifully written fantasy novel that begins in France, 1714 and ends in New York City, As a teenager Addie sits on the banks of the river near her home and wishes for a vastly different life to what women are expected to do. She doesn’t want to get married and live in the same village as her parents have done. She wants more and as she asks for it her life changes forever.

3. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2021) : TJR does her homework for the time period and creates characters that are so memorable that I feel like they are out there somewhere living beyond the pages of the book. This book tells the story of the young Riva family; Mick and June parents to Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit. Told through two different time periods so we understand both parents and the kids on the night of a memorable beach party thrown at Nina’s Malibu home. I loved that this book also brought in Carrie Soto.

4. Fellowship Point by Alice Elliot Dark (2022) : Our book club read this and I didn’t know what to expect except that the book was big! I enjoyed every page though and thought the writing was brilliant. I could see myself in the two main characters, Agnes and Polly, best friends and neighbors in their Maine summer homes. They’ve led very different lives but strive for the same things. I loved their friendship and conversations.

5. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014) : This one was on my radar when it first came out but I never picked it up. Then the show came out and my brother handed me the book and told me to read it. I did, was captivated by the story, and proceeded to hand it to my husband, and daughter. I thought the show was done well but of course, the book is always better.

6. The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (2023) : I’d heard some of the buzz about this but wasn’t pulled in by the whole romance-fantasy genre but then a librarian friend said she liked it and that opened up a portal for me. I picked it up from the library and read it straight through in just a few days. I am set to read the sequel here as soon as I finish Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez.

I’ve used Libby quite a bit to find books I can read in the middle of the night on my phone if I happen to be awake for a couple of hours. And Yours Truly was one that popped up. I hope you’ll pick up any of these books at your local library or bookstore. Let me know what you think. More favorites in a day or two.

Are we ready?

For school…

Yes and no. I’m excited to see all my student’s faces even if behind a mask, I will be happy to hear their voices, and read with them. I am anxious though about teachers and staff getting sick, and the busy crazy schedule for classes. So many regulations and I plan to follow but during our week day on Friday I walked out of the library twice without a mask bc I was busy and thinking about next steps not Covid-19. I’ve been careful this summer. I’ve worn a mask, limited my friend circle, had fun outdoor adventures, and I don’t want all that careful time to change. I need to come to grips with staying safe inside school with lots of little bodies. It’s going to be a year; unique and filled with joy. Plus my Groovy Girl will be gone having her own school adventure, also trying to stay safe and finding joy on her college campus.

I recently finished two fantastic fiction books and as usually I still have stacks and stacks to read still. I never get all the books read that I bring home. My stack this year took a hit because after George Floyd’s murder I swerved off my regular reading and picked up lots of current books that had BLM as a theme which means I’ve read a lot of powerful books this summer and these two are no exception.

From the Desk of Zoe Washington (2020) by Janae Marks: Zoe finds a letter from her birth father on her 12th birthday and she opens it. She’s never met him and she has a stepdad and her mom who love her very much yet something is missing-so she opens the letter, reads it, and hides it. Inside the letter her dad sounds so nice and she didn’t think a criminal, a murderer in fact, would sound so good. Zoe decides to investigate with her next door neighbor – friend Trevor and the two set off on a quest to help her dad prove his case. This book brings up the idea that not everyone in prison is guilty and that sometimes people are convicted because it’s easy. I hope Janae Marks writes a continuation because I would love to read more about Zoe and her adventures.

Prairie Lotus (2020) by Linda Sue Park: Wow! This historical fiction book blew my mind a little and I appreciate Park’s writing and research. Park’s was enamored with Laura Ingalls Wilder series Little House on the Prairie, reading them over and over. It wasn’t until later that she realized the racism that existed in the stories. Inspired to write her own version she sets her story in the Dakota Territories in 1800. Hanna and her father are running away from her mother’s memory in San Fransisco and end up in small town LaForge City. Hanna is half Chinese and knows how people feel about her. Everything from her father’s attempt to open up a small dress shop to her ability to go to school with other children from the prairie are hindered by how people feel about her. The racist aggression she feels from townspeople is softened by the simple fact that some people do accept her and she makes a few friends and changes a few minds.

My mantra this year will be Focus on the positive. Keep reading, keep smiling.

Two books for you to read…

There is something magical that happens to me when a student says “You’ve GOT to read this book Mrs. Holt” as they clutch said book tightly in front of them and add “It is soooo good!” (eyes sparkling)

This recently happened with a new-to-Hansen 5th grader, Gabby, and she said all this about Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper, which was on our Iowa Children’s Choice list this year. I always intend to start that book straight away yet that actually rarely happens. That sweet book sat at my desk for a few weeks and finally I finished a stream of other books and picked that one up and brought it home. I am so excited to return to school tomorrow and march right up to Gabby and tell her thank you for recommending this book to me! I loved it as much as she did so now I’m holding it out to you and telling you, my fine reader, to go find this book at a library or a bookstore and take it home, settle yourself on the sofa or outside in a hammock and be prepared to be transported to Stella’s world.

Stella is living in Bumblebee, NC and she tries to write in her journal outside at night because she catches her best thoughts in the quiet. One night she spots men in white robes and a cross on fire right across the pond from her. The Klan is active and creates terrible tension for her small community and her family. Her father joins two other men from the community to register to vote in town and Stella goes along “to be his rock”. When the Klan burns down a house belonging to one of the brave men who registered to vote the town comes together, both black and white to help. Stella is a brave, smart, kind, and enjoyable character that eventually learns to trust her own talents as a writer.

Did not know that Miles Davis plays Stella by Starlight, check it out! I’m sure Sharon M. Draper did.

The second book I’m excited about this week is The dog, Ray by Linda Coggin. I found this gem at the public library while browsing the shelf for a teacher request. It just struck me and I brought it home and it traveled to dance with me for a long rehearsal and I finished it in one day. Yes.

This is the story of 12-year-old Daisy, killed in a car accident, in the first few pages. She is whisked up to some kind of job central and lands back on earth as a…yes, a dog. So sweet. The entertaining part is that she went through the wrong shoot and she can remember her “Daisy” life. She is adopted first into a neglectful, crabby kind of family which makes her take off after a kind homeless man she meets while tied to a bench at the park. Eventually, she meets a young orphaned and homeless boy, Pip. His mother recently died and he’s trying to find his father who does not know he exists. What a journey. Pip is a delightful Oliver Twist-like young man determined to find a forever home and he and Ray find their way together. This story is filled with an interesting cast of characters and will have you turning pages rapidly.

I wish I had a song to go with this one but go back and listen to that fantastic Miles Davis tune!

Girl at war by Sara Novic`

School is winding down and my desk is full. I’m grading, collecting books, and preparing for an-end-of-the-year book fair. My head is spinning maybe because I spent part of my week laying on the sofa reading Girl at War instead of getting stuff done. It was worth it though; this is a great book.

Ana Juric`, a ten-year-old living in Croatia’s capital has had a happy childhood until civil war breaks out and her life is transformed by food rationing, soldiers, and air raid drills. Suddenly life is very different and she feels out of control. The daily peace she felt is replaced with fear and uncertainty except when she is nestled together with her family:

That first time we saw it, my mother and I together, she patted my shoulder because these men were protecting Croatia and the fighting didn’t look too dangerous. She smiled and the soup steamed, and even Rahela wasn’t crying for once, and I allowed myself to slide into the fantasy I recognized as such even while my mind was still spinning it- that there in the flat, with my family, I was safe. (29)

The war circles around the Juric` family but at home there is a greater concern. Ana’s younger sister, Rahela, is sick and needs medical attention. After visiting a female doctor in Zagreb Ana’s family makes the difficult decision to get Rahela transported out of Croatia to America where she will recieve the treatment she needs. As Ana and her parents mournfully drive back to Zagreb they are stopped by a roadblock of Serbian soldiers. It is at this moment that Ana’s life will be forever changed and as it is with tragedy it makes her into the womas we later meet in New York.

Her predictable life studying in NYC has her on edge and she can’t accept all that has happened to her. She is at war with herself, trying to resolve what she experienced. She makes a rash decision to travel back to Croatia to see if friends are still alive and to make peace with how her life has been shaped.

This is a transformitive story. I enjoyed Ana’s voice, her family struggles in New Jersey, and the difficult time she has with feeling comfortable after living, surviving a war where so many died. Girl at war shows how resilent we are while making us fully aware of the damage caused by tragedy and war. It is a story of survival. And we all need to read more of that.

It also brought to light this conflict for me. In my small town we had an influx of Bosnian residents during this conflict. They’ve succeeded in our community in many ways, been accepted and embraced, but it also makes me wonder what lies underneath. Thank you, Ana, for this reminder; realizing the harm we do while fighting wars abroad and on our own streets would be a worthy reason to keep the peace.

On sale: May 12th, 2015 (go buy it now)

Thank you to @DavidEbershoff at Random House for my copy. My time-wasting habit of scrolling around twitter totally worth it when I’m able to scoop up an excellent book. It also in no way altered my review of this book. I loved it all on my own.

My library visit.

I picked up quite a bag full of books the last time I was at the library and have been reading furiously since then and guess what, I still can get them finished!

My life next door by Huntley Fitzpatrick (2012); Great YA fiction. Loved the relationship between Jase Garrett and Sam Reed. Samantha’s mother is a piece of work and easily could go down as one of the top ten terrible fiction examples for mothering. She’s a single mom with a big trust fund so she’s snooty and has never embraced the more earthy Garrett family, the next door neighbors. Sam, on the other hand, is fascinated with the Garrett family and spies on them from her bedroom rooftop. The Garretts are the polar opposite of Mrs. Reed; messy, loud, affectionate, and kind and Samantha quickly becomes one of them as Jace befriends her. There are several different surprises in this debut tale.

Rules of Summer by Joanna Philbin (2013); Rory McShane has had a tough life so far. She also has an inssuferable mother who chooses terrible men over motherhood. Rory takes a job as an errand girl for the wealthy Rule family and even though she hasn’t had a parent to look up to she certainly has a strong moral compass. Set against the backdrop of East Hampton, NY Rory learns a few new lessons but leaves with a sense of purpose about her own life and what kind of person she truly is. Philbin is a wonderful writer and I’ve enjoyed her Daughters series as well.

Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson (2013); Amazing historical fiction, a sequel to Hattie Big Sky, that continues her journey as she heads to San Francisco with an acting troupe. Hattie is full of spirit as she meets new friends and gets a job at the famous San Francisco Chronicle. It may not be as a star reporter as she would like yet for now she’s just happy to walk through the heavy doors everyday. Hattie is such an enjoyable character that I would love to see a third book chronicling her next adventure as she moves to the Pacific Northwest! What do you think Kirby Larson?

Book Reviews for You!

I’ve been reading steadily between book club choices and friends’ recommendations. I love having extra days off from work just to read.

M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans: Read this for book club. Loved it. Set in western Australia Isabel and Tom find each other after the war making the lighthouse at Janus Rock their home. It’s not an easy life but one that Tom, in particular, takes to quite easily. You just know when the bad thing happens that things are not going to end well for anyone so while it is a well-written story be prepared for frustration. Learning more about lighthouses was a bonus. Did you know that each light has its own light code that it blinks to? Yes! If you haven’t picked this one up yet put it on your Christmas list.

A sample: “Isabel had managed to sit up a little against the wall, and she sobbed at the sight of the diminutive form, which she had dared to imagine as bigger, as stronger-a child of this world. ‘My baby, my baby my baby my baby,’ she whispered like a magic incantation that might resuscitate him. The face of the creature was solemn, a monk in deep prayer, eyes closed, mouth sealed shut; already back in that world from which he had apparently been reluctant to stray.” {90}

Christina Baker Kline’s Orphan Train: My friend Teri lent this to me and I thought it was very interesting. I liked the two stories merged together and the information relayed about the children forced to travel and auctioned off across the Midwest.

A sample: “I try to forget the horror of what happened. Or-perhaps forget is the wrong word. how can I forget? And yet how can I move forward even a step without tamping down the despair I feel? When I close my eyes, I hear Maisie’s cries and Mam’s screams, smell the acrid smoke, feel the heat of the fire on my skin, and heave upright on my pallet in the Schatzmans’ parlor soaked in a cold sweat.” {74}

Kline did an incredible amount of research to make this a rich reading experience. Reading this made me want to go back and investigate the Orphan Train kid’s series. Maybe this is a series I need to recommend more to my students.

Weekend warrior.

Woe is me! I have to spend half my day sitting around Barnes and Noble today, browsing through books. My daughter is in the local production of Junie B., Jingle bells, Batman smells! and they are performing from 1-3 to happy book shoppers. I’m sure I won’t leave empty handed and I wish I could take a handful of book bloggers with me! I can think of much worse places to wile away my afternoon.

A concentration camp would be top on that list after spending several hours in the middle of the night reading the end of Elizabeth Wein’s finely crafted historical fiction Rose under fire. Brutal, well-written, but brutal, brutal, brutal. The bonds she made in the women’s concentration camp carry you through the most horrible descriptions. I loved Code Name Verity and this is a companion novel, making use of the same war, different setting with kick-ass female characters/heroines and a few carry over characters. Both Wein’s novels and Junie B. have nothing in common except they all feature powerful young women.

A sample:

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Rose explains to her boyfriend Nick her aspirations and frustrations:

Finally Nick said sympathetically, “What’s made you so
bloodthirsty?”

“I’m not bloodthirsty.
There’s no blood in a pilotless plane, is there? I’m a good pilot. I’ve probably been flying five years longer
than half the boys in 150 Wing. I flew with
Daddy from coast to coast across America when I was fifteen and I did all the
navigation. You’ve never flown a
Tempest, or a Mustang, or a Mark Fourteen Spitfire-I’ve flown them all, dozens
of times. They’re wasting me just
because I’m a girl! They won’t even let
us fly to France-they’re prepping men for supply and taxi to the front lines,
guys with hundreds’ fewer hours than me, but they’re just passing over the
women pilots. It isn’t fair.” (14)

Have a happy Saturday. Here in Iowa it is a gorgeous day outside and I have to finish cleaning up my garden.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Wow. This book stunned me. What a fascinating look at WWII. There are so many fiction stories from a variety of viewpoints and I’ve read quite a few from this time period but this is the first one that gave me insight into the role women played in the war.

I have a terrible summer cold and my chest hurts and I smell like Vick’s-this book helped me get through a few sleepless nights. I’d read a little then try to go to sleep, fail, then read a few more sections. Invariably something would completely hook me and I’d have to read just ONE more section. And then I wake up super groggy and still smelling like Vick’s.

A sample:

We weren’t allowed to talk to the pilots, either. I made three jumps that week-the women do one less training jump than the men, AND they make us jump first. I don’t know if that’s because we’re considered cannier than men, or braver, or bouncier, or just less likely to survive and therefore aren’t worth the extra petrol and parachute packing. At any rate, Maddie saw me twice in the air and never got to say hello.
I got to watch her fly, though.
You know, I envied her. I envied her the simplicity of her work, the spiritual cleanness of it-Fly the plane, Maddie. That was all she had to do. There was no guilt, no moral dilemma no argument or anguish-danger, yes, but she always knew what she was facing. And I envied that she had chosen her work herself and was doing what she wanted to do. I don’t suppose I had any idea what I “wanted” and so I was chosen, not choosing. There’s glory and honor in being chosen. But not much room for free will. (140)

Elizabeth Wein created an enviably strong friendship between these two young women characters and weaves an amazingly, intricate tale around them. I know many have already read this one but if you haven’t you must and it is best to read it fresh without a lot of blah-blah from reviewers/bloggers.

Find Elizabeth on twitter @EWien2412 and at her website. Wein’s new title, Rose under Fire, was released in June.

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

I brought three books with me on vacation and I finished one quickly (Strange but True by J. Searles), I started another that didn’t grab me right off but when I arrived at my in-laws amidst one of our many early book discussions they highly recommended Chris Bohjalian’s book. It also happened to be the book my mother-in-law’s book club would be discussing and also “Would I like to come to book club with her?” Yes! Yes, of course I would.

Always ready for book discussion and the challenge of reading a 293 page book in just a few days I was thrilled to be asked. I was easily pulled into this engaging and informative book about the Armenian genocide. What Armenian genocide you ask? Just what I said and every book club member we gathered with on Tuesday night! What? Parts of world history we know nothing about…not that hard to believe, sadly even though we were a learned community of women. Thankfully Chris Bohjalian chose to write his 15th novel about his Armenian roots so that we could learn more and carry that forth into the world.

It begins:

“The young woman, twenty-one, walks gingerly down the dusty street between her father and the American consul here in Aleppo, an energetic fellow almost her father’s age named Ryan Donald Martin, and draws the scarf over her hair and her cheeks. The men are detouring around the square near the base of the citadel because they don’t yet want her to see the deportees who arrived here last night-there will be time for that soon enough-but she fears she is going to be sick anyway. The smell of rotting flesh, excrement, and the July heat are conspiring to churn her stomach far worse than eve the trip across the Atlantic had weeks earlier. She feels clammy and weak-kneed and reaches out for her father’s elbow to steady herself. Her father, in turn, gently taps her fingers with his hand, his vague and abstracted attempt at a comforting gesture.” (1)

Written in 2012 Bohjalian writes this historical fiction from a female perspective in both 1915, Syria, and present day, Bronxville, NY Elizabeth Endicott, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, arrives with her father to bring aid to the displaced Armenian population and Laura Petrosian, a writer who tells the story backwards as she remembers her childhood from her grandparents “Ottoman Annex” home. Laura discovers mysteries about her own family history as she searches for answers about her grandparents.

I loved how these two stories intersected and became one. I loved how slowly many secrets were revealed. At first it was jarring to get yanked to the present, to the beginning of Laura’s story, as I was so fully engaged in Elizabeth’s daily struggles adjusting to her surroundings. I got used to Laura’s interjections as the story continues. The book does share many repulsive stories of what women suffered at the hands of the Turkish soldiers. It’s gruesome and sadly still commonplace that women bear ungodly amounts of horror at the hands of men in power, or men hoping for power, or men lacking in power. Highly recommended. Find Chris Bohjalian on twitter @ChrisBohjalian.

After this tale it’s hard to pick my next read. College Boy just finished and recommended Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and I have Forever by Pete Hamill still to finish.

Attending my mother-in-law’s book group was inspiring as they’ve been together for 20 years and share a common love of children and teaching. The appetizers were delicious and the company was excellent. I’m so glad I was here and had read enough of the story to participate in the lively discussion.

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac

Code Talker

Joseph Bruchac

2005

224 pages

Kii Yazhi is six years old when he is taken from his mother, from his land to go to boarding school governed by the United States. His uncle drives him there in a wagon and gives him this advice:

Little Boy, he said, Sister’s first son, listen to me. You are not going to school for yourself. You are doing this for your family. To learn the ways of the bilagaanaa, the white people, is a good thing. Our Navajo language is sacred and beautiful. Yet all the laws of the United States, those laws that we now have to live by, they are in English. (8)

Boarding school takes away their beautiful Navajo clothes, their symbolic long hair, their language, and even their names. Kii Yazhi becomes Ned Begay. His school journey begins and ends with disrespectful and mean teachers yet he survives and does well. He chooses to follow the rules and gets sent on to secondary school. He is 16 when war breaks out and he wants to enlist but waits until the next year with his parent’s permission. The U.S. Marines have a special use for Navajo enlistees and he is able to be specially trained to send codes using the exact language he had been beaten for using at boarding school; a wonderful twist!

The story is told from Begay’s memory as he shares with his grandchildren. Ned’s journey shares such an overlooked part of history; one that I knew about but only on the barest surface. Bruchac inserts such wisdom among the awful horrors of boarding school and the war.

You know, grandchildren, for a long time even after the war, it was hard for me to have any good thoughts about the Japanese. What troubled me the most was the way they treated the native people of the islands they conquered. They believed only Japanese were real humans. Anyone else could be treated like a dog. Never forget, grandchildren, that we must always see all other people as human beings, worthy of respect. We must never forget, as the Japanese forgot, that all life is holy. (148)

This is great historical non-fiction and I plan to use it this year with a boy’s book club. They will love the war element and I will love that they are looking at it from a different angle.