All in Historical Fiction
First off, I want to point out that Jodi Picoult’s latest book is very different from any of her previous books. And, even though Picoult figures as one of my automatic “must read” authors every time she writes another book, By Any Other Name rocked me in a way only a very few of her other books have.
I’m not sure if Night Watch flew under the radar for everyone, or if it was just my 2023 baby fog, but I completely missed this Pulitzer Prize winner last year. And I’m thrilled I managed to snag it from the library because it was a truly stunning, unique and heartbreaking novel.
To undertake the retelling of Mark Twain’s classic book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn could seem an incredible act of hubris. But to rewrite the iconic story from the perspective of Jim, the Black slave who is as crucial to the story as Huck himself, was absolute genius. In James, Percival Everett has forever changed how readers will view the story of Huckleberry Finn.
I will start by saying this is a strange little book, and yet I want everyone to read it. I don’t remember who or how this book came to be on my list, but when it came in from the library it felt like fate. I had just finished purchasing tickets to a brand new play called Mad Madge by Rose Napoli and the subject is the same woman. Margaret Cavendish was an aristocrat from the early 17th century who was one of the first women to publish her own writing. And she wrote seven books!
I was late to the party in reading North Woods by Daniel Mason. Having received a rave review from my friend Jane and positive comments from my husband, something caused me to put off reading it. I hate to admit it, because we all know that “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” but the cover of this book made me think it was going to be a Young Adult kind of book. Ridiculous, I know. But there you have it.
Many of you will remember the glowing review my mother wrote of Edugyan’s novel Washington Black (read review here), which was one of my favorite books that year as well. So when I saw that an earlier book of hers had won the Giller prize, I scooped it up from the library immediately. A similarly sweeping historical drama dealing with race across several continents, Half-Blood Blues did not disappoint.
I’ve mentioned before the odd coincidence when I feel that a theme or time period is suddenly everywhere in my life. Right now all of my media seems to be World War II related. Not the most uplifting moment in history, and sometimes downright traumatic. But even though I am feeling a bit inundated, Obasan stood out as a truly remarkable piece of writing.
As I turned the last page of Five Little Indians, I honestly felt a sense of relief. My first instinct was to put it in one of the little free libraries near my house and be done. But over the next few days, I found myself thinking about the characters often and realizing that although their stories were brutal at times, they were also deeply affecting. Perhaps the book held more than I initially experienced.
Although this is only the second book I’ve read by Kristin Hannah, please consider me officially a Hannah fan-girl. (Read my review of The Great Alone here and Liz’s review of The Four Winds here.) In the last week, reading this book managed to make me feel excited when my 300th cold of the winter woke me up at 5am; I made a cup of tea and read for an hour before even my earliest riser got up.
Every year when the Giller Prize, one of Canada’s top literary awards, is announced, I buy the book. I finally got around to reading the 2022 winner, The Sleeping Car Porter. This book was engrossing and beautiful and I would never have discovered it if not for the Prize.
As I started writing this review, I went back through the L&L archives to double check that my mom had never reviewed People of the Book, since I know it is a favorite of hers. And not only is there no review, there are no Geraldine Brooks reviews at all! Her Pulitzer Prize-winner March is an all-time favorite, so if you haven’t tried a Brooks book, now is the time. And our apologies for slacking on recommending her!
You all know that I tend to gravitate toward historical fiction, but it feels like it’s been a while since I read a big, juicy novel like this one, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It honestly has a bit of everything, and when I tell you I devoured it, I spent three straight hours (of a much needed mom’s night away) in bed just tearing through the book as fast as I could.
If I didn’t have three little kids with all kinds of crazy desires like food, baths, naps, etc, I would definitely have finished this book in just one or two sittings.
Even before Hernan Diaz won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Trust, I knew I needed to read this book. My husband, Rufus, had read it before me and couldn’t stop talking about it. He was anxious for me to read it too so that we could discuss it. A request of this kind doesn’t come along often, so my interest was really piqued.
I have my friend Ellen to thank for recommending Kindred. Written in 1979, Kindred is another landmark Black American novel that I hadn’t read, by a novelist I had always intended to read. Set in modern-day California, Butler tells the story of a newly married woman, Dana, who one day without warning or explanation, finds herself transported to the antebellum South.
Recommended by the owner of my favorite independent bookstore in Kennebunkport, Maine (Fine Print Books), I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hester. I knew it was set in Salem, Massachusetts and had something to do with witches and Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter. But that’s about it. So, I was thrilled to discover that this is an absolute jewel of a novel!
File this under classics I thought I had read and realized after one chapter that I had not. A gorgeous book about a girl coming of age in a time and place when being young, Black and female made survival alone a major achievement.
If there was any doubt that Colson Whitehead is one of the greatest US writers living today, Harlem Shuffle should erase it. One of few authors to have won two Pulitzer Prizes (Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys), Whitehead once again has published a superb novel.
Fowler’s previous book We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves was one of the best books I have ever read. When I saw that she’d written a new book, I couldn’t wait to read it. Very different from her previous book, Booth is equally stunning.
The second book I’ve read by Alice Hoffman (review of The Marriage of Opposites here), I am once again impressed by her ability to weave factual historical events with a fantastical love story that borders on magical.
