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1Tess_W
My goals for 2012 are threefold: 1) reduce my TBR pile by at least 50%, 2) alternate between classics/historical fiction/novels/trade reads (education) and 3) read through the Bible
My TBR pile that I wish to conquer this year is:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Born to Rule Five Reigning Granddaughterss of Queen Victoria by Julia P. Geliardi
And the Dead Shall Rise by Steve Oney The story of mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank
Alaska by James Michener One of my fav authors!
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Homeland by John Jakes Another fav author
The Great Typo Hunt by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson
Some of these are rather substantial volumes, totaling 4465 pages
Other books I want to read in 2012:
finish The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
finish Our Mutual Friend By Charles Dickens
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe read in highschool, think I need to revisit it
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Giver by Lois Lowry I want to see why 6th grade parents get into an uproar!
Snow FLower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See recommended to me by a friend--about footbinding, the pain and the commaderie
Already Read:
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht--the title is misleading, gets one sucked in and then whamo--book changes course--only 3/5 stars
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/23/63 by Stephen King very "unlike" King. 4/5 stars--book good but ending seemed hurried
Bleak House by Charles Dickens 5/5 stars. Dickens best!
The Exepdition of the Donner Party by Elizabeth Donner, she was only 5, tells of life as an orphan, not much about the actual expedition nor the ensuing cannabilism.
The Gurensey Literary and Potato Peel Society good read about the occupation of Guernsey Islands in WWII--predictable 4/5 stars. The story is told in a series of letters.
The Help Kathryn Stockett Book held my attention more than the movie 4/5 stars
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Had I know going into it that it was about"Dracula" I would have passed and it would have been my loss! The search for the grave/tomb is the story and it is beautiflly done! 5/5 stars
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Because all of my HS students were reading it. Kids killing kids in a post apocalyptic U.S. Not too bad 3.5/5 Will not read the other 2....
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant because my mother gave it to me and said it was good. 3/5 stars
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay Very well researched story of the French rounding up Jews fors transport. 4.5/5 stars
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister. Nonna was from the U.S.S.R. She was never a prisoner in a camp so her story if mostly of the hardships she and her family faced and her time spent working in the hospital.
A is for Alibi a mystery by Sue Grafton A friend got for me zzzzzzzz 3/5
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard She is a phenomenal woman and a good story teller--very basic 4/5 stars
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Now that I've posted I will get back to my current read which I hope to finish in the next day, White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Paul Clayton.
My TBR pile that I wish to conquer this year is:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Born to Rule Five Reigning Granddaughterss of Queen Victoria by Julia P. Geliardi
And the Dead Shall Rise by Steve Oney The story of mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank
Alaska by James Michener One of my fav authors!
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Homeland by John Jakes Another fav author
The Great Typo Hunt by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson
Some of these are rather substantial volumes, totaling 4465 pages
Other books I want to read in 2012:
finish The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
finish Our Mutual Friend By Charles Dickens
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe read in highschool, think I need to revisit it
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Giver by Lois Lowry I want to see why 6th grade parents get into an uproar!
Snow FLower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See recommended to me by a friend--about footbinding, the pain and the commaderie
Already Read:
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht--the title is misleading, gets one sucked in and then whamo--book changes course--only 3/5 stars
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/23/63 by Stephen King very "unlike" King. 4/5 stars--book good but ending seemed hurried
Bleak House by Charles Dickens 5/5 stars. Dickens best!
The Exepdition of the Donner Party by Elizabeth Donner, she was only 5, tells of life as an orphan, not much about the actual expedition nor the ensuing cannabilism.
The Gurensey Literary and Potato Peel Society good read about the occupation of Guernsey Islands in WWII--predictable 4/5 stars. The story is told in a series of letters.
The Help Kathryn Stockett Book held my attention more than the movie 4/5 stars
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Had I know going into it that it was about"Dracula" I would have passed and it would have been my loss! The search for the grave/tomb is the story and it is beautiflly done! 5/5 stars
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Because all of my HS students were reading it. Kids killing kids in a post apocalyptic U.S. Not too bad 3.5/5 Will not read the other 2....
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant because my mother gave it to me and said it was good. 3/5 stars
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay Very well researched story of the French rounding up Jews fors transport. 4.5/5 stars
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister. Nonna was from the U.S.S.R. She was never a prisoner in a camp so her story if mostly of the hardships she and her family faced and her time spent working in the hospital.
A is for Alibi a mystery by Sue Grafton A friend got for me zzzzzzzz 3/5
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard She is a phenomenal woman and a good story teller--very basic 4/5 stars
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Now that I've posted I will get back to my current read which I hope to finish in the next day, White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Paul Clayton.
2avaland
Welcome, Tess. Perhaps you'd like to introduce your self to the group?
Growing up, I loved Longfellow (even since my 4th grade field trip to his birthplace in Portland). I'm still sentimental even now. I don't know how old you are, but as a New Englander, I had to read Evangeline in high school. Of course, rhyming poetry has fallen out of favor in this modern era, and with it, his work, but still, he was a master of it.
Growing up, I loved Longfellow (even since my 4th grade field trip to his birthplace in Portland). I'm still sentimental even now. I don't know how old you are, but as a New Englander, I had to read Evangeline in high school. Of course, rhyming poetry has fallen out of favor in this modern era, and with it, his work, but still, he was a master of it.
3Tess_W
Not sure where to introduce myself, so I'll just do it here. I'm a highschool history teacher--modern history, World-French Reformation to modern day, American-post civil war to modern day. I also have designed a curriculum and teach a semester course on the Holocaust. As an adjunct professor I teach Western Civilization. I love my job and I'm a history geek. I like to read historical fiction, but REAL historical fiction, nothing like the romantic bull they try to pass off as historical fiction these days. I also like British authors, epic poetry, and books on how students learn and perceive the world. The joys in my life besides reading are my 5 grandchildren (ages 3,6,9,10,11). My hobby is traveling, although it is getting quite expensive. The cost of travel is the main expense getting anywhere, so when I finally arrive--I like to say 3-4 weeks. I spent 8 weeks in Washington DC last summer. No long trips this year, but in 2013 my sister and I are going to visit eastern Euroupe for the purpose of going to Auschwitz. This summer I will also try my hand at permaculture-sustainable gardening.
4avaland
>3 Tess_W: Interesting! (you and Cariola may have some interest in historical fiction common; I know she can be quite critical of substandard HF). There's also a discussion somewhere in this group (I forget whose thread), around John Demos' Unredeemed Captive. What would you list as 10 favorite historical fiction novels?
6japaul22
We have a lot of books in common! I'll be following your thread with interest. I'm also curious about any HF favorites you have and what you consider quality as I like the genre as well.
7Tess_W
Oh wow, you have asked some really tough questions that I’ve never been forced to answer heretofore. What is good historical fiction? I don’t know if there is an absolute answer to that question. I’m sure “beauty” is in the eye of the beholder on that question. However, for me, I will use a quote (from whom, I’m not sure), that good historical fiction is the “hallucination of presence.” Good historical fiction is akin to time travel, allowing us to know more than the textbooks and/or manuscripts would permit. That being said, there is an awful lot of “trashy” historical fiction out there! There is a difference between a novel that takes place during a specific time period and true historical fiction. To me, historical fiction is based on an actual event or the life of an actual person. Novels can be written in a specific time period, such as the Victorian Age, but still not be based on a true event or person; such as the Jane Austen novels.
Some historical fiction authors that I like are Geraldine Brooks who wrote (ironically) The Year of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague and Caleb’s Crossing, both great historical fiction books, imho. I also like the works of Margaret George – I have read Mary, Called Magdalene and The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers. I have 2 of George’s books in my TBR pile. Author Colleen McCullough is both a novelist and a writer of historical fiction. Her novels The Thorn Birds and Homeland were great reads. However, her works of historical fiction The Grass Crown and The First Man in Rome were some of the best historical fiction I have ever read. “Historical Fiction” writers that I do NOT like: Philippa Gregory, Jean Plaidy, and Margaret Atwood. Then there is James Michener, who wrote novels that were so rich with time period information that had they had a historical personage in them or an actual event, could have been historical fiction at its finest.
Some historical fiction authors that I like are Geraldine Brooks who wrote (ironically) The Year of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague and Caleb’s Crossing, both great historical fiction books, imho. I also like the works of Margaret George – I have read Mary, Called Magdalene and The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers. I have 2 of George’s books in my TBR pile. Author Colleen McCullough is both a novelist and a writer of historical fiction. Her novels The Thorn Birds and Homeland were great reads. However, her works of historical fiction The Grass Crown and The First Man in Rome were some of the best historical fiction I have ever read. “Historical Fiction” writers that I do NOT like: Philippa Gregory, Jean Plaidy, and Margaret Atwood. Then there is James Michener, who wrote novels that were so rich with time period information that had they had a historical personage in them or an actual event, could have been historical fiction at its finest.
8avaland
>7 Tess_W: I admit that those authors were not what I expected after such an introduction to the genre:-) I think I expected more obscure choices we would not be familiar with rather than these more 'popular' novelists.
9Tess_W
Well I can come up with some obscure ones--just didn't. Didn't start keeping record of my reading until 2010, about 50 years after reading an average of 100 pages per day! Some "obscure" historical fiction writers than I also enjoy are:
Harry Turtledove Give me Back My Legions!
Heinrich Mann Man of Straw
Lewis Grassic Gibbon Spartacus....I've also "heard" that somebody has put out a a Lewis Grassic Gibbon anthology, which I must check into!
And though, not obscure, Patrick O'Brien and his stories of the sea are classic. On my TBR pile is his The Hindenburg
Harry Turtledove Give me Back My Legions!
Heinrich Mann Man of Straw
Lewis Grassic Gibbon Spartacus....I've also "heard" that somebody has put out a a Lewis Grassic Gibbon anthology, which I must check into!
And though, not obscure, Patrick O'Brien and his stories of the sea are classic. On my TBR pile is his The Hindenburg
10Feefy
Hi Tess, I really enjoyed Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks too! I also liked her People of the Book. I am a big Thornbirds fan too! I have never read any of Colleen McCullough's historical fiction but based on your recommendation I will have to check them out.
My two favourite works of historical fiction are The World is Not Enough by Zoe Oldenbourg and Katherine by Anya Seton - have you read either of those? I'd love to know if you loved them as much as I did!
My two favourite works of historical fiction are The World is Not Enough by Zoe Oldenbourg and Katherine by Anya Seton - have you read either of those? I'd love to know if you loved them as much as I did!
11Tess_W
Bugg...have not read either of them........but now they are on my list! Also, I forget to mention David McCollough of John Adams and 1776 fame.
12Tess_W
Jan-April 2012 Reads (Started late with this group!)
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/23/63 by Stephen King
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Exepdition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Elizabeth Poor Donner Houghton
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Help by Kathryn Stocket
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister
"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Stalin: Breaker of Nations by Robert Conquest see review here http://www.librarything.com/work/13709/book/84810632
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/23/63 by Stephen King
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Exepdition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Elizabeth Poor Donner Houghton
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Help by Kathryn Stocket
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister
"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Stalin: Breaker of Nations by Robert Conquest see review here http://www.librarything.com/work/13709/book/84810632
13Tess_W
Jan-April (started posting late!)
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Exepdition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Elizabeth Poor Donner Houghton
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Help by Kathryn Stocket
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister
"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Stalin: Breaker of Nations by Robert Conquest see review here http://www.librarything.com/work/13709/book/84810632
White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Paul Clayton reviwed here http://www.librarything.com/work/9714830/book/84445240
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Exepdition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Elizabeth Poor Donner Houghton
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Help by Kathryn Stocket
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister
"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Stalin: Breaker of Nations by Robert Conquest see review here http://www.librarything.com/work/13709/book/84810632
White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Paul Clayton reviwed here http://www.librarything.com/work/9714830/book/84445240
14avaland
Tess, I hope you don't mind, but I quoted your first paragraph in message #7 over on the "questions for avid readers" thread here. It's a question about history in fiction and or historical fiction, and I thought I'd throw your thoughts into the conversation (the original question is partially inspired by our conversation here, btw).
16Tess_W
Oh boy.......summer and vacations and etc........I read more when it's cold and I don't go outside!
Jan-April (started posting late!)
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Exepdition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Elizabeth Poor Donner Houghton
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Help by Kathryn Stocket
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister
"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Stalin: Breaker of Nations by Robert Conquest see review here http://www.librarything.com/work/13709/book/84810632
White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Paul Clayton reviwed here http://www.librarything.com/work/9714830/book/84445240
May/June
And the Dead Shall Rise by Steve Oney
Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Jan-April (started posting late!)
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow including Hiawatha, Evangeline, and other selected poetry
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Exepdition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Elizabeth Poor Donner Houghton
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Help by Kathryn Stocket
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister
"A" is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Stalin: Breaker of Nations by Robert Conquest see review here http://www.librarything.com/work/13709/book/84810632
White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Paul Clayton reviwed here http://www.librarything.com/work/9714830/book/84445240
May/June
And the Dead Shall Rise by Steve Oney
Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
