Last week, as you may recall, I recommended five nonfiction
books I thought you might be interested in picking up as gifts for yourself—or
others. This week, the list of five is fiction. Believe me, it was not easy to
distill the over 60 books I've read so far this year down to five I'd read again. And, again, the titles are linked to my full review. The books are available from your favorite bookseller.
As you, Gentle Reader, know, Rainy Day loves good historical
fiction, and a good story, and when they are aptly combined, well, she thinks
she's in Book Heaven! I bought this book because it intrigued me on a couple of
levels. First, Robert the Bruce is one of my ancestors; second, they story is
told, for the most part, through the letters of his sisters. After reading
about the tortures his sisters went through, being kept in cages hung over the
castle wall, open to all the elements and jeering of the crowds below, I found
it amazing those women survived, let alone survived sane. If you're into time
travel, I don't recommend Scotland of the 1300s, unless you've got an emergency
out, and are pretty darned hardy! But the book is a page burner, and if you
time travel through the book, you'll be warm enough turning the pages as fast
as you can read them! For the History Lover on your gift list. As a bonus feature, Ms. Harvey maintains a fascinating blog at: http://sistersofthebruce.wordpress.com
The Last Runaway —Tracy
Chevalier
This book was my introduction to Chevalier's writing. As
much as I've enjoyed all her others, this one remains my favorite. The story is
of a young Quaker girl who accompanies her sister to America to be married. Her
sister dies, and she finds herself alone in a strange land, filled with strange
people, and an Underground Railroad. She meets, and marries, a young man, also
a Quaker, but his family does not believe as she believes, and the laws of the
land and her family are harsh as the winters. Had I begun this book in the
morning, nothing would have been accomplished by bedtime, except the reading of
an absolutely fascinating book! An excellent book of the Underground Railroad
and life in early America.
This is one of my all-time most favorite books. I have two
copies, both autographed by the author, to me! I do not lend them out. I first
read this story 25-30 years ago, and have read it at least six times since. This
story is relatively modern. It is about a Vietnam Vet who has been abandoned by
not only his family, but also the VA, and lives on the streets of Seattle where
he is known as the Wizard of Pigeons. They flock to him, and he feeds them from
a never quite empty bag of popcorn. It is the story of the street people who
help him survive. It is a story of beauty, a celebration of life, a book of
hope and joy, and I guarantee once you've read it, you will never look at a
street person the same way again. We need more Wizards! For that person in all
of us who enjoys a great 'feel good' book.
Like the Moon —Mary Lewis
Foote
Humor is not, to my way of thinking, easy to write, and
unless one is really, really good at it, it isn't easy to read, either. I read
this book and laughed so hard that when I got to The End, I flipped it over and
read it straight through again, and laughed even harder because I knew what was
coming. If you've got a comfy rocking
chair, that's the place to read this book. The book takes place in a
nonexistent town in North Carolina, and if you've never been to that part of
the country, it may take you a few pages to get into the dialect, believe me,
that dialect is important. It is the story of people who may live a
hardscrabble life, but they don't know it. They just know their lives are
filled with love and humor, collard greens and ham hocks, corn dogs, and
Beethoven. Love and humor are the key words there, but Beethoven is important,
too. For the person in your life who needs a good laugh — again, and again, and
again ;-)
A Cup of Light —Nicole
Mones
This is a deliberately woven story, one thread at a time. It
takes place in modern Beijing, where Lia Frank, an American who reads Chinese,
but speaks it poorly because she is deaf, is sent to appraise several antique
porcelains. Mones did her research on porcelains, and the book is filled with
it, which I found as fascinating as Lia's 'memory bank.' Lia has trained
herself to remember everything, and she has a system where each memory is
stored for later retrieval. Some of the porcelains are the genuine articles,
some are forgeries, but even those are so good, so beautiful, they arouse the
same emotion. There are many threads in
this silk tapestry, and each one is brought in, and woven into place, at just
the right time. By the time the book is finished, the tapestry is beautiful and
worty to grace A Cup of Light.
OK, I know I said five books, and yes, I can count that
high. But I would be sorely remiss if I didn't mention these two books, again,
and remind you they, too are available at your local bookseller, or directly
through the publisher, S & H Publishing http://sandhpublishing.com/index.html Besides, I can't review them, I wrote them, or at least some of them, so
of course you know they are really, really good books!
Madame Dorion: Her Journey to the Oregon
Country —Lenora Rain-Lee Good
Heavily fact based historical novel about Marie Dorion, the
first pioneer woman to come to the Oregon Country overland with a group of men,
her husband, and two young boys.
Short & Happy (or not) An International Anthology of Short Stories —ed by Richard Bunning & Dixiane Hallaj
A collection of 36 short stories by 25 authors from both
sides of the equator and around the globe. Perfect for reading while waiting
for someone, riding the bus to work, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment