August CATWoman: Nonfiction and Historical Fiction

August CATWoman: Nonfiction and Historical Fiction


(Image of the Salem witch trials)

Wow! This is such a huge topic with so many to choose from. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres, and it often leads me to find something of the nonfiction history behind whatever topic I’m reading about. I should probably add in some biographies here, and whatever other nonfiction I can come up with, as well.

Maybe I’ll add in some recommendations based on the topic, rather than fiction or nonfiction (though I will indicate which it is). I’ve chosen topics that I read a lot of, and all of these are books I’ve read and enjoyed (yes, I’ve read a lot about the Tudors!). Some have made my annual favourites lists.

Suggestions:

Some of my favourite authors writing nonfiction and historical fiction:
Michelle Moran (historical fiction)
Alison Weir (both fiction and nonfiction)
Kate Morton (fiction)
Philippa Gregory (fiction)
Tracey Chevalier (fiction)

Tudors:
Coronation of Glory / Deborah Mernoff (fiction, Lady Jane Grey)
The Queen’s Fool / Philippa Gregory (fiction, Mary I, Elizabeth I)
Innocent Traitor / Alison Weir (fiction, Lady Jane Grey)
The Other Boleyn Girl / Philippa Gregory (fiction, Anne Boleyn)
Three Maids for a Crown / Ella March Chase (fiction, Grey sisters)
My Lady of Cleves / Margaret Campbell Brown (fiction, Anne of Cleves)
The Sisters Who Would Be Queen / Leanda de Lisle (nonfiction, Grey sisters)
The Lady in the Tower / Alison Weir (nonfiction, Anne Boleyn)
The Six Wives of Henry VIII / Alison Weir (nonfiction, Henry VIII’s wives)
Nine Days Queen / Mary Luke (nonfiction, Lady Jane Grey)

World War II:
The Secret Keeper / Kate Morton (fiction, England)
The Nightingale / Kristin Hannah (fiction, France)
Sarah’s Key / Tatiana de Rosnay (fiction, France)
Tallgrass / Sandra Dallas (fiction, USA)
Unbroken / Laura Hillenbrand (nonfiction, prisoners of war)
The Zookeeper’s Wife / Diane Ackerman (nonfiction, Poland)
The Hiding Place / Corrie Ten Boom (nonfiction, Holland)

Salem Witches:
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane / Katherine Howe (fiction)
A Delusion of Satan / Frances Hill (nonfiction)

Slavery:
Kindred / Octavia Butler (fiction)
Copper Sun / Sharon Draper (fiction, young adult)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl / Harriet Jacobs (nonfiction)

Biography/Memoirs/Nonfiction
Confessions of a Prairie Bitch / Alison Arngrim (actors)
Agatha Christie: an Autobiography / Agatha Christie (authors)
Shattered Dreams / Irene Spencer (FLDS)
Escape / Carolyn Jessop (FLDS)
Stolen Innocence / Elissa Wall (FLDS)
I Am Malala / Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan)
Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir / Marina Nemat (Middle East)
Persepolis / Marjiane Sartrapi (graphic novel, Iran)
Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds / Olivia Gentile (birds)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks / Rebecca Skloot (science)
The Glass Castle / Jeanette Walls (poverty)
Flight of the Dragonfly / Melissa Hawatch (kidnapping)
I Am Hutterite / Mary Ann Kirkby (Hutterites)
La Prisonniere / Malika Oufkir (Africa, prisoners)
Why I Wore Lipstick: To My Mastectomy / Geralyn Lucas (breast cancer)
Wild / Cheryl Strayed (hiking)
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened / Jenny Lawson (humour)
Bitter is the New Black / Jen Lancaster (humour)

Other/Historical Fiction:
Born of Illusion / Teri Brown (fiction, young adult, early 20th century NYC)
Gone With the Wind / Margaret Mitchell (American Civil War)
The Help / Kathryn Stockett (American South)
Frog Music / Emma Donoghue (19th century California)
The Second Empress / Michelle Moran (19th century France)
The Night Circus / Erin Morgenstern (circus)
The House at Riverton / Kate Morton (England)
The White Queen / Philippa Gregory (Wars of the Roses)
Cleopatra’s Daughter / Michelle Moran (Egypt)
The Way the Crow Flies / Ann Marie Macdonald (20th century, Canada)
The Day the Falls Stood Still / Cathy Marie Buchanan (early 20th century, Canada)
The Poisonwood Bible / Barbara Kingsolver (early 20th century, Africa)
Fever 1793 / Laurie Halse Anderson (18th century, young adult, epidemics)
Deafening / Francis Itani (World War I)
Girl With the Pearl Earring / Tracy Chevalier (17th century, art)
The Song of Hannah / Eva Etzioni-Halevy (biblical fiction)
Empress Orchid / Anchee Min (19th century, China)

Other/Nonfiction:
The Romanov Sisters / Helen Rappaport (Russia)
The Princes in the Tower / Alison Weir (England, Wars of the Roses)
Queen Isabella / Alison Weir (England, middle ages)
The Poisoner’s Handbook / Deborah Blum (true crime, science)
Category 5: The Story of Camille… / Judith A Howard (disasters)
Marie Antoinette / Antonia Fraser (18th century, France)
The Warmth of Other Suns / Isabel Wilkerson (20th century, American South)
The American Plague / Molly Caldwell Crosby (science, epidemics)
Voices from Chernobyl / Svetlana Alexievich (disasters)
Animals Make Us Human / Temple Grandin (animals)
Homer’s Odyssey / Gwen Cooper (animals)
Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers / Mary Roach (science, humour)

And don't forget to update the wiki:
http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2017CC_CATWoman#2017_CATWoman_Challen...


(Slavery)

I could easily do multiple books for each of these categories, and it would have worked well for me over 2 months! I haven't yet picked out what I'll read, but it's very possible something I'm reading anyway might fit, but I'll choose a couple extras, as well.

Wow! That is an impressive list of recommendations. So many books to choose from. I'm planning on reading Nurse and Spy in the Union Army by Sarah Emma Edmonds about her time spent aiding the Union Army during the Civil War.

Lots of choice here

I've earmarked Queens' Play, by Dorothy Dunnett, for this challenge. Not sure if it'll get done in August, but I do mean to complete it this year :)

I have so many books that could fit this month's challenge, it's going to take me to the end of July to choose!

Although I am quite tempted to finally get round to The Poisonwood Bible, which has been sitting on my TBR for 10 or 11 years!

I just added Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study Of The Years 1900-1925 by Vera Brittain to my TBR. I heard a strong recommendation for it this week. And guess what! It's on sale on Amazon for $1.66. The stars align. This will be my book for August.

>3 LittleTaiko: I know! They are both large categories and I had trouble choosing what to recommend!

I thought, if I grouped some by topic (or at least noted the topic), that might help people decide on one if they are interested in a particular topic.

>6 Jackie_K: It made my favourites list the year I read it. I hope if you get to it, you'll enjoy it!

Ok, I've taken a look at my options, and the ones that are most appealing to me at the moment include:

Orange is the New Black / Piper Kerman (nonfiction)
The Fossil Hunter / Shelley Emling (nonfiction)
The Lady and the Unicorn / Tracey Chevalier (historical fiction)

Again, must check the library, as that may make my decision for me! I own Orange is the New Black, but I also want to check into the others. I think I'd also like to read one of each category, anyway: one nonfiction, one historical fiction, so we'll see.

Much of my reading is historical fiction so I will have no problem finding books for this theme. Currently I am planning on reading:

Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville
The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber
Madam Tussaud by Michelle Moran
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

>11 DeltaQueen50: I love Michelle Moran! I just finished Rebel Queen. Hope you like Madam Tussaud!

>12 LibraryCin: I am looking forward to it, in fact, next month all the various Cats and Challenges are good ones for me! Rebel Queen is on my wishlist.

I'm off by a month! I just read The Color Purple and am now on To Kill a Mockingbird - two great reads and perfect choices...

I'm planning to read both The Radium Girls: the Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore about the girls who painted watch faces with radium and suffered excruciating pain and serious health problems as a result and also Dust Tracks on the Road, an autobiography of Zora Neale Hurston. I was planning to read Dust Tracks for this month's challenge, but will be on vacation all next week and the book is larger than I want to take with me. I have read a play and two collections of poetry for this month's challenge.

I'm planning to read Dancing at the Devil's Party: Essays on Poetry, Politics, and the Erotic by Alicia Ostriker.

Orange is the New Black / Piper Kerman
4 stars

When Piper Kerman was jut out of university, she wanted an adventure. Well, she got a little more than she’d bargained for, as she ended up smuggling drugs. It was about 10 years later, after she was engaged, she finally served time for her crime. She was sent to a minimum security prison in Connecticut, where she spent almost a year. This book describes that year in her life.

This was really good. The prison itself wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be. It seems, at least once Piper learned the “ropes”, she was able to stay on good terms with many of the prisoners and the bigger “threat” was the staff. She and many of the other inmates got along well and became friends.

The end of the book included a reader’s guide, with an interview with Piper and discussion questions. She did mention in the interview portion that, although there wasn’t violence, rape, etc, (as many people – and I – would have expected in such a place), it still wasn’t a nice place. That is, there was no privacy at all, and you have no control over your life or over many decisions. As she was transferred, towards the end, to a couple of other penitentiaries, she also discovered how much worse it could get. Piper was very lucky to have the support system that she did outside of prison; many inmates don’t have that, nor other advantages that Piper had (white skin, money, a job waiting for her when she got out…).

I finished Falcon which is a non-fiction book about, yes, falcons. It told me a lot about them, and I still wish for more.

I've abandoned The Poisonwood Bible for now - it's a good book, but just wasn't the right book for me right now, so I've put it down and will come back to it another time. I'm going to read Six Years at the Russian Court by Margaretta Eagar instead.

The September CatWoman Thread is up:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/267272

I picked up the audiobook CDs for Tracy Chevalier's Burning Bright at the library today for this CAT.

Ended up reading The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis which focused on the 1950's and a hotel for women who were trying to start fledgling careers as models or secretaries. So strange to think of a time when those were the main options.

I have just read Lucky, a memoir about being raped as a college freshman by Alice Sebold. More description is at https://www.librarything.com/topic/240713#6147382

Finished The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, a Newbery winner I couldn't bring myself to read for years.

Now reading Beyond the Burning Time by Kathryn Lasky.

I'm about to start my July LTER book, Lady Jayne Disappears by Joanna Davidson Politano, which is set in Victorian England.

Finished Girl in Disguise for historical fiction. Greer Macallister does a commendable job filling in a narrative around the historical fact of the first woman to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

I have completed Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran which was a very good read. It covered both the life of Marie Tussaud and the French Revolution.

>27 DeltaQueen50: Glad you enjoyed it! It convinced me to add more books about her to my tbr, but I have yet to get back to them!

>27 DeltaQueen50: I enjoyed Madame Tussaud too. My first read by Michelle Moran, but I have others from her waiting on my TBR shelf.

For nonfiction: I read Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson. Larson really knows how to make a non-fiction work about a past historical event readable and relatable! It started off slowly, but once the Hurricane hit I was completely drawn in to the devastating story of what happened in Galveston Texas.

For historical fiction: I finally got to the first in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear Maisie Dobbs.
This book totally surprised me. I love historical mysteries and was intrigued by the 1920's-1930's setting featuring a female private investigator. However, I wasn't expecting to like Maisie as much as I do! She's a unique, likable and interesting character. The book was more short on the "mystery" side of things than anticipated, but well worth it for the wonderful backstory or our intrepid PI's. I'm hooked and am happy to know 12 more books await my reading pleasure!

>29 bluebird_: I have a few by Michelle Moran that have made my end-of-the-year top 10 lists! I don't think I've been disappointed by any of her books!

I read Margaretta Eagar's Six Years at the Russian Court (the author was the nanny to the Russian Imperial family at the turn of the 20th century). It was vaguely interesting, particularly given what we know happened to the family at the start of the Russian Revolution, but I am just much more interested in the lives of ordinary folk rather than the immense privilege featured in this book, and whilst I would have given it 2.5 stars, the formatting in my book was so terrible and there were also quite a lot of typos which added to the frustration of the reading experience, so a slightly grumpier 2 stars.

Just finished An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear.

An expressive story set in the post-WWI years that takes Maisie Dobbs to the hop gardens of Kent, filled with London families spending the summer picking hops and redolent of an English summer. Although the solution to the mystery is abhorrent, it is more a story of the times and traditions than a mystery. It is particularly poignant considering that another war was in the making. One of the more enjoyable stories from Winspear.

Another historical fiction novel completed with Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville. This is the final book in the author's Colonial Trilogy about Australia and all three were very good reads.

COMPLETED The Classics Magpie by Jane Hood

COMPLETED Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar

The Lady and the Unicorn / Tracy Chevalier
3.5 stars

It’s late in the 15th century and artist Nicolas des Innocents is hired to design tapestries for nobleman Jean le Viste. Nicolas is a notorious womanizer and decides he wants to bed Jean’s daughter, Claude. Claude, in turn, is attracted to Nicolas, but she is yet to be betrothed and certainly can’t afford any stains on her reputation! Meanwhile, after the tapestries are designed, Nicolas must hand over the actual crafting of them to a weaver in Brussels, Georges de la Chapelle. Georges, his family, and his workers take it from there to actual make the tapestries. Georges also has a daughter, Alienor, who happens to be blind. Nicolas also works his charms on her.

Overall, I did like the book/the story, but I REALLY didn’t like Nicolas, nor did I like Claude. I did like Alienor, but I just don’t understand how all these women would fall for the jerk, Nicolas! Each chapter is told from a different point of view, but the start of the chapter tells you whose point of view you are a following, so it’s not hard to follow.

I finished The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Beautifully written novel about a soldier after WWII. A decorated veteran, Aldred Leith 'walked' across China in the two years after the war to document a China that would be forever changed by the Chinese Civil War. He then arrives in Japan to survey the aftermath of Hiroshima, where he meets an Australian military family and falls in love with the 17-yr old daughter. The novel brilliantly describes what it must have been like to travel across the world during that time - the protagonist goes to Japan, Hong Kong, the UK and New Zealand.

I finished Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier. I was disappointed with it as I didn't find it nearly as interesting as The Girl With the Pearl Earring - maybe that was because I am more familiar with Georgian England than I am with Holland in the 1600s. Or perhaps it was because the famous people (in this case William Blake & the Astleys) were very much more minor characters than I had anticipated. In any case, it was only a 2* book for me.

Wicked Girls / Stephanie Hemphill
2.5 stars

This is a fictional account of the Salem witch trials, mostly told from the points of view of three of the girls who accused many of the people, two 17-year olds and one 12-year old.

I was initially excited to find a fictional book about the Salem witches, but I skipped entire first chapter, thinking it was a quote. Suddenly the 2nd chapter started with another “quote” and I realized – oh, crap! I think the entire book is written this way: like poetry. Or, I guess the term is “in verse”. Not a fan. I skim/read that kind of thing quickly, and don’t really pay attention.

The good part: it was quick! The book did go right at the end with the notes on the real-life people, both the accusers and the accused. Also a note, in general, on why they may have accused so many people. That gave it the extra ½ star, but I’d still like to find a good fictional work on this topic.

>40 LibraryCin: You might look for The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (who is herself descended from two of the accused women in Salem).

>40 LibraryCin:

I read one this month about the Salem witch trials -
Beyond the Burning Time by Kathryn Lasky

>41 muddy21: Oh, wait! I have read that one (but forgot!).

and >42 nrmay: Thank you for the suggestions! I'm going to take a look.

Finished one more today -
Angel on the Square by Gloria Whelan.
Set in St Petersburg, Russia and surrounding areas during WWI and the Russian Revolution.

I like this author who won the National Book Award for Homeless Bird.
She writes interesting historical fiction on varied events, times and places.

I closed out my reading month of August with The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber. This was an excellent story of a black woman pioneer in the early 1900's South Dakota.

Sorry for the very late update to this thread. I'm still a month behind on my posts! Anyhow, I finished The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant, a historical novel set in late 15th century Florence, and I Call Myself Feminist, edited by Victoria Pepe, which is a collection of essays by young women on the topic of feminism.